Good housekeeping's book on the business of housekeeping : a manual of method

Front matter

LIBRARY Connecticut Agricultural

Vol.

1 8 /^7

Foreword

THE good housekeeper must bring to her task of housekeeping every one of the qualities that make for a successful executive in the downtown business world. She must be able to handle people — I know of no employees more difficult than the green maid of all work, the temperamental couple, or the casual by-the-day worker. She must be able to buy wisely — and her purchases total an aggregate in most families of from 50 to 75% of the total income enjoyed.

Finally, she must know the actual processes involved in her business of housekeeping much as her husband knows factory methods lying back of the product he must market. Heretofore this housekeeping lore was handed down from mother to daughter, but today such an equipment for her new business is not enough for the young housewife. Methods and appliances have improved so tremendously that the new housekeeping bears little relation to the old task. Both mechanical and chemical assistants are replacing much of the old hard hand drudgery. For some sixteen years Good Housekeeping Institute has been testing out new appliances and new housekeeping methods. This volume represents the results of some of this research work. It has had the further proof of actual operation in the home of the writer — an average home with all of the every day problems that the average American home must meet. I feel confident that in offering you this manual of method Good Housekeeping is filling a long felt want on the library shelf of progressive housekeepers.

Mildred Maddocks Bentley

I. The Daily Routine of Downstairs Care . 43

II. The Daily Routine of Upstairs Care . . 50

III. Dishwashing Three Times a Day ... 60

IV. The Care of the Refrigerator .... 67

Section Iv.— Special Household Tasks

I. Silver Cleaning 73

II. Metal Cleaning 78

vii viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

III. Floor Treatment and Care 84

IV. Furniture Cleaning and Polishing . . 95 V. Closet and Storeroom Care 100

VI. Cellar Care and Cleanliness . 106

VII. Spring Renovating 110

VIII. Seasonal House Cleaning 116

IX. Safe Procedure in Closing a House . . 120

Section V.— In The Laundry

I. Plan and Location 129

II. Equipment, Choice and Installation . . 134

III. Washing Formulas 147

Soaps and Soap Compounds Softeners Blues and Tints Lingerie Tints and Dyes Starches and Starching

IV. Laundry Methods 160

The Chemistry of Washing The Routine of the Family Wash The. Removal of Stains Sprinkling and Folding Washing Silks and Woolens Fitting the Baby's Wash into the House Routine

Chapter I — Labor-Saving Equipment Chapter II — A Call to Budgeting CHAPTER 1

Labor -Saving Equipment

THE new housekeeping is vastly different from the old regime. Largely because well made, efficient machines replace much of the hand labor of our grandmother's time, the modern beginner in household lore must learn a new system of planning and new methods of work.

Many are at a loss to decide just what machines are the indispensable ones for their housework and put off acquiring any because of this uncertainty. Frankly there is ample opportunity for saving both time and labor as well as money in servant hire by the purchase of well constructed and well designed equipment. And it is a fallacy to think that servants cannot learn to use them.

For instance, for the kitchen there are today well planned kitchen cabinet systems either in wood or metal to take the place of the large pantries and to accomplish their work better. This same new housekeeper has her choice of gas or electric ranges with heat regulated ovens, electric fireless cookers and fireless cookers to be used in conjunction with the gas range; pressure cookers and ranges burning oil so efficiently that this quick fuel has revolutionized the country kitchen. There is something for every one of you.

Water heating systems enable her to have an ample supply of hot water at temperatures high enough for the best work, and she can select her fuel — gas, oil, or electricity in the few sections its cost would not make it prohibitive.

Electric refrigeration is more than a dream. It is a real fact of accomplishment. In the larger sizes (250 pounds ice capacity) refrigerators are less costly to operate than with ice service even at high rates for electricity and in both large and small sizes they furnish lower refrigeration and better food conservation with some additional saving in time and labor hitherto involved in cleaning the refrigerator. When the first cost can be assumed they prove indispensable in the well ordered home.

The single piece double drainboard sink, set high — from 34 to 36 inches from the floor to bottom of sink — has worked wonders as a real labor saver. A dishwasher installed to waste and supply as a pantry sink saves both drudgery and hands.

In a single maid household it enables daughter or mother to care for all serving dishes; leaving the cooking dishes to be washed at the kitchen sink by the maid.

LABOR SAVING EQUIPMENT

Even the linoleum, cemented to the kitchen floor, proves an appreciable labor saver in that it eliminates floor scrubbing and reduces the care to a semi-weekly or weekly cleaning and polishing with liquid wax, and a very occasional mopping followed by the polishing.

