Cleaning your house in the Victorian era

Schedule for the week...

Monday -- Launder. Hang clothes. Iron plain clothes directly from the line.

Tuesday -- Iron remaining clothes.

Wednesday -- Do mending by machine, or other sewing. Clean silver. Collect clothes to send to the dry cleaner.

Thursday -- Upstairs general cleaning. Prepare guest rooms, defrost and clean the fridge. Plan meals for weekend.

Friday -- General cleaning. Market for food to take advantage of weekend sales.

Saturday -- Clean kitchen and porch. Bake and prepare food for Sunday.

Cleaning downstairs rooms

Daily dusting -- dust hardwood floors and all surfaces daily.

Weekly cleaning -- Remove all bric a brac to another room to be cleaned, replace books, records, etc to their racks. Remove pictures from the room. Hang out small rugs and cushions. Shut the room off from the rest of the house and open a window to air.

Clean between the radiator fins with a brush. Brush down the walls and ceiling, and the window blinds. Bring in all cleaning equipment. Vacuum the rugs and furniture. Polish or wax the wooden furniture. Wash glass. Straighten rooms and bring back in cleaned bric a brac and pictures.

Every two weeks, do a single room. Remove draperies and hang to air. Clean lighter curtains. Clean out the fireplace. Dry clean the future, polish the woodwork. Dust walls and ceilings. Wax window sills, linoleum, painted walls. Vacuum the rug, roll it up, vacuum under it, then reverse the rug and vacuum again. When finally in place, vacuum again.

Bedrooms

Daily cleaning -- Open the windows and close the door, turn back the bedclothes to the end of the bed to air out. Straighten up the room, then make the bed.

Weekly cleaning -- Air the bedding and the pillows. Remove the soiled bedding, dresser covers, and curtains. Remove small items to clean. Turn the mattress and remake the bed.

Monthly cleaning -- Have all blankets, counterpanes, quilts, etc, laundered. Clean the mattress on both sides with the vacuum. Air the pillows outside in the shade.

Bathrooms

Daily cleaning -- Keep well ventilated. Clean fixtures daily.

Kitchen

Daily cleaning -- Wet mop the floor. Clean countertops.

Weekly cleaning -- Refrigerators must be cleaned once a week. Wash and scald te cake and bread boxes each week.

Monthly cleaning -- Scrub floor once a week. Remove stains from woodwork. Brush down walls and ceiling. Wash windows and curtains as needed. Keep light bulbs clean. Clean one cupboard each month. Clean one drawer each month.

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