Making a Schedule

I've just taken the linens off my bed and I'm getting ready to launch my new mission. So in lieu of a post of my own tonight, I thought I'd share an interesting bit on creating a housekeeping schedule from America's Housekeeping Book (1945). It strikes me that the 1940s housewife was probably not quite as overachieving as the housewife we envision during the '50s (or the Super Moms of the '80s, for that matter). She didn't expect to be able to do it all herself and to have a perfect home at every phase of her life.

How to go about making a schedule? First write down the jobs that need to be done every day. Next write down the tasks that need to be done on a particular day of the week. Then make a simple chart, and write down each job at the day and hour when it is most convenient to work it in...

No two homes are exactly alike, and different conditions affect the work schedule. If there is a small baby, the whole household schedule must be built around the schedule which the doctor prescribes for the baby, and more often than not there is very little time left for housework, particularly if household help is not employed. A recent study showed that the care of a new baby takes 5 hours and 41 minutes every day. But after all, baby's well-being is of far more importance than any other phase of housekeeping, and if some other work has to be neglected or done less thoroughly, this state of affairs should be accepted philosophically.

Young children, children of school age, an invalid or elderly person to be cared for all necessitate special adjustments in work schedules. If one or more household helpers are employed, their work schedules must dovetail with the homemaker's.