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?