Want to clean like a 1950’s housewife? Try this 1950’s cleaning schedule. Your home will be spotless but you may be a bit exhausted!
Having a clean and well put together home was very important to housewives in the 1950s. And they spent a lot more time cleaning than we do now.
“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 routine 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.
1950’s Daily Cleaning Schedule
This list is adapted from a list shared by Jen but Never Jenn, be sure to check out her fun 1950’s housewife series.
- Throwback the covers and let your bed air out. (read why this is important)
- Open up the blinds and windows.
- After breakfast clean up the kitchen and eating area.
- Gather a basket for tidying. As you tidy the home, pick up items that don’t belong in that room and add them to your basket. When you enter a new room place the items from the basket that belong in that room where they go.
- Straighten up the living areas, pick up clutter, lightly dust, straighten pillows, and water plants.
- Make the beds.
- Tidy the bedroom, including a light dusting.
- Hang up any clothes that may be about or ensure dirty ones are in the hamper.
- Do a light tidy of the bathroom including removing and replacing used towels, refilling toilet paper and soap (as needed) and cleaning the sink area including soap dishes.
- Wipe down kitchen work surfaces and inside the fridge and discard of any old food.
- Dispose of garbage from around the home.
- Rinse dishcloths and hang to dry.
- Sweep or mop the kitchen floor.
- Handle weekly chores that need to be done that day. (see examples below)
- Set the table for dinner.
- Arrange the living room for evening enjoyment with the family.
- Do a quick sweep of the floors and ensure entrance ways are clear.
- Clean up the eating areas after dinner and ensure all dishes are washed.
- Set the table for breakfast.
Want some free cleaning products to use while trying this routine out? Click here to get my favorite Mrs. Meyer’s cleaning set for free.
Once a Week Chores
- Use metal polish on bathroom fixtures.
- Clean and disinfect all kitchen appliances.
- Scald and disinfect bread boxes and garbage pails and bins.
- Replace flowers with fresh bouquets.
- Laundry (including bedding).
- Vacuuming and mopping.
Be sure to also check out 7 Cleaning Hacks from 1950’s Housewives Worth Stealing.
Free Printable 1950’s Cleaning Routine
Want to try this list out as well? Sign up below for access to a free printable 1950’s cleaning routine checklist and other great printables.
With this cleaning checklist, you can follow along with me and others in cleaning like a 1950’s housewife. You may find some chores you want to add to your normal cleaning routine.
Interested in more 1950’s cleaning tips? Check out How to do Your Spring Cleaning Like a 50’s Housewife.
Christine
I’m going to try tomorrow but I’m getting tired just looking at the lists no energy not working.
Lisa Sharp
I’d love to know how it goes!
Dorianne
That’s why I’m exhausted most evenings because I’ll do the whole list most of the days…
Kenzie
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!
Lisa Sharp
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
DJ
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!
Lisa Sharp
I clean in dresses but not this whole list every day. 🙂
Kalyn
I was going to say, do I have to do it in heels? Maybe I should try hahahah
Lisa Sharp
I mean you can, I’m going to pass since I already had to use a walking boot once this year. ha!
Luanne
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.
Shandra Brown
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.
Lisa Sharp
Not many do this no matter if they are at home or not. It’s a lot, don’t feel bad.
MaryP
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.
Lisa Sharp
It’s not normal these days, at least not for one day. 🙂
Jessica Taylor
Very helpful! Gives me some inspiration. Thank you!
Lisa Sharp
I’m so glad it was helpful!
Nina
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.
Mirley Guerra Graf
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.
Lisa Sharp
Thank you! I don’t mind bathrooms other than the tub. That’s always a pain.
Jan
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.
Lisa Sharp
Very true!
Susan Newbigging
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.
Michelle
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.
Dorothy
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.
Lisa Sharp
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.
Jane
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 .
Natasha
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.
Lisa Sharp
ha! Laundry was usually a weekly chore so it would have been added in.
Julie
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!
Jill
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 spent with my brother and me. She admires the parents my husband and I are and the attention we give our kids. She says “all these years later, was the fact that I had a spotless house important?
I’m glad she told us this. I feel no shame. My house is clean-not spotless though, but my kids have the gift of memories made-much more important to me.
Michelle
This doesn’t seem hard to me, to be honest. This would most definitely NOT take all day. I do these things pretty much daily. I don’t set the table for meals ahead of time, but I do all these other things, plus I work outside my home. And if you keep things up…. if you’re doing this daily, your house isn’t getting very messy, so it’s not hard to keep it clean. This doesn’t take long when things are kept up. This isn’t why they were thinner either…. fast food and Netflix weren’t around. THAT’S why they were thinner. ? True story…. (sorry, not trying to be negative. But this truly isn’t a tough or rigorous cleaning routine. Now, if they were cleaning ovens and doing windows on a daily basis, then yes…. that would be tiring!! Lol)
Suzanne
You’re right Michelle.
I was a ’50’s kid and my mother was NOT a clean freak. She spent time with us and taught me to sew when I was barely 7. She helped my brother, sister and me with homework, made every meal and made sure we had clean clothes, but was not obsessive about cleaning. She used to say: “keep the kitchen and bathrooms clean, and you’re fine”. When we were old enough she had us dust, sweep or vacuum once a week and put away our toys and/or clothes. We made our beds and tidied our rooms. That was about it. I DO remember her cleaning out the ‘fridge periodically and defrosting the freezer – an awful job, but those were the days before self defrosting freezers. I don’t ever remember seeing her clean the over, but it’s possible she did that kind of cleaning while we were in school (no interruptions).
And you’re right about why most people were thinner then Michelle. Mom rarely ate between meals, unless it was fruit or something else healthy. There was no fast food (Mickey D’s was in it’s infancy), she didn’t allow much in the way of cookies or other sweets – the budget was limited so they were an occasional treat. We didn’t eat meat every night of the week; again, the budget, Dad didn’t bring home a huge salary but we were always clothed and well-fed. Mom’s meals could be a bit bland sometimes because she didn’t like salt, but she made sure they were well-balanced and healthy. There weren’t NEARLY the same amount of “quick-prep” and food choices in the grocery store. Mom made most meals from scratch. We were very active and played outside with our friends whenever the weather allowed. Television broadcasting stopped by midnight but were weren’t permitted to stay up late anyway unless for a special occasion. We only wanted to watch the after-school cartoons and the Saturday morning kid shows anyway – Sky King, Fury, and the like. But we had to finish our chores first!
Nowadays, when it comes to meals, it’s too easy to pick up something quick that’s full of salt, fat and preservatives. Take-out foods are a big problem too and portion sizes are much bigger than we used to eat. I changed my eating habits roughly three years ago and took off 40lbs. I added extra walking to my routine twice a week and kept my in-between meal snacks to some fruit and or a few nuts. It didn’t happen overnight, but I lost an average of 2lb. per month and my doctor was thrilled. Yes, it was slow but I went down 3 sizes and feel better all around. We can be healthier and more slender if we simplify our diet, avoid salty, fat-filled processed foods and do just a little extra exercise. Daily dusting, sweeping and vacuuming are not that difficult and would certainly make a difference in our activity level. And this goes for the guys too! My sweet hubby will vacuum when I ask him.