Laundry equipment has revolutionized home laundering methods. The indispensables are a washing machine, an ironing machine and a dryer for use on stormy days. The latter however should not take the place of all the "sun and air" drying the weatherman allows to the housekeeper. Ceiling dryer racks are convenient as are also low benches on casters for easy rolling. A well designed wall-hung ironing board for hand work with electric irons of different weights should be provided. Not until one really stops to think, is it possible to realize what these mean as work-savers in comparison with the hand washing methods, the hand wringer and the old-fashioned sad irons.

The vacuum cleaner and the electric sewing machine stand out as indispensable equipment for their several tasks. Tribute must also be paid to the chemically prepared and the wax and oil treated mops, dusters and polishing cloths. These save more work than one credits at first thought, because they have revolutionized floor, wood trim and furniture care.

Space does not permit mention of all the excellent special devices for a kitchen, laundry, etc. Sufficient to say there are few household tasks that are not helped by some machine worthy to purchase, provided the task that they care for is sufficiently routine to warrant the original outlay.

Just a word as to what shall govern your selection. Choose all household equipment from the tested and approved lists of Good Housekeeping Institute. Look for the seal of approval. Any device so listed is a safe pur* chase and you can be saved untold annoyance and dissatisfaction by selecting a machine that prolonged test has proved to be well made and efficient. In practically no instance is there any single "best." Like automobiles of similar price class there are varieties of appeal that, quite aside from quality, affect the purchaser's decision. More important, I believe, than any consideration other than quality is a choice that secures dealer interest and knowledge of the device, with ability to replace minor parts promptly. Give the preference, then, to a device handled in your locality.

In conclusion just a word as to financing the purchase of household equipment. While there is a saving in an outright purchase, there are nevertheless many women with housekeeping allowances liberal enough to provide for regular monthly payments if these could be saved out of the wages of day workers or other servant hire. But "installment plan" buying has a bad name among these housekeepers and they do not take advantage of the method because they fail to distinguish between investing in ma-

LABOR SAYING EQUIPMENT chines that work out their own payment and assuming the long time purchase of a luxury whose entire cost it would be impossible to meet. At present riluch household equipment involving power can be purchased through the local power company to be paid for by a series of monthly payments added to the gas or electric bill. It is a method that commends itself to the thoughtful housekeeper who otherwise might have to defer her investment.

SCIENTIFIC HOUSEKEEPING

I have recently read several books on the subject of scientific management in connection with my industrial work, and I began to apply the principles to my household tasks. I started with dishwashing, studying my present practise, utensils, motions, sequences of motions, etc., with the purpose of forming a standard practise. I expected to be surprised, but the results amazed me, not only that so much time was saved, but that I found how much I was enjoying the work. — Good Housekeeping Discovery.

CONSERVING ONE'S STRENGTH

This suggestion from a physician may be of value in conserving the strength of other housewives. " Never lift anything with the back bent; learn to crouch down and lift with a straight spine, making the weight come on the arms. Many a tired or sprained back could be avoided in this way." — Good Housekeeping Discovery.

FOR SUNDAY MORNING

We are all doubtless familiar with households where every member seems to feel grumpy on Sunday morning1 — grownups because they wanted to sleep and couldn't because the children made so much noise, and the children cross because they were hungry and breakfast was a little late. I know a home wThere this problem has been met to every one 's satisfaction for years. Saturday night mother places by the side of the children's beds a small piece of bread and butter, or plain coffee cake, and a bit of fruit, only a small piece. The piece is wrapped carefully in waxed paper and is not enough to interfere with appetites for breakfast. And it is such fun to wake up and see "what mother brought up this morning." That extra half -hour nap is a luxury for the rest of the family, the kiddies are happy, and the day starts right.

— Good Housekeeping Discovery.

SAFETY FIRST

For the sake of a healthier town in which to live, faithfully promise yourself that you will make a hole in every tin can that you dispose of. It takes only a moment, and yet it effectually prevents stagnant water collecting — the sure breeding place for mosquitoes. Never mind what other people do, your conscience will be clear, and perhaps you can induce others to follow your example.

DO you run your home like a business? Do you plan your work so that a part of your twenty-four hour day belongs to you as an individual f

The stereotyped call to budgeting and account-keeping, with directions that accompany it, appeals generally to the one type of housekeeper — the mathematically-minded, who already handles figures with the alertness of familiarity and love. Perhaps because I am one of them, I believe there are hosts of other housekeepers who are terrified by digits as digits, but who can overcome this terror when their value, as a means toward system and thrift in housekeeping, is once clearly demonstrated.

