What housekeeping did your Mum do that you never would?

[mrsmaidamess]

My Mum would boil her dishcloths in washing powder, stirring them with wooden tongs, for what seemed to be most of the day.

She would dry the washing on the airer, make it sopping wet with the water spray, iron it to dry it then air it again.

My mum hated housework and only did it when Great Aunt Sylvia came to stay.
(apart from washing - she did that twin-tub thing with tongs)

Errr, ironing?

Most things. [slattern]

Wiping down paintwork on a regular basis, cleaning out cupboards & drawers on a regular basis, handwashing practically half the clothes (I laugh in the face of "handwash only"), doing whites-only washes (I laugh in the face of whites-only washes and would be shamed by the Daz doorstep challenge).

Oh yeah, and ironing. Especially dh's shirts.

My mum also hated housework. I've inherited that gene from her. Only she worked full time and would get up at 7am on Saturdays to do a quick whizz of housework round the house, hoover up and clean the kitchen floor before we got up, whereas I am a SAHM and I rarely do even that (and am never up at 7am on a Saturday if I can help it ).

Ironing tea towels, knickers and underpants

Very little actually. In fact I can't think of anything as she is/was a total slattern.

Ironing socks, pants, tea towels, etc.

Actually, my mum is a bit of a slattern but she is obsessed with laundry.

My mum has worked full time running her own business since I was 5 and we always had a cleaner. It's a role I've always tried to emulate

Mine boils the cloths too

Ironing (especially things like hankies and pillowcases)
Dusting leaves of plants

ironing

any other housework not her strong point, I actually clean my flat occasionaslly...

My mum irons knickers. Why? What's the point??? What's the point in ironing at all? Pull it all out out of the dryer and you don't need to iron at all.

Polished the silver cutlery and other silver items. I don't have any silver table ware.

Gave instructions to cleaner. I don't have one.

Polished the lintels. I don't have any.

Starched the sheets.

Made her own beeswax polish.

My mum used to bleach tea cups every once in a while outside in a bucket to get rid of 'tea' stains.

i have never had a tea stained cup, and even if i did i could not bleach it, i'd never be able to drink out of it again for fear of drinking tiny drops of bleach.

Ironing knickers, tea towels, fitted sheets. life is too short

painstakingly drying up after washing up.

Leave it all on the drainer till it dries, then out it away

(or leave it all on the drainer until the next time you use it)

ooo my mum does the bleaching thing as well!

er, if you wash them properly they don't stain

Message withdrawn

I don't actually recall my mother ever doing any housekeeping. Which is a bit odd really, because she must have done some.

and drying up

tho I suspect that was the best way to keep me and my sister occupied (one washed, one dried)

we reminisce about how we'd get into trouble for not doing chores and have big family meetings on Pulling Our Weight and Keeping Things Tidy. When we left home the house got instantly dirtier! We both still clean when we visit - you know the cliche about your MIL furtively scrubbing the sink before doing the pots? That's us

Tea stains depends on the cup - we have 2 cups I have to bleach because they stain no matter how well you wash them (ie if it was down to my washing, they would ALL stain)

Scrubbing the front door step

My Grandma did the dishcloth boiling,
she would wash underwear separately,wouldn't mix male and female pants and never hung underwear on the line.
She polished plants and washed bananas.
The inside of the kettle was washed everyday.
She would wipe each item of shopping before putting it away.
She was lovely.

Wouldn't mix male and female pants? Why, can you get pregnant from that?

My mum irons a lot more things that I would ever do. Not underwear thankfully.