Housewife Cleaning
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Housewife Cleaning
FREE 1950s Cleaning Routine Printable
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FREE 1950s Cleaning Routine Printable
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FREE 1950s Cleaning Routine Printable
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March 10, 2021 By Lisa Sharp 78 Comments
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Want to clean like a 1950s housewife? Try this 1950s cleaning schedule . Your home will be spotless but you may be a bit exhausted! Plus get some 1950s cleaning hacks to make it all easier.
Having a clean and well-put-together home was very important to housewives in the 1950s. And they generally spent a lot more time cleaning than we do now.
It was, in general, most women’s full-time job and they took it seriously. Of course, not all situations for women were the same but overall women were more likely to be full-time housewives and that meant a lot of cleaning.
“Cleanliness was a mark of respectability. Sitting down was only acceptable in the evening.” – Dr. Liz Yardley, a lecturer in sociology at Birmingham City University .
The time women spent cleaning is one of the reasons many think women were so much thinner in the 1950s . They spent a lot of hours on their feet every day, cleaning and doing other housework.
Trying out a 1950’s cleaning schedule can help you get your house in amazing shape and burn a few extra calories. You may not want to do all of these things every day but try adding some of these to your daily cleaning schedule and see what you think.
It can be a really fun experiment to do for a week or so. If you track your steps you could track how much they increase while following this routine. If you do try this you should comment below with your results, I’d love to hear about it.
This list is adapted from a list shared by Jen but Never Jenn , be sure to check out her fun 1950s housewife series . This is also just a fun list from the time. It was from a 1950s book so just like we don’t all follow the routines suggested in today’s books this wouldn’t have been what EVERY 1950s housewife did, it would be an ideal that was promoted to them.
Check out the Web Story version of the 1950s cleaning schedule .
Don’t forget a lot of housewives didn’t have dishwashers, many didn’t have dryers, and overall there were so many fewer time-saving devices. Many were starting to gain popularity but still weren’t in the budget for a lot of households.
Want some free cleaning products to use while trying this routine out? Get my favorite Mrs. Meyer’s cleaning set for free .
There were many other chores that had to be taken care of monthly and seasonally. Just like now what chores needed to be done varied depending on the home and family situations.
Want to try this list out as well? Sign up below for access to a free printable 1950s cleaning schedule checklist and other great printables.
With this cleaning checklist, you can follow along with me and others in cleaning like a 1950s housewife. You may find some chores you want to add to your normal cleaning routine.
Do you ever wish you could join one of the homemaking clubs of the past? Sip some tea and share some delicious treats while talking about homemaking?
Now you can do just that! The Retro Homemakers Club is a place to learn and connect with other homemakers with a fun retro flair.
It’s a great place to learn every more 1950s housewife tips and tricks to use in your home. Plus practical advice for the modern homemakers.
If you want more retro inspiration I have a lot of fun posts for you to check out. You can also join the FREE Retro Housewife Goes Green Community to connect with others that love retro homemaking.
I’m going to try tomorrow but I’m getting tired just looking at the lists no energy not working.
I always lived spending a weekend in grandma’s clean house. I was injured in an accident and had to get a maid. She never saw my tears over not being able to clean my own bathroom or how thankful I am that she did. Now I rejoice in cleaning.
That’s why I’m exhausted most evenings because I’ll do the whole list most of the days…
I want to add to this from what I remember my mother doing to keep house and raise 5 children. Washing clothes with a wringer washer. Hang the clothes outside on the clothes line. Iron the clothes. Bake bread, cookies, and pie. Darn socks in the evening. Take care of my grandparents. Have an amazing flower bed around the house. Raise puppies. Wash the dishes by hand (we all chipped in on this one). Can vegetables and fruits. Take care of sick kids. Play baseball with us. Break up fights. Cloth diapers took extra work. Help sick neighbors. Get us to church in our Sunday best every week. Prepare a feast for Sunday dinner (they were awesome) and yes she wore a house dress every day. I could go on and on. My mom is going to be 93 this week. She bore 7 children. She has had to bury 3 of them and my dad to whom she was married to for 60 years. When my oldest sister died in accidently at 16 it nearly destroyed her. I dont know how she and dad got through it all. I know her faith in God was never in doubt and gave her strength. She was 5 foot 2 and less than 100 lbs. Sometimes it wasnt pretty. Time has a way of bringing healing and peace. I know my God has a special place for her in His Kingdom someday. She will always have my love and respect.