Proportions are and must be flexible because of the flexible value of the dollar. But keep account of your spending under the proper headings. Plot the proportion from the charges that are fixed obligations which you must meet. It may be rent, it may be buying a home: that is your starting point. It may even be an unusual cost of sickness. But in budgeting it is always essential, in planning, to start from fixed obligations, molding the balance of money-spending around them. At the end of the year you will have more valuable information than you can acquire by any study of some one else's experience.

The smaller the income to be plotted, the more necessary it is that one hand shall hold the purse strings. And it is essential to pick the best financier in the family for that task, be it husband or wife. The other members of the family should not feel degraded by asking for any sum that can be expended with fairness to the income's obligor tions. It is all in the cause of dollar efficiency.

When the income is large enough for greater ease in living, it may well be divided for convenience in handling individual needs. The important thing is not who handles the money, but how the money is handled. When a proportion that entails a sacrifice to the balance of the family is spent upon one member's wants and wishes, then is the time for a business-like talk that will more fairly adjust the income. The point I wish to make is that allowances are not essential to fairness. They sometimes work a hardship to the small income.

The envelope system for paying bills is undoubtedly the simplest for the smaller salaries that are to be spent as cash. Into the several envelopes — or small boxes, if you will — place the weekly sums to be devoted to the several budget items. Into the rent envelope is tucked the week's proportion of the rent, and so with all the rest.

Itemize your expenses down to the last detail if you enjoy bookkeeping, but it is not actually necessary for efficient budgeting. It is often valuable to know the relative expenditures for groceries, meat, milk, and fruit, because these proportions often tell a story of good or poor nourishment. It is well, then, to keep these with comparative accuracy. But to be a slave to the jotting down of the purchase of every yeast cake often discourages a housekeeper from enjoying the benefits of budgeting her income, and is not really essential.

A monthly payment system commonly called the credit system has obvious advantages. Where it is possible to deposit this house money as a checking account, to my mind it can be spent more wisely. But there are two "buts" It is only fair to the bank to give them the use of the money for at least fifteen days — a whole month is, of course, still better. By depositing your money on the fifteenth, they have this money for their own use until the third or fourth of the month, and the handling of your checks will show a slight profit and not a loss to them. If you deposit your money on the first of the month and check it out on the fourth, you can see the cost it will entail upon the bank. Many small banks will appreciably cut the sum required for deposit, if you in turn will deposit on the fifteenth money to be used after the first of the month. The second "but" is psychological. Train yourself to pay out the money mentally as you make a credit purchase. If you do this, the first of the month will bring you no surprises. You will not overdraw your account. With these two safe-guards the credit system, for even the small income, is most efficient. But you must protect your bank, and you must protect your bank-account.

Many families have found the following figures helpful. The figures are based on a family of five, and have been formulated and used by the Home Service Departments of many banks.

Lack of clear and definite standards for using the income causes much financial worry. It is not possible for the majority of people to mass great wealth and build up large estates, but when, one has made a workable plan so that out of each instalment of the income he is (1) making provisions for the future, (2) building up a reserve which he can use for seasonal and large expenses, and (3) taking care of current expenses, he can at least have the satisfaction of knowing that he is laying* the proper foundation and steering toward financial safety.

So while budgeting points out to you the way your dollars are traveling, an actual control of that dollar travel can be obtained only by careful and intelligent planning. But not until householders try it do they realize how much control they have over the situation. In one family gas for water heating costs $20 per month. Another family of similar size and hot water equipment has a monthly bill of only $5. In the latter case leaky faucets are promptly packed, but what is even more important, each member of the household uses the hot water supply with moderation and no waste.

You can appreciably affect your lighting bills by supplying varied sizes of bulbs. I am taking it for granted that you turn out the lights when they are not needed, and that you renew the tungstens before they are discolored and obscure light. It is glaring illumination, not lighting for comfort or efficiency, that makes your current bills too high. Therefore, where you want a general illumination only, as in halls, closets, etc., and direct lighting overhead fixtures, use ten-watt lamps. This, of course, does not apply to any of the indirect lighting overhead fixtures. It would take five of these small lamps each burning an hour to equal the cost of your commonly used 50-watt size. For all reading lamps, wherever you need efficient lighting for work or for play, of course use the fifty or seventy-five watt lamps. Comfort is increased, and bills are decreased.

