As I inventoried my personal library and classified it using the Universal Decimal System, I found out about lots of fields of knowledge I was only dimly aware of or didn’t even know existed1, and one of those that piqued my curiosity was home economics, domestic science and housekeeping (field 64). I was kinda bluffed, actually; I always thought of home economics as that thing that shows up in American high school sitcoms, that elective “for girls” where people get to cook stuff on campus. Now I find that it fully occupies one of The Tens of the UDC! I finally realized it; this is Serious Business!
I thought of the permanently shoddy state of my bank account, of all the money I had spent in books (no less than 215 physical books, and then there’s Kindle!), fancy gadgets (were those Marshall headphones really necessary? What about that sandwich-maker?), fancy food (even though I always seem to end up “cooking” the same boring, unbalanced crap), unnecessary or excessive heating and air conditioning, and so on and so forth.
I’ve come to realize how much I had underestimated this field, the duty towards oneself of taking care of one’s house, and the advantages of so doing. I want to catch up in terms of planning my budget and my cleaning and my cooking and my buying furniture and appliances and so on and so for. I suppose I could figure it out by myself, but why reinvent the wheel?
So I thought to myself: asking your mates at LW has had awesome results when it came to getting your library in order, why don’t you ask them about Home Economics? They probably actually went to those courses in High School, or have otherwise taken an interest just to optimize their homes! I mean, their literal livelihoods and well-beings are at stake, so why wouldn’t they2?
So, yeah, if you guys know which reference books to start with, or have any practical recommendations in terms of resources or bibliography, and the handling thereof, I’d love to hear it. Who knows, maybe a good top level post may come of it?
2My Inner Critic obligingly suggested “Arkasia and, given the demographic, a compounded disdain for manual labor, pedestrian and materialistic concerns, and girly stuff. Why else didn’t you?” I told it to step aside and go have a swim in the North Atlantic.
Home Economics
As I inventoried my personal library and classified it using the Universal Decimal System, I found out about lots of fields of knowledge I was only dimly aware of or didn’t even know existed1, and one of those that piqued my curiosity was home economics, domestic science and housekeeping (field 64). I was kinda bluffed, actually; I always thought of home economics as that thing that shows up in American high school sitcoms, that elective “for girls” where people get to cook stuff on campus. Now I find that it fully occupies one of The Tens of the UDC! I finally realized it; this is Serious Business!
I thought of the permanently shoddy state of my bank account, of all the money I had spent in books (no less than 215 physical books, and then there’s Kindle!), fancy gadgets (were those Marshall headphones really necessary? What about that sandwich-maker?), fancy food (even though I always seem to end up “cooking” the same boring, unbalanced crap), unnecessary or excessive heating and air conditioning, and so on and so forth.
I’ve come to realize how much I had underestimated this field, the duty towards oneself of taking care of one’s house, and the advantages of so doing. I want to catch up in terms of planning my budget and my cleaning and my cooking and my buying furniture and appliances and so on and so for. I suppose I could figure it out by myself, but why reinvent the wheel?
So I thought to myself: asking your mates at LW has had awesome results when it came to getting your library in order, why don’t you ask them about Home Economics? They probably actually went to those courses in High School, or have otherwise taken an interest just to optimize their homes! I mean, their literal livelihoods and well-beings are at stake, so why wouldn’t they2?
So, yeah, if you guys know which reference books to start with, or have any practical recommendations in terms of resources or bibliography, and the handling thereof, I’d love to hear it. Who knows, maybe a good top level post may come of it?
1This triggered my imagination on a completely unrelated topic: a gamified education system in the style of an RPG skill tree.
2My Inner Critic obligingly suggested “Arkasia and, given the demographic, a compounded disdain for manual labor, pedestrian and materialistic concerns, and girly stuff. Why else didn’t you?” I told it to step aside and go have a swim in the North Atlantic.