Strawberries
Poached Eggs on Toast
Tomorrow, I'm heading one more year back in time to a menu published in 1943...
It's Wednesday - which here in the Jitterbug household means I did a little marketing. I made a couple stops on the way home from work. Picked up a few groceries, and started collecting some of the items I'll need to build my cleaning basket: a large cellulose sponge, a flannel polishing cloth, and a new pair of scissors (so I don't have to keep using the scissors from my mending basket on household jobs!). These "light" marketing trips on Wednesdays haven't done much yet to make my pantry more organized, and I suspect they're not going to make a real difference until I've added a longer trip to the supermarket on Saturdays. For now, I'm just content to try and make a shopping on Wednesday evenings a matter of routine.
As I was taking another look at the bedroom cleaning routine today, I realized that the manual recommends using either a carpet sweeper or vacuum cleaner when giving each room in the house its daily once-over, but when you clean each room more thoroughly once a week only a vac will do. Boy, do they make good use of the attachments. Mine can go untouched for a year, but the authors of the manual advise using your attachments every time you turn around! The vacuum is used to brush fabrics, dust in all those tall or hard-to-reach places - and of course to clean the carpet. Housewives in the '40s who were able to invest in a vacuum cleaner must have felt as if the appliance replaced several hours of work per week that hired help might have provided their mothers a generation before. Vacuum cleaners were a hefty investment. The $48.50 price tag on the Hoover above (plus trade) would be equivalent to more than $700 today!
11 comments:
Wow, $700 would buy a pretty fancy vacuum! I got my big vacuum as a wedding present years ago, and over the years I've lost some of attachments. I also have a little stick vac which is great for bare floors and very low pile carpets.
HA! $700 my goodness.
I think we paid like $24 for our lime green vacuum.
that is So crazy!
Aside: I love the dress she is wearing in that picture! Not so much the colour, but everything else!
My vacum is the cheapest model available and doesn't even have attachments!
We've become so accustomed to being able to buy small appliances for very little money --- it's startling to realize just how much cash you would have had to put together once upon a time to buy something like a vacuum. And yet it's a tool mentioned over and over again in the manual, so was rapidly coming to be considered indispensible for the middle-class home.
Can you imagine what a big thrill that was? I'm sure it was defintely something women boasted about at the drug store: "Oh yes, Johnny and I went by Woolworth's last night and bought one of those new Hoovers. Oh, you don't have one? You poor thing. I just love mine!"
Kind of makes you wish we had to save for those types of things. Would definitely make us appreciate new purchases!
gosh! and to think I paid $300 for an industrial vacuum last year...cool ad!
yes, but having a vaccuum cleaner would save you a lot of money on the 'girl's' wages and mean that on your reduced post war income you may be able to afford one girl instead of the 3 or 4 you had before the war
It's funny, because when I bought my vintage vacuum, I almost won this Hoover on ebay, but decided to go with the KIRBY. I am really happy with mine and I know it would have been close to 1000.00 with all the attachements I have. As I have collected up, on ebay, a lot of the after market attachements such as the handy butler (sharpening knives and polishine shoes) and a spray attachement for soapy cleanser for upholstery and also for spray painting. I have to say I use ALOT of my attachemnts. I may even try out the paint sprayer this spring on the picket fence, now that will be picture and blog worthy! I am along the ride with you on getting together my work basket. I am determined to find a vintage basket that I think will be great for this. This weekend I am going to my favorite junksale that is only on weekends to find such a basket!
Weenie_Elise, that is certainly the key. The money put into appliances like these (vacuum cleaners, washing machines, dishwashers) saved a family the wages they'd otherwise be paying out every week to help. And just in the nick of time, too, because the war killed the market for household help...
When I stop and think about how much something like this cost it makes sense why there are such detailed instructions in the manual for caring for your vacuum cleaner. Dusting it after each use, cleaning out the bristles regularly, etc. Soooooooo much more TLC than I've ever given any appliance!
When I moved in with my boyfriend in 1992 we couldn't afford a vacuum, at last not a good one. I suppose prices in general have gone down for that (and/or wages up) but I'm still glad my mom got us a Hoover as a housewarming gift. I still have it and used it tonight!
The only attachment I ever use though i the hose thing for corners and large amounts of spillage (like cat litter)
A powerful vacuum can certainly make vacuuming an easier task. Seeing all that dust and dirt sucked away is immediate payoff.
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