Who wants free stuff?

Evening Everyone!  I have an exciting announcement that I hope everyone is going to enjoy!  I recently came into the possession of a $20 gift card from Amazon.com.  Now if you have been to Amazon before then you will understand how great that is!  They have just about anything for sale that you could possibly want. 

Now I bet you are thinking, "Ooookay, that's great but why should I be excited?"  Because I am giving it away to one of my Facebook likers!  Why you may ask?  Lots of reasons!  Because I am having SO much fun getting to know all of the new and wonderful people that I meet every day.  Because the friends I have made are awesome.  To shamelessly get my page shared?  Maybe...  Most of all because it brings me great joy to make other people happy.  And also, I think it will be fun!

When I got the gift card I started thinking about doing a giveaway.  I just couldn't find any reason to.  Well in four days my FB page will be a month old, I think that will be a fun thing to celebrate.  Also, at the time of typing this up I am at 235 "Likes".  I think it would be fun to make a little game out of this!  So I was originally going to do the giveaway at 250 likes but I think that will be way too easy to get.  Here comes the game part...

If my you, my lovely friends, can help me get to 300 likes before my page hits its one month-aversary then everyone who has liked the page is entered into the drawing and gets a chance at a $20 Amazon gift card!  So share out the page to anyone and everyone you know, help spread the word.  Not only will you have a chance at the card but so will your friends. 

If we pass 300 likes before the 2nd of March(the one month-aversary), anyone who gets their like in before then will also be entered into the drawing.  I am SO excited to see how much fun we can have with this!  Squeeee! 

Good luck to you all and much <3!  A big thank you to each and every one of my likers out there, you guys are so awesome!

A Day in the Life of a 50's Housewife: Weekly Chores

I know this post has been a long time coming but I've had a bit of a difficult time finding information on this!  I had originally found a website with a partial list on it and ever since I've been trying to find more.  Well I haven't been able to!  So I've ordered a few old fashioned magazines from eBay and I plan to take a trip to the library to see if I can find some more info.  As of right now I have a partial list of what I've found on the Internet, from a few different websites.  It's not as detailed as I would like it to be so we will call it a work in progress!

Basically the 50's housewife would make a list of things to be done around her home that week and she would stick certain things on specific days.  So she was always doing the same weekly task on the same day.  I'll show you an example of what that list may have looked like and then I will show you how my weekly chore chart compares.


A 50's Housewife Weekly Chore List:

• Monday: Do a deep cleaning of the kitchen, living room, and dining room.  In the kitchen the appliances were thoroughly cleaned every week.  That's the stove, refrigerator, and any small appliances like the toaster.  Windows were washed in all the rooms and the floors were scrubbed spotless.  She would also do a thorough dusting in each room and replace any fresh flowers in the home.
• Tuesday: Deep clean the bedrooms and bathrooms.  Bed linens should be laundered twice a week and the floors in the bedrooms should be vacuumed on the same schedule, windows should be washed, bathroom floors scrubbed, and bathroom fixtures polished with metal polish, bath tubs and toilets were to be scrubbed and disinfected.  Garbage pails were also scrubbed and disinfected. 
• Wednesday: This day would be a kind of errand day.  She would go do the grocery shopping, go to the post office or library.  Anywhere she needed to go that week.  After returning home and putting away the groceries she had the rest of the day to do the mending or any sewing. 
• Thursday: Wash clothes.  Not everyone had an automatic washer so many 50's housewives still had to do this by hand.  It was an all day chore.
• Friday: The day after wash day was always dedicated to ironing.  She ironed everything, right down to underwear.  Table linens and sheets were also ironed.  This was another all day chore.
• Saturday: Saturdays were for finishing up any loose ends from the week before and doing any preparations for your big Sunday dinner. 
• Sunday: Usually this was a day of rest.  The only tasks for the day would be a shorter version of the every day chore list and to prepare a lavish Sunday dinner. 

While I was getting all the information that I could for this post, I just kept thinking about how much less dust there would be in my house if I cleaned this hard!  I do have a weekly chore list but it sure isn't anything like this one.  Maybe I should give it a shot for a couple weeks and see if my hubbs asthma gets any better?

