Old style housekeeping question?

Primrose

Olliebeak - thanks for reviving all those childhood memories. Yes, we had far fewer material possession in those days and children had much more freedom but I never recall being unhappy because I in those war and post war years, everybody was in the same boat and things just weren't available. And today's economic situation has proved that constantly chasing after more and more expensive possessions only leads to debt and disaster so I have no regrets about the climate in which I was brought up.

candygirl

It's weird that this thread has cropped up cos my DD asked me how my great aunties house is so spotless, seeing as she's 90 and can hardly move.I think it's a combination of no clutter at all, plus no time wasted on hobbies
My house is full of clutter, esp books, but I like it like this, an it is very homely.DD's new house will deffo be minimalist as she hates mine:rotfl: :rotfl:

Cookie_monster_7

Ballymackeonan wrote: »

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...

I would love to read that list!

This thread is such great reading.:T:j

Olliebeak

Primrose wrote: »

.......... And today's economic situation has proved that constantly chasing after more and more expensive possessions only leads to debt and disaster so I have no regrets about the climate in which I was brought up.

I'm another one who would love to go back to the times of my childhood - but PLEEEEASE can I take my proper bathroom, shower, washing machine, double-glazing and central heating with me!

When I close my eyes and picture things, I can still FEEL:

• - the deep cold in my bedroom in the winter. Lino on the floor with a rag-rug by the bed - thank the Lord for hot-water bottles at bedtime and great-granddad's army greatcoat on the bed as a 'quilt'!
• - trying not to use the guzunda during the night - cos I would have to carry it downstairs and outside to the outdoor privvy in the morning to empty it!
• - the draughts in the living-room at night as we all huddled around the coal fire to keep warm - especially when somebody had to open the back door to 'go down the yard' (shut THAT door!)!
• - the water going cold in the bath on the kitchen floor (quarry tiles) before I'd finished scrubbing myself!
• - the shivering while having a 'wash-down' at the kitchen sink before bedtime - no bathroom and no running hot-water!
• - the wind and rain as I ran 'down the yard' to the outside privvy in the winter and struggling to 'pull the chain' when the pipes/cistern had frozen!
• - the stifling, damp steam (and condensation) when it rained on mondays (wash-day) - but very good if you had a 'tight-chest'!

Oh the 'joys' of the good old days :rolleyes:! but I would love the naivety/innocence of those times .

Originally Posted by Ballymackeonan
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...
I would love to read that list!


I can remember helping nan to make the beds. Her double-bed and my single one had 'palliasses' on them (uncle had bought himself a sprung mattress!) and they had to be stripped (to air them) and then turned, shook and pummelled back into 'something resembling' comfort before being covered with the sheets again. These palliassess were stuffed with 'flocking' (little bits of navy-blue/grey cottony bits) and occasionally the stitching would come undone and the fabric would have to be stitched back up again - took ages to hunt for the escaped bits of flocking under the bed. Sometimes the old, rusty springs on the bedbase would tear the 'striped ticking' of the fabric covering the palliasse as well. I wouldn't like to guess what 'little visitors' could lurk in those horrible things - but she did spray regularly with diluted dettol mixture and in the summer the palliasses were regularly aired and beaten over the washing line. The bedroom lino was always mopped with dettol as well and the air sprayed from a little pump spray bottle if you weren't well (anything airborne didn't stand a chance!). I loved the perfume of Zoflora but it was usually Dettol that got used in the bedrooms!

Teapartymum

I love this thread.

Cookie_monster_7

Teapartymum wrote: »

I love this thread.

Me too, I think where I have failed with flylady, I may succeed if I follow the housekeeping rules of older generations

My grandmother is no help in this department though because she was a career woman, working 50+ hours a week (according to her she worked 12 hours a day), when career women were rare. I have huge respect for her because she had to battle for equal pay and promotion (as she is quite a feisty character she got them) and was very successful but her housekeeping skills are, well, quite basic :rotfl:

My housework and laundry are up to date because of this thread, the whole place is looking quite nice (on the inside anyway...the doorstep and windows are another matter )

Lentilsforteaagain

What a wonderful thread - I feel so much better ... far more normal and less lazy, lol. Five children (inc. one disabled so constant physio, meds and care), three cats, one puppy ... oh and a husband Also, we both work from home so are constantly there creating much mess (woodwork in the lounge!!!)

My mother has a showhome (hmn, and OCD) ... so no remote on the arm of the chair, no newspapers out of the kitchen, no jeans to be worn when sitting on the sofa ...!!! My mother can now cope with having cups of tea at my house (and recently even food!) but she didn't for ages, just glanced in a horrified manner at the teatowels!

M-i-l sympathetically but very helpfully offers to help with the washing sometimes

Still, a house should be a home ... and min's a very messy home!

blueberrypie

Lentilsforteaagain wrote: »

My mother has a showhome (hmn, and OCD) ... so no remote on the arm of the chair, no newspapers out of the kitchen, no jeans to be worn when sitting on the sofa ...!!!

ROFL - no jeans to be worn when sitting on the sofa? We used to have a sofa that was *made* of jeans - well, it was made of denim anyway. And very comfy it was too.

Still, a house should be a home ... and min's a very messy home!

Absolutely.

We'd a new fireplace installed when my older children were about 3 and 1, and I used to put the toyboxes in front of the fireplace, because it kept the kids away from it (the fire wasn't lit, I hasten to add!) My mother came over and admired my new fireplace and told me I should put the children's toys upstairs in their room so that I could "sit and look at your fireplace". I told her that this was my *living* room, not my *sitting and looking at the fireplace* room, and that there'd be plenty of years ahead when my children grew up for me to sit and look at the fireplace!

Magnet on the side of my microwave says "Dull women have immaculate houses" :-D

Primrose

Well, I'm certainly not going to confess on this thread how often I turn our mattress (or even change the sheets !!) but my dear granny would be turning in her grave. We've been without heating or hot water for two days because of a boiler fault and domestic life seems to have ground to a halt. Just waking up to a freezing bedroom and bathroom has taken us back to childhood memories and it's a start reminder of what could be ahead of us too if the world runs out of energy. As for houses full of possessions, I think this goes in phases. In earlier married life I used to collect all kinds of small antique things. Now I've got tired of dusting them and hate the clutter and they're all in boxes in the loft awaiting disposal. As long as I can hang onto my precious books and CD's I'd happily go minimalist. (Only wish I could get deaqr OH to agree. He's the world's worst hoarder and won't dispose of anything).

debtdesperado

This thread is great!

Flylady has helped me get my flat in order, and when I was talking about it with my mum it turned out that lots of 'new' flylady ideas were what she had done forever (eg little and often, and no clutter, pick up after yourself and work out a routine). I had never noticed!

I lived next door to an old lady in London who had lived in the same council flat since the war. I would often see her outside sweeping the street, and one day she told me that it was just habit, as when she'd first got her flat, council tenants were responsible for keeping the pavement in front of their flat tidy - if they didn't, they could be evicted!