Housecleaning, or housekeeping, is not my favorite activity. But when I try to imagine keeping house in the Victorian fashion, my respect for "the little woman" whose role was to maintain the Victorian home increases immensely. Imagine a day with no vacuum cleaners, no washing machines, no dishwashers. Then move on a bit further and consider the fact that a Victorian home might have no running water; if you wanted water you probably had to pump it. If you wanted hot water - whether to wash a dish or take a bath - you had to pump it and then heat it on the stove.
For most of the Victorian period, houses had no electricity; electric lighting was an amazing new development. Gaslights - and gas heat - were the height of modern convenience. For most homes, it was vital to shroud doorways and windows in heavy draperies during the winter to keep the heat confined to the room with the fireplace or grate. Screens - often lavishly embroidered - were another way of blocking drafts.
We often imagine the Victorian lady as having an army of servants to handle all the annoying day-to-day things like laundry, polishing the silver, scrubbing the floors, and so on. However, as the articles in Victorian family magazines make clear, for many this would have been an impossible luxury. While plenty of homes had servants, many a Victorian housewife had to do it all, or nearly all, herself.
This section looks at the Victorian home, from tips on choosing a new home (or moving to a new home) to the latest fashions in home furnishings and decor - along with tips for the budget-minded on how to furnish a home elegantly for next to nothing. (Packing-crates could be very useful!) The "Trials of a Young Housekeeper" section provides a wealth of information on Victorian housekeeping and maintenance in the guise of a series of fictional tales following the new mistress of the home as she learns her new duties.
Of course, the servants aren't forgotten. The mistress of the house, however, couldn't rely upon the servants to know what needed to be done; if she didn't know what was needed, she could be certain her servants wouldn't provide "satisfaction."
Suddenly my vacuum cleaner looks pretty good to me...
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