Household Tips from 1950s Housewives

1950s housewives can give us a lot of useful household tips that can make homemaking easier. We have forgotten so many of these tips and need to bring them back!

I’ve been reading magazines from the 1950s a lot lately. It’s such an interesting look into the lives of people back then. I especially love reading the tips and tricks that real housewives sent in. 

Women couldn’t blog or share these tips on social media back then so sending them into magazines was the next best thing. I’m sure it was fun to see your name in the magazine and show your friends. 

Many of the tips no longer are that helpful because we have more appliances to help us make tasks easier. But some of their tips are still very useful and don’t seem to be being used as much these days. 

For a while now I’ve been keeping notes from tips I thought would be useful and I noticed I have a lot of them and should share them with you as well. I hope you enjoy these retro cleaning tips and find some that will help you as well.

Household Tips from the 1950s That Still Work Today

Keep coats clean. You save a lot of elbow work if you pick up lint from your clothes with the drapery attachment on your vacuum. The crevice tool cleans pockets, cuffs, galoshes.

Keep delicate curtains safe in the wash. Net or lace curtain panels are less likely to tear in washing if you pack them loosely in a pillowcase or mesh bag. Tie the top, for better balance in some washers, try to include two bags in each load.

Use more trash cans and clothes hampers. A wastebasket in every room, clothes hamper in the bedrooms and the bath- these will save you extra trips. And you won’t have to grumble at the family to keep paper and clothes picked up.

Use a handy basket. Keep a basket at the foot of the stairs, both in the basement and on the first floor. Then while you’re cleaning slip teddy and abandoned trucks – anything that belongs on the next floor in the basket. Then you can carry everything up in one step.

Wear an apron. An apron’s big pockets keep track of dust cloths, collect those odds and ends you pick up around the house. 

Keep your cleaning supplies with you. Save time on cleaning day by keeping your equipment in one spot. Carry cleaner, waxes, and polishes with you in a basket.

Clean toaster regularly. In some cases, crumbs may store up moisture and cause rusting. Many toasters have removable crumb tray to make the job easy. Otherwise, carefully tilt toaster on its side or turn it upside down. Be gentle.

Use a paint brush for dusting. Use a new paintbrush 1 to 3 inches wide for dusting tops of books, figurines, carved furniture, radio, and between stair railings. 

Skip seasonal cleaning. Clean one or two rooms a month. Pick a day when you’ve finished the weekly laundry and quickly slick up the rest of the house. Then you can do a good job on one of the rooms by 5:00.

Do a little bit every day. Each morning spend about five minutes picking up each room. Then, with no signs of disorder, you can go on to other jobs. Or you can play hooky and know you won’t be caught with a messy house.

Reduce how much stuff you have. Go through your home, room by room. Consider honestly each article of furnishings and see if you can do better without it. You’ll be amazed at how much is unnecessary or troublesome in the average room, and you will find that a simplified room can be beautiful and comfortingly calm if well planned. Remember, the fewer unused things you have, the less you have to care for. Don’t load your home with trimmings that give little return for care they need. 

Keep your coffee pot clean. Filmy coffee oils that impair good coffee flavor are quickly removed from glass coffeemakers with baking soda. Once a week, wash your coffeemaker in baking soda solution- 3 tablespoons baking soda to quart water for a few minutes.

Clean with old socks. Old socks make quick work of your polishing jobs. Pull a sock over each hand. Rub polish onto the furniture with one hand; buff it to a shine with the other. You can also use old socks to dust your blinds.

Save time and space while line drying. Dry clothes by hanging them cross-ways between two lines instead of side by side. You can get more clothes up before having to move down the link and you can get more on the line this way as well.

Keep your refrigerator clean and smelling fresh. Wash inside of the refrigerator with sudsy water once a week. Follow with a baking soda-water rinse (3 teaspoons baking soda in a quart of warm water) to prevent odors.

More 1950s Cleaning Advice

• Vintage Cleaning Tips You Should Steal from Grandma
• 7 Cleaning Hacks from 1950’s Housewives Worth Stealing
• 1950s Cleaning Schedule

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