How I Keep My House Clean and Sweet

Maria Parloa gives homemakers in the early 1900s advice on keeping dust at a minimum.  This is adapted from The Ladies Home Journal, February, 1905.

Dust is the cause of much trouble to the housekeeper.  The air is never free from it.  Dust contains bacteria, yeast, and mold spores.  This article gives tips on sweeping, dusting, and furniture choice to keep the house clean and sweet.

Sweeping and Dusting

We must be careful as to how we sweep and dust a room.  If there is carpet on the floor, and there are heavy hangings and upholstered furniture in the room, it will be difficult to prevent the dust from rising and floating about.

The order of cleaning a room so furnished should be this:  If there are registers in the floor, cover them with paper or a damp cloth.  They should be taken out and dusted once every four or five weeks.  Open the windows, take down the draperies and shake and hang outdoors.  If there are oil paintings and carved or gilded frames on the walls, wipe them with a soft cloth and then cover them.  I keep pieces of unbleached muslin for this purpose.

Brush the upholstered furniture by an open window, and place it in another room.  Dust the ornaments with a soft cloth and place them in another room.  If any pieces of furniture are too heavy to be moved, wipe them free from dust and cover with a cloth made for this purpose.  Pin a piece of outing flannel on a long-handled brush or broom and sweep the ceiling and walls with it.  Wipe the dust from the tops of windows and doors with a damp cloth.

For the carpet use a carpet sweep, or sprinkle pieces of damp paper over the carpet and sweep with a broom.  Take short strokes, being careful not to raise the broom much.  Sweep the corners and edges with a small whisk broom.  Let the dust settle, then dust the woodwork with a cloth, using a painter’s brush for grooves and windows.  Put 2 tablespoonfuls of ammonia into a gallon of water; wring a cloth out of this and wipe the carpet.  This will remove any dust and brighten the carpet.

Sweeping with a Broom

Wash the windows; wipe any soiled places on the woodwork.  Then put back the hangings, furniture, and ornaments.

A room cleaned in this thorough manner should keep clean for two weeks unless it is in constant use.  It will, of course, require dusting from time to time.

The House Most Easily Kept Clean

A young housekeeper asks what kinds of interior finishing and furnishing are the easiest for the housekeeper to keep clean.

The ideal house, as far as the ease with which it can be kept clean and sanitary is concerned, in one that has well-made, smooth floors; woodwork without grooves or carving, and finished in the natural color, or stained and oiled or varnished; the ceilings in a hard finish, the walls covered with a fairly smooth paper.  The walls of the kitchen, pantries, laundry, and bathrooms should be painted, tiled, or covered with paper that may be washed.

The furniture should be without ornamentation; quality and good lines are important.  The less upholstered furniture there is, the better.  Comfortable and elegant chairs, davenports, etc., can be found in rattan and wood.  Cushions covered with suitable materials give the required note of color.

The furnishing of the bedroom is of the first importance.  In this room, where so many hours are spent in sleep, have only such furnishings as are necessary for comfort and convenience.  An enameled or brass bedstead with firm springs that will not sag under the weight of the body, a good mattress, washable blankets and sheets, generous as to length, are the most important parts of the furnishing of this room.  For the floor, have three fair-sized rugs to place by the bed, bureau, and washstand.  Many small ornaments in a room double the time necessary for cleaning it.

Washing Windows

A house thus simply finished and furnished will require about half the time and strength to keep it clean than would one furnished with carpets and ornate furniture.  Of course, there must be some rugs on the floors.  The daily care of the floors is simple.  In rooms that are in constant use, wipe the bare part with a dust mop.  It will not take more than five minutes for an ordinary room.  When the rugs are dusty, go over them with a carpet sweeper .  The small ones may be taken outdoors, swept, and aired.  This is important with bedroom rugs.

The time and strength required for this daily care are slight.  There is no moving of heavy furniture, and comparatively no dust raised to settle all over the room.