Here is a peek at my weekly chore list!

• Change the sheets on all the beds.
• Dust.
• Vacuum all the carpet.
• Sweep and mop all the hard floors.
• Sort out the paper clutter, file what needs filing and shred the rest.
• Empty all the garbage cans in the house.

That's pretty much it for me...  As I've mentioned before, I am a lover of FlyLady and this is the basic weekly home cleaning list she has.  She calls it the Weekly Home Blessing Hour and it really would take just about an hour to do it in one day but I spread it out.  I change the sheets on Monday.  Do the dusting and vacuuming on Tuesday.  Sweep and Mop on Wednesday, you get the idea...  It works very well for us!

If you haven't checked out FlyLady yet, I suggest you do so now.  It was one of the best things I've ever done.  I've learned to stop beating myself up for all the things I don't do "perfectly" and loving myself for all the things that I do get done.  She's got a lot of great information out there and you can find her website here.

So there it is, the last post in my A Day in the Life series.  I hope you enjoyed them and I hope it shed a little light onto what it was like in the olden days!

Catching Up

I know that I promised a look at the weekly chore list of a 50's housewife but it's been a busy few days.  If you have been on my Facebook page in the past week you know that the Hubbs and I hosted a party for quite a few people this past weekend.  It was wonderful and I would do it again in a heartbeat!  But...  And there is always a but.  We're still recovering from it in more ways than one.

The most obvious problem with hosting that many people is that it throws my entire cleaning routine out of whack.  We had a few guests stay longer than anticipated and while it was wonderful getting to visit, it backed me up even more.  I've got a ton of bed linens and extra towels to wash up.  I need to go to the grocery store but didn't get to do that on my usual day (Monday) because we still had guests.  I haven't done any of my weekly chore list because I've been busy just cleaning everything else up.  I just feel like I'm still trying to play catch up around the house.

Now the problem behind the curtain...  (I am aware that this could have been avoided with some proper planning but we'll get to that in a sec.)  We certainly put ourselves in a financial crunch.  There were so many little things that popped up over the last few days before the party that I hadn't anticipated.  The need for extra toilet paper and paper towels, paper plates and plastic cups, extra folding chairs.  There were the food costs...  We fed a little over twenty people dinner and breakfast plus snacks and drinks.  Also, the cake.  The deliciously wonderful ice cream cake, my hubbs' favorite.  We also purchased prizes to give away for contests and game winners.  Oh yes, as an afterthought there will also be the added charges to our utilities.

I would say that we will be trying to make up for these extra expenses for the next two months.  I know that with a little planning ahead I could have bought most of these things and set aside some money for the food.  For those of you that are not on my Facebook page, I've only just set up a budget about two weeks ago.  I'm still extremely excited to actually start our budget but at the same time I know I'm going to have to make a few tweaks for the next month or so.  I plan to cut back in every way that I can.

I'm not letting this discourage me or take away from the amazing weekend we had, I'm learning my lesson!  It was just wonderful.  I had the best time being a hostess and my husband loved that everyone was coming together in our home.  It was so comfortable and it gave me a very fulfilling feeling.  We visited with people we hadn't seen in nearly 10 years.  As they all started to leave, one by one they all said how much they hoped we would make this a yearly event.  A few even went so far as to say they would help with the financial part if we would like to continue. 

All in all I feel like it was definitely worth it and we will do it again.  Next time, we will plan for it financially and it will be much less stressful. 

One last thing, I'm finding out how wonderful it is to have a blog and a FB page!  As a stay at home mom, I don't get a lot of outside conversation or chances to connect with other people.  With FB and blogging, I am meeting so many other wonderful, like minded people.  Thank you to all the wonderful people I have met so far and for all of the comments I've received here and on Facebook.  I'm still trying to figure out how to "Reply" to specific comments...  When I click the Reply button on some one's comment, nothing happens.  Anyone have any suggestions?

A Day in the Life of a 50's Housewife: Evening

It's been a busy day so far for the 50's Housewife...  She's taken care of her family in the morning and she cared for her home during the day.  She is almost finished with her day but she's got a few more things to do before she can call it a night.

