Something to Dust

Dust high objects if necessary: mantels, high shelves, window frames and sills, tops of bookcases, secretary, highboys, etc.

In the living room - just as in the bedroom - cleaning is a top-to-bottom kind of business. The Manual advises starting by cleaning the hearth and laying a new fire. It's the messiest job of the day by far. The housewife works from the top down --- dusting the highest objects in the room on which dust might settle, dealing next with upholstered and other "low" furnishings, then finally the carpet. For now, I don't have a stitch of high furnishings to dust. The only item on my list here is the frame around my living room window. Everything else is shorter than I am!

As much as I love having one less thing to do, I'm hoping this won't be the case for long. I've been feeling nest-y lately and my apartment badly needs some redecorating. I should make that "decorating," because I've been just kinda perched here since moving to the Southwest two years ago. My sister had recently gotten married and had some older furniture she needed temporary storage for - so it's worked out nicely for us both. I got a few pieces to fill my little place with and she got some space she so desperately needed with a baby on the way. Ever since then, I've been unsure how long I'd stay here, so didn't want to stock up on fabulous furnishings and things that I'd have a hard time moving cross-country again. Fast forward two years... My parents have just purchased a small home here where they're planning on coming for the winters. (Can't resist those grandbabies!) So I guess I'm here for awhile.

One nice thing about living in a city this size is that there are lots of places to shop vintage. Including at least three large-ish vintage furniture stores within a fifteen-minute drive. I've got some shopping to do! In the meantime, how 'bout a little furniture porn. I'm aiming for a late Art Deco/moderne look when it comes to my living room. Here's some of the inspiration that makes me weak in the knees...


Pair of Skyscraper End Tables (1928)
Dynamique Creations, Grand Rapids, Michigan




Coffee Table (1930s)
Modernage Furniture Company, New York City




French Reclining Club Chairs (1930s)




Danish Secretary





American Club Chair and Sofa Set (1930s)



...and since money isn't an object while I'm fantasizing - check out this piece of cheesecake!


French Cabinet (1930s)

Hot Air

Have you cleaned your radiators lately?

Dust radiators (covers and coils) or registers; clean thoroughly when necessary.

My bedroom is due for its monthly cleaning tonight, so I'm headed in there shortly to strip the bedcovers and get things started. The first time I came across any mention of cleaning radiators or registers in the bedroom, I said, "Hurrah! That's one chore I can cross off the list." My 1980s apartment doesn't have anything of the kind. I do, however, have a vent-y kinda thingamajig in each room as well as a larger one [maybe a return register?] in my hallway. The more I read up on the care recommended for radiators or registers, the more I realize how important it was that the vents to my own joint heating/cooling system be properly dusted and cleaned. Here's an excerpt from America's Housekeeping Book (1945):

RADIATORS

Exposed radiators must be kept clean for the protection of walls, curtains and draperies. During the season when the heat is on, this special cleaning should be done once a week. In the summer months less frequent cleaning is needed.

If you are not using a vacuum cleaner for cleaning, place dry newspaper under the radiator to protect the floor. Cover this with a layer of dampened newspaper. Brush the coils downward with a radiator brush, so that the dust collects on the damp paper. Fold the paper carefully and dispose of it.

If you have a vacuum cleaner, use the blower attachment to dislodge the dust and blow it downward. Then use the suction attachment to gather the dust into the bag. The dampened paper may be used if desired, but is not really necessary.


The exposed radiator took up a lot of space in this living room.

Recessed radiators are not a dust problem during the season when they are in use, because air passes through them so rapidly that dust does not collect. In the summer, dust is apt to settle on them, and they should be cleaned every two or three weeks. Most recessed radiators have removable fronts which facilitate cleaning, and many have an arch at the base which admits the vacuum cleaner. The method for cleaning is the same as for exposed radiators.


Just to the right of the door, you can see a recessed radiator set into the wall.

HOT AIR REGISTERS

Once-a-week cleaning should be the rule, during the months when registers are in use, and at least every two weeks during the summer.

Spread dry newspapers on the floor and cover them with a layer of dampened newspapers. Lift the grating from the register and set it on the damp paper. Brush the grating and the opening to the hot air shaft, or use the suction attachment of the vacuum cleaner which does a much more thorough cleaning job.

