Cleaning In The Dark Ages. . .

WARNING: This is a long ramble so grab a snack and your favorite beverage.

In my other blog Nanc's Good Food (see links on my sideboard) my Canadian daughter made a comment about us spring cleaning when they were young. I thought I would share some cleaning thoughts from my childhood which is way back in the dark ages.

I'll start by describing my childhood home. Front room (living room), dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, basement, attic, summer porch and water closet, high ceilings, tall woodwork and bulls eye squares topped off each door and window, workable transoms over the front and kitchen doors, a monster of a coal furnace and push button light switches. There was one electric plug in all the rooms except the kitchen which had three. The house originally had gas lighting, a hand pump in the kitchen and cistern for water, oh and last but not least an outhouse. Dad remodeled this little beauty in the late 50' through the 70's there was a rounded double archway between the front room and dining room. I wish he had left it alone. (All though I did like the 'full' bathroom and the addition.

Spring cleaning with Mom was an adventure to be reckoned with. The first thing done was to empty a room then walls and ceiling were washed. I left out a step FIRST Mom put an old pillow case over the dust mop and the walls were dusted down. (saved trips to the kitchen for fresh water and since we had to heat the water for a number of years it was steps saved) Next was the chandelier/light fixtures, windows including the transom with it's hardware and the front door was wiped down inside and out.
The walls and floor were cleaned with Spic & Span, the windows with vinegar water and newspaper or rags. I preferred the paper, because rags had to be washed. This would entail taking off the winter windows, cleaning them and storing them away. Previous to this Dad would have brought out the summer screens, hosed, washed, and rinsed them down and left them in the sun to dry. Pray tell why we had to wash the screens again was always a mystery to me because we had to wash them before they were stored(the winter windows as well). Is there a winter/summer window fairy who checks them out?

This was the procedure for each room.

When I was a girl we had a 'carpet' that was about 8-10" short of reaching the woodwork. Under the carpet was a wool pad, under that 5" tongue and groove boards. The rim of the floor was painted yellow ochre.
The carpet was black wool with beautiful vining cabbage roses with beautiful green leaves. Before Mom had a vacuum the carpet/pad were taken outside and beat to remove dust and debris. During the week she used a non-electric (I think it was a Bissell) carpet sweeter. It had a brush underneath and after using you pulled back a small lever and emptied the pan. Voila, no vacuum bags. After a few years a salesman came to the door and Dad bought Mom a brand-new-state-of-the-art Electrolux Tube vacuum with attachments. Mom was in a cleaning frenzy for days after that.

The floor edge would be dusted with the handy dandy Fuller Brush dust mop (which I still have) once the carpet was up, then scrubbed along with the woodwork. The woodwork was tall and fancy. The grate for the cool air duct had to be hosed and dried in the sun. While that was happening the inside of the duct had to be whisk broomed (pre-vacuum) and wiped out.

The curtains would have been taken down the day before, washed then taken to the attic and put on the curtain stretcher (they were lace) to dry. The curtain stretchers were kind of like quilt frames and had tiny nails to hook the curtains on to insure they didn't shrink. When dry they would be ironed to within an inch of their life and the last thing to be put back in place. They did look pretty with the shade drawn to half mast with the cord hanging down with the little ring at the bottom.

All the doilies would have been washed and starched the day before, after drying all night on the line they would be sprinkled down, wrapped in waxed paper and put in the fridge until ready to be ironed. I loved to watch my mom iron she was a perfectionist when it came to clothes and items being ironed. Remind me some time to tell you about Mom's ironing and my first bras. It's a hoot.

Next came the bedrooms! Dad always carried out the bed springs because they were heavy. These were first brushed and then hosed and set to dry. The bed frames, head and foot boards and casters were cleaned. The floors in the bedrooms had pretty linoleum on them and were easy to mop. Does anyone remember old fashion linoleum with the beautiful patterns? They looked like paintings to me. I love that stuff, I wish they would bring it back. All the furniture was wiped down and then oiled as it was all wood. (real wood)I can still smell the lemon oil.

We didn't have a full bathroom until I was almost a teenager. The toilet was in a converted closet with a window with hoople glass. Don't try to look up hoople glass because it doesn't exist, it's a Nanc word. You know the kind of glass I mean, it's hoopy looking. The water closet also had pretty linoleum flooring and a small rag rug.
This was tight quarters to have to wash walls and ceiling but it had to be done.

Okay, so this has taken a weekend and there's still the kitchen, summer porch, basement and attic but my snack is gone and I have chores to finish so will finish this later.

Just wanted to mention before we started all this work Mom gave us a good hot breakfast, lunch and a hot supper. We didn't have Hardee's or Macdonald's to run out and grab a bite. My Mom was amazing.

Just one question does anyone spring clean today?

Have a lovely day wherever in the world you are.