Want to be a retro housewife? These are the things you must-have. Most items are perfect for every kind of homemaker.
As much as I love blogging and freelance writing, being a housewife is my biggest passion. I know not everyone would enjoy it but I love it. It’s like playing house all day, only I wish there were fewer dishes, I hate washing dishes!
While it is a great job it’s one I take seriously. My husband works extra hard for me to be able to be a housewife and follow my other passions. I want to keep the home as nice as possible. I’m not perfect, far from it lately, but I’m always trying to do better.
These are some items that I find help make being a retro housewife either easier or prettier. I want to share these items with you as they may help you as well!
Retro Housewife Must-Haves
- Cleaning rags- There are so many fancy cleaning cloths out there now and all kinds of disposable products. However, a good old t-shirt cut into rags is my favorite cleaning cloth. I have tons of them, all over the place. They are free and work wonderfully.
- Tea Towels- Tea towels are a great way to add a pretty touch to your kitchen and they are useful. I like vintage and new tea towels. I have them for different seasons and just love them. I like to use them as hand towels and to lay over the dish rack. I really like the ones from Grove Collaborative.
- Cute Flats- I love heels and wedges but for running errands flats are a must. I buy most of my flats from ModCloth. They a great selection.
- Vintage Aprons- I have four vintage aprons so far and I’m always looking for more. A cute apron just makes me happy. They are great for protecting clothes of course but also for drying your hands or carrying flowers or produce in from the garden.
- Glass Storage Containers- Glass food containers are not only nicer looking than disposable or plastic options, they are better for us and the planet. I collect vintage Pyrex but don’t use it for food storage due to lead issues. I use it for serving and other purposes that have less of a risk of causing the lead to leach. For food storage I like new Pyrex. It’s great for fridge and freezer storage and will save you money in the long run.
- Tea Set- I’ll be honest I don’t have one yet but it’s on my list of things I want. A retro housewife should be prepared to host a tea party right? The one I wanted from ModCloth is currently out of stock but hoping they bring it back!
- Good Skin Care- A retro housewife wants to stay looking young and her best. Therefore, I use Juice Beauty products for my skin because they have great ingredients and work! I also keep their Age Defy Hand Cream on my desk to use throughout the day. Housework can lead to very dry hands and who wants that?
- Water Bottle- Staying hydrated is also important while running around cleaning the house and such. I like the LifeFactory glass bottles because they are safe, beautiful, and dishwasher safe.
- Cute Cotton House Dresses- What could be more retro than wearing dresses all day? I’m a big fan of ditching yoga pants for house dresses. You look more put together but you are more put together.
- Home Management Binder- My home management binder contains everything I need to take care of my home and myself. It helps keep me on track and is essential to the running of my home.
What are some of your retro housewife must-haves? I’d love to hear about them, share in the comments below.
Sonya Lynette Miller
Melmac, Vintage Tea sets, Pyrex Bowls, Milk glass anything, and vintage cook books….
Lisa Sharp
Great list! I also collect milk glass and vintage cookbooks.
Deanna
I’ve been wanting some house dresses, too!
Lisa Sharp
They seem like the perfect, comfy cleaning attire.
Hermione
me too
Alex Guglielmo
It sounds like we come from similar molds, Lisa! I love being a homemaker and I’m also trying to bring beautiful vintage items into our home (our living room looks like an old study/library!). ModCloth is great, and house dresses sound like something my hubby might prefer to see over yoga pants, haha! Great post!
Lisa Sharp
Your home sounds lovely. It’s funny because I wore yoga pants because they were easy and comfortable but really dresses are even more comfortable, especially in the summer. And my husband really likes it, it takes like 2 minutes more and he thinks I’ve been tons of effort into looking nice.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you stick around. 🙂
Jennifer
My Kitchen Aid stand mixer! Gotta have it! Literally use it once a week! Also, my hot rollers! Even when wearing yoga pants it’s still nice to have my hair done up a bit. Winged eyeliner and red bananas are a must too!
Carla
Lovely article and good suggestions.
I was a child in the 50s and 60s and have many wonderful memories of the kitchens in my friends’ homes. All of them were neat and tidy and a pleasant. Then when I married in the early 70s, I spent lots of time in my husband’s grandmother’s home, especially the kitchen. She had married about 1903 and still had her original furniture. So, to me a desirable kitchen is heavily influenced by all of them.
Cleaning rags: I totally agree. I keep a bag of them hanging near the sink. Tea towels: I have a basket with several, but had never thought of changing them seasonally. In the past, I’ve embroidered some, and think I’ll use your idea and make more for each season, and maybe a few for Christmas, etc. Vintage aprons: I have a few, and really like them. Glass storage containers: I bought my Anchor Hocking (made in the U.S.A. at Wal-Mart. They’re clear, come in several sizes and can also be used for baking. Tea set: very nice thing to have. Vintage Cookbooks: I love and use them, but have had to stop collecting because I ran out of shelf space. Gallon glass jars for canisters. Food storage in glass jars (labels removed). My red work embroidered valances. 1940s sugar bowl for tea bag storage.
Lisa Sharp
Thanks for sharing! Sounds like we have similar tastes. I have some Anchor Hocking as well.
