I bring great news, and a dire warning against slovenliness, courtesy of The Book of The Hone 1908.
" A woman between thirty and forty years of age, able to take the amount of exercise habitual to her age and class, is perfectly capable of doing any of the work performed by a young general servant. It is, however, essential that she should have a nice sense of order and a methodical mind, for the success of servantless housekeeping depends almost entirely on the housewife's capacity for planning to the best advantage every minute of her time.
A lady Is naturally neater-handed than a servant and is consequently far less apt to stain the range, fender and hearth by upsetting things or allowing sauce-pans to boil over.
As a rule the whole of the actual housework should be finished by eleven o'clock, except on the days when silver or brass ornaments may have to be cleaned, but it best to do as much of the cooking for the whole day as is possible before lunch.
Washing up dishes need not be a repulsive process provided that there is an ample supply of really hot water, and that soda or ammonia is added in fairly liberal quantities. That greasy abomination, a dishcloth,should never be used a little mop is quite as effective and as it's user need not put her hands in the water,the latter may be nearly boiling, so the grease can be removed with the minimum amount of unpleasantness.
There is one thing against which the young and inexperienced housewife should be warned, namely, the tendency, one very hard to resist sometimes,to lose hold of the little refinements of life. Careless and untidy table-laying, with a sparse allowance of silver and cutlery, the use of the kitchen crockery 'because it is easier to get at', lunch off a cup of tea and a bun, meals in the kitchen when alone 'to save trouble', all these,and many other small slovenlinesses, are in the nature of things very apt to creep into households lacking servants. And unless their insidious temptations are resisted, a very miserable and uncomfortable state of things will be the inevitable result."