Review and Giveaway: The Good Wife's Guide

Darlene Schacht is the author of the blog Time-Warp Wife and co-author of the book Reshaping it All, which is also a fantastic book. She was kind enough to give me a copy of her new ebook, The Good Wife's Guide, for review. For more details, visit Darlene's blog.

She is also giving away a copy to THREE readers here!

It includes a ton of useful information such as housecleaning schedules and tips on de-cluttering and organization that I've begun to implement in our home. There is also much wisdom in the book. I don't want to tell all, but here are three big things I took away for myself:

Time management is a matter of the heart. 
When we think about how we can manage our time better, we automatically focus on things that we waste time on, like television, computers, the phone, etc. While these are good things to address, the truth is that real, lasting change must happen in the heart.

"Our flesh wrestles with our spirit as it attempts to get its own way. Meanwhile the Spirit directs us to value God and our family, to prioritize them above everything else, and to avoid the tendency we have to be lazy.  

The question is, which one will you choose?"

Yeah. Ouch.

Domestically challenged? No problem. 

It actually says that in this book. I love that.

"Domestically challenged? No problem. 'Sacrifice' - that's what joyfully serving entails."

God calls us just as we are to serve Him as wives, mothers, and homemakers. He doesn't call the skilled, as Darlene says, but calls us flawed women and equips us to do His work in our homes. So I don't have to be perfect. I can let go of whatever image I've created in my mind of what I should be like or what our  home should look like. That's a relief every time I remember it!

However, that does not release me from being disciplined and exercising self-control in all the things God has called me to do!

"The fact that I'm not a clean freak doesn't give me a ticket to be lazy in that area of my life. Scripture after scripture tells me that I'm called to be self-controlled in every area of my life." 

Being organized is about respect and good stewardship.

I am NOT a naturally organized person. My husband would disagree with me, but the truth is that I have to work hard at any organization I can manage.

"Everything we have is a gift from Him. Whether your husband takes home the paycheck or you both do, all that we have comes from above."

Much of our home is very disorganized and full of clutter. The result is that we are constantly losing things. It causes my husband in particular a lot of frustration when we cannot find something. He has given me things for safe-keeping and, I'm embarrassed to admit, I've lost them for months on end. I've also purchased things knowing I already had them but could not find them. That is not good stewardship.


Get a copy of The Good Wife's Guide! Buy it now or enter to win!

Reading The Good Wife's Guide has motivated me to de-clutter my time and my home so that I can be more effective. I hope you enter for a chance to win this ebook. It will bless you!


I will announce THREE winners on Saturday, February 25th. 


To enter, leave a comment on this post. You can also earn extra entries for each of the following. Don't forget to add a separate comment here for each extra entry you've made!

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Linking up at These Five of Mine Plus Two, Titus2sday at Time Warp Wife, The Straightened Path, Encouraging One Another at Deep Roots at Home, The Better Mom, Women Living Well, Raising Homemakers, Proverbs 31 Thursdays at Raising Mighty Arrows, and Growing Home's Homemaking Linkup.