As promised, I have done laundry in 1916 style – or at least an approximation thereof. Our early 1920s house was built complete with a laundry  room – an extension  off the back of the house, of much simpler construction than  the rest.  The extension also includes the loo. The house even has the old laundry sinks, but they are sitting in the backyard, half full of soil, and were clearly once used as plant boxes. As I discussed in my last post, I don’t have a copper or a period washing machine, but particularly in an urban setting like Wellington, coppers would have been less common by 1916.  Without these things, I did my best to achieve the same amount of work, and the same result, that a 1910s housewife would have. I was lucky that Wednesday, my nominated laundry day this week, was clear and bright and warm.  Much better for drying, and much more pleasant for hanging out. First, I scrubbed out our laundry sink.  It was used for cleaning paint brushes …

Some people have asked about laundry.  How am I going to do it as a housewife in 1916? While the ‘Wash on Monday’ nursery rhyme made famous by the Little House books doesn’t appear to have been nearly as prevalent in New Zealand, there are still suggestions that there were definite routines to daily chores, and washing, done at home, was  most frequently done on Monday. It makes sense: most visiting and social events would happen on the weekend, so washing on Monday would ensure there wasn’t laundry on view when visitors came around, or that the lady of the house was occupied for the full day doing laundry while she also had guests.  It also meant that any good clothes worn for social events or church could get laundered right away, before stains set in.  Another old rhyme explains that it was about drying time – and in the middle of winter, that may indeed take a while! Poorer households would have done their own, but washing was considered one of the most onerous …

Today was the first day of my two week attempt to live like a middle class educated housewife would have in Wellington in 1916. It was…interesting.  And already I have learned some things. I  had a meeting at 10am, so I rose at 8 (rather late for 1916, but Mr D was home, and I was trying to disrupt his schedule as little as possible), and got dressed, and made tea and porridge (oatmeal) with sultanas. First thought: getting dressed took ages.  I’m pretty used to putting on historic garments in a hurry, but obviously I’d get faster through practice and repetition.  Still, there are a LOT of garments to put on: combinations, a corset, stockings, a corset cover, two layers of petticoats, a blouse, a skirt, cardigan and shoes.*  It all added up.  If you’re the sort of dresser who takes a lot of time styling your hair and makeup, this would be comparable, but on a daily basis I’m as speedy as possible: unders, jeans, undershirt, overshirt, cardigan, chignon, foundation (if that), sorted. …