Housekeeping on a Homestead
(Page 5 of 6)
The electric mixer with all its parts is another wonderful
aid to better and speedier cooking. Besides whipping up
cakes, milk shakes, cream and meringues, the mixer can be
used to squeeze oranges, grind coffee, peel potatoes and
shell peas and beans.
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The pressure cooker is a splendid contrivance. Ed
discovered ours at the N. Y. World's Fair and considered it
the most wonderful thing at the whole fair. The actual
cooking time for a stew is just 15 minutes!
b) Dishwashing. The electric dish washer not only
saves labor but also time because you store the dishes in
the washer and run the machine once a day. But if you don't
have a dishwasher, you can approach this chore somewhat as
if you did have the appliance. In other words, washing the
dishes after each meal is another one of those silly
standards we have set up for ourselves. If you rinse the
dishes, stack them, wash them once or twice a day, rinse
with boiling water and towel-dry only the silver, you will
save yourself almost as much time as the machine can save.
c) House cleaning. The vacuum cleaner can often be
used to good advantage on the floors themselves and for
more of the dusting jobs. However, cleaning can chiefly be
simplified by the furnishings you choose and your own good
management.
d) Washing And Ironing Clothes. Of course, we all
know that washing is being reduced to the minimum by
certain types of machines which wash, rinse, and even dry
for you. As for ironing if you hang flat things like sheets
and towels very smooth and straight, there's really no
reason for ironing them at all. I have heard any' number of
men and women say they loved to sleep between sheets fresh
from the country-scented breezes. Such clothing as
seersucker dresses and cotton knit shirts also need no
ironing (or the very slightest touch) if they are hung
carefully on the line. Those fabrics which insist on being
ironed (and how many we can do without!) should be taken
down while damp to save the sprinkling job. Notice how your
ironing depends on your washing routine and both depend
even more on how you shop. As one clever homesteader wife
in Ohio wrote, "I begin my ironing when I do my shopping"
All in all I've found that housekeeping in the country can
be run a little more like a business. Each housewife, as an
executive (when the Boss is away) will want to do her own
planning, adapting the schedule to the weather vane -
whether there are raspberries just ready to pick or whether
it's high time for a relaxing swim.
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