JOKES about house cleaning have somewhat decreased in number, which makes one hopeful that the miseries of house cleaning have also decreased. Certainly there has been an earnest effort on the part of many housekeepers to make the performance an inconspicuous piece of work instead of an orgy.
House cleaning is of two classes: that which is done when the house is continuously occupied, and that which is done when a house is opened or closed after a season of absence or of occupation.
For either class, a careful preparation removes half the difficulties and for both ample time should be allowed.
One should especially beware while house cleaning of what Bishop Hall calls the "lust of finishing." Try to clean only as much each day as can be put back into habitable order by the time the men of the household come home. One room a day is all a woman unaided should try to do. Mankind are pleased to make jokes about house cleaning and glad am I that they can take it that way, for really it is a trial of character to come home tired and hungry and find the house cold, the rooms in disorder and a picnic supper spread in the kitchen by an overwrought wife.
Preparation for either class of house cleaning includes, for one thing, a decision as to what renewals and repairs are to be made. Painting, papering, floor renovation, carpet and wall cleaning, upholstering and whitewashing are all matters to be decided before the cleaning begins, that they may not conflict, and that those which make dirt and litter may be done before the actual cleaning of the rooms.
Another sort of preparation is the cleaning of cupboards, closets, desks, bureau drawers, book-cases--everything which can be tightly closed or covered. A little time devoted to this work every day for several weeks helps to make brief the period of necessary disorder. A day or two before a room is cleaned, ornaments and pictures can be taken down, cleaned and put away until their places are ready for them again. One must of course be careful not to remove comforts or conveniences.
House cleaning is merely an especially thorough and complete periodical cleaning, such as has been described in Chapter Six, to which are added certain works of renovation and the packing and unpacking of possessions which are used only during a part of the year.