More on Homemaking

Tammy shared her routine with us and I thought you'd like to see that comment.

Monday - kitchen day - clean out the refrigerator, quick inventory of the pantry, prep food for the week including baking, then cleaning of counters, floors, and straightening cupboards and drawers as needed.

Tuesday - deep cleaning day - weekly rotation of concentrating on "zones" which include living/dining, bedrooms, bathrooms, porches/garage/car.

Wednesday - laundry day - we do laundry daily, but this is the catch-up day. I do our sheets, rugs, any odds and ends in the laundry room. I also take this day to clean the laundry room and check inventory of supplies.


Thursday - office day - work in the den, pay bills, do correspondence, etc.

Friday - errand day - I have to go to town on Friday mornings to do some things at work, so I do my errands then, too. These include grocery shopping, library, post office, dropping off donations, any other shopping that needs done.

Saturday and Sunday are catch-up and rest days. Lots of times I work one or the other or both days, so instead of assigning chores, those days are open to just whatever needs doing.

There are daily tasks, of course, like dishes and keeping the bathrooms picked up and neat. The kids help out before bed by picking up their things. This summer they'll have a daily/weekly chore list to get done before any pool time or library programs.


Debby added this on the Good Housekeeping Book post:
I was happy to read that about dissolving the soap in hot water before adding clothes. I always do that. I have this odd hanger I use as a stirring stick! I also always use hot water to soak undies since they drip dry. I read an article about bacteria, EColi, etc. and it said that it took hot water about 20 minutes to kill them. Or a hot dryer. Since my *new* undies are almost 4 yrs. old and still in pretty good shape, I'll assume I'm doing okay lol. Not using the dryer makes a big difference in how well the elastic does.

Debby in KS
P.S. Did the blogging world change how you can sign your name at the end? I can no longer post on If You do Stuff....there's no "anonymous" anymore. :( I noticed several blogs have changed.

Debby, I'm not sure about the posting problem.  Rhonda reads here and will take note.  It may be a setting she had to put on her blog due to spam woes.  Those spammers are a real pain and often come in under Anonymous.

Bed bugs, lice, and MRSA are best dealt with in HOT water washes, as well.  I know this from first hand experience, unfortunately.   It is a misfortune that in John's work he gets exposed to lots of stuff and in turn we at home get to be exposed as well, no matter how careful he may be.

From Sarah
The newer washing machines will not let you put in detergent then add clothes. You put the clothe in and the detergent in the opening for it and shut the door. No way to use Oxi clean cause you can't put it in first either. New is not always good. :-)  

I have a very good old 1920s novel that is all about a women in her first year of marriage and her housekeeping and friends.

The title is: A Thousand ways to Please a Husband with Bettina's Best Recipes. You can find all about it on Amazon and I saw one of the sites had a Kindle edition. It might be found on line too. It contains 1001 recipes or some such number. There are other Bettina's recipe books. I bought two other original ones hoping they too had more of the stories but they just had recipes. :( If anyone knows of any of the other Bettina's books with stories or other good homemaking books please let us all know! You will Love this book though. She talks of using a fireless cooker. I found one mentioned in an old magazine. Like a hay box where you get the food hot and then put it in a lined box to finish cooking. Some had hot tiles that went round the food. It was her crock pot of those years. Look this books up and let us know what you think. :) Sarah

Sarah I noted that about the washing machine that Sam and Bess have.  It's one of those non-agitator types.  I didn't do the soap right.  I was supposed to put in a dispenser and I dropped it in with the clothes.  I had just about learned how to do it all properly when I came home to my old standard washer.

Sarah left two comments.  She had to go look up her book to get the title for us so I blended the comments..   I checked online and the Bettina book is available from Amazon and several other sellers for all price points imaginable.   On Amazon the kindle version is just a bit over $2 and it looks like they reprinted the out of print book with a new cover  for a little under $10. 

I haven't checked eBay which is usually my first port of call when I'm looking up older books.  I'd love to find an original copy and there you often can and for good prices.

Carolyn @ Our Gilded Abode  shared these books.  I believe someone else mentioned Martha Stewart's book as well...

 A few books that I've found helpful are "America's Housekeeping Book" (compiled by the New York Herald Tribune Home Institute) from 1941. A couple of others, though not vintage, are "Home Comforts - The Art and Science of Keeping House" by Cheryl Mendelson, and of course, Martha Stewart's "Homekeeping Handbook." Such great resources. Thank you again for all the practical tips and info you share - I always look forward to them!

I looked up the older book American's Housekeeping Book and it is still available for a reasonable enough price.  Again, I haven't checked eBay but

Just because it's a good hint I thought I'd share this tidbit from Becky who is very aware of her schedule and how it affects the home:

On Mondays and Tuesdays, I try to get some food cooked and set out in a crock pot or ready to warm for Rob and whichever girl or girls are home that day because I am gone into the evening at work. Today, Ja'Ana packed Rob and the girls a nice lunch in a pail to take with them. They went and did some errands, including getting another van load of firewood from my sister's farm, while I was at work. 

I am glad so many of you had comments to make on this series.  Thank you all for sharing!