Category Archives: housewifery

Housework Tips for Messies

By Headmistress, zookeeper | Published: March 29, 2013

Here are a few small things I’ve heard over years that were a huge help to me- when I actually used them, that is: The Messies manual advice that you start in one corner and work your way around the room, don’t run off to do ten other things.  Quit when you need to quit, [...]

Posted in housewifery | 6 Comments

1893 Directions on Housecleaning

By Headmistress, zookeeper | Published: February 20, 2013

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Home, No-nonsense Advice That Will Inspire You To Clean Like the Dickens Mrs. Thelma A. Meyer, 2009 The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking, Helen Campbell, 1893: First, then, on rising in the morning, see that a full current of air can pass through every sleeping-room; remove all clothes from the beds, [...]

Also posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Clean Trash Cans

By Headmistress, zookeeper | Published: February 18, 2013

Or garbage cans, or rubbish bins, or whatever you call them in your particular region…. This is not a sexy post, but the goal is to make this nasty job easier so you can have more time for the fun stuff. The first thing is prevention- how do we do our best to keep the [...]

Posted in housewifery | 2 Comments

House and Home

By Headmistress, zookeeper | Published: January 4, 2013

From a book called The House and Home: A Practical Book written and edited By Lyman Abbott with chapters by various other authors,  published in 1896: “GOOD housekeeping involves a knowledge of art and science. A knowledge of the first is essential if the element of beauty is to be in the home; a knowledge [...]

Also posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Freezer Inventory and OAMC Planning

By Headmistress, zookeeper | Published: August 11, 2012

Pip inventoried the freezer for me and asked me to make a list of freezer meals for us to prepare. She left some lovely editorial comments next to some of the items: Cherry Berry Blend: smooooooooooooooooooothies Low carb tortillas: you can have your tongue on them Beef kidneys: mmm… Too many beef soup bones to [...]

Also posted in food | 5 Comments

Furnishing A New Home On The Cheap, Part 1

By TheHeadGirl | Published: August 6, 2012

This post aka: Bragging On My Husband. The Strider and I purchased our first home in early June, as readers of TCR know. Previously we lived in a 750 square foot efficiency apartment (with two babies. yes, it was tight by American standards, but it CAN be done). Now we’re in a 1700 square foot [...]

Also posted in family, frugalities, organization, vintage | 5 Comments

Bathroom Redo

By Headmistress, zookeeper | Published: July 24, 2012

Almost Before, because I took this picture after Pip had gotten rid of the denim curtain which was mildewing and streaking, and replaced it with this one: The walls and wallpaper had never really worked- the wallpaper border here was really an afterthought. We intended to use a different border that worked with the beige [...]

Also posted in where we live, Who We Are | 4 Comments

Freezer Meals with Four Fabulous Moms and their Fabulouser 35+ Kids

By Headmistress, zookeeper | Published: June 28, 2012

Buy our parenting ebook! Become an affiliate!  The Four Moms: Smockity Frocks, Raising Olives, Life in a Shoe, and Me Freezer Meals- by now, surely everybody has at least heard of freezer meals, although sometimes, people still don’t quite get the idea. Some people sneer at frozen casseroles and ‘leftovers,’ but freezer meals don’t have [...]

Also posted in cookery, cooking for a crowd, Four Moms | Leave a comment

Expert and Earnest Domestic Labor

By Headmistress, zookeeper | Published: March 19, 2012

Do not miss your chance to get the 4Moms 35+Kids parenting e-book at an amazing introductory price! An interesting vintage tome titled, “I love books;: Why, what, how, and when we should read,” by John Snider, was first published in 1942, and by the time my copy was published in 1948, it had been through [...]

Also posted in Books, culture | 6 Comments

Time To Stand and Stare

By Headmistress, zookeeper | Published: November 4, 2011

adapted repost Leisure What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, in broad [...]

Posted in housewifery | Leave a comment