I've never lived in any homes with radiators - recessed or otherwise - still intact, but I did live in a turn-of-the-century home in New Hampshire during my early twenties where the furnace pushed heat through cast-iron registers laid in the floors of various rooms. If you just couldn't shake the cold on a winter's day, all you had to do was stand near one of those registers when the heat came on. Whoosh! You'd be warm in an instant. Those registers must've been awful heavy to remove for cleaning, though.

Home heating technology may have changed dramatically over the last sixty years, but dust hasn't. The vents in my apartment are more similar to the "hot air registers" of yesteryear than to radiators. There's no steam involved, for one. Between the heat needed during our brief winter and the air conditioning needed the rest of the year, my vents are always on the job --- so I'd say they need a good dusting with the vacuum cleaner once a week. Once a month, they could probably use a cleaning with a warm, soapy rag. The vents also appear to be removable - though I haven't tried that myself! - so it might be a good idea to get in there on a seasonal basis and vac around the opening to the shaft.

7 + 4 = 11

A week or so ago, I was studying up on dusting painted walls and learned that - instead of buying a dust mop especially for that purpose - you could fashion a sort of "apron" for the head of the broom out of a piece of flannel and use that to softly sweep the dust from your bedroom walls. Well, yesterday I was giving the bathroom its special monthly cleaning and came across that chore once again in The Manual. I was playing around with a flannel dusting cloth and realized that I could actually fashion a kind of kerchief for my broom. I centered the cloth across the end of the broom head and held down the piece facing me while I pulled both of the sides together and tied them. My broom looked a little bit like a woman of the '40s heading off to work at the war plant! And most importantly it did the job.

Another little thrill this past week has been the success I had with a recipe called Graham Gems. Imagine all the goodness of home-baked biscuits with the added heartiness of whole grains. To die for... The recipe starts out with a basic Baking Powder Biscuit dough, only you substitute one cup graham flour for one cup sifted flour.

***************************************

BAKING POWDER BISCUITS

2 cups sifted flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold shortening
2/3 cup cold milk

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and cut in shortening with 2 knives or a pastry blender. Add milk and mix quickly. Knead for a few seconds on a lightly floured board...

****************************************

You could stop there, pop 'em in the oven, and they'd be perfect. But the recipe for Graham Gems actually calls for a little more creativity. I didn't have 8 to 10 custard cups on hand, so I used a muffin tin and they turned out fine. I guess they're supposed to look a little like gemstones --- maybe if you squint your eyes. Like I said, though, you could just cut them with a biscuit cutter and bake at the same temperature and they'd be just as delicious. Super easy, too. I made these on a work morning.

****************************************

GRAHAM GEMS - Roll dough 1/3 inch thick... and cut into 2-inch strips. Place 4 strips one on top of the other. Cut into pieces 1 3/4 inches long. Place each of these sections upright in buttered custard cup. Bake in hot oven (425 degrees F.) 15 to 20 minutes or until browned. Makes 8 to 10.

****************************************

It's been nearly two weeks since I added some limbering and stretching exercises to my morning routine, so it's high time I gave them a little attention in my blog. I do the first exercise before I get out of bed. In fact, I'm usually still partly asleep. My legs most certainly do not go over my head, but it really works the abdominal muscles just raising the legs until they're perpendicular to the body - then lowering them:

1. Before you get out of bed in the morning, do this routine five times: stretch body out with arms out at sides. Lift both legs simultaneously as high as you can, even, if you can, over your head; then down again, slowly.

I do the next several exercises while I'm sipping my morning glass of water and am still in my nightclothes. None of these next exercises really instructs you as to an exact number of reps, so I've been doing five of each. No. 2 opens up the ribcage and probably works the abs as well when done slowly and carefully:

2. Here is a good stretching exercise that helps to develop the bust and improves the posture and figure generally: Stand with feet slightly apart, arms down at sides. Stretch arms in front up and over the head slowly as far as you can, without straining, then slowly return to original position. Repeat this several times.

I haven't quite felt No. 3 working anything more than my waist as yet, but I'm open to some improvement in the hips!

