Outwitting Housework: 101 Cunning Stratagems to Reduce Your Housework to a Minimum is a practical and humorous guide to making household chores easier and less time-consuming. Barty Phillips shares clever shortcuts for cleaning, tidying, removing stains and dealing with everyday household grime.

The book also covers useful household tools, technology, pest problems and ways of getting the whole family to contribute. Its central idea is to reduce unnecessary effort while keeping the home clean and manageable.