A friend of mine found an awesome little gem when she was doing some spring cleaning and gave it to me. It is the Rumford Household Hand Book published in 1906. I love this little book and while I haven't read all of the handy little tips yet I am totally hooked. So I thought I would share a bit with you over the next few days. Today we will start with a few tips from Chapter 1 Division of Labor. So here goes, enjoy!
Proper and systematic methods of doing housework would eliminate nearly one half the labor from the home; but it is too often the case that the work is done whenever most convenient, and in some cases only when it is impossible to leave the task longer undone. By planning carefully all may be kept in goo order each day having its appointed labors instead of leaving he bulk of the cleaning for one day at the end of the week. (Household Hand Book, pg.3)
Daily Routine of Work. It is a good plan, when the daily routine of work for the week has been decided upon, to have a written copy made of it and hung in the kitchen or pantry, so that it can be referred to as the need arises. The mistress will, in this way, be saved much supervision and answering of questions. (Household Hand Book, pg.6)
Where there are children in the house it is well to make them responsible for certain daily duties. Definite duties for each cannot be given here, but the girls can attend to their own rooms as soon as they are old enough. They may also at different time undertake the care of the table, or of the parlor, first, of course, being carefully shown how to do the work. In this way, as they get old enough, they will be able to superintend the work of the whole house. In any case, let some of their duties be such as are conducive to the comfort of the older members of the family, and not only those that pertain to themselves and their own belongings, that they may feel more responsibility and realize that all are dependent on others for the comforts and necessaries of life. (Household Hand Book pg.6)
Next post will continue with Kitchen Conveniences. Have a blessed morning!
1 comment:
I found an ebay seller that has thousands of old books. I'm compiling a list to send him and see if he can fill the order. This one sounds cool! Thanks for sharing!
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