3. To improve hips and waist and improve general line of figure: (A) Stand with feet slightly apart, abdomen in, seat well down, fingers interlaced and raised high over head, arms making a frame for the face. Keep face framed by arms throughout exercise, and body absolutely steady from waist down. (B) Swing forward till body and arms are horizontal. Swing body round to right side and travel upwards till arms are over head once more. (C) Turn to the left and swing the body round and down till body and arms are once again horizontal, as in B.

No. 4 makes me yawn. In a good way. I do feel more awake after doing this exercise:

4. The first exercise is for the purpose of air washing the lungs and keeping the chest in form: Stand erect, feet fairly far apart; clasp your hands behind your neck. Force the head and elbows back, inhale through the nostrils, expel the air through the lips. Breathe in as the head goes back; exhale as you return to first position.

You gotta love deep knee bends! All of the advice I've heard by fitness experts in my own lifetime comes back to me now in bits and pieces. In the '80s, my sisters and I would work out in the basement to a Jane Fonda record of our mom's. ("Bridge over Troubled Waters" was the cool-down track.) By the '90s, step aerobics were all the rage and I remember working out with Denise Austin on TV and ordering her step and weights set on QVC. Jane and Denise alike cautioned women at home to be sure the legs were positioned far enough apart and the knees slightly bent before doing exercises like this one:

5. This for keeping waist, thighs and hips slender. Stand tall, hands on hips. Lift on your toes, let the knees spread, lower your body until you are in a squatting position, buttocks resting on the heels. Rise slowly.

Allow plenty of space when doing this exercise or your liable to hit something with your arms! The last few words are great advice. The more conscious you are of the movements you're making, the better you're probably working the muscles. If you zip thru the motions, you may not get all the benefits of doing fewer reps more slowly.

6. Wig-wagging exercise for keeping bust and arms normal: Stand tall, lift the hands high and far back. Swing the hips from one side to the other, stretching the arms full length, keeping fingers and thumbs spread. Use your muscles. Be conscious of them. Mere movements don’t mean a thing. It must be a real workout.

I'm not sure if it's the humidity or the limbering-and-stretching or the smaller portions at dinner, but something's working. I weighed in this morning at 183! According to my scale, that's 4 lbs. lost in the last 6 days. HIP HIP HOORAY!!! I thought I'd celebrate with this wonderful series of photos from a 1940 LIFE magazine pictorial on reducing salons. (And I thought Bally's didn't look like fun.)

Wax On, Wax Off

Now that I've got my housekeeping routines for the bedroom just so, it's time to begin fleshing out my routines for the kitchen. Up 'til this point, it's been just about following the routine in America's Housekeeping Book (1945) to the letter. It's high time I turned my attention to some of the missing pieces in the puzzle.

The floors, for example. Dusting, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, waxing --- floor maintenance is addressed in the "skeleton housekeeping schedule" for every other room of the house, but when it comes to setting forth daily and weekly housekeeping routines for the kitchen, they aren't even mentioned. But for this single clue: just before the housewife finishes her daily chores in the kitchen, she's advised to rinse her mop; "hang outdoors if possible." After the kitchen gets its weekly cleaning, the mop is to be washed, rinsed, and scalded and - again - hung outdoors to dry.

Happily, there's an entire chapter dedicated to floors, though I can't say my no-wax vinyl flooring really fits any of the categories of flooring addressed in the book. I guess linoleum is the closest I'm going to get.

Daily: Dust with an untreated mop. The areas near work surfaces in the kitchen may need to be damp-mopped every day.

Weekly care of a linoleum floor depended on the type of wax you used (paste or liquid vs. self-polishing):

• Women who used a paste or liquid wax on their linoleum were instructed just to use a vacuum cleaner, "soft hair broom," or untreated mop to remove dust. Otherwise, the floor only needed to be washed twice a year after the old coat of wax was removed and before a new coat was applied.
  
  
• Women who used a self-polishing wax on their linoleum were instructed to use a damp mop at least once a week. "Kitchen floors may need to be washed once a week or oftener." Self-polishing wax was presumably a less sturdy product as it needed to be reapplied on a monthly basis.

