Leave time for housewifery
The housewife's schedule has to have leeway
The work of the home takes time. It feels expendable, but it’s not!
Getting the laundry through all its stages takes time. We can be efficient at it, but there is an irreducible amount of time that must be spent to accomplish the goal of having clean clothes.
Seasonal jobs like putting up crushed tomatoes take time. As you learn to do such things, you spend more time than you thought, but that time is an investment in future competence.
Sometimes the housewife has spare time, but if she didn’t have it, she wouldn’t be free to do the things that make a home. Don’t schedule your free time or your “mundane task time” away.
Another result of having spare time is that you can offer to help friends and neighbours in the moment rather than have a vague sense of guilt that you “should” help “sometime”. I am lucky to have been on the receiving end of this sort of blessing. If my neighbour sees me struggling out the door with my gaggle, she will often offer to watch them while I run a (now quick) errand.
Just wanted to send a thank you Leila - I’ve been despairing about the state of the house bathrooms for months now. Just yesterday I decided to take action…. Went to Walmart armed with volume #3 of the Summa Domestica and bought all the cleaning products that I have not had after living on my own for almost 10 years 🤯
I was so excited to take a shower this morning and admire the squeaky clean tub. Next step, putty knife and silicone caulk.
Thank you for your help and guidance!