Old style housekeeping question?

My Nan is in her 80's and she had eleven children and an has always had an immaculate home.

I think her generation just had to be really organised, as if they got behind it would be a huge task to catch back up.

Nan had no freezer, so shopped for food daily, they had a wash day, a bakeing day, an ironing day., made all the families clothes..they could not get behind and chuck a frozen meal in the microwave.. shops closed at tea time....and the chippy was a real treat. Washing ment standing there and physically doing it. No fantastic steam iron to whizz through the ironing.

I honestly don't now how she did it..she also worked part time too...but then she is an amazing lady, and is more fun to go out with than many of my freinds 50 years younger than her.

Of course, in our grandmothers' generation there were coal-fires, smoke, smog - daily cleaning was more of a necessity! Somewhere I have a list of household tips given to my mother on her marriage (from about 1947) - I remember it included stripping beds and turning mattresses every morning! If I can find it, I'll post more on the forum...

Everybody's 'expectations of life' were so much lower 40/50/60 yrs ago than they are today.

Most people thought of a day out as a holiday! If you did get a holiday, it would usually be a week at the sea-side half-board or self-catering in a borrowed caravan - no struggling to pay for at least one foreign holiday a year plus outings in school holidays. My first holiday was 1961 (age10) in a caravan with mum, dad, two sisters and baby brother at Rhyl for a week; I lived with my nan and that was my first experience of us all being together for a week - felt very strange listening to other people breathing at night lol!

Children entertained themselves in the school holidays (mothers could 'get on' with the housework cos we were outdoors) and weren't taken absolutely everywhere in an attempt to 'keep them occupied and prevent boredom'. On the other hand, roads were safer and parks were full of other kids. If there were any 'strange men' hanging around, they were less likely to try anything where there was a crowd of kids together. My friends and I played in the park everyday of the holidays and there was always somebody's mother around with a baby in a pushchair/pram keeping a 'discreet eye' on what we were up to. And, of course, there were the 'parkies' who patrolled the park on the look-out for potential trouble.

We all had far less clothes - good job too with wash-day being one day a week! In school holidays you had to make a set of clothes last all week, with maybe something clean on if you were being 'taken somewhere'. Clothes were always out-grown - nothing seemed to get ripped/damaged before it had gone too small and had to be 'passed on' (unless it had already been passed on to you first!). Most clothes were made of hard-wearing natural fabrics (cotton blouses and shirts for school) that could withstand a 'bleach/boil' to keep them sparkling. Not many hard-to-get-out stains back then either cos we wore overalls/pinnies when doing messy stuff! Most of us drank water (rather than squash/fizz with colourings) and no felt-tip pens! The worst was grass stains and I can still hear my nan's groans when she spotted those - I used to play rugby with the boys in the park!

There were far less 'belongings' in the home - so far less clutter. I had a book-shelf in my bedroom and all my books were on there, plus a small writing bureau in the parlour for homework and school books were kept in that - no toys scattered all over the house! We didn't replace everything every couple of years just because it had gone 'out of style' - we waited till it was broken and even then it was replaced only if it could no longer be repaired! I remember my grandfather fixing the grill from nan's cooker almost every week (he was an electrician) because something on it had 'blown' - in 1963 he finally got her a new one when he retired and she also got a pressure cooker (bought for them as a retirement gift from his work mates). My uncle bought her a washing machine about then too (top-loader with a mangle) - but the poor lady only got to use her lovely things for about a year before she died.

There was no thought of spending hundreds of £££'s on each child at Christmas. I don't actually remember being asked what I wanted (apart from by Santa in the grotto) - but I was never disappointed because I never expected too much. I was quite fortunate in presents as I had quite a few aunties/uncles who each bought me something - stencil set, pencil cases, books/tokens, boxed games etc. and I certainly never felt deprived in any way. I got a record player as a special christmas reward after passing my 11+ in 1962. It came from Curry's in Liverpool and cost £8.00 (I found the receipt years later!) and would have been 'saved for'. That same year people started to give me £1 record tokens instead of book tokens - apart from my uncle who got me a £5 one - that paid for my first LP (£3 10s) plus a few 45's (6/8 each) :j!

Sorry this post is so long - I couldn't stop once I started .

I remember my Mum being very untidy when we were children but once we left home they moved and the new house was always immaculate.
Now Dad is retired as well they share chores and have a strict routine of who does what chore on which day of the week to fit in with their many other activities.

One thing my Mum has done for years is keep a notebook with lists in for each day then she can cross off items that are done, it could be things like hoover, post letter or things to buy like eggs, carrots etc. Lots of small things , then there is a sense of achievement as chores are crossed off.
When I tried the list system it didn't work as I found I expected too much and felt disappointed I hadn't done all I planned.

The main difference is my Mum didn't work but I do albeit part time, on the day after I have worked I find I am shattered and don't feel like doing lots of boring chores ... I'd far rather read a book than do cleaning!

I find there are too many distractions, the internet being the main one, I got far more done when I had three small children was a childminder and had no internet !! I have spent all of today either reading a book or surfing MSE !! The dogs got walked , dishwasher emptied and that is IT ...and to my horror it's almost two o clock in the afternoon. 'My' time ends at three ish as then people start coming home from school and I have to start giving them attention and planning food...hey ho another day wasted, but I enjoyed it !

Oystercatcher