I know I've been living under a rock when it comes to housekeeping, but I don't think I can get away with washing my kitchen floor once every six months. So I'll follow the instructions for the self-polished waxers. Kinda. The '40s housewife may have had the time to dust and damp mop her kitchen floors on a daily basis, but it's going to be a weekly chore in this household --- and until I invest in a dust mop, my broom will have to do. The floor should probably be thoroughly scrubbed once a month when I give the kitchen its intensive monthly cleaning.

What's your routine when it comes to floor care for the kitchen? I'll bet those old linoleum floors were tough as nails to keep clean. Have you ever lived in a home where you had to wax the kitchen floors?

From the Top Down

When I began giving my bedroom a weekly cleaning last February, my round of chores was pretty bare bones. I've been fleshing it out ever since and have finally come up against the last of the bunch - the one I was avoiding. This chore was recommended by The Manual on a weekly basis. For me, it's going to be a monthly chore:

Brush ceilings and walls when necessary.

I've been puzzling over this one for awhile now. Standing in the brooms-and-mops aisle of every store I've been into - gazing at all the tools and trying to decide which would do the job. Luckily, The Manual devoted a chapter to "Walls, Ceilings and Woodwork" - so back to the book I went. Time to study...

It is extremely important that walls be dusted regularly and often if more difficult cleaning tasks are to be avoided. Walls that are neglected in this respect soon acquire a film of greasy dust that attracts and holds still more dust and which inevitably becomes embedded and difficult to remove.

The only exception to this rule occurs in the case of papered walls. In soft coal regions or industrial sections dusting papered walls is not advised, because soot will be grimed into the paper no matter what method of dusting is used. An annual cleaning with a dough-type cleaner is recommended.

In other regions where dust and cobwebs are the only problem, papered walls may be dusted with the suction attachment of the vacuum cleaner.

There are three tools for dusting walls:

1. A soft wall brush of hair, nylon, lamb's wool, yarn or sponge rubber, with a long handle.
2. A fiber or corn broom covered with an "apron" of soft clean cloth, such as cotton flannel.
3. The dusting attachment of the vacuum cleaner. If you have this attachment use it, by all means, because it eliminates any scattering of dust.

Work from the top down, giving special attention to high mouldings. There is one exception to this rule: if cobwebs are present, whether they are spider webs or dust cobwebs, remove them with an upward lifting stroke to avoid streaking the walls. Cobwebs of any sort are sticky, and if they are pulled down against the wall they will leave a trail of dirt that is hard to remove.

The hose on my little bag-less vacuum works just fine when I'm using attachments to clean something near or along the floor, but I certainly can't stretch it high enough to reach the upper parts of my walls. There were some lovely extension dusting tools in the stores - complete with pictures of happy people dusting their ceiling fans on the packaging - but I hate bringing home another one of those tools with plastic handles. And that's practically all you can find these days. I didn't mind purchasing a new mop or broom back when they all had wooden handles. You know that's going to break down someday at a dump somewhere and return to the earth. But all those plastic handles... Eek! They'll be here long after the human race has run its course. Alien scientists will spend their summers doing digs on the third planet from the sun and have to presume that Swiffer was the name of some ancient god - and that ancient peoples were performing some sort of religious ritual in waving these brightly colored sticks about.

I've kind of settled on option #2, laying a flannel dusting cloth over the top of my broom and using that to dust the walls. It's not terribly efficient, though, as I keep having to readjust the cloth. (And how to dust "from the top down" when you get down to about the height of your waist? I find myself having to dust from side to side at that point.) What kinds of tools and methods do y'all use when dusting your walls? Should I be using a larger piece of flannel - something big enough that I can literally tie it up around the top of my broom? Maybe that's what the authors of The Manual meant in calling that an "apron." I see this chore popping up on the list for my bathroom as well as my living room, so I want to get it right.

Any ideas for brushing the ceiling? My ceiling has a pebbly kind of finish, so my improvised tool doesn't work at all on this part of the job... And is the tool in the foreground of the photo below the one this Illinois housewife was using in 1941 to dust the ceiling and walls of her living room?



Well, it's time to fly. One more push in cleaning the bathroom and I can have all my drudgiest chores out of the way in time for the Sabbath. (My Saturday hasn't been all work! I spent the afternoon having a lovely picnic in the mountains with my sister and nieces.) Here's my newly revised weekly housekeeping routine for the bathroom:

Open windows top and bottom for free circulation of air.

