re: (viki post above)Cleaning – washing - cooking –mending is not taking a lot of time anymore, thanks to vacuum-cleaner, washing machine, microwave etc.
Time saving devices don't save time!
women spend about the same amount of time cleaning now as they did 100 year ago.. 35 or so hours a week.
(they spend less time sewing, knitting, darning-- and now purchace ready made clothes, blankets and other textiles.)
Yes, washing machines make washing clothes easier.. and as a result, every one wears fresh cloths daily! we don't were the same dress for a week and the same slip, and the same underwear. (changing to a fress one on the sabbath or sunday as religion dictacts)
yes, washing machine make washing clohtes easier and we now change our bed sheet weekly, not just take the top sheet and move it to the bottom, and wash only the bottem sheet.
Yes, vacuums get our rugs cleaner.. but it takes about the same time sweep a carpet as to vacuum it, (but the vacuum will keep it cleaner) yes, we don't have take the carpets out once a year, and beat the dirt out that sweeping missed, but we also have more carpeting!
Middle class home had very little carpeting, certainly not wall to wall. floor coverings were canvas, or linoium, if not plain wood, with a small woven rag rug at the bedside.
last time i checked, it took just as long to peal a potato today as it did 100 years ago.. and that potato doesn't cook any faster. sure i use frozen foods to have a greater selection of foods out of season (and i am very glad of it) but frozen foods aren't faster to cook.. a pot roast takes just as long to cook as it did 100 years ago.
and setting the table? clearing it? washing dishes. maybe that is a bit faster but you still have load, unload. the dishes don't dance there way from cupboard to table to dishwasher to cupboard.
and we have more dishes to wash. we don't have a one pot boiled dinner of cabbabe, carrots, potatoes and a bit of beef or sausage. we have vegetable cooked seperately, and a salad, and salad plates.
we eat more food (well, that not really an improvement), fresher, cleaner food and a much greater variety.
yes, stoves are easier, i don't have haul wood, or coal, or clean out ashes or clinkers..
In my 35 hours, i can have the lifestyle of a rich person with a housefull of servants, from 100 years ago.
time saving is a misnomer..
modern day appliances do not give us more time, but more luxury. the middle class (and the poor!) have the ability now to live a life style that was limited to the very rich.
and this improvement in cleanliness, has improved our health--cleaner clothes, means most of us don't know about bed bugs, or fleas or lice. We no longer live in house that are infested with mice or rats or other vermine. but please, don't say we spend less time cleaning!