What a beautiful tribute to your mom! Proverbs 31:28
Wonderful tribute. We need to remember that in the majority of cases, women did not work outside the home. My mother didn’t. She did all the years before I was born. I didn’t need to when my children were small. I admire women, past and future. Sometimes we are our own enemies.
Robert Higgins, what a beautiful tribute to your mother!
This made me shed a few tears. Thank you for sharing. I only [relatively speaking] have 3 boys. My maternal grandmother also raised 5 children. Thank you for all the details. I don’t mind being a housewife. I have been a hard worker since my teenage years. I do love it, but I definitely love being a wife to my hardworking Hubbybear and my wonderful, caring boys. It gets difficult sometimes, of course, but I have definitely settled in to the home life – mostly because of the pandemic – but I am always looking for inspiration. I definitely don’t ever look down on the housewife mentality. But I do understand how it can be twisted to be demeaning. I just believe balance is key to everything. Principles, not laws.
That should say “and a mother to my 3 caring boys.” Lol.
Bless your wonderful mother! So strong and resilient through the trials of her life. She will enjoy an eternity in paradise. Much love, A friend
You had a wonderful role model. Although our expectations for careers etc have changed in the last 50 years I still strive to achieve the life for my family like you describe. I never want to set aside the joy of fulfilling any of my jobs to the best of my ability. My energy level takes a nose dive when I accept “too little “ of myself.
Your mom’s routine sounds like my mom’s, with the exception of the number of children. You could add to my mom’s responsibilities gathering food and supplies for the week-long trailrides that our family did every year. (Took many months to pull this together. ) She also made our to-go meals (before that was a thing) for the trips to the weekly rodeos my Dad and we kids participated in. My mom is now 96 and still in amazing health and mind.
This reminded me of my grandmother, right down to the wringer washer. And on top of all that she lived on a tobacco/dairy farm so she helped with the farm work, killed and sold chickens and eggs, had a massive vegetable garden, fruit trees, and berry bushes, (they were completely self-sufficient and made it through the Great Depression with no problem) assigned work to her 4 daughters (she had them rotate chores daily…2 would do outside work and 2 would do inside work). Her mother lived with them and sewed all the clothes and helped with the cooking. My grandmother was born in 1900 so she never wore pants. She certainly did NOT wear dresses like the woman at the top of this article, or high heeled shoes. She wore simple cotton house dresses and a full apron and “sensible” shoes.
My mother always had an outside job from the time she was 16. Before that she worked on the farm from the time she was 3, pulling suckers from the tobacco plants, gathering eggs, picking vegetables, and when she was a little older, would take the cows out to pasture every day, which was a mile away and involved crossing a road and a railroad. Then she would go to collect them at the end of the day. She never wore dresses and high heels at home. Where did that ridiculous idea come from, anyway? Did anyone actually do that? She worked a full time job, cooked from scratch every day, made most of our clothes, and did ALL of the housework on Saturdays, and her house was spotless.
Me, I’m lucky if I can manage a load of laundry every day. ? I’m such a lazy bum compared to them. I don’t know how they did it all.
I wish our culture respected motherhood again. I truly believe so many of our problems in this country would resolve. Thank you for that lovely tribute to your mother.
Back then, middle and high classes own houses. They could garden, hang clothes out on the line, and buy 7 basic food groups for every day. Even my lower classes parents’ families had a garden and some chickens , did not have a car, lived in town, smoked, and did not eat every basic food group daily from tight income.
