Washing the Dishes

This week’s selection is from a high school home economics book, but I don’t think I had to wait that long to learn how to do this fairly common childhood chore. My mom had me scraping and scrubbing dishes at a much younger age! For those of you still a bit clueless about this particular […]

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Laundry, at Home

I’m a bit obsessed with cleaning lately, can you tell? It might have something to do with the recent installation of a sump pump in my basement apartment. Let’s just say that jackhammers create quite a bit of dust, hence my interest in this subject. Elizabeth Craig offers this bit of advice in her 1000 Household […]

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The Vacuum Cleaner

To think, all my life I’ve been nonchalantly cleaning floors without a second thought about the machine that truly does all the work ~ the one, the only… 1941: The Vacuum Cleaner A. Use. 1. Adjust the nozzle to rug or floor unless adjustment is automatic. To test for correct adjustment, place the cleaner on […]

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The Smart and Tidy Maid

Lita Prince and Harriet Bonnet wrote Maidcraft: A Guide for the One-Maid Household for the “mistress” of the house. With sections on housework, table service, the laundry, and care of the children, the authors suggest that “you may want to hand it over to your maid to read ~ either some of it or all of […]

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He’s a Bust With Dust!

Q Dear Miss Abigail: How do you train your husband to help around the house? I’ve asked him, pleaded with him, threatened him, but he still can’t “see” the mess around him and will not take the initiative to clean it up. We both work out of the home with competitive salaries, and I feel […]

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First Aid to Orderliness

I’ve been making a big mess this week hand-making invitations to my sister’s upcoming baby shower. It’s been quite the project, and the remaining clippings of paper and ribbon are still covering my coffee table. (I don’t know why I don’t just buy invitations!) Perhaps these tips, from Mother’s Own Book, will help me keep a little […]

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The Husband as Lover

This was originally posted as the wedding of my baby sister approached, with thoughts of love and marriage obviously been on my mind. This excerpt is from the 1940 edition of the ever-informative and open-minded Happiness in Marriage, by none other than the founder of the birth control movement, Margaret Sanger. 1940: The Husband as Lover […]

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