Reviews & "Featured in"
Frugal Fun by Shel Horowitz — First Aid and Emergency Kits article
Better Homes & Gardens,
June 2003, pg 64
In Print — House Smarts
Most first-time homeowners—often unprepared
for the many routine tasks and unsuspected hurdles that lie ahead—quickly
learn the homeownership honeymoon is a short one. To the rescue: The
Savvy Womans' Guide to Owning a Home ($14.95), a 252-page guide that
covers how to care for, improve, and maintain a home. By Kitty Werner,
RSBPress. Go to www.chelseagreen.com.
The Journal News, January 11, 2003
Real Estate Section, by Noreen Seebacker
Country Living, December 2002, page 84
Part home-ec handbook, part crash course in how houses work, The Savvy Woman's Guide to Owning a Home (RSB Press: $14.95 paper), by Kitty Werner, gives both practiced homeowners and first-time buyers the keys to figuring out how best to stay ahead of seasonal tasks. Filled with tips on insurance, the in's and out's of electircal and plumbing systems—even making the most of community services—this practical planner offers plenty of food for thought. Available in bookstores or log on to www.rsbpress.com; (800) 639-4099. —Tom Claire
Judy Rose in the Detroit Free Press as offered on Septic-Info.com
Anybody could benefit from this books advice
January 3, 2003
bY JUDY ROSE
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
We rarely bother with books titled "A Womans Guide to . . ." anything, but well make an exception for the solid, sensible "The Savvy Womans Guide to Owning a Home."
Its a good resource for people of either gender whod rate their home-owning skills between novice and low-intermediate. Guys, get a friend or loved one to buy it for you, then stick duct tape over the title.
Many "for-women" books read like the equivalent of being sent to the childrens table. Sharp people can tell this is not where you go if youre serious.
But this book by Kitty Werner (RSB Press, $14.95) is wide-ranging and genuinely helpful. Our favorite parts were the more technical subjects, which she explains well and without fuss. (The rest of the article is on the website here).
Burlington
Free Press, October 13, 2001
Living Section, Editor Debbie Salomon
(full tex t of article)
5 out of 5 stars = The Ideal Housewarming Gift
Reviewer: Marcia Yudkin from Massachusetts
I devoured this book during my first week of home ownership
and plan to read it again and again as I go through the first year of
being responsible for the safe operation of many new appliances and appurtenances.
Kitty Werner has written a comprehensive, easy-to-understand and even
entertaining guide to all the things a house has that need to keep running
for your comfort and safety. Her recommendations about fire extinguishers,
chimneys, escape plans, routine maintenance and such are extremely valuable
and eye-opening. She's done her utmost to keep the book relevant and useful
whether you live in a city or out in the sticks. Thanks, Kitty!
Jim Cox, Midwest Book Review, November 2001
Editor's Choice
“Kitty Werner's The Savvy Woman's Guide To Owning A Home: How To Care For, Improve And Maintain Your Home is a charming, energetic, informative, and extraordinarily practical guide to the hundreds of minor pitfalls and dilemmas that come with being a homeowner. From how to prepare for emergencies, to which tools you should keep on hand, to how to evaluate insurance , The Savvy Woman's Guide To Owning A Home covers it all in clear language easily understandable by the non-specialist reader. The Savvy Woman's Guide To Owning A Home is indeed so straightforward and packed with useful information that by no means should it truly be confined to the female gender - any male homeowner who is inexperienced in matters of upkeep should consider this guide as well. Very highly recommended.”
Midwest Book Review
Editor's Pick, November 2001
Ponca City News, Ponca City OK
Guide To Owning a Home Is a 'Must Have' Selection
By PATTI CARMACK
News Lifestyles Editor
Wow! As a 30-year plus homeowner, I thought I knew about houses (or my husband did), but after reading "the Savvy Woman's Guide to Owning a Home" I feel like I am in the grade school stretch of home ownership. Well, perhaps junior high. Luckily, my husband knows all this stuff, but I am recommending he reads the book also!
