A little reminder doesn’t go amiss

WELL, sorry, but I am on the side of Good Housekeeping, the magazine which has come under fire for offering “extremely infantile” tips for keeping a clean, tidy, well-run home.

The snooty dismissal comes from Kim Woodburn, left, so I suppose we should be glad it is so moderately phrased after her previous drink-fuelled, foul-mouthed rants.

Just let us look at some of those tips. One is to freeze leftover portions so they don’t go to waste. Obvious? Yes, but how many readers of this column have, weary from cooking and clearing up after a large meal, shoved the remains in the fridge and then found them a few days later and thrown them away? Never? Really? Such virtue!

Most of us miserable sinners, unlike the saintly Kim Woodburn, vacuum rooms as needed and then find we haven’t done the spare room when a totally unexpected guest is due. Cue a lot of hasty domestic slog. How much better to do the whole house once a week as GH suggests.

Of course it is obvious, dear Kim, but so is the most worthwhile advice in life: what you do today won’t be waiting for you tomorrow, spend only that which you earn, work hard, don’t give in to whining kids, take time out to stand and stare, always take your make-up off before retiring, list items for packing, etc, etc. You name it and it’s bloomin’ obvious but that doesn’t mean we don’t need the odd reminder.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I am off to freeze that veg from last night’s family invasion.