Maybe competitive housewifery should be in the Olympics

[August]

I'm having one if those weeks you have when you're a SAHM. Lack of external validation, spending excessive time at my volunteer job instead of cleaning because at least someone notices the work I do there, feeding my kids the exact same breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day (to their great delight, which makes it worse) etc, etc. You know how it is.

Anyway, I was wondering if back in the day when people were judging stains on your kids clothes, and if you jazzed up your aspic with olives on toothpicks and shit, if that made housework more rewarding, even if only via punishment for doing it wrong. And maybe these competitive housewives like the chicken breast woman really do find it challenging and rewarding in the real sense, because when their friends come over they're inspecting things, instead of laughing at each other for crazy shit like leaving the ironing board out for three weeks even though there are only four ironable items in the house.

[gustava]

They took valium.

[Maggie Mae]

I'm having one if those weeks you have when you're a SAHM. Lack of external validation, spending excessive time at my volunteer job instead of cleaning because at least someone notices the work I do there, feeding my kids the exact same breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day (to their great delight, which makes it worse) etc, etc. You know how it is.

Anyway, I was wondering if back in the day when people were judging stains on your kids clothes, and if you jazzed up your aspic with olives on toothpicks and shit, if that made housework more rewarding, even if only via punishment for doing it wrong. And maybe these competitive housewives like the chicken breast woman really do find it challenging and rewarding in the real sense, because when their friends come over they're inspecting things, instead of laughing at each other for crazy shit like leaving the ironing board out for three weeks even though there are only four ironable items in the house.

Pretty much anything with fabric (also long hair) is iron-able if you want it to be. I like to iron sheets when I feel like ironing.

[August]

Sssh! You! sssshhhhhhhh! Shut up, zip it, SSSsSHhHhHhH!!!

I have husband and children convinced that only certain fabrics can be ironed. Spoil that and you'll be doing the ironing for me, miss.

[misslady]

Sssh! You! sssshhhhhhhh! Shut up, zip it, SSSsSHhHhHhH!!!

I have husband and children convinced that only certain fabrics can be ironed. Spoil that and you'll be doing the ironing for me, miss.

I am so, so thankful that my husband has a job where he only wears wrinkle-free polyester uniform shirts. If he had an office-type job it'd be dry cleaning for us. I know how to iron and I enjoy it for about one shirt but that's it.

[Grimalkin]

I am so, so thankful that my husband has a job where he only wears wrinkle-free polyester uniform shirts. If he had an office-type job it'd be dry cleaning for us. I know how to iron and I enjoy it for about one shirt but that's it.

I shit you not my MIL irons rags. Like the ones you clean toiletts with.( I clean my toilettes with paper towels though)

She irons everything. And purses her lips together when I do laundry and don't iron. Towels, socks, underwear. It's all ironed.

I once thought of cleanercize. It's when you clean as fast and vigorously as you can to burn calories. Because I'm fucking bored and hate cleaning.

[nonymouse]

You mean the iron and ironing board are capable of doing more than taking up space in my linen closet? (Seriously. :whistle: ) I adore old etiquette and housekeeping books (especially from the 1910s - 1950s) and always thought I'd be the SAHM depicted therein. Then I had kids. Now I figure that if my spouse comes home to the same number of people he left in the morning, I've done my job. :shifty-kitty:

[FloraKitty35]

Aren't ironing boards just diving boards for cats?

[DGayle]

I don't mind cleaning. I can do the house top to bottom in about an hour since I do it twice a week. Fundies would love me. I've also trained my husband to notice and to comment. Fundies would hate me.

I have 2 irons, 2 ironing boards, a full steamer, and a hand-held steamer. If they don't get put away, I have a conniption. Usually stuff doesn't get ironed or pressed out of the washer. That gets done right before wearing.

I don't think housewives decades ago had the time to care much. Remove the dishwasher and most modern conveniences, like microwaves, clothes dryers, even clothes washers, and it was a lot more work. They didn't have the downtime to not dwell on not getting validated, but according to my grandma, housewives sure knew when someone else's housecleaning was lacking, and that was the biggest motivator to cleaning better.

[August]

I don't mind cleaning. I can do the house top to bottom in about an hour since I do it twice a week. Fundies would love me. I've also trained my husband to notice and to comment. Fundies would hate me.

I have 2 irons, 2 ironing boards, a full steamer, and a hand-held steamer. If they don't get put away, I have a conniption. Usually stuff doesn't get ironed or pressed out of the washer. That gets done right before wearing.

I don't think housewives decades ago had the time to care much. Remove the dishwasher and most modern conveniences, like microwaves, clothes dryers, even clothes washers, and it was a lot more work. They didn't have the downtime to not dwell on not getting validated, but according to my grandma, housewives sure knew when someone else's housecleaning was lacking, and that was the biggest motivator to cleaning better.

My grandmother still used her electric mangle into the 80s. I suspect when we visited my mother took our stuff to an aunts house to wash.

I, on the other hand, was in my very late 20s before my visiting mother bought me an ironing board out of frustration.

Grimalkin, they were taught to iron everything to sanitise it with heat. My mother used to iron our cloth diapers for that reason.

[feministxtian]

You mean the iron and ironing board are capable of doing more than taking up space in my linen closet? (Seriously. :whistle: ) I adore old etiquette and housekeeping books (especially from the 1910s - 1950s) and always thought I'd be the SAHM depicted therein. Then I had kids. Now I figure that if my spouse comes home to the same number of people he left in the morning, I've done my job. :shifty-kitty:

YES!!! Exactly!!!!

[DutchMommy]

I have the best solution for the ironing: my husband does them.

Because A) they are his shirts and B) I HATE IRONING!!!

Fundies hate me the most. :disgust: :lol:

[Grimalkin]

My husband does a lot of the laundry. Since he got his fit bit he has been vacuuming a lot too.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

I remember in my childhood (the 60's) my mother would have the ironing board up during the soaps and we both ironed. It was one of the few chores I didn't mind-- there was something about the smell of fresh linen being steamed that I found pleasant. But my goodness we ironed pillowcases and kitchen towels (among other things.) What a waste of time. My motto on housework has always been: Clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy. Why scrub your floor every day when you can be making a quilt or dying cloth or knitting a sweater? A clean floor is momentary but a beautiful wall hanging is forever.