The best way to eat chocolate, and other life-changing lessons I learned at the Good Housekeeping Institute
In all honesty, when I first heard of the GHI, I thought it must have been made up. When I found out it was an actual place, I visualised a tall, imposing, Edwardian-style building. Inside, men with twirly moustaches would be dressed in velvet pedal pushers and frilly shirts, frantically testing different contraptions and taking copious notes. There’d be a laboratory full of Bunsen burners (the only piece of scientific equipment I remember the name of) and a canteen serving crab paste sandwiches and lashings of ginger beer.
I’m not sure why I had these surreal associations (I’m sure a psychiatrist could enlighten me), but the GHI is in fact nothing like this. In fact, I visited a few days ago and found, instead, offices that are clean, minimalist and modern. Dedicated teams test all the different products, and they wear red aprons or white lab coats – not pedal pushers. And let me tell you, it is heavenly.
My own home feels chaotic. It’s a good day if I remember my daughters’ names and whether it’s a PE day or not. I’m clearly not Martha Stewart in the decor department either, and if someone observed my front room, they’d say it belonged to a busy woman leaning into her hoarding genes (yes, I’m blaming genetics). Too many trinkets. Too many piles of random things on the stairs.
The GHI is, essentially, the antithesis of my home and life. Here, this is a natural order, with qualified people taking responsibility for important things. Like a meditation retreat, it helped me see things clearly. I am transformed (I hope).
Here are five ways the GHI has changed my life (I’m not kidding):
“Housekeeping” is everything
At the GHI, they test all manner of things that make your life less complicated and hopefully more efficient. This ranges from air fryers right through to eye massagers, even vibrators! Housekeeping is everything. Remember that mantra.
The small things make a big difference
For instance, if your vacuum continuously spits out cereal and toast crumbs (like mine does), well, it ruins your morning. This bad experience gets the day off to a bad start and creates a ripple effect till your whole day has taken a bad turn. The fact that the GHI tests this stuff with a bespoke “dust formulation” and can recommend a vacuum that doesn’t spit out mess is a good thing and a big thing.
Some beauty gadgets don’t work (shock horror)
Luckily, the GHI will tell you which ones make a difference to the condition of your skin, so you don’t have to spend oodles of money, only to find out that they have as much impact as a snail crawling across your cheek. This frees up time to write books, make dinner, go out with friends and stop worrying about beauty gadgets.
There’s a right and wrong way to eat chocolate
I’ve always been the type of good-time gal who eats quickly and doesn’t notice what things taste like, beyond the obvious “good” or “horrible”. After a tasting session with the GHI team, I realised that this means I’m missing out on lots of sensory experiences. I am very binary in my tastes. Now when I eat a square of chocolate, I stop for a few moments, savour the different flavours and think about the types of tastes.
If you let some air into your mouth while you’re eating, you will apparently experience more complex flavours. Making a smacking noise with your tongue helps. Tasting food like this has reminded me how much I tend to rush through life. How lucky I am to be eating things that taste delicious. It’s made me appreciate things more.
Don’t pick detergents based on the nice packaging
Check to see what types of stains and fabrics they’re best suited to. When the GHI tests detergents, they use real stains sourced from a specific place in Holland. Some are judged better for whites, others for school uniforms that come home caked in mud. Again this is a small thing, but life is easier if you know what you’re doing, right?
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