Vintage Homemaking

There are three methods in general use of caring for cupboards. Some housewives prefer their cupboard shelves of bare wood, to be well scrubbed with soap and water at the periodical “turn-out.” Others cover all shelves with white American cloth, which only needs wiping over with a wet house-flannel; while still others prefer to dispense [...]

Hoosier Kitchen cabinets were popular during the late 19th early 20th century. Mostly because housewives of this time period did not have all the cupboard space so popular today and well yes hiring servants was becoming less popular with the increase of the middle class.
These kitchen cabinets were fitted with many drawers, cupboards and accouterments [...]

It’s nice to have vintage magazines from the past. Sometimes (many times) you find gems in them that can work just as well today as they did yesterday.
In my 1953 Good Housekeeping Magazine there is an article for redecorating with slipcovers. Slip covers were just as budget savvy a choice for redecorating yesterday as they [...]

Buckey Cookery  and Practical Housekeeping 1877
It is becoming fashionable in these pinching times to economize and housekeepers are finding it a pleasant pastime to search out and stop wastes in household expenses, and to exercise the thousand little economies which thoughtful and careful women understand so readily and practice with such grace. Somebody has said [...]

The Care of House Plants is a matter of daily attention, and well
repays all labor expended upon it. The soil of house-plants should be
renewed every year as previously directed. In winter, they should be
kept as dry as they can be without wilting. Many house-plants are
injured by giving them too much water, when they have little [...]

I know I’m posting this in late November but I still think it’s lovely advice you could apply next year.
Advice from Armour’s Monthly Cook Book, Volume 2, No. 12, October 1913 A Monthly Magazine of Household Interest
October is a fine time to plant every kind of “bulb, root and tuber,” also all deciduous plants and [...]

Forgive me for yet another post about the Vintage (mostly Victorian) woman’s weekly chores schedule.
This choice tidbit is found in Catherine and Harriet (Stowe) Beecher’s American Woman’s Home…
Monday, with some of the best housekeepers, is devoted to preparing for the labors of the week. Any extra cooking, the purchasing of articles to be used during [...]

2 Fabulous videos for getting a real life look at what life was like for the homemaker in the past.
Wouldn’t you love to step back in time and view real people  (and especially women since this is a vintage homemaking site) doing household chores, taking care of things at home to see how it was [...]

Courtesy of
How to Prepare and Serve a Meal and Interior Decoration
By
Lillian B. Lansdown
AFTERNOON TEAS
Afternoon teas are of two kinds, formal and informal, and the informal outdoor tea in the open, on the lawn or in the garden, is a variant of the latter variety. Here the tea wagon comes into play, [...]