Big house cleaning

[MoralDefective]

AIBU to wonder how the Human race managed to get this far without the cleaning products/washing machines/vacuum cleaners etc that we all take for granted?

i would be lost without my dishwasher, washing machine and tumble drier.

i can't remember the last time i washed up

HaHa...i've just made Ds do the washing up,
don't have space for a dishwasher.

not even a slimline one, i have one i can fit alot in there

I rather think DS would like a (slimline) dishwasher...maybe i could get him one for christmas.
However he'd still have to wipe all the sides and the cooker and put the washing up away....

I have a dishwasher ...........ME
hate using the dryer especially as it a washer dryer.

Oh yes, OP. We should all go and beat our clothes on the rocks.

My MIL gave us a dishwasher - she may be tough going sometimes but I love my MIL!

If you've seen any of those 'family lives like the Victorians' documentary experiments you really appreciate modern applicances. Middle-class families had staff - minimum a maid and usually a cook. Working class women spent one day a week boiling up washing, wringing it through a mangle and drying it outside or on racks on the ceiling. Another day of the week was devoted entirely to baking. The rest of the time was a long dreary round of scrubbing, ironing, cooking, beating carpets and polishing doorsteps etc. And all done in your restrictive corset, don't forget :)

Hmm, now we spend our days commuting and toiling over the computer in our restrictive high-heeled shoes, leaving the evenings free for ironing, cooking etc .

PS must see if we can squeeze a dishwasher in our kitchen...

They put up with things being dirtier, partly.

I think houses were generally much dirtier. Standards of hygiene have rocketed in the past few decades.

I spent 2 1/2yrs living in a country where the vast majority of people had no washing machine, no hoover, no dishwasher, and the cleaning products on in the supermarkets where very basic ones.

Most people their though have a maid, even average income households employ one for at least a couple of hours a day (or bring an unemployed relative into the home to act as one).

It was quite a culture shock - and I discovered there, very early on that I can't handwash clothes . They would smell nice once I'd finished - but the stains and marks and dirt would still be there. Up until that point (as I'd been living in a room in the place that I worked) I'd vowed I wouldn't employ a maid/cleaner before I arrived. 3 months in I collared one of the grounds staff and asked him if he'd like to earn some extra cash washing my clothes. And then I started to look like I had clean clothes on again.

Lack of hoover wasn't too bad, although even when exH and I had our own home (rented) to live in it was a small cottage (well called a cottage there - more of a glorified shed ) so sweeping it didn't take too long if it needed doing when our maid wasn't at work.

Now - I couldn't live without my hoover, my dishwasher, my washing machine.

I know someone who has the sort of house you'd expect to be used in a period drama like Downton Abby. She has 1 member of staff for the house (who doesn't live in) and uses a firm to do her garden once a week. On Downton Abby their appears to be 3-4 staff members for every family member. I guess that's how you cope without modern appliances.

I don't think homes were much dirtier then but they were much more simply furnished - no superfluous bits and pieces. When I was a child, my relatives in rural Italy didn't have washing machines and most now don't have dishwashers or tumble driers, the floors are generally tiled so no hoovers. Keeping house was a full-time job and run along military lines of organisation - everything was (and still is) immaculate plus many of the older people still do things that I think are way beyond the call of duty such as air their mattresses out of the windows a couple of times a week .

They were dirtier.

All the research shows that people women have done basically the same amount of housework throughout the centuries; it's just that the standards achieved have rocketed. Washing machines and vacuum cleaners and the like aren't time-saving devices at all. They're standards-raisers. A 1950s woman, with all her new appliances, did the same hours of housework as her greatgrandmother.

I wasn't for a moment suggesting we all get rid of appliances and cleaning stuff.
Just observing that lots of people seem to spend an awful lot of their time doing house work and sniffing at bed changes etc once or twice a month.
All these time saving devices don't seem to have saved (women) much time overall.

That's because individuals have their own personal desire to do / tolerance for hours spent on housework.

If your personal desire to do housework is, say, 2 hours a day, your house is going to be a hell of a lot cleaner if you have hot and cold running water, electricity, a dishwasher, washing machine, tumble drier and vacuum cleaner than if you just have a bucket and broom. Your tools improve your efficiency rather than reduce your time spent on task (though you are free to make that choice if you wish).

A friend told me she has a robot type hoover theat you just set going, leave for a hour and return to hoovered floor - sounds fab; could put on dishwasher, washing machine and hoover and (go upstairs and watch tv) tidy upstairs

Sounds like a Roomba.

We've got a basic one, and it's brill. The more advanced onces can even be programmed to vacuum whilst you are out!

But unfortunately it can't cope with the kids' discarded clothes and toys - we still have to pick them up.

Thanks MrLSG, will have to get one, shame it doesn't shift the toys / get the kids ready for school etc