The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-04-10
HOW HOUSEKEEPING MAY BE CON
DICTED SYSTEMATICALLY.

WITHOUT systematic rules WHICH are strict
ly adhered to. Housekeeping is as much
a business as bookkeeping, though think
but few housekecpers ever look at it in that
light.
There should be a place for everything,
to begin with. \ great deal of vexation.
loss Of time, and extra labor. results from
not having things where they belong. If
you are in a hurry tie find anything it gen
orally happens that it can't be found; or.
if found, it has to be hunted for. This can
all be avoided by forming the habit of put
ting each article i'll its proper place, and
keeping it there. when not in use. 1t is an
easy matter to do this when once that habit
is formed. Do not allow yourself TO 'lay
anything down wherever it comes handy
to do So II your kitchen has not conve-
niences of the kind required. make them, Or
get them made. Insist on having a set Of
small drawers iii which to keep spices, etc.
near your mixing table. Have these
drawers labeled plainly. Have a place by
itself for such vessels as you use in baking
and other cooking. Never let these vessels
get into any other department. Have g
place near the mixing table and the flour
bin or barrel for sugar, and salt, and raisins
i'm short for everything used in cooking.
This concentrates your labor; there is no
necessity for running here and there for
what is wanted. When you want any
thing, you know where it is. Let the idea
of a place for everything and everything in
its place be carried out in all departments
of the household.
To reduce housekeeping to a system, you
must arrange your work after a plan, and
let this plan be adhered to. Take it up in
an orderly way-not, as so many do-in a
tumble, doing a little of this now. and then
a little Of that, or trying to do a half dozen
things at the same time. Get one thing
out of the way before you begin another.
Think your work over and decide the order
in which it can be lon to the best advan-
tage. and, having aseertained from expert
ment, what that order is, make it the daily
programme. In a short time you viii see
household matters moving like clock-work.
There will be no clash. no confusion.
In doing housework, it should be the
aim Of the housekeeper to save time as well
as labor, as far as possible. Where one
step will answer never take two. BY hay-
ing things in their proper place, and know
ing Just what is to be done, at a particular
time. you can economic time and labor TO
a great exte1t. | know of women who will
make half a dozen trips to the cellar where
one would be sufficient if they worked as
well with their heads as they do with their
hands. They do not take the trouble to
think, before going to The cellar or store
room for II thing, that several other
things will be required from that place.
All might be brought at the same time,
and thus much time saved and many steps.
1t paws to think these things ont.
The kitchen should be roomy. No
woman can do homework well in small,
cluttered-up rooms. Let it be arranged as
conveniently as possible. Have a pump
from the cistern and, if possible, the well,
also. Have a good stove, and one large
enough to do all the work required of it
without crowding. The wood shed should
be convenient, and there should always be
a supply there. Good wood, too. Every
housekeeper should insist IN that. If the
cellar is not convenient, have as much as
possible of the articles which would natur-
ally be kept there, stored in a room on the
same floor as the kitchen. if there is one
that can be used for such a purpose, to
avoid climbing stairs. Keep supplies of
table linen, towels, etc, in q chest or BIZ
reaa where they will always be at hand.
Have a room for the accommodation of
dirty clothes. and teach the children to put
all their soiled garments there when they
are exchanged for clean ones. This will
remove the necessity of making a trip to
every room on washing-day. Insist on
having the occupants of each room strip
the bed clothing from the beds and bang
before the window to air, on arising. II
this is done, by the time the morning work
is out of the way in the kitchen the cham
ber-work can be attended to. BY making
it the rule to have everything in its proper
place. other members of the family than
the housekeeper can find needed articles
readily, and without throwing everything
into confusion.
Let the bill Of fare be varied from day to
day. When you get hold of a good receipt,
put ii in a scrap book, which should be
kept in every kitchen. In a short time
you will have a large number of receipts
which you can rely on, and reference to
this will suggest variations in the daily
food. Never admit anything but a tested
and reliable receipt. Every kitchen should
have a set of measures and scales for use
in making cakes and other articles which
must be compounded carefully and aceu-
rately as regard proportions.
Have everything about the house as
'shandy'' as possible. If you can't get the
''men-folks to help you in making things
handy and convenient, study out what
You want done, and when you have deeid-
ed Just what you want. set a carpenter at
work for a day. The head Of the family
will quite likely prefer to hire a man,
rather than potter at the work himself,
and II will he much better for YOU to have