Ask a thousand people how to make a house a home, and you might get a thousand different answers. Some will say it's family; others say it's all in the interior decor – neighborhood pride, or a furry friend, maybe.

Regardless of how you answer the question, you can't just sit back and wait for it to become a home – everyone agrees that something needs to be done.

Our guest today is an expert on making that transition from house to home. Moving every 18 months or so, Ruth McKeaney raised five kids alongside her husband. Move into a fixer-upper, fix it up with the family's help, sell it, rinse and repeat. It was only a matter of time until Ruth's ability to structure her family's systems came to the attention of book publishers.

Hungry for Home is Ruth's manual on building a home, everything from home restoration to frozen cookie dough.