Try this real 1940s homemaking routine to help you stay on track and have more time for the things you enjoy. You can even get a free printable homemaking chart to help.
“Housekeeping is a real job – a job that needs to be planned carefully if one would avoid becoming a slave to housework or have free time for social activities and outside interests.” – America’s Housekeeping Book
That quote is from a 1940s homemaking book but is still very true. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the tasks involved with keeping your home. We sometimes seem to think housewives of the past had it all together but they struggled with this just like we do now.
Homemaking books and magazines from the mid-century talked a lot about schedules and ways to make homemaking easier. Much of the advice given during that time is still helpful now, though thankfully we have a lot of appliances that can help us now that were not common during the mid-century!
I’ve shared a popular 1950s cleaning routine here and often get requests for more routines so I’m always on the lookout for good ones. And I’ve got one to share with you today from the 1940s from a popular homemaking book.
While you can read it yourself I wanted to make it more digestible and add some modern advice to make it more applicable to today. I hope this is helpful when it comes to creating your own routine.
1940s Homemaking Routine
Before going into the routine the book tells us some of the reasons it’s important to have a homemaking routine and most remain true but I believe there are even more benefits than they shared. These are a mix of their reasons for keeping a homemaking schedule and my modern take on it.
- It can help with the anxiety of not knowing when you will be able to get your tasks done.
- It allows you to get more done because you know what to do and when.
- It makes it easier to plan for leisure without the guilt of not having your housework done.
- It helps you make sure all the tasks are getting done when needed.
They go on to talk about a schedule becoming second nature but I do have to add here, if you are neurodivergant or disabled like myself there is a good chance you aren’t great at building habits. That is okay and this doesn’t have to become second nature. You can need a list forever and that’s okay! It’s also okay to try this for a while and switch it up if you become bored or it isn’t working anymore.
How to Create Your 1940s Homemaking Routine
In my experience, homemaking books from the time didn’t often give a set schedule to follow but instead gave guidelines to help the homemaker make their own. I find this is still best because everyone’s home and family are different. For this book, they call it a skeleton schedule that you can add or alter to fit your own needs.
These are the steps suggested to help you create your homemaking schedule. They are still excellent tips for today’s homemakers.
- Write down the tasks that need to be done daily.
- Write down the tasks that need to be done on a particular day of the week.
- Once you have that list make a chart and write down each job on the day and time when it makes the most sense to do that task.
To help with this task there are suggestions for things that should be daily tasks and weekly tasks.
Daily Homemaking Task Examples
These are daily tasks based on what was common in the 1940s. It’s likely most if not all are still relevant in your life. This will help you create your list of daily tasks but don’t feel like you must add all of them.
Food Planning and Preparation
- Table setting
- Cooking and serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- Washing dishes
- Kitchen clean-up
Child Care
- Bathing and dressing
- Feeding
- Exercise and fresh air
- Special training
- Recreation and companionship
Cleaning
- Light straightening and cleaning of rooms
Other Tasks
- Correspondence
- Sewing and mending
- Personal laundry
- Personal care (we’d think of this as self-care now)
- Gardening
- Keeping accounts (budgeting)
- Care of pets
- Chauffeuring for family
- Rest, recreation, and reading
Weekly Homemaking Task Examples
These are the weekly tasks that were given as examples during the 1940s.
Cleaning
- Thorough cleaning of rooms (refer to the daily cleaning schedule for more on this)
Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping
- It states that this frequency depends on your storage space and food-buying habits.
Laundry
- Washing
- Ironing
Special Child Care
- Medical Appointments
- Shampooing
- Shopping
- Special lessons
- School events
Special Tasks
- Silver cleaning
- Closet cleaning
- Care of clothing (sewing/mending, pressing, sending to dry cleaner)
- Special baking
- Shopping
- Personal care (self-care)
Rest and Recreation
- Club work (for the modern homemaker this could include being a part of the Retro Homemakers’ Club)
- Sports
- Exercise
- Theatre, concerts, movies, etc.
- Reading
Entertaining
- Any planning needed for hosting
Skeleton Housework Schedule
Now that we know what tasks to schedule it’s time to make the schedule. To help with this I’ve recreated a version of the 1940s homemaking schedule template included in the book. You’ll notice the weekend is largely kept free. They suggest that careful planning can help you keep your weekends free for recreation.
It’s a pretty simple schedule that is easy to adjust and still great for today.
Get a Free 1940s Homemaking Schedule Printable
I’ve put together a free printable version of this homemaking schedule that can be printed out. It includes the above chart as well as a blank chart so you can make your own.
All you have to do to get your printable 1940s homemaking schedule is fill out the form below and then check your email for the printables. Enjoy!
More Vintage Homemaking Resources
Looking for more vintage homemaking resources? I’ve got you covered!
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