Heating leaks need a word. Save yourself coal next winter by jacketing your furnace or boiler and its conducting pipes with asbestos cement. The saving right there can run into tons of coal in a large house. It will mean a ton or more even for a small house. Install a heat regulator ; you will save another ton there, for it almost takes the place of a skilled engineer, since the coal burns evenly to a fine ash. Clean and keep clean the furnace, pipes, and flues. If you have done all this, you are wasting no more fuel than you can prevent.

The leaks in buying food are many. For the small family, I have definitely proved that ' ' shopping around ' ' with cash may be wasteful. I am aware that this is heresy to many, but here are my reasons. The total amount of food consumed by a small number of people, two or four, carries with it a profit that is interesting enough when but one grocer and one butcher, etc., receive it, but scatter those profits, and not a tradesman is really interested in your preference. You are thrown back on your own skill in selecting the best, and one mistake means loss to you, because you cannot return the cash purchase. But even one mistake carries loss to the credit store, so that the store where you carry an account maintains the standards of quality you demand, with but few slips.

Try my system when moving into a new town or neighborhood. At first shop around, paying cash, until you find the butcher, the grocer, and the vegetable man whose quality of goods suits you. Then go to the proprietor, tell him what your approximate monthly bill is to be, and state that you would be glad to promise your exclusive patronage and prompt monthly payment so long as quality and service are fair and satisfactory. I have used this same policy in managing an apartment for myself and maid, a home for a larger family, and a hospital family of two hundred and fifty. It has never failed to produce the best of treatment with real, thrift prices.

Just a word here about telephone ordering. It need not be an extravagant or wasteful method. If I had not consistently used it, I should never have been able to accomplish other as important tasks. In one year I visited my grocer twice. At those times he did not recognize me, but he did recognize the quality that must be delivered to that address. I am aware that this is, again, heresy. And the secret of success probably does lie in a knowledge of food values, foods in season, and food market costs. But it is a knowledge that all may acquire. Refuse to be satisfied with other than the standard you yourself have set. Send back the first wilted head of lettuce, and there will be no second. Spend fifteen minutes each week to check over the grocer's statement. How can he cheat you?

Where the family is larger than the one indicated, staple supplies must of course be bought in quantity, for storage space then pays for itself. And in this case shopping around for both seasons and price is essential and to your advantage. But in purchasing in these large quantities do not make the mistake of using, or allowing them to be used, from the large containers. Treat the store-room as your grocery store, and keep the kitchen cabinet stocked with current supplies. Even the most intelligent of us is affected, by an abundance, to use a bit more generously than necessary, thus jeopardizing the advantage of the close buying.

Take your butcher into your confidence as you have your grocer. Let him have all your trade and know that he is going to get it just as long as he respects it. Let your saving come in the selection of cuts and a wise use of leftovers. The housekeeper who shops around for meats gets cheated nine times out of ten in quality or flavor or quantity.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OP SALES

This is my money savings plan. In the memorandum of my family account-book I have listed the various special sales of different department stores with the dates on which they fall. There are the shoe, furniture, drug, stationery, silk, underwear, and many other sales which are always offered during the same month in each year. On the following1 pages I make notes, as they occur to me, of articles which I shall need. For instance, I find that my visiting cards are nearly gone. I jot this down and, turning to my notes, I find at about what date I can have cards engraved from my plate at a saving of fifty cents per hundred. Or I wish to lay in a supply of sheets and pillowcases and take note of the month when white sales are at their best. I have practised this plan in a town of ten thousand people and in a city of nearly half a million, and I know that it works well in both places. Aside from the dollars saved by this ever-ready information, there is a great satisfaction in being able to plan my expenses in a

more efficient way.

— Good Housekeeping Discove/~y.

A BUDGET HELP

In making small purchases I always plan to pay for them in bills, and in this way I am able to keep on hand about five dollars in change. This change is kept in the proper divisions of a small cash box, and when the delivery boys arrive, I am sure they bless me for being able to hand over to them the proper change without any trouble. I am sure, too, that it is a great comfort to me to have the change I need without having to borrow from a guest or a maid or even a neighbor.

MY GOOD HOUSEKEEPING SAVINGS BANK

Last year, I kept a small bank which I called my Good Housekeeping bank, and into it I put all money saved by following any economical suggestion given on the Discovery page. To illustrate : I made window screens by Discovery directions instead of buying them, and put in the bank the difference in cost of making the screens and buying them. Several such instances came up, and by the end of the year I had saved enough money to give Good Housekeeping subscriptions to several of my friends.

