Test yourself by answering yes or no to the 30 questions below. Then check to see how your methods stack up with modern trends.
- Do you plan a week's menus in advance, making any changes necessary when you do your marketing?
- Do you market only once or twice a week?
- Do you use the new frozen and canned prepared foods?
- Do you use cake, frosting, pie crust, or biscuit mixes?
- Do you cook in quantity and freeze the extras for another meal?
- Do you rinse and stack dishes, then wash the once a day?
- Do you use pretty range-to-table cooking utensils?
- Are you using disposable work savers such as paper cups, paper hand towels, paper napkins or foil oven liners?
- Do you use table mats that can be sponged off with soap or syndet and water?
- Does the automatic electric timer on your range do your remembering for you?
- Do you have a mobile cart for laundry or kitchen use?
- Do you know what syndets are and do you use them?
- Do you use copper and stainless-steel cleaners?
- Do you use grease cleaners rather than elbow grease for ovens and ranges?
- Are you mopping linoleum and tile with a long-handled mop?
- Do you know how to use the attachments for your vacuum cleaner - and use them often?
- Do you have a cleaning-equipment storage closet on each floor of you house?
- Do you clean as you go (rinse cooking utensils or clean bathtub right after each use)?
- Do you get out all the tools you need for a job before you start and arrange the in order of use?
- Do you sit down to work whenever you can?
- Do you use contour-fitted sheets to cut down bed-making time?
- Do you know how to save steps when making beds?
- Do you do your laundry at a time most convenient for you?
- Do you buy new furnishings with ease of upkeep in mind?
- Are you using no-iron synthetic fabrics?
- Do you insist on washable paint and wallpaper?
- Are your table tops stainproof?
- Have you put away the collection of dust-catchers in your living room?
- Do you have a planning center or desk where you keep all the information you need to run your home (addresses, telephone numbers, bills, guarantees)?
- Do you study your housekeeping methods to see what jobs you can eliminate or simplify?
Score yourself:
22 to 30 yes's - You're up-to-date
13 to 21 yes's - You're working to hard
0 to 12 yes's - Your housework is getting the best of you.
Well... How did you do? Are you "up-to-date?" If you are, then you are "up-to-date" for 1956. In taking out trash from a listing that Tina and I have, I found a copy of
Family Circle from February 1956. This questionnaire was in the issue. Syndet is a contraction for synthetic detergent.
Almost all housewives in the issue were wearing high heels, a dress and an apron just like on Leave It To Beaver.
The recipes look real good. I plan on making the cherry dessert on the cover with my daughter, Sydney. Does anybody want some?
To see some pages inside of this issue, follow this link:
Family Circle, Feb. 1956.
Kenny