Pick up and replace small articles belonging in bathroom.

Gather up to take out soiled linen (to hamper, if dry), and articles belonging in other rooms. Collect trash in waste basket. Roll up bath mat or rug.

Wipe mirror.

Wipe tile behind washbowl and tub.

Clean bathtub and metal fixtures (be sure to wipe shower fixtures and clean soap holder).

Clean toilet bowl with brush. Wipe outside of bowl and closet with cloth used for that purpose only.

Clean washbowl (be sure to wipe base as well as top; also clean soap holder).

Straighten towels and wash cloths. Put out fresh linen.

Sweep floor. Gather up dust in pan.

Floor should be washed.

Replace bath mat or rug. Close windows in cold or damp weather.

Damp Dusting

Since I began giving my bedroom a thorough weekly cleaning, I've been gradually adding more and more of the "if necessary" and "when necessary" tasks to my list of chores. What started out as a barebones type of routine has become quite fleshed out, and these days I'm down to the last few of these optional items. One of the missing pieces to the puzzle was the housekeeping required for my only piece of wooden furniture in the bedroom - a white painted wooden nightstand. The manual recommends that housewives "apply wax or polish when necessary," but should painted furniture be waxed or polished? I didn't think so. I've been dusting it every week --- are there any extra steps I can take to keep it in good condition? It took some hunting, but I finally found a brief passage on the care of painted furniture.

Wood or metal furniture that is finished with good quality washable paint is easy to care for. Of course it must be dusted regularly with a clean, soft untreated duster, and occasionally it will benefit by damp dusting with a soft cloth wrung almost dry of clear lukewarm water.

Excessive soil may be removed with mild scouring powder... or with a good commercial paint cleaner.

I'm not sure how durable the coat of paint on this piece is, but it is flaking off a bit on the drawer knobs. So I'm thinking it's probably not the sturdiest of paint jobs! I think I'll make that "damp dusting" a seasonal job rather than trying to do it on even a monthly basis... Here's another of the chores recommended on an as needed basis for bedroom furnishings:

Polish metal hardware if necessary.

While I tie on an apron and scurry off to work, I'll leave you with some pictures of American bedrooms of the era.





This last is a 1944 photograph of a bedroom in an Indianapolis home lovingly cared for by the mother of a gunner's mate in the Navy, gone to war. How carefully she must have worked as she moved about this one room - dusting, polishing, plumping the pillows...

Lighting Up

Have you cleaned your lighting fixtures lately?

One of the tasks at hand every week when I clean my bedroom - every other week when cleaning my kitchen - is dusting the lighting fixtures and washing them when necessary. In the bedroom, this is limited to just the single incandescent lighting fixture on my wall. I have two lighting fixtures in the kitchen --- a rectangular flourescent fixture near the sink and an incandescent globe in the ceiling fan. None of the fixtures is very hard to clean (though I could definitely use a sturdy step stool), but I haven't checked my manual yet to review the instructions on this task. Let's take a look...

A coating of dust on light bulbs and globes reduces the amount of light to a considerable degree. It is economical therefore, to keep bulbs and globes clean so that you get the amount of light you are paying for.

Before the fixtures themselves are cleaned, turn off the current and remove shades, bulbs, etc. Then use the dusting tool of the vacuum cleaner or a duster to clean the fixture.

Wipe the bulbs with a damp cloth, being careful not to get the metal section wet. Dry thoroughly. If the bulbs are extremely dirty, hold each one by the metal end and dip the glass in warm soapsuds. Rinse in clear water in the same fashion. Dry carefully with a clean soft cloth. Always be certain that the bulbs are perfectly dry before replacing them.

If the bulbs still look very dark after they have been cleaned, they should be replaced with new ones.

Did the authors of the manual intend that this advice should apply to cleaning flourescent bulbs as well? I leafed through the chapter on lighting in the home and the word "flourescent" is never referenced. They do mention "recessed tubular lighting" being especially handy above the kitchen sink. Flourescents were just becoming available to American consumers, but the manual seems to ignore them - only advising its readers on how to deal with bulbs with a single metal end.

