Soul Searching with Yve

Spirituality, Wellness, Motherhood

How Household Chores Have Changed Over the Years.

Yve Barnett
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broom and dust pan

Our lives here in America are pretty convenient for most. We can get our food delivered from the supermarket, we have running water, electricity, gas, internet, electronics all over the house, a temperature-controlled environment, air filters, and water filters, to name a few. Imagine going back 100 years when daily living took much more physical work and mental effort. To start your day, you would wash your face in the basin in the room as there was no indoor bathroom or plumbing. You would have to carry your water for everything. Imagine doing the laundry for the entire family without your washing machine! 

Household chores and how we do them have significantly changed over the last century. Vacuum cleaners were invented in the early 1900s and marketed by William Henry Hoover to have bags to catch the dirt. Today, vacuuming can be done by a robot on a schedule or controlled by your phone. Washing laundry was done on a washing board for many years. In 1868 British inventor Thomas Bradford created the commercially used washing machine that resembles the current design, with a spinning drum and a wringer on the top. Accidents would often happen since the operator has to hand-feed the clothing into the wringer. The machines were uncommon in homes until the 1950s when the electric machine was put onto the market. Now you can program the washer to adjust the temperature, water level, and other functions. 

In the past, dinner was likely planned well before so the ingredients could be sourced and prepped for storage until it was to be used. Then meals were made from scratch, taking hours and sometimes days to complete. Now you can roll up to the local fast food shop or supermarket to order food and, in some areas, even order from your phone and have it delivered.

To clean up after meals, you would wash dishes by hand until the 1950s. Interestingly, in 1886, the first dishwasher was patented by Josephine Garis Cochran, who later founded KitchenAid in 1919. According to Insider, 54% of households have dishwashers today. We used to wash the car in the driveway with a hose and a sponge, and now we go to the car wash. The lawnmower was invented in 1830 and then later got its motor in 1902. They weren’t trendy until after WW2 when people moved to the suburbs. Now robotic lawnmowers can cut the grass for you. 

I enjoy the convenience of pressing buttons to program appliances and going to read a book while I wait. I cook most of our dinners from scratch, but it’s much easier than it was for my grandmother’s generation. I spend a few hours in the kitchen once a week prepping the food I need to make the dinners each day, and I put them into the refrigerator until I’m ready to use it. I can use the stove and oven or save more time using an air fryer and an instant pot with a delayed start option. This way, you can set it, forget it, and return to a clean kitchen. After dinner, we put the dishes into the dishwasher, press a few buttons, and walk away. I can wash clothes anytime, day or night, and I don’t have to have a full load; I can wash one item if needed. Just program the machine and walk away! When they’re done, they can go into the clothes dryer, folded, and put away. No carrying baskets of laundry outside to hang on the line, and I hope it doesn’t rain before I can bring it back inside. If my car gets dirty, I can go through the car wash in a few minutes instead of dragging out the hose and sponge. Most of all, I enjoy having the internet at my fingertips to look up any information, teach myself almost any new skill, or keep in touch with family and friends. 

What gadgets make your daily life easier? More importantly, what do you enjoy doing with the time you save with modern appliances? Lets get the discussion started in the comments below!

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