Kerri Sackville - The Life-Changing Magic of a Little Bit of Mess

KERRI SACKVILLE is an Australian author and columnist. She lives in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney with her kids and a cat, and enjoys clutter, eating takeout and taking long naps on the couch. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @KerriSackville and Facebook.com/Kerri.Sackville.

Out There: A Survival Guide for Dating in Midlife

The Little Book of Anxiety: Confessions from a Worried Life

When My Husband Does the Dishes: A Memoir of Marriage and Motherhood

HarperCollinsPublishers

Australia Brazil Canada France Germany Holland India

Italy Japan Mexico New Zealand Poland Spain Sweden

Switzerland United Kingdom United States of America

First published in Australia in 2022

by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000

ABN 36 009 913 517

harpercollins.com.au

Copyright Kerri Sackville 2022

The right of Kerri Sackville to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978 1 4607 6091 8 (paperback)

ISBN 978 1 4607 1401 0 (ebook)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia.

Cover design by Andy Warren, HarperCollins Design Studio

Cover images by istockphoto.com

Author photograph by Michael Beder

Internal illustrations by Saachi Owen

For Kylie, a person living bravely with neatness

DEAR READER,

Many of you will have seen our promotional material for a forthcoming inspirational book on home management. It was advertised in our newsletter late last year as a New domestic Bible from one of this countrys most inspirational women.

You may therefore be surprised and confused to see that we at HarperCollins have published this book, The Life-changing Magic of a Little Bit of Mess, instead of, say, How to Sanitise Your Home Using Only Water and a Positive Mindset, or The Transformational Power of Throwing All Your Things Away, or Heal Your Pain with Housework.

To clarify, the book you are holding in your hands is the result of a very slight error on the part of one of our junior editors, whose name we cannot print due to ongoing litigation. You see, just over a year ago, we at HarperCollins became enamoured of the work of a prominent social-media influencer in the aspirational home-management space. This influencer who home-schools her seven children while running her multi-million-dollar kale juice business shot to fame when photos of her stunning, all-white house and breathtaking glass pantry went viral.

With an Instagram following of over two million, this influencer is one of the leading voices of domestic artistry in the country. We at HarperCollins were keen to offer her a book deal, so that she could bring her message of attainable perfection to a new audience keen to live their best lives in their most pristine homes.

Unfortunately, this influencer has a rather similar-sounding name to another media personality, Kerri Sackville, a lifestyle writer with a significantly smaller following. In a deeply regrettable mix-up, the junior HarperCollins editor charged with approaching the influencer accidentally approached Ms Sackville instead. (We are legally obliged to note that this editor was severely exhausted after staying up all night reorganising her pantry.) By the time we realised the junior editors mistake, Ms Sackville had signed the book contract.

Now, Kerri Sackville is a competent writer, but she is not what one would call inspirational, particularly when it comes to the realm of home management. It is well documented that Kerri destroyed her own oven in her first and only attempt to clean it, did a television interview from her bedroom with her wardrobe door open and her bras in full view, and once had a serious weevil infestation in her kitchen. We at HarperCollins champion writers who make all sorts of life choices but, really, no one aspires to have weevils.

Still, the contract was signed, and we are legally obliged to publish, so here is Kerris book. The junior editor has since left HarperCollins and is selling her own range of bespoke Mason jars. As for the inspirational influencer with the white house and glass pantry... well, she has deactivated her Instagram account after a plagiarism scandal involving hashtags and pantry liners, so its probably all for the best.

I WAS SURPRISED and delighted to be asked by HarperCollins to write an inspirational book on home management. To be honest, until I was approached by the HarperCollins editor, I hadnt considered myself to be an inspirational writer. More specifically, I hadnt considered myself to be an inspirational person. I havent donated a kidney, or climbed Everest on one leg, or raised millions of dollars for charity, or saved a child from a speeding train. (I did once rescue a baby who had fallen out of his pram, but it was my own baby, and he fell out because Id forgotten to strap him in, so Im fairly sure that doesnt count as heroic.)

Ive certainly not regarded myself as inspirational on the domestic front. My attitude to housework can best be described as relaxed, although my family use a slightly different term. I have a high tolerance for mess, I take a lot of naps, and in the spirit of full disclosure I have had weevils in my kitchen.

Still, one womans shame is anothers inspiration. The visionary HarperCollins editor, a lovely young woman called [name redacted] , saw something in me that I hadnt even seen in myself. In her initial email to me last year she wrote: I admire how you juggle work with the demands of a large family and still maintain an aspirational Instagram account.

Initially I was confused I mean, my family isnt that large and I wondered if perhaps she was confusing me with someone else. But then I reviewed my entire Instagram history, and I began to see myself through [name redacted] s eyes. The photos include:

• Me looking bemused in front of my recently exploded oven.
• Me posing for a selfie in my shambolic kitchen.
• Me staring sadly at a shattered bottle of wine.
• Me doing a live TV interview via Zoom with my wardrobe door open and my bras on full display.
• Me asleep, dribbling slightly, on the couch in the middle of the day.
• My cat in a sink (not relevant to this narrative, but its an adorable pic).

Viewed separately, these are just a few cute snapshots. Viewed together, I realised, they form a cohesive and subversive narrative. My Instagram photos tell a profound and rousing story of cheerful imperfection. They reflect a philosophy of mediocrity that is eminently attainable. They celebrate the fallible, the disorganised and the incomplete.

This, I am sure, is what resonated so strongly with [name redacted] from HarperCollins. This is what led her to offer me a book contract and resulted in this text you now hold in your hands. (At least, I think this is what resonated with [name redacted] . I havent been able to confirm this, as she left the publisher shortly after I signed my contract, and her number is disconnected, and I havent heard from her since.)