If I could add one bit of advice to the manual, it would be this: be sure the light bulb is thoroughly cooled before you even attempt to remove it from the fixture! I haven't yet cleaned any of my light bulbs, but I touched one by accident while dusting the fixture. Ouch. The light fixture in my bedroom gets dusted with a rag and washed with soap and water once a week. The bulb in this case is not enclosed, so it could probably use a washing itself once a month. I've been dusting the globe in my kitchen ceiling fan, but keep forgetting about the flourescent fixture. The bulbs inside both these fixtures should be virtually free of dust as they're both enclosed. One of these weeks, I would like to clean the blades of the ceiling fan when I'm dusting the globe. They're very dirty. I'm not sure how often that'll have to be done, but I'm sure the maintenance won't be too tough after I clean them the first time.

Appliance-topia

I've just picked up a new filter for my vacuum cleaner and I'm looking forward to beating back the dust in my bedroom this evening. It's startling to realize how much dust collects in that room over the course of a week. (After all, I hadn't cleaned my bedroom in several months when I added it to my housekeeping routine!) Even in only seven days, this fine accumulation of dust settles on every surface. Including the carpet, I'm sure - though it's not visible. I feel a bit like a soldier patrolling the perimeter of my territory when I'm in there with my dustrag and vacuum cleaner. Once a week, I don my uniform (a flowered apron will do nicely, thank you), arm myself with weapons, and head out into the wilds to keep the enemy at bay...

In other household appliance news, I solved a mystery about my iron that's been nagging at me. Every week, about the time I had only one or two pieces left to iron, it would suddenly start to cool and the water inside would started leaking out. I'd turn the heat down, take the plug out of the electric outlet, plug it back in, try to reheat it - nothing. Tried a new outlet and that seemed to work once in restarting the iron. It's not an old iron. The only thing I could think of was that it might be one of those automatic shut-off irons and I was taking too long to finish the work. So it happened again last night and - just when I started cursing - I poked at this button on the handle which is usually lit up. And it worked! The iron heated right back up... I'm still not sure what happened, but I'm happy I've found a way to coax the iron to get back to work again. I guess I'm a slow ironer!

Have any of you ever come across a recipe for Chili Dressing? My vintage dinner menu for this weekend includes a Chili Dressing for the salad and the cookbook doesn't have a recipe for that particular dressing. They do have a Chili Sauce Mayonnaise dressing and both the Russian and Thousand Island dressing recipes contain chili sauce, but nothing specifically called Chili Dressing. I may substitute one of these other recipes, but I thought I'd see if any of my dear readers have any ideas. Here's the full menu:

French Fried Potatoes
Beets
Tossed Greens with Tomato
Chili Dressing
Banana Ice Cream
Molasses Cookies

This is a Friday night menu, so the non-vegetarian dish I'm omitting is a baked fish. If I can find some Banana Ice Cream at the supermarket, I'll make that my store-bought contribution. If I can't find any, I'll skip the Ice Cream and treat myself to some canned Beets. The whole Beets are so hard to clean up after!

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...

Housework and Childcare

The last few days have been frazzled ones. My niece (I'll call her Kitten) has been sick with a virus since the day her mother left. Poor thing! My brother-in-law and I took her to the emergency room last night as we were getting really worried about dehydration, but the doctor told us she was in good shape and the virus would just have to run its course. We just have to keep finding creative ways to get her to drink, drink, drink. And with a toddler - even with a low energy level - the last thing they want to do is be in the dreaded bed, so she's still up and about. I've been trying to find lots of quiet things we can do indoors. Just this morning, I'm starting to feel a little peaked, so I'm afraid I've caught the virus myself and won't be of much help in a day or two.

The first evening I was there, Kitten was still feeling pretty good. As I tried to wash up the dinner dishes while she was playing in the living room, I couldn't help thinking about housework as it relates to childcare. Mothers of small children really have to be quite creative and flexible in order to get anything done. It seems to be all about corraling them where you can watch them long enough to do a few dishes here, a load of laundry there. Naptime or bedtime seems like it would be a great time to get things done, but Kitten's nursery is on the same floor as the kitchen and living room, so I don't want to make too much noise until she's sound asleep. (It'll sound too much like there's some party she's missing!) Besides, I found myself taking a nap at naptime yesterday.

