How To Keep House

I love books. I love everything about books. I love the mystery, the romance, the scent and feel of a book. I have a quirky habit of browsing my bookcases every so often. As I have at least one bookcase in every room of the house except the bathrooms, I often come across a book I’ve forgotten about. Recently, as I browsed the bookcases in the living room (all seven of them), I ran across one of those forgotten books. This particular book was purchased at a yard sale for a dime. A dime? For a hardcover book? In the year 2008??? Oh what treasures await our discovery.

The book I ran across immediately made me giggle. It’s titled How to Keep House, A Happy Guide to an Efficient Household by Mary Davis Gillies, published in 1949. I took this book from the shelf and as I glanced through the chapter headings, this one caught my eye: “How to Wash Clothes”. Wow, I wasn’t the only person that didn’t know how to wash clothes when I left home! Cool! So I flipped to that section of the book and boy what an eye opener THAT was!

There are four areas of discussion in Section Four – About the Laundry. Holy cow, I must be doing something wrong! How many steps have I missed, Mary? Hold on, Effie, we’ve hit a roadblock, I need to pop a squat and see what I'm doing wrong.

The first area of discussion is “How To Plan A Laundry”.

Plan? As in making lists and checking them twice? Those kinds of plans? I thought we just went out and bought detergent, fabric softener, and bleach.

But no….Mary has advised us of the list of items needed for an efficient and well run laundry process. Let’s begin by seeing what is advised for a basic vs. an ideal laundry, shall we?

A Basic Laundry

For Washing:
A wringer washer (Counting on my spin cycle to cover this.)
Double-set tubs
Shelf Over Tub
Filter hose
Clothesline

For Ironing:
Thermostatically controlled iron
Metal-frame ironing board with pad and cover
A stool for ironing

An Ideal Laundry

For Washing:
Automatic washer
Automatic dryer
Single porcelain tub (Can I count the one in the bathroom? It’s not very convenient, though.)

For Ironing:
Ironer-flat plate or roller type

Thermostatically controlled iron
Built-in board
Wall cabinet over sorting table for stain removal kit
Chair for ironer

Nice-to-have Equipment:
Hot plate
Steam iron
Sweater stretchers
Sock stretchers
Radio
Scales
Clock
Sewing machine

Should-have Equipment:
Two-quart saucepan for making starch
Nest of bowls for stain removal and cold starch
Measuring cup for soap
Quart measure
Clothes brush
Lang-handled spoon for stirring starch
Glass rods for stain removal
Glass dropper for stain removal
Clothes stick for handling hot clothes
Plunger for hand washing
Clothes basket
Clothes basket protectors
Plastic or rubber sheeting for sprinkled clothes
Sprinkler top for bottle
Sewing kit
Mending tape
Pressing cloth
Small drying rack for ironed garments
Large drying rack or indoor line
Wastebasket
Thermometer

Must-have Supplies:
Soap
Water softener (in hard water areas)
Bleach
Bluing liquid and soap
Ammonia
Cleaning fluid
Starch

Looks like Mary's loaded for bear. And I finally realized why my own mother never had a job outside of the home.....she was busy doing LAUNDRY!

Now let us compare Mary's list to that of Marnie:

A Basic Laundry

For Washing:

Washing machine

Teenaged children

For Ironing:

(I got nothing for you here, folks, sorry)

An Idea Laundry:

For Washing:

Washing machine

Cocoa The Pool Boy
Lounging chair

Pitcher of Margaritas

For Ironing:

VERY, VERY heavy thermostatically controlled iron

Metal-frame ironing board with pad and cover

Cocoa The Pool Boy
Lounging chair

Chocolate bon-bons and/or a large bunch of grapes

Hand-held fan in case of the vapors

Nice-to-have Equipment:

Cocoa's Twin Brother Pablo

Must-have Supplies:

Soap
Fabric Softener
Bleach
Hangers

Teenaged children for when Cocoa and Pablo need breaks

A two-person hammock in the shade

Any questions?

House Hunting Hump-Day.

As it's Wednesday and I've started a "tradition" of looking for Marnie's perfect house, I couldn't let you down by not including a little cottage or two for our viewing pleasure.

I’ve only listed one house today. When you see where I’m moving you will see no other house is needed.

Well okay, maybe one more.

DAMN IT!!!! Sold right out from under me!!!

Okay, okay, okay, but this one was built in 1216 and I PROMISE it's the last one!

I got extra space for roomies; any takers?