Carla
Oh, I forgot to tell you, I grew up in MIngo, on the outskirts of Tulsa. My mother always wore cotton house-dresses, which she always ironed after they hung on the clothesline. After we moved to Texas and our sons were small, I decided that dresses were much more comfortable and cooler to wear than shorts or pants. My sainted mother sewed several for me.
Lisa Sharp
Very cool, I know where that is. I love house dresses and you are right they are much cooler.
Amanda
Maxi skirts and graphic tees are my favorite right now. Then I have floral aprons from wish that I bought for $3. My husband called him miss Suzie homemaker yesterday and I told him not to get too used to it. ( I work 40 hours a week).
Lisa Sharp
haha, whatever you feel up to and have time for. 🙂
Grandma G.
Your blog is delightful and sentimental for me. I grew up in the ’50’s and remember much of what you mention. My mother was a recycler before recycling became a “thing”. She wore skirts and tops more than dresses because we didn’t have much money so she made do. Like you, I LOVE aprons. I also love sewing and quilting, which I’m grateful to able to do a lot of today. Even though we were low on the economic totem pole, we had a great life back then. The 50’s were far from perfect but also some things WERE better. Mom didn’t work outside the home until we were responsible enough to be on our own for a few hours at a time. She was the kind of mom who’d have dryer-warmed socks ready for our cold feet when my sister and I walked home from school in the winter. In summer and winter she’d have a window open in the kitchen so we could smell dinner cooking. We waited dinner until Dad was home and we’d eat together, in the dining room and we talked – NO TV allowed. She taught us to cook and sew. She and Dad always made us do chores (good training). Most of the parents within a few blocks area knew one another, so if you misbehaved someplace else, you “got it” there and since the news of your behavior frequently got home before you did, you “got it” at home too! And the result – we learned right from wrong, respect for others and to act like decent human beings. Again, as we didn’t have much, many of our clothes were hand-me-downs and rummage sale finds but pretty much everyone we knew was in the same situation. We didn’t mind until we got older, but by then I was making quite a few of my own clothes as well as some for my sister. Fabric didn’t cost so much back then.
Holidays were terrific! We had aunts and uncles and cousins who loved to tease us and there was plenty of laughter. On Halloween we were safe and could walk for miles, bringing back pounds of candy-most of which Mom confiscated (I never did learn what she did with it.) We had the whole block as our playground in the summertime and lots of friends to play with. A game of hide and seek could cover multiple families’ yards. We spent our days outside the house playing. We got dirty and scraped up occasionally, so whatever mother was nearby would clean us up, slap on a bandage and perhaps offer a cookie.
On the flip side, there were concerns over “atom bomb” attacks and we had drills on what to do. There was a HUGE klaxon horn up the street on the corner that would go off at a certain time every day to remind us of the need to be ready – horrible if you happened to be standing under it when it when off! People bought non-perishable foods, canned goods and jugs of water to store in basements or bomb shelters. Sometimes when in school we practiced sitting under our desks to protect ourselves just in case – a lot of protection that would have been! But it’s what we were taught. Dad was a Civil Defense warden who provided information on building one of those bomb shelters in the ground or in a basement. There were Civil Defense pamphlets around the house for Dad to distribute around the community. It was sometimes unsettling and scary.
“McCarthy-ism” was in full swing and people were terrified of being labeled a communist. We read and were told horrible things about what Communists would do to us and that was scary too. But we were kids and we got over it quickly. We didn’t get sick very often. We were outside playing it the dirt with other kids and I believe that helped us develop good immune systems. We DID get pinworms, ick! from ingesting the occasional bit if a mud pie, so Mom took us to the doctor and got us fixed up. (And if you don’t know what pinworms are, don’t ask me to explain it – TMI – look it up yourself!). Luckily Polio became a thing of the past in the fifties. We stood in long lines to be given the pink-tinted vaccine soaked into a sugar cube so you wouldn’t taste it. But still Mom yelled, “Don’t spray each other with cold water from the hose…you’ll get Polio!” Go figure.
There is and has been good and bad in every generation. Life was more simplistic back then but I wouldn’t give up most of today’s technological improvements to go back. Still, it’s great fun to reminisce and even adapt to live some of the simpler ways as you now do. I admire you for it – you go girl!
p.s. I’ll scrub your dishes if you’ll scrub my floors!!! (I hate doing floors)
Lisa Sharp
Thank you so much for sharing. This was so lovely to read. I grew up in a small town in a very safe little neighborhood so thankfully I got to enjoy some of the kinds of things you talked about. The neighborhood kids played together most evenings and I was allowed to ride my bike and walk the dog around our neighborhood. It makes me sad that this isn’t as common anymore.
You are right, every generation has it’s good and it’s bad. I wish we would spend more time studying history and remembering to avoid past mistakes but also trying to keep more of the good. We seem to often throw out the good with the bad.
Thank you again. This made my day. And I will gladly switch you dishes for floors!
Stephanie
a colander ? and thin bathroom towels
Miranda
Have you heard of Victorian Trading Company? They have a lot of beautiful things, including tea supplies:
https://www.victoriantradingco.com/category/tea-tea-accessories