Monday 13 April 2020

Good [And Less Good] Housekeeping

I'll be honest here - nobody is coming inside my house for a while, so I've been a bit more relaxed than usual.
Some things have worked- last year I embroidered my dishcloths for the days of the week. It seemed a bit OTT at the time. 

Right now it is brilliant - each night, I put that day's cloth into a mesh washing bag, and put out the next day's cloth. Because at the moment, I often find myself in the kitchen making the first morning cuppa, struggling to work out what day of the week it is! At least now it is written in front of me.
I am rethinking my teatowel situation. Since I married, I've used check cloths like this [my MIL used check ones, so I knew this must be the correct procedure] 
They have As on them because occasionally they end up at church,and I prefer to bring my own ones home again! [And also, I like using my embroidery machine] More on teatowels* in another post.
But my epic fail is with the ironing. The contents of the ironing basket are now almost 1 metre high. I have not ironed since March 10th, just before I went to Manchester, caught the virus, and entered lockdown. I have been washing dirty clothes, but wearing fresh ones. Bob has plenty of shirts in the wardrobe to choose from.
And he only wears a shirt when recording his church services. We've mostly lived in scruffy teeshirts, jeans and pyjamas for the past month. 
How long do you think I can keep this up? I have never gone as long as this between ironing sessions before. 
Tackling the ironing basket will de-crease the contents!
I probably ought to do my winter-to-summer clothes sort this week - we are into April now. Perhaps ironing, and sorting - and filling a bag ready for when the CS opens again would be a productive use of time.
* here in the UK, we say teatowel for the dry cloth used to dry plates etc after washing up, and dishcloth for the damp cloth used for wiping things in the kitchen. The Americans say dishtowel and I think that means teatowel. So what do they call the wet cloth? Bless, or somebody, can you help out here?



23 comments:

  1. Lol Angela - all the lifts on cruise ships have floor mats with the days of the week marked on them. There are times on long cruises when you lose track of which actual day it is. I smile when I see them as I know they will come in handy some time during the cruise.

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    1. I never knew that! Not that anybody will be on cruise ships for a while...

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  2. I have just popped across (blog-hopping!)from Sue in Suffolk's blog, and wanted to say I loved that top card - me exactly!!

    As for ironing - oh my goodness, since my children have grown up and I am not faced with an ironing basket the proportions of the Great Pyramid of Giza,I have been able to keep on top of it - in fact (and I NEVER thought I would see myself saying this) I actually quite enjoy it, especially if it is cold when it warms me up nicely. I even (takes a deep breath), Iron Tea Towels!!! I like doing them as they don't take long and don't have sleeves or buttons . . .

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    1. Hi BB thanks for dropping by (do visit again) I have to have "a good ironing film" on TV to watch when I'm doing my ironing. I agree about teatowels. My mum started my ironing career by getting me to iron my dad's white pocket handkerchiefs. Square and simple

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  3. Yes, I think you really do need to get the iron out!

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    1. I can hear you chuckling as you typed that, Sue!

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  4. I am the opposite at the moment I am waiting for things to iron as the basket is empty and I do not have enough of anything yet for a full load of washing. I have taken to washing cushion covers, blankets, coats or anything that needs to be freshened up whilst the weather is good.
    My ironing pile would look like yours if DH had brought the washing in whereas I fold it all neatly to avoid having more creases to iron out.
    I like your dishcloths with the days of the week - everyday is merging together now at least Easter has brought back a little order for a few days.

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    1. I think that the Easter weekend has helped many of us focus and take stock. The Queens words were absolutely right - we need the light of Easter to bring us all hope right now

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  5. Ah, I missed a trick when I sent the parcel- could have sent you one of my stripy t-shirts to embroider a witty logo on (*or not so witty- not sure I can think of something witty!)- I always fancied having a t-shirt with "Singing Lobsters" embroidered on and a little simple lobster and musical notes (it was my email address for years!) Or, you could have put 'Happy Birthday Jesus' on one as I always thought that would be a nice Christmas jumper (one company had a jumper like that!)
    I really don't do much ironing. Occasionally, if I am feeling kind and CBC is snowed under, I will iron his week's worth of shirts but generally he tells me not to do it because it is his job (which I am very happy with!). Apart from that, I don't do much. I DID do a mammoth ironing of all the sheets and duvets when in my first married house which made it easier to fit everything in the airing cupboard but not done that since (still recovering).
    Invariably, unironed clothes just get put back in the drawer.
    I like your days of the week cloth idea- very cool!
    I sorted out my utility room last week and refolded and arranged all the teatowels and reusable bags and chip papers/old paper bags (for lining the compost caddy- that's my way of avoiding having to put greasy papers into the bin because they can't be recycled...)

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    1. Sounds like you are having a very organised time in Lockdown, Kezzie.

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  6. P.S. I'm off out to look for Stinging Nettles...

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  7. Iron? What's that? Fortunately my excuse is that we don't have enough solar power to run an iron.

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  8. I am so glad that there is someone else with an ironing mountain, like mine. I know how you feel about days, I have to think now there is nothing marking a particular day.

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    1. It has made me very aware how special Sundays are, when we can still share in worship

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  9. Ha! I did my clothes winter/summer changeover last week and ironed as well. All the work clothes will remain un-ironed however - probably until the night before I go back to work and suddenly remember, in a panic, that I have nothing to wear.

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    1. Always ahead of the game, Lesley!! I had a friend who made sure that the day after the summer term ended, she got her children's uniforms ready for the start of the autumn term. I was always concerned that the kids would grow so much in July and August that the clothes wouldnt fit again in september!

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  10. I actually don't mind ironing - even do the undies! :-) Right now getting laundry done is a bit of an issue as I live in a small apt. building and we have a shared laundry room in the basement which means that I have to leave my apt. and take the elevator - now that sort of venture needs to be planned out strategically! I have enough clothes and a lot of things can just be rinsed by hand but I will probably have to wash some sheets and a dark load later this week.
    I call it a tea towel and dishcloth (although some do call the things we dry with a dishcloth here). I also keep a kitchen towel for wiping my hands and maybe wiping up water that has splashed onto the counter. One of my pet peeves is watching people - in real life and on film use a tea towel to dry their hands and then use the same towel for dishes - just grosses me out!

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    1. Do you think that 'Canadian English' is nearer to 'UK English' than 'American English'? And yes, I so agree with the thing about drying hands AND dishes on the same towel!

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  11. I grew up calling the wet cloth a dishrag-it's always been relatively decent looking, but in my southern grandmother's day it may actually have been a rag!

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    1. Some people I know here in the UK say dishrag - because, as you say, historically it often WAS a rag

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  12. I have what I call a kitchen towel hanging on the handle of my oven for wiping my hands. Sometimes, it does double duty as an oven mitt or hot pad as I use it to take things out of the oven or spread it on the counter when I put down a dish that is still hot! I might also use it to wipe up any spills of water on the counter. For other spills, I use a sponge to wipe up. I don't have any dishcloths. Dishes are washed with a sponge and kept on the dish rack/dish drainer to air dry. If I have more dishes