In the days before jogging and home gyms...ladies worked from dawn to dusk keeping the home clean and sparkling.
The following is the day's routine and tips on organizing a week of cleaning (plus they had to cook, put down preserves, tend the garden and mind the children!).
Before every home had electricity.
These are chapters and paragraphs in same book to help the housekeeper/homemaker.
The Day's routine:
Cleaning and polishing stove, dish washing, Care of kitchen wares, Care of glassware and cut glass, Steel knives and forks, Care of silverware, Care of sinks and disposal of garbage, Chamber work (beds and linens plus), Care of lamps
One day a week was always wash day (usually Monday)
Soap and soap making, The laundry, Water for washing, Washing fluids ( blue dye to increase whiteness, lye, caustic soda,Turpentine and Borax to soften water & etc.), Washing colored goods, laces and lace curtains, silks and satins, woolens, Worsteds and flannels, drying clothes (usually on outside washing lines)
Note here:
Turpentine, camphor, lye, alcohol and ammonia are all recommended for washing clothes but care must be taken or else injuries will happen..may cause you to catch cold, paralysis is common with long exposure; These chemicals should not be used in hand washing, but pounding with wooden paddles.
with irons heated on fire grate.. this would be any day after washing day and before Friday.
Bluing and sprinkling ( water and sometimes lemon juice to whiten), Starches and starching, care of ironing utensils, ironing, to do up silks, ribbons, and woolens, to do up laces and curtains, to make and store linens
Utensils for sweeping, Dust and dusting, hard wood floors, rugs, matting, oilcloth and linoleum
How to sweep correctly:
Start in one corner, (do not lean on the broom; do not push the broom forward as this creates dust clouds; do not sweep the whole length of the room as it to sweep the dust into the next room; do not sweep on one side of the broom all the time; and work along the crack between the baseboard and carpet, working around the room to make a pile of dust in the middle of the carpet.
Always wet the broom with warm soapy water before sweeping, and have a pail of hot soapy water at hand to rinse the broom when it becomes dusty.
The right way to use a broom is:
keep the handle always inclining froward and never allow it to come to perpendicular; much less incline backward.
The stroke should be long, the sweeper standing on the soiled portion of the carpet, reaching back and drawing the dust and dirt forward as if pulling or dragging it over the surface.
this way prevents dust clouds in the parlor rooms where fine furnishings are present.
House Cleaning in General:
Cleaning the cellar, cleaning the attic and closets, Cleaning the chambers, to clean floor coverings, cleaning and refinishing wood floors, cleaning paint, whitewashing, paper hanging, care of walls, windows, doors etc., Cleaning and care of furniture, cleaning picture frames, cleaning bric a brac and stone, cleaning kitchen stoves and other metals, packing.
To Clean Bedrooms:
Take down all curtains and draperies and carry to laundry.
Put the bedding on the outside line and beat it and leave it to air.
Take the mattress out of doors and beat it and allow it to air, If the bed springs are exposed take outside and hose down with water and allow to dry in sun.
Also remove carpets and mats and take outside and beat, if not possible to remove any floor matting, sprinkle with dry salt and wipe with a cloth wrung out with warm water.
Prevent houseflies:
Flies are said to hate sweet clover hang bags of it ( made from mosquito netting) about the rooms.
Sprinkle rooms with oil of sassafras or oil of laurel.
Oil of lavender or lavender buds work.
Boil onions or leeks in water and use this liquid to wash pictures, window frames, moldings and paintwork.
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| A machine to clean toilets/septic tanks |
Perhaps now you won't mind HAVING to clean your room..just flick a switch and it's done.
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