A 50's Housewife Evening:

• Clear table immediatley after dinner and wash dishes.
• Flush pipes with boiling water to be sure they are clean and don't have a smell.
• Pack lunches for your husband and children if needed.  Also, prepare a plate of left overs for yourself a lunch tomorrow.
• Set table for breakfast in the morning.
• Do any make ahead preperations for breakfast in the morning.
• Bathe children and get them ready for bed (if applicable).
• Go through the house putting away any items that may be out of place.
• Relax and enjoy the rest of your evening

She's had a busy day hasn't she?  Well here comes my evening routine....  It's usually the busiest time of day for me.  There isn't much information out there about 50's housewives with kids that I can find but I have to do a ton more stuff with mine than just bath them and get them ready for bed.

• Wait for the kiddies to get home at 4PM, get them a snack and talk about their day.
• Do homework and put their school things away.
• Make dinner and eat together.
• Everyone clears their plate and puts it in the sink.
• Load the dishwasher and start it.
• Wipe down the table, counters and stove.
• Sweep the kitchen floor if needed (crumbs underfoot are my pet peeve!)
• Bath the little one at 7:30 and story time at 8.  Story time for the oldest at 9:15 and bedtime at 9:30.
• A quick pickup through the house and I'm done for the day!

I always knew the 50's housewife was a busy women but typing out my entire day made me realize my day isn't really that much different than hers was!  I'll be posting the weekly cleaning chart within the next couple of days...  There are some things on there that I'll admit I almost never do.  I think you'll be surprised!

A Day in the Life of a 50's Housewife: Daytime

After the 50's Housewife lovingly sends her family on their way, there isn't much time to relax...  She has work to do! 

A 50's Housewife Day:

• Neaten all the rooms in the house, gathering items into a basket that belong elsewhere from each room.  Placing them in their correct place as you move from room to room.
• Light dusting, fluff pillows, water plants.
• Make the beds.
• Hang up any clothes, place dirty ones in the hamper.
• Neaten the bathroom, put out fresh towels, refill the soap dispenser and toilet paper if needed, clean the sink.
• Wipe down the kitchen counters, sink, stove and inside of fridge.
• Take out the garbage.
• Sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
• Check your menu for today and tomorrow, make a note of anything needed from the market.
• Handle any outside of the home errands: grocery shopping, post office, etc.
• If you went to the grocery store wash vegetables and put them away.  Place the rest of the groceries in their proper place.
• Have a quick lunch.
• Start any advanced food preparations like thawing the meat or starting dessert.
• Complete an item from the weekly chore list. (There will be an entire post about this on a later date!)
• Set the dinner table.
• Arrange the living room for an evening of enjoyment. Such as the Mister's newspaper, book, and cigarettes.
• Do a quick sweep of the floors and double check that the entry ways are clear.
• Prepare a special dish for dinner.
• Freshen up before your husband returns from work.  Consider changing if your day's dress is plain. 
• Set out a tray for mixing cocktails in case the man of the house would like to serve drinks before dinner.
• Greet your husband happily when he comes home.  Do not burden with your troubles from the day as soon as he walks through the door.  Ask him about his day first, listen intently to what he has to say. 
• Serve dinner.

Wow!  That list turned out to be bigger than I thought it would be...  I'm going to do my list a little differently than I did for the morning routine.  I have a feeling if I write it out like I did last time, it's going to take quite a while!  I'll start where I left off last time... Quick recap: husband and children are gone for the day, breakfast has been served but not cleaned up, covers thrown back but bed not made. 