Most people rent apartments, can not keep gardens at apartments, car insurance , gas , utilities, and rent bill is raising higher every few years. Because people keep asking for raises of minimum wages and prices on stuff goes up after this. Besides the high class, people have to choose between paying pills, eating, or having a car. Personally, I stopped driving due to chronic pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Pundendal Neuralgia, and degenerative disc diseases. If could drive, I would not. Insurance goes up and people is driving careless these days. Point is. I like to have basic 7 food groups daily and non processed to. In my home we eat no fast food, but frozen processed foods.
Make in 1950’s , suburbs wives would drive every day, or other day for fresh groceries. Each store was divided. One store had food, another had clothes, another had men’s clothes only, etc. . People walked a lot and lived never town more. More walked every where with out a car, but suburban wives would drive everywhere. Generations whom did not grow up in 1950’s romance it. This was a time where abuse got unreported, women and children was seen not heard, people with birth defects and unknown health problems git shut away in Asylums, doctors said smoking and drinking during pregnancy was good for us, etc…
We can take the 1950’s life style and use it in ourselves, but not do everything they did.
Women wore high heels all the time back then. This caused my grandma ‘s legs to get spider veins , but her smoking caused a lot of her health problems.
People also drinked and this helped with weight. It’s not good habit.
Nothing is perfect and I often say I like to take the good parts of the past and leave the rest.
Maybe this is a sign that I am overdoing it! I have a 9 month old and this cleaning list looks like a normal day for me ? I guess this isn’t the norm for 2019!
This is more than the average person cleans now. One study found housewives in the 1950s burned almost twice as many calories a day than we do now. Of course, we also have more appliances to help us but we still do less. You can likely cut back some and give yourself a break. <3
What study is itthe you are talking about?
Yeah, I do all of this and more now. I guess the biggest difference for me vs. a 1950’s house maker is that they likely did it in nicer clothes. Pajamas all day for the win!
I clean in dresses but not this whole list every day. 🙂
I was going to say, do I have to do it in heels? Maybe I should try hahahah
I mean you can, I’m going to pass since I already had to use a walking boot once this year. ha!
Yep, that’s me too! So many of the chores can be done in just a few minutes, and then add a weekly chore in per day. Adding kids definitely makes it take longer….and a lot of repetition!
I’m definitely not in dresses tho! My mom wore dresses until about 1970 when we moved to California. It’s kind of funny…I used to be amazed because I never saw her cleaning up, yet the entire house was always clean…except for the chores she assigned me, that is.
Wow that is a lot. I know I will not be able to do half of that due to I am a working mom. I salute all the stay at home mother who does this.
Not many do this no matter if they are at home or not. It’s a lot, don’t feel bad.
Umm. This is pretty normal housework. Growing up my mom worked part time at night. She cooked and baked from scratch. Never any dirty dishes. The house always spotless. We had a big Italian family and had everyone in and out all day. There were 4 of us kids plus all the cousins and friends that stopped by. I thought this was normal. My friends mom’s did the same and of course all my aunts. They would have been ashamed to have it any other way. I’m 67 and as I go about my house I think of how they all worked so hard.
It’s not normal these days, at least not for one day. 🙂
Very helpful! Gives me some inspiration. Thank you!
In the fifities ladies had hard surfaces to wipe and limited carpeting. Loads of linoleum mopped with vinegar water. They washed walls every two years. Curtains every spring. They had limited clothing. They had house dresses. Imagine a wardrobe that stopped with five shirts, three pair of pants, eight underwear, five undershirts. Eight pairs of socks. A suit and hat. Typical men’s wardrobe. Oh and hankies. All ironed. Except the suit and hat.
I love this blog! It’s so original and refreshing to read. I just have a hard time cleaning the bathrooms. I really dislike it.
Thank you! I don’t mind bathrooms other than the tub. That’s always a pain.
A tip to help in cleaning the bathtub – get a new broom with soft bristles (Dollar Tree is fine). Wet the tub walls and floor. Drizzle Dawn disk detergent all around. Use the broom to brush the detergent to dissolve the ring and other dirty spots. Then rinse. Easy peasy!
I love to notice how things have changed. There are certainly things to strive to continue and some to let fall by the wayside. Most important is to be teachable and willing to learn from those that came before us.
