Ever tempted to take a trip down memory lane when it comes to cleaning?
No doubt about it, modern machinery, tools and chemical formulations make tidying your house a breeze nowadays, compared to what it was like in the late 19th Century
Maid Service Potomac thought we’d take a little look at cleaning in Ye Days of Olde…
Old-style laundry. Do you strip off everything at the end of the day and throw it in the laundry pile even if it was clean on this morning? Modern washing machines make light work of the family’s laundry. The pre-washing machine era paints a very different picture.
By the late 1800s, bars of soap were cheap and plentiful, but washing was an all-day job. Clothing was washed in large tubs, using a dolly stick to sink the fabric in. The water had to be heated manually, and the clothing was put through a mangle to get rid of the excess water before being dried.
There was no such thing as a tumble drier, so wet washing was dried on lines outside or strung between tenements in European cities. It could also be dried in a kitchen via a pulley as the kitchen was often the warmest room in the house.
If you were rich enough, you either lived in a house where all your servants did the washing for you, or you sent your washing out to be done elsewhere.
Carpet cleaning. In the days before the Dyson, cleaning carpets often meant hanging them up outside and beating them with a carpet beater – a handle with a large, flat paddle. It was an onerous, physical task.
The carpet sweeper was invented in 1876, but one issue that all homes had to contend with in those days was the huge amounts of dust created by coal and log fires, as this was the sole source of heating in most rooms.
Maid Service Potomac offers a great carpet cleaning service if this is of interest.
Ironing clothes. Steam irons weren’t introduced until the 1920s, so early irons were just flat slabs of metal you heated and used to iron clothing. These were the days before cotton blends, Lycra and every other fabric that makes clothing hang wrinkle-free.
Dusting and polishing. Thanks to coal and log fires, most rooms in a house would attract thick coverings of dust day to day. Whereas nowadays, we need not dust and polish that often, in the big houses of yesteryear dusting was a daily chore. Wood polish wasn’t the light formulations we see now – you’d use a sold wax or balm and it would need a lot of work to shift it, hence the expression, elbow grease.
Nineteenth century housemaids were slim and fit because their jobs were so physical. No doubt about it, we’re much better off in the 21st Century, thanks to technology!
Here at Budget Maids we provide cleaning services in Arlington, a Maid Service Potomac or cleaning services in Columbia and surrounds, and more. Why not call us today and let us help you ensure that your house is kept in tip-top 21st Century clean standards?