OK so a lot of my morning routine I got from a system called the FLY Lady System.  It's amazing and I cannot say enough positive things about it!  I'll post a link to it because I could write an entire blog about it and that's not what I'm trying to do today...  The list goes something like this:

• Let the doggies outside again. (I forgot to add that to my morning list.  I actually let them out as SOON as I wake up in the morning.  If I don't they pester me.)
• Neaten bedroom, pick up any laundry, put away any items out of place. (Don't make the bed yet, it's still airing!)
• Pick up any dirty laundry in the bathroom and put in hamper.  Straighten the sink and put away any items out of place.  At this point I do my Swish & Swipe (Flylady thing you can read all about it here.) Basically you wipe everything down with Windex (swipe) and you do a quick swish of the toilet bowl.  The idea behind this is if you do a small cleaning every day then you won't need to do a big hard scrub every week.
• Neaten the office, gather any dirty dishes or things that belong elsewhere.
• Make the bed.
• Move downstairs, bring down any laundry to be washed or dirty dishes.
• Neaten living room (put away things, gather dirty dishes from kids breakfast).
• Start a load of laundry and empty dishwasher.
• Place dirty dishes in the dishwasher, wipe counters and bar where hubbs and I have breakfast.
• Sweep the kitchen floor.
• Feed pets.

My morning routine only takes me about an hour or so, keeping things straightened up most daily keeps it from getting out of control. After that I have a bit of downtime while I wait to switch out the laundry.  I have a list of weekly chores but will do that post when I do the 50's weekly chore list.  I have a little bit more that I do after about noonish...

• Switch laundry from washer to dryer.
• Lay out any food that needs to thaw for dinner.
• Neaten up anything I've dirtied up through out the day.
• Tend to the doggies needs again.

That's pretty much it to my daytime list.  I don't fix dinner until around 6 so that'll be on my evening list.  Either I serve a later dinner than the 50's Housewife did or my hubbs gets home before the 50's Husband did! 

A Day in the Life of a 50's Housewife: Morning

The life of a 50's Housewife was quite different from most modern day wives.  I'd like to take a few minutes to go over her routine and talk a bit about each item.  Originally I was going to do the entire day in one post but just the morning turned out to be pretty long! 

A 50's Housewife Morning:

• Wake quietly, careful not to disturb the man of the house.
• Freshen up: Tie your hair back with a ribbon, splash your face with cold water, brush your teeth, and apply lipstick.  Do this first thing!  If you don't you may not bother to do it later, you're on a slippery slope from beautiful bride to dishevelled wife.
• Prepare and serve breakfast for your husband and children (if applicable).
• Clean up after breakfast.
• See your husband off to work.
• Throw back the covers from the beds.
• Open the blinds and curtains.
• Get ready for your day by showering, dressing, fixing your hair and make-up.

OK so my morning does vary from this quite a bit...  Firstly, I do not freshen up first thing in the morning.  Usually I'm putting the kiddos on the bus in my PJ's.  Although I think it wouldn't hurt me to get up a few minutes early, get dressed, brush my teeth and hair.  I would probably feel a lot more refreshed and awake! 

Secondly, my children get on the bus at 7AM so they have to get up much earlier than the hubbs (about 6 O'clock).  Some days hubbs doesn't leave for work until 9.  I do try to keep the kids as quiet as possible so he can sleep undisturbed for a bit longer.  I do that because I know how much I would appreciate it if it were me.

I wake my boys up and lay out their clothes for them, I help the youngest get into his outfit for the day while the oldest has his morning shower (the little one takes his bath the night before).  I make their breakfasts and they eat while watching a bit of cartoons.  While they are eating I pack their lunches (if needed) and get their snacks.  After breakfast they brush their teeth, put on their shoes and make sure their backpacks are ready to go.  If they have gotten ready quickly enough they are allowed to watch a few more minutes of TV while waiting for the bus.  A quick kiss and a hug and they are on their way!

After I get the kids off to school I usually spend some time to myself just getting ready for my own day...  I relax and check Facebook.  Have something to drink and wait for the hubbs to get up.  When he wakes up I do make his breakfast for him!  To be honest I do it for myself as much as I do for him, it makes me feel good to do something nice for him.  Plus, we have our breakfast together and I think it's a great chance for some quality time before we start our busy, hectic days!

When he leaves for work I do throw back the covers because I think they feel more fresh when they've had a little time to air out.  I also open all the blinds because I love the natural light. =)

That's going to have to be enough for tonight, I'm getting to bed much later than I had intended to!  As usual!  >.<  I'm excited to finish the day's list though so I'll post that in the morning hopefully!

I'm curious other housewives out there, how does your morning differ from that of the 50's Housewife?