Perfect Sleeper

I feel like such a grown-up.

My car and my computer are probably the only items - until yesterday - that I've ever made a substantial investment in purchasing. Now I can add a new mattress to that list. When I first moved out of my parents' home and into an apartment of my own, I trucked along the mattress they'd bought me several years before. When I moved out west, I inherited my sister's old mattress --- which has got to be about 15 years old now. Those hand-me-down mattresses have served me well, but it felt wonderful yesterday to choose something brand new. Something I chose because it met all of my own mattress needs. My own hard work translated into something tangible for once. Not just groceries (which disappear almost instantaneously) or clothes (which I shrink out of sooner or later), but something substantial that's going to be part of my home for quite some time.

Henry Humphrey, the editor of Woman's Home Companion Household Book (1948) asserts that there is no other furnishing in the household so important as a quality box spring and mattress. You know, even as I left the mattress showroom yesterday, I was feeling a little guilty about not having purchased the least expensive mattress I tried out. I ended up spending $700 for a mismatched queen-sized set by Serta, but I could've spent less. Reading this makes me feel easier about my investment:

From the standpoint of health and comfort, the bed is the most important single article of furniture in the house, and it deserves all the consideration that it can be given, both when you come to select it and when you start to care for it. By bed we mean box spring and mattress. The frame isn't at all important to your comfort; it serves only an esthetic purpose, but the best mattress and spring available will pay dividends in rest and health.

You can select a bed from any one of five different types and still have the utmost in comfort. A box spring is almost essential but there are good springs which are not boxed. The choice of a mattress depends upon you - whether you like a soft, downy bed or a hard, firm one. Up until a few years ago, the innerspring mattress was considered the best in comfort and durability but the development of the rubber foam type has been a serious challenge to the innerspring. Other health authorities recommend horsehair or cotton felt mattresses, but no matter which type is chosen it is always wise to buy one with a well-established name from a reputable dealer. There is no such thing as a bargain in a mattress.

With 60 years' hindsight, we know that innerspring mattresses were never completely eclipsed by rubber foam mattresses. Today's mattresses combine the best of both worlds - in most cases the innersprings are surrounded by various kinds of foam.

Did you know Serta's been around since the 1930s? Thirteen independent U.S. mattress factories banded together in 1931 under the name Sleeper, Inc. with plans to capture a share of the national market by manufacturing mattresses according to the same specifications and standards. They called their first mattress (the first tuftless mattress ever made) "Perfect Sleeper" and, though the company changed its own brand name to Serta during the early '40s, the Perfect Sleeper remained a hot commodity throughout the decade - and is still being sold today!

Well, my 21st-century Serta is supposed to be delivered today. You know how that goes. I'll probably be stuck at home most of the day waiting for the delivery people to arrive, but I'm going to make the most of that time by catching up on this weekend's housework. And I'm going to go to sleep tonight on my very own mattress. You know how they say you sleep better in your own bed... here's my chance to find out.

Daylight Discoveries

Last Saturday was the last time I did any real housekeeping, and I got a lot done - despite the fact that I was beginning to feel icky and my stomach turned over at the thought of eating the dinner I spend so much time preparing. Nevertheless, it was an interesting day and one I've been wanting to share some thoughts about ever since.

My sister was back in town, my babysitting duties were over for the time being, and I had shifted Thursday's cleaning-of-the-bedroom forward to Saturday morning. What a difference there is in housekeeping by day! It's amazing how much grime you can actually see when you're cleaning a room in broad daylight. I have a painted wooden nightstand in my bedroom and was startled to discover these rings of grime around the knobs. Where my fingers actually come in contact with the wood every time I pull a drawer open, I guess. It only took a damp cloth to clean them up, but *gasp* what other horrors must be sharing this apartment with me!

I've been trying to add a little something new to my routine in the bedroom each week. Here are the new steps added last week:

Dust high mouldings, door and window frames, window shades and Venetian blinds when necessary.

Dust high objects if necessary (mantels, high shelves, window sills, tops of bookcases, etc.).

Because I've been such a crummy housekeeper, I'm just going to take it for granted that these chores are always necessary. Better to be safe than sorry. Besides, my spartan living arrangements haven't left me very many of these kinds of things to dust as it is. No high mouldings, no window shades, no mantels, high shelves, or tops of bookcases. I do have some Venetian blinds that just attract dust like magnets. And my window sills were super grimy. Oh, yeah - here's another discovery I couldn't see when housekeeping at night: there were rusty colored stains on the wall beneath my window. Obviously water that had come in through the screen in the window at some point and dripped down the wall. I'd never seen them before cleaning the bedroom last Saturday! Just a wipe of the cloth and they were gone, but what a scary surprise.

One of the nicer surprises when cleaning during the day last weekend was hearing the sounds of cleaning coming from other apartments which look out on my courtyard. While I was unwinding the cord to my own vacuum, I could hear other people vacuuming their apartments. There was a kind of kinship in the fact that we were all spending this Saturday morning indoors making our homes a little happier. We tend to think of '40s housewives as leading isolated lives when they were at home day in and day out, but I'll bet they felt a kind of camaraderie as they watched their neighbors hanging the laundry out to dry or heard somebody in the building running a vacuum cleaner.

I did find a little clarification on the mattress turning question when I was reading the manual's tips on the care of innerspring mattresses:

Turn the mattress top to bottom one week, and end to end the next week.

Now if I could only think of a way to remember which direction I've turned the mattress the week before...