Most of these are just normal daily chores any one should be able to do. They are easier to do now with the dish washers and cleaning tools available. With kids it would be much harder, so I understand the mommy thing. Kids always come first before the house. If you do quick wipe downs, quick pick ups and stay on top of laundry………then it is not so hard. You do not have to follow the list exactly on busy days choose what is bothering you most about the house work…focus on that.
I’m a working mom of 3 & single I might add. I have always done things on my own. My kids have their chores, but there are things a mom wants done her way. Most of these things are a daily must & some of these things can be split up. I sweep my kitchen once I’m done cleaning up from supper. I throw away leftovers on Friday & that’s when I wipe the fridge down then mop the floor. My boys have picked their own day to have their laundry done. They bring it to the laundry room in the morning & it’s in their room in the afternoon. They clean, vacuum, change their bedding & take out their trash all in this day. Most of my bigger things get done on a Saturday. But, this has worked for us & I don’t feel worn out or exhausted either.
Couldn’t it be argued that moms in the 50’s were more likely to be SAH? Also did moms in the 50’s interact with their children as often as moms now? Also it was more likely that other moms in your neighborhood would be at home with their kids. Kids had friends to play with without moms having to be involved driving them and supervising. When kids were schooled aged a lot of women still were still SAH and with kids in school full time they would have had plenty of time to clean. I also find it unlikely that they didn’t sit down for lunch daily or coffee with the ladies a few times a week. I feel like this is one of those articles that perpetuates women and parents feeling bad for not doing enough. At this point comparing a Mother’s role in the 1950’s and a mother’s role in the 2000’s is comparing apples and oranges. Families can’t and shouldn’t be expected to be living the same way and with the same standards of families of the 1950’s.
I’m sorry you were upset by this. This was just for fun. My long-time readers will know that I talk all the time about self-care and not being too hard on yourself. I run a full-time business and don’t have kids and I don’t do all these things every day. We all just do our best and this is just a fun post, nothing too serious.
I think moms in the 50’s interacted a lot more than they do today. They were around them more, they didn’t have to compete with phones and computers, they usually did family times a lot more, played games, etc. Nowadays it seems one big complaints from parents is that the kids don’t communicate with them and they are always on their phones, etc, never mind how so many more kids now work at an earlier age, so they are away from home a lot more as well. I don’t think family meals are as common, either, more like meals on the run because everyone is so over scheduled, its rare that everyone is home at the same time
It’s all in fun my mom worked and was a single mom . I was expected to get myself off to school and get myself home . Leaving the kitchen tidy before she got home from work .I had just started school 6 years old We lived in a one bedroom basement suite the lady upstairs was usually home .When I walked back from school I reported to her . My mom and I took the bus everywhere or walked . We walked a lot . You know it wasn’t a bad life at all .I am a responsible adult.Two adult kids of my own . My house is tidy my life is good ,that was 57 years ago . My mom is still walking . A lot to be said for learning responsibly young . Don’t sweat it no one gets out of here alive .
This article was cute. Though i will never mop my floor every day. And i dont see laundry on the list. Does that mean i dont have to wash it or fold it? If so ill start tomorrow Lol.
ha! Laundry was usually a weekly chore so it would have been added in.
The list is a nice motivator. I’m one of twelve kids and grew up on a farm. We all had chores in and out of the house. My Mom cooked and baked.
I’m currently a working 56 hours plus Mom with two boys, one teen and one pre-teen. They both help but I’m always overtired and behind mostly on laundry which I do almost every day! I wish they had less clothes, Ha! Ha!
What I’ve learned is lists are good and if you do a little every day it’s better. I work 24 hour shifts so I don’t think there’s a good answer unless I kill myself with chores. Sometimes you just have to be okay doing whatever you can and enjoy your family while you have the chance! Our time together is precious and short. Laundry will always be there, you’re kids won’t!
Take time for yourself, spend some alone time with your spouse and go camping with your family!
My mother cleaned like this (I was born in 1977). My family….. does not (I say family as I work and my husband stays home). Yet when my mom now visits she says she feels like she wasted a lot of time cleaning that she wishes she
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