📖 Overview
Simply Living Well is a practical guide to creating a sustainable, zero-waste home environment. The book provides instructions for making natural cleaning products, personal care items, and household tools using basic ingredients and materials.
The content spans multiple areas of domestic life including kitchen organization, natural cleaning methods, body care, gardening basics, and food preservation. Each section contains step-by-step tutorials, recipes, and photographs demonstrating the techniques and final products.
Through detailed explanations and visual guides, the book presents alternatives to disposable products and chemical-laden commercial goods. The text includes lists of essential tools, ingredients, and materials needed to begin a low-waste lifestyle.
This handbook connects modern sustainability practices to traditional household management techniques, offering a framework for reducing environmental impact through daily choices and habits.
👀 Reviews
Readers value the practical, actionable advice and clear photography in Simply Living Well. Many note the book provides a solid foundation for those new to sustainable living while offering deeper insights for experienced practitioners.
Likes:
- Step-by-step instructions for DIY cleaning products and personal care items
- Beautiful photographs that demonstrate techniques
- Mix of beginner and advanced sustainable living tips
- Well-organized chapters and clean layout
Dislikes:
- Some recipes require hard-to-source ingredients
- Several readers mention overlap with content from the author's Instagram
- A few note the information is basic for experienced zero-waste practitioners
Ratings:
Goodreads: 4.27/5 (1,100+ ratings)
Amazon: 4.8/5 (1,300+ ratings)
Representative review: "Perfect for someone wanting to start living more sustainably but feeling overwhelmed. The photos are beautiful and instructions are clear. My only critique is that some ingredients are difficult to find locally." - Goodreads reviewer
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Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable Nesting Skills by Raleigh Briggs A collection of recipes and instructions for creating natural cleaning solutions, herbal remedies, and garden projects using basic ingredients.
The Holistic Home by Laura Benko A room-by-room approach to creating a mindful living space through feng shui principles and natural elements.
The Naturally Clean Home by Karyn Siegel-Maier A compilation of recipes for non-toxic cleaning products using essential oils and common household ingredients.
The Sustainable Home by Christine Liu A blueprint for transforming living spaces through waste reduction, natural alternatives, and minimalist principles.
🤔 Interesting facts
🌿 Julia Watkins started her sustainable living journey after becoming a mother and wanting to create a healthier, less toxic environment for her children.
🏡 The book was inspired by the author's popular Instagram account @simply.living.well, which has over 400,000 followers.
🌱 Many of the DIY recipes and techniques featured in the book were passed down through generations in Watkins' family, particularly from her grandmother.
🧺 The natural cleaning solutions presented in the book are based on just six core ingredients: white vinegar, baking soda, castile soap, essential oils, washing soda, and citric acid.
🌍 The zero-waste lifestyle promoted in the book can reduce a household's annual waste from 2,000 pounds (average American household) to just a single mason jar of trash.