Sun and Air

My sister is home at last, so my niece is in good hands again - and I'm sick. I think I caught whatever virus Kitten was coping with, so I'm glad it held off until I could be sick on my own time. My routine took a hit on Thursday evening (I didn't get home until 1 a.m.) and again on Friday morning (just barely made it to work), but I'm taking it very easy this weekend. Trying to get lots of rest, but moving slowly through my accustomed chores. Did a little bit of Wednesday's marketing last night and this morning have just begun Thursday's weekly cleaning-of-the-bedroom.

Cleaning the bedroom isn't exactly a fast-paced chore. After stripping the beds and hanging the covers out to air, you tote your bric-a-brac out to wherever you're going to dust or polish it and bring your cleaning equipment and fresh linens into the bedroom. Then it's just a matter of waiting for fresh air to do its part of the job. You see, the mattress and pillows need to be aired, too. Now, if you were cleaning several bedrooms, you could probably work the timing out so that you were getting things started in each of your other rooms while you were waiting for the first room to be properly aired. Here are some guidelines from the manual for putting that fresh air to work:

Mattresses

Innerspring:

Sun and air once a week (strip off the bedding and open the windows wide for at least an hour).

Pillows

Air pillows at least once a month by placing them on chairs near an open window.

Bedding

Bedding should be aired at least once a week. Spread it over two chairs near an open window and leave it there for at least an hour. An occasional airing out of doors over a line is good for it. Choose a day when the weather is fair to warm.

My bedroom window is open and the blinds have been pulled so the mattress and pillows are getting as much fresh air as possible. I've hung my quilt and blanket over the railing outside on my landing, and I'll give them a good shake before bringing them inside. Get all the dust out. Apartment Land is not an ideal place for doing these kinds of chores - what I wouldn't give for an outdoor clothesline!!! - and I live in a city with a lot of crime, so I'm always a little worried my bed covers will disappear while they're airing!

Unless my appetite takes a nosedive, I'm going to try the first of my 1945 dinner menus this evening:

Steamed Rice

Buttered Carrots

Celery Cabbage Salad

Steamed Molasses Pudding

This is a weekday (Monday-Saturday) dinner with a few alterations. I'm omitting the meat course. 1940s home economists believed that each dinner should contain both a starchy vegetable or grain (potatoes, rice, etc.) and a bread. That's way too many carbs for me, so I'm going to have one or the other. Since my dessert is a bready-type dish, I'm going to opt for the Steamed Rice over the Enriched Bread this 'time round. The recommended beverages are Milk and Coffee. Do you drink a full glass of milk with your meals? It's been years since I did so, and though I'm not sure this is a good thing (am I really getting enough calcium?), the thought kind of icks me out after all this time. Coffee at breakfast is more than enough for me, so I think I'll just go with a glass of ice water at dinner. This time, anyway.

My hour is up and it's time to get to work making up the bed. Hey, if I'm going to be feeling under the weather all weekend, there's no place for recuperating like a fresh, clean bed!

Week Eleven: The Mission

I'm venturing into the hardest part of housekeeping for me: cleaning. Straightening up is one thing, laundry - you can't get away without doing that --- but cleaning is a whole new ballgame. It's always been something I do sporadically. When I get a burst of energy, when I've got guests coming over, when I just can't stand it any longer. This week's mission - and the missions for the next several weeks - are going to be super challenging.

Now, the authors of the manual suggest that the '40s housewife give each room in the house a daily cleaning shortly after breakfast. Once a week, she should return to each room and clean it more thoroughly. (The day of the week doesn't matter very much, but they do recommend once in passing that bedrooms and bathrooms be cleaned on Thursdays.) Since I work outside the home full time, I'm not going to be able to clean every room on a daily basis. My plan is to hit each room once a week and fold the daily and weekly chores into one.

This week - the bedroom. (There's only one in my place.) On Thursday evenings. The manual walks its readers, step by step, through daily and weekly cleaning routines for every room. I've blended the bedroom routines together and typed 'em up below. There are also several steps marked "if necessary" and "when necessary." What I've decided just for now is to skip those extra items while I work to make cleaning a habit. This is going to be a battle supreme with my inner slob, and I don't want to make things any harder on myself than necessary! So here it is - a barebones once-a-week housekeeping routine for the bedroom:

1. Remove all bed covers; stretch over end of bed, or over chairs, off the floor. Remove soiled bed linen; place near door to be taken out. Place mattress pad over chair near window to air.

2. Collect lamp bases, bric-a-brac and dressing table fittings that need polishing or washing, and dresser scarves to be laundered.

3. Bring in cleaning equipment: vacuum cleaner and attachments, dust mop, cleaning basket, dust cloth, damp cloth. Bring in fresh bed linens.

4. Turn mattress end for end. Make bed.

5. Brush draperies (or use brush attachment of vacuum cleaner). Dust mirrors, pictures, lighting fixtures, lamps, woodwork.

6. Dust radiators (covers and coils) or registers. Brush baseboard or use brush attachment of vacuum cleaner.

7. Remove cushions from upholstered furniture. Use brush attachment of vacuum cleaner on furniture (getting into all crevices) and cushions. Replace cushions. Straighten covers. Plump up pillows.

8. Dust furniture. Rub wood surfaces of furniture to polish. Wash glass table tops.

9. Use vacuum cleaner for cleaning of rugs and carpets.

10. Polish or wash accessories and return to place with other objects removed during cleaning.

11. Final touches: Straighten draperies, shades, curtains, etc. Take out cleaning equipment and waste basket. Bring back clean ash trays, accessories, flowers and waste basket. Close windows if desired.