The Daily Round (For the Modern Girl)

In many of my vintage household manuals a definite series of daily tasks is prescribed for the housewife to complete, this they call the daily round. For those not in the know, the daily round is a cross between a daily light cleaning and a general tidy up. In the books I own, dating from the 1860s to the mid 1950s, the tasks listed offer us an insight into the lives of the women of the time and also a glimpse of their social attitudes. By examining what what expected of them, in terms of daily cleanliness, we can see how those women viewed their homes, their families and their lives. Over the next week or so I'm going to do a few posts on how our forefathers(mothers!) cleaned their homes, or more importantly how they aspired to clean their homes, and also talk a little about the roles of servants during the latter part of the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth century.

However, before I post on our domestic past, I thought I'd post on the domestic present and talk a little about my daily routine. Blimey, I hope this is of interest to you!

I see my daily round as a way of getting the house to the required level of comfort needed to sustain peaceable and healthful living. And, put in those terms it seems that the daily round is an important part of my day. However, the daily round does not involve big jobs; floor cleaning, ironing, changing bed linen, shopping or running errands; but a series of small tasks which you can generally whizz through. I have a family of four messy people, and include myself amongst the messies, but my daily round takes me no longer than 45 minutes to complete, and often as little as half an hour as the week goes on. Here's a truncated version of what I do.

Upstairs

Make beds, draw curtains, pick up stray clothes and stray toys, throw laundry down the stairs, straighten wet towels to dry, throw dirty towels down stairs, wipe over bathroom sink and counter, clean loo, open bedroom windows.

Downstairs

Wash breakfast dishes, wipe over kitchen counter and hob, straighten kitchen table of all comics, toys and books, recycle and put out rubbish, fluff up living room cushions and throws, wipe crumbs off coffee table, water plants, put laundry in wash, clean downstairs loo and look over towel and basin.

I like to get his stuff done before 10:30 am, so I can get other cleaning jobs done, prep a meal, bake, craft, blog (!) or even go out into town or see a friend. And, although the list seems pretty long reading, in practical terms it takes no time at all because I always do it in the spirit of my house-cleaning motto:

"do you want it done, or do you want it perfect?"

That is to say, my home cannot be perfectly clean unless I become a bit neurotic, and being neurotic is neither peaceful nor healthful so I always aim for "just good enough". I suppose I should now define what "just good enough is." I think the best way to do that is to imagine a friend has popped around unexpectedly. First, she needs to visit the loo. She doesn't want to eat her breakfast off your bathroom floor but she does want to pee in comfort and confidence! So, you need to provide her with a clean loo, clean basin, soap, a towel and loo paper. Now she asks for a coffee and keeps you company in the kitchen. She doesn't expect highly polished stainless steel or perfectly ordered cupboards, but hygienic work surfaces and clean cups to drink from, she doesn't expect your fridge to smell or her feet to stick to your kitchen floor. This friend, is now becoming a bit of a pain in the neck and promptly faints. You say she can lie down on your bed, she shouldn't expect lit candles and lavender striped linen sheets, but a made bed, clothes in the wardrobe and a dust free dressing table. Well, you get the picture, you can imagine yourself making the place comfortable for a friend, when really you're making your home comfortable for your family to live in.

I have a few hints for establishing a daily round, which I hope you'll find interesting, if in fact helpful. Here come the bullet points!

• Just do it. Don't look at the mess just pick it up. I'm one of life's philosophers, in fact I do spend inordinate amount of time in deep, Pooh Bear-style thought. If you are like me and stand in the bathroom for twenty minutes contemplating what people's toilet habits say about their personalities, PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER and spend five minutes cleaning up.
• Set your oven timer. Think about how many minutes you can bear cleaning, then minus that time by five minutes. Are you left with only five minutes on that oven timer? Well that's just fine, you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish if you don't do it perfectly and don't stop to navel-gaze. You may even want to set the timer for another five minutes.
• Give yourself a little reward. A nice cup of tea and an hours blogging is always a good incentive for yours truly.
• Abandon lists. Lists are great for big, must do jobs, like pay gas bill and pick up prescriptions. But it is not wise to list all the piddly jobs you do in a day, it's nice when all the tasks get ticked off and completed, but a slap in the chops when you've not accomplished hardly any, for whatever reason.
• Establish the round as a routine. A routine of piddly jobs to get over and done with as soon as possible. The routine is good for you and good for your kids. They'll know that they can paint, go to the park, have a bit of mummy-kid time as soon as the round is done, as soon as the oven timer goes beep.
• Little ones can come with you. Get them to wash a door. Put a towel that needs laundering under the door and give the little one a clean cloth and some bubbly water. Your door will not be clean, and your floor may be a bit wet, but your kids will be happy and entertained whilst you go like a whirlwind. Praise all door cleaning activity fulsomely.
• Get stuff into perspective. Having grey grouting is not a stain on your character, just a stain on your grouting. Do what you can and when you can, simply to make your home more ordered, happy and hospitable.

Well, I started this post by saying that how own ancestors viewed their daily rounds said a lot about their social attitudes and how they viewed their home-lives. I wonder what my thoughts on my own particular round say about me? Answers on a post-card, please...no, on second thoughts it's best to live in ignorance!

Anon, fellow huswives and happy homemaking!