When we think of housekeeping today we usually think of dusting, vacuuming, throwing clothes in the washer/dryer, grabbing ingredients from the fridge and whipping up dinner – or nukeing a frozen dinner in the microwave. Things were much different over a century ago.
Because tasks were so more time consuming, they were sometimes assigned specific days of the week…
Monday – wash clothes
Tuesday – iron
Wednesday – mending
Thursday – churn butter
Friday – clean the house
Saturday – bake
Sunday – rest
Washing clothes was a huge chore. If you weren’t lucky enough to have a cistern in your house where you could pump water into the kitchen – then you had to fetch water from a well. Then the water needed to be heated on the stove. Laundry detergent wasn’t available. You would have had to make your own soap from lard (or fat), water, and lye. To wash clothes you would shave some slivers of soap into the boiling water, fill a washtub and hand scrub the clothes on a washboard. Another tub of clean water was needed to rinse the clothes, then they were hung outside to dry (yes, even in the winter). All this work gave you back pain, cracked hands, and scraped knuckles.
Eventually washing machines were created to help with the work. This is a hand-operated wooden washer and wringer – made doing laundry easier and saved water.
After clothes dried – you ironed them on Tuesdays. No plugging in a steam iron; you placed a heavy “sadiron” (so called because of its weight 5-9 pounds), on the cook-top to heat. These irons had wooden handles to protect your hands. However, they didn’t hold heat very long, so you always had a second iron on the stove ready to switch out. Ironing gave a person some awesome arm muscles.
While ironing you would notice whether a piece of clothing had any tears or holes. That was set aside for mending on Wednesdays. Clothes were NOT thrown out – they were repaired, socks were darned, and those too worn beyond repair were saved for quilts or rags. If the item needed major repair work, the treadle sewing machine was put to use. This made mending and creating clothes so much easier. Although a person could purchase clothes from a store – most women made clothes for themselves and their families at home.
Thursdays were spent churning, making butter for Saturday’s baking. Milk was put into a wooden container and a dasher was plunged up & down for 30-40 minutes to make butter. The leftover milk – buttermilk – was saved for baking too. This was usually a child’s chore.
Friday – cleaning day! The same bar of soap was used not only for washing clothes, but also for washing dishes, cleaning floors, wiping down walls and furniture, taking baths – everything. Floors and ceilings were swept, rugs were hung out and beaten, beds were striped and remade, furniture was dusted – the full house was wiped down.
Saturday was set aside as baking day, partially because families usually age a big meal on Sunday. Women would bake bread for the full week on Saturday – maybe 10 – 12 loaves – from scratch. Not only did you need ingredients, you needed fuel for the stove – whether wood, corn cobs or coal. No turning a knob, or pushing a button to set a temperature – temperature was tested by running your hand in the oven to feel the heat. Ovens cooked much slower, which is why cooking started in the morning for the evening meal to be on time. It’s also why a specific day was set aside for cooking the weekly bread supply.
After a week’s worth of work, Sunday was set aside as a break from chores to relax, visit with friends and family, and have fun activities, such as singing around the piano, or listening to records on the Victrola.
Housework 100 years ago took lots of time and elbow grease. Today we take for granted the machines that allow us to complete in minutes what used to take days. So next time you sprinkle some detergent into an automatic washing machine, be a bit grateful you didn’t have to make the soap, heat the water, hand scrub the clothes, or wring them out. Today’s housekeeping is so much easier thanks to advances in technology.