This book lists details on how to care for, improve and maintain your home, and what you need to do when moving into a new residence. It is written by Kitty Werner, and is ostensibly, for women, but I think lots of guys would be glad to have such a comprehensive guide.
I suggest you run, not walk, to the nearest bookstore to purchase this book published by RSBPress. A little dry in some parts, it is a must have for "beginning" homeowners.
After years of helping build on our home, watching as my husband did improvements on our house, and paying for roofing, etc. I thought we were pretty savvy homeowners – and we didn't do badly. It would sure have been easier if we had a guide like this one when we began the responsibility of home ownership.
For singles, and women in particular, this guide is a blessing. It lists seasonal "to do" lists, home repair help, finding the right department for the right code requirements for electricity, etc., reviews fuel tanks, cracks in the brick, and – well, you get the picture.
Home insurance, radon detectors, plumbing, landscaping – there's a wealth of information in this compact book. How-to information for the basics of home care are presented in a clear, lightly humorous manner. Among the subjects covered are how to turn on and off the power, water and fuels, and what to do in an emergency, how to figure out what the problem is when something goes wrong, and who to call to fix it, which basic tools to keep on hand, how to evaluate insurance, and much more.
Werner has a life-long background in the subject matter and has first-hand experience in maintaining a home.
So, whether you are a "fix-it" whiz or a "klutz" at home repair, a novice at setting up a new household or an "old hand" at home-buying, this book has something of interest for you. If nothing else, it serves as a reminder of those things you were always going to do, but never got around to doing, such as a home inventory list.
Published Sunday, November 3, 2002 on page D7
Copyright ©1998-2002 The Ponca City News
Linda
Labin, The Word Doctor
May, 2002
The Savvy Woman's Guide to Owning a Home: How to Care for, Improve and Maintain Your Home, by Kitty Werner, RSBPress, VT: 2002, 256 pages (ISBN #0-9710356-0-1, $14.95)
For the optimists among you, you buy a home and that's it, right? Wrong. What do you do if you need major repairs-like replacing a roof or putting back walls after a hurricane? How do you turn off your main water line or electricity? How do you deal with cracks in the foundation? When can you DIY (Do It Yourself) and when must you call an expert? How do you protect your family in an emergency? From planning, licensing, and maintenance to finding the right schools, from basic insurance lingo to those pesky sneaky clauses in moving contracts. From danger signs of faulty wiring to what to shut off when you're vacationing, Werner's savvy guide is packed with clear, concise explanations, illustrations, tips, and humor-only a woman could have written a book that answers questions you wouldn't even consider until the moment you were faced with duct tape, smoke alarms, or ants in your dryer! Yeah, guys, I do realize that you know it all, but you never explain it to us! You don't have to be a woman to appreciate the continuing value of this work, just someone with an interest in a straight-forward guide without the jargon or hype so common in DIY books. A BEST OF THE BEST READ!
Women on Writing
The Savvy Woman's Guide to Owning A Home
By Kitty Werner
ISBN 0-9710356-0-1
Paperback, $14.95
Home reference, 258 pages
reviewed by Linda Reynolds
Have you ever suspected there were things you should be doing to maintain your home, but you didn't know exactly what they were? All that and more is covered in this book. Major components include preparing for a move, becoming familiar with your new home's basic systems, seasonal and yearly maintenance chores, safety issues and preparing for emergencies, responsible community membership, and remodeling or building on to your home.
To-do lists help you zero in on what needs to be done, and there's a list of the basic tools that every homeowner should keep handy. The simplest maintenance chores are explained while online and print resources are recommended for more information about complex matters. The events of September 11th made the chapters on planning and preparing for fires, natural disasters, and other catastrophic emergencies disturbingly relevant.
Reading this book is like getting advice from an experienced friend; the casual, first-person narrative is no more technical than it needs to be, and Werner shares personal stories, some humorous, to illustrate her points.
The guide is full of valuable information for men and women alike. Even if you've owned your home for years, you may find things you didn't know before but will wish you had. It would make a great gift for anyone you know preparing to buy a first home.
Linda Reynolds is a freelance writer who shares her one-and-a-half-year-old North Texas home with her husband, three children, a cat and a dog.