Housework: Now and then

Sometimes I don't have a clue what to write about and today was one of them!!! 

I rack my brain for ideas and sometimes nothing comes  . . . then I stumble across an interesting fact and think that perhaps I could write about XY or Z!! 

My interesting fact for today was the that women of the past use to spend up to 4 hours per day caring for their stoves — that is a lot of time and energy and thought how blessed I was to be a woman of this modern age where I have electricity, gas, plumbing and lots of mod-cons that make my life so much easier.  I really don't have a lot of complain about. 

So as a result of my little fact, I though I would re-visit the home of a woman 150 years ago, perhaps a pioneer woman a long way from civilisation and her family — they knew what hard work was all about. We really don't have a clue, but that doesn't stop us from complaining about our tough life! 

These days, we no longer need to spend all day everyday doing housework and we are no longer tired to the home all day stoking the fire and we can enjoy more hours of relaxation.

Housework in the past was harsh physical labour and I doubt women found much joy in the daily drudgery and grind — but with no other choice, they got on with what they needed to do and many suffered in silences. Of course, if you were born into an upper class family you had very little work to do at all, servants did the hard labour for very little money in return and you could swan about in fancy frocks and entertain all day (and night). Middle class women spent some of their day managing the home, but still had plenty of time for entertaining, undertaking their many handicrafts and for some, helping the poor. It was the lower classes and pioneer women that bore the brunt of hard physical labour and many died completely worn out and overworked.  

The next time you turn on your oven or boil the kettle, think about the woman who spent all day maintaining her fire/stove, because without it she wasn’t able to heat water (for washing dishes, bathing or washing the clothing), for cooking, baking the daily bread, tea/coffee and keeping the home warm. The fire was fundamental to the household and result in hours of sifting ashes, empting the ash box twice daily, collecting wood, adjusting dampers, lighting fires, carrying coal or wood, and rubbing the stove with thick black wax to keep it from rusting. And since  there were no thermostats to regulate the stove's temperature, a woman had to keep an eye on the contraption all day long. Any time the fire slackened, she had to adjust a flue or add more fuel. Her daily life wove around the fire and the fear of it going out. Women spent something like 4 hours a day looking after their fire.

Cooking without processed foods was both time and energy consuming. Bread had to be made daily, a chicken for dinner had to be killed, fish scaled, sugar pounded, flour ground, vegetables picked (which the lady of the house probably planted herself) etc.. nothing was quick and easy to prepare. Preserving foods did help, but the work involved was still time-consuming. No quick Jamie Oliver 15 minute meals in past times! No options of popping out for a take-away or stocking up the pantry when ever you want especially if you lived many miles of the store or money was in short supply. You made do with what you had and that may mean the same meal day after day. We are so spoilt for choice these days and we take for granted having a supermarket within easy reach and having a well stocked pantry that allows us to cook a wide variety of meals. And thanks to electricity and refrigeration we can store food allowing us to buy in bulk.  

Before indoor plumbing became common (which I certainly take for granted), water had to be carried and boiled daily. The mere job of bringing water into the house was exhausting. Homes without running water also lacked the simplest way to dispose garbage: sinks with drains. This meant that women had to remove dirty dishwater, kitchen slops, and, worst of all, the contents of chamber pots from their house by hand. None of these jobs sound very pleasant at all!!

And then there was the laundry, a job that was not enjoyed by most women of the past.  It took all day and require even more physical effort. According to American History online:

On Sunday evenings, a housewife soaked clothing in tubs of warm water. When she woke up the next morning, she had to scrub the laundry on a rough washboard and rub it with soap made from lye, which severely irritated her hands. Next, she placed the laundry in big vats of boiling water and stirred the clothes about with a long pole to prevent the clothes from developing yellow spots. Then she lifted the clothes out of the vats with a washstick, rinsed the clothes twice, once in plain water and once with bluing, wrung the clothes out and hung them out to dry. At this point, clothes would be pressed with heavy flatirons and collars would be stiffened with starch. (link)

And can you imagine trying to dry washing in the middle of winter in a small cottage! I have enough trouble without a drier, but with central heating my house is warm most of the time. 

Of course the children did help both inside and outside the home — however, once old enough many were sent out to work to raise money for the family.  Boys helped on the farm in rural areas and girls were sent off to be servants in middle to upper class homes and those too young for work, looked after the younger children or went to school during the day. Childhood was almost none-existent for children of the past — even my dad (who is now 82) was expected to do serious farm work after school and had to leave schooling behind when he as around 12 to help his dad. It wasn't a time he enjoyed at all. 

If money was tight and the family lived in the city (such as London) poor women also went out to work in unpleasant conditions that affected their health. In rural areas women work along side their husbands plus looked after the home. There was nothing glamour about being a keeper of the home in the past. 

I think it is important to remember these women when housework is getting us down, because we really don't have much to complain about!!!  

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