Like many Northeast Ohioans, I spent this past weekend doing my spring cleaning! As, I worked through my chores and as I made it to the bottom of my to-do list, I was truly satisfied with the clean house my work resulted in! But I was also exhausted! Sure it’s easy to complain about it, but really, the more I think about it, I’m just grateful at how easy I have it comparatively.
Just think about what spring cleaning your home would have meant 200 years ago. If I lived in the Dark Ages, my to-do list might have looked like this:
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Scrape away the winter’s grime (Burning wood & coal all winter meant that dust & ash would have to be swept from the walls & rafters.)
- Re-dig the privy (i.e. the outhouse)
- Clean the barns, repairing the thatched roof or replastering the walls
- Clean up manure that had accumulated over the winter, from the livestock kept in the home (Yes, inside the house! Yikes!)
- Air out the house & beat the rugs out
- Replace “ticks” (These straw, feather or corn shuck-filled mattresses, where we’ve slept all winter would have to be restuffed when the filling crumbled, or, when the real ticks, the bed bugs, became unbearable.)
Oh, yes, and did I mention, that when all the cleaning was done, it was time for one’s annual bath?
Feeling a bit better about the state of your place now? Me? I sure am happy that we’ve come such a long way! I am embracing my love of our modern (earth-friendly) cleaning products, as well as my oh-so-powerful vacuum cleaner and shop vac! I’m also more than a little happy that we bathe daily (and indoors!) and to have my spring cleaning out-of-the-way! Are you ready to tackle your own list?
~Carol
Read it or Weep 