Housework used to be a full-time job for my nan and my mum when I was a young kid.
Laundering clothes took hours with a mangle or twin tub. It was hung damp all over the house, or in front of the fire, in the winter. It was all heavy wool or cotton. Quick drying nylon was a revelation.
Rugs had to be beaten or gone over and over with a crappy sweeper. Floors and steps had to be scrubbed on your hands and knees.
Fireplaces had to cleaned out every time you lit a fire, coal carried in.
Shopping had to be carried home in a wicker basket or string bag. No carrier bags. No convenience foods. No readymade cakes. Everything had to be cooked fresh, as no freezer. Clothes were so expensive, you had to make your own with patterns and a sewing machine or knitted.
Everyone’s fingers must’ve been like sausages from all the hard work.
Cleaning and cooking these days is a breeze. But we have way too much stuff and a desire to constantly buy, replacing perfectly good stuff.
Ladders are a scam. Property ladder. Career ladder. Some people might make it to the top. But if everyone did, the ladder would fall over. Most of us get stuck on a lower rung.