— Good Housekeeping Discovery.

section n

Servants and Housekeepers

Chapter I — The Single Maid Regime Chapter II — The Routine of Two Servants

CHAPTER I

The Single Maid Regime

A MOST important factor in the smooth running of a home that is every good homemaker's aim is system. Whether the work is to be accomplished by paid labor or labor paid by love alone, a schedule is a help. On the other hand it is not possible to lay down any hard and fast rules because duties must vary in their relative importance with the individual requirements of each family. At the same time I believe many of us have not realized the increasing complexity of the "general housework'' duties that we have been demanding from a single worker. It has been very gradually that living conditions of the average American family have been raised in so far as the refinements of living are concerned. But there is no question that these present high standards must be considered with relation to household service and that there must be some modification in our demands upon a single worker. Many housekeepers, especially those that have just assumed the duties, are uncertain just what it is fair to expect from the household workers they hire.

With two only in a family I believe it is fair to look for a single maid who will cook simple meals, keep the house merely tidy, and undertake the laundry work. Or this same general maid will cook simple meals and keep the house really clean, with laundry work simplified by washing and ironing machines. At the same time, even in so small a family, the frills of service must be eliminated. For one thing waiting on table can be simplified. I know this is heresy to many housekeepers who wish things ' ' done nicely," but a trial will prove the plan has the practical advantage of accomplishing more real housework.

Under this scheme each course is served on the table by the host or hostess and the maid is required only at the change of courses and for the replenishment of food, water, etc. The answering of bells and doors and telephone messages should be otherwise provided for, save when no member of the family is at home to respond. This plan leaves the maid free for her long stretches of work such as cleaning or washing and ironing.

In a family of three, the schedule was worked out with more than fair success by the single worker accomplishing the cooking and the care of the entire downstairs floor. She also finishes all laundry that is not completed by a single day's work per week of the laundress. The entire upstairs work is assumed by the family with what day worker help they may need for tlie rough cleaning. But

THE SINGLE MAID REGIME here, too, telephone, door and table waiting has been placed on a simplified basis.

In larger families than these a single worker becomes cook only, and possibly laundress. But all other duties must be assumed by the various members of the family or by outside help. The schedules vary, you see, with practically the same work to be accomplished. I give them all to show you the difficulty of standardizing work. It is your family and your requirements and the special ability of the maid herself that must settle the kinds of work she will undertake. But remember do not attempt to make the term general houseworker elastic enough to cover all of our modern living requirements.

The actual weekly schedule can well be applied to a housekeeper herself or to the single maid. It is affected vitally by the consideration of equipment. In the household provided with a washing machine and ironing machine the schedule might be:

Monday: laundry work.

Tuesday: mending.

Wednesday: cleaning of silver, pantry and icebox with a legitimate afternoon out, whether it be housekeeper or maid.

Thursday : alternate a cleaning of living-room, hall and stairs with the cleaning of dining-room, hall and stairs.

Friday : clean bedrooms and bath.

Saturday: kitchen and closet and icebox.

This same schedule without the laundry equipment must devote two days to the special work of the laundry rather than one and dovetail the mending with other work in consequence. In some houses laundry work is accomplished by outside service and for such a one we suggest the following:

Monday: guest room, one other bedroom and bath; or alternate

the remaining bedrooms and bath.

Tuesday: (alternate) do the living-room and dining-room. Wednesday: clean silver, pantry and icebox. Thursday: clean the maid's room and do the fine hand ironing

with an afternoon out.

Friday: Clean the kitchen, closets, and rear halls. Saturday : kitchen and closet and icebox.

WHEN ATTACHING A WINDOW SHADE

Instead of using hammer and tacks to attach a window shade to its roller, try the more satisfactory method of using inch-wide adhesive tape.

— Good Housekeeping Discovery.

A TABLE PAD

After I had had two extra leaves made for my dining-room table, I found that I could not match the leaves with table pads, so I took two strips of corrugated paper cut to fit the leaves, put them together having the corrugated sides inside, and tacked them together lightly in several places with heavy thread to keep them from slipping. This made a leaf the exact thickness of my other pads. I then made a slip-cover for them of flannelette, and found I had a satisfactory pad at slight cost.

THE SINGLE MAID REGIME

AT BREAKFAST TIME

As there are six people in our household who come down to breakfast at different times in the morning, I found that instead of keeping the coffee hot over a low flame or reheating it each time, it is far better to pour the coffee from the percolator into a thermos bottle, which can be placed upon the table and used as it is needed. This method keeps the coffee hot, and the flavor is retained. — Good Housekeeping Discovery.