The manual mentions children frequently. The authors recognized how important it was in designing or redesigning work spaces that mothers be able to keep an eye on their children at all times. "One end of the kitchen, away from dangerous areas near the range, can sometimes be reserved for play space." Here, a "low cupboard" could be set aside for toys or "cooking equipment" with which children might safely play. They encouraged mothers to find housekeeping tasks that children could help with even when it made the job a bit longer:

Small children are always intrigued by the work that is done in the kitchen. Almost invariably they want to "help," and if this urge is understood and valued, the children will find tremendous satisfaction in cooperative work, besides feeling "wanted," which is important to happy family relationships. Then, too, the educational value of guided cooperative work is an important factor in child training.

The laundry room is also a space where mothers had to spend a significant amount of time before the process was better automated. An "enclosed play space" was recommended for this room so that babies and toddlers could amuse themselves under Mother's watchful eye. Older children could play outdoors, but a window should look out on the yard so that Mother could keep an eye on them, too.

A whole chapter is dedicated to furnishing rooms for children - from nurseries for infants to rooms for adolescents. The authors of the manual advise their readers, though, that children should spend most of their time with the family. By the 1940s, the age of nannies and governesses was long gone in the U. S., and mothers were expected to be the primary caregivers for their youngest children. Living rooms should also contain "child centers":

"A table, chairs, and shelves for toys and games can be assembled inexpensively..."

Here, on my own child-less home front, I've been getting along pretty smoothly. I moved Thursday's cleaning-of-the-bedroom to Friday evening. It occurred to me while dusting that it's no coincidence the manual instructs the housewife to dust everything before vacuuming. All that dust that's been building up on surfaces high and low should be lightly settled on the carpet before it's vacuumed. I also realized that my dust rag didn't get near as dirty this week as it did last week. If you're dusting your bedrooms every week, your cleaning materials will be easier to wash themselves.

I didn't plan my morning very wisely yesterday and ran out of time before making my bed. When I got home from the hospital, I was feeling so blue I skipped the evening routine entirely, but I wasn't too blue to notice how much it crapped to be climbing into an unmade bed. It's amazing how quickly I've become accustomed to that little luxury!

A-Tisket, A-Tasket

One of the guiding principles of housecleaning in the 1940s seems to be that you make as few trips back and forth from one room to another. You carry about your tools and equipment, dirty dishes, or bric-a-brac on trays or in baskets. Whatever it takes to save you an extra step. And so one of the first steps in cleaning bedrooms on Thursdays is to tote your vacuum cleaner and basket of supplies into the bedroom. "With a cleaning basket, there will be no need for hurried trips back to the source of supply for forgotten items." This certainly saves some time with one bedroom, but it'd be an extra big help if you had several bedrooms and maybe a nursery to clean!

The authors of the manual suggest using a "small inexpensive open market basket with a handle." To fit all your supplies comfortably, it should be at least 12 inches in length, 10 1/2 inches wide, and 8 inches deep. Here's a list of recommended tools and supplies:

Whisk broom or upholstery brush (for brushing draperies and upholstery)
Small soft brush (for dusting carving, etc.)
1 treated dustcloth (for daily dusting)
2 cheesecloth squares (for washing and drying woodwork)
Cotton waste (for applying polishes and cleansers)
1 flannel polishing cloth (for rubbing or polishing)
1 cellulose sponge (for washing woodwork, walls, etc.)
Art-gum eraser (for removing soiled spots from walls or from lampshades)
Wallpaper cleanser (dough-type or pad)
Furniture polish or lemon oil or wax
Mild scouring powder or whiting
Paint cleaner
Carbon tetrachloride (4-ounce bottle)
Oil of peppermint
Scissors

Are you stocked up? I'm not sure if I even have a basket to my name, but I'll rummage about a bit and see what I can find. As for supplies, I've got a sponge, some scouring powder (Comet), and a pair of scissors. That's it. I'm clearly underprepared for housekeeping. Hey, maybe that's why it's so painful to me... Interested in making some of your own treated dustcloths? Here's a recipe:

Treated Dusters

1 pint hot water
1/4 cup lemon oil

Combine hot water and lemon oil. Dip 4-5 cheesecloth squares (20" by 20") in solution. Press solution through cloth thoroughly. Squeeze out all excess moisture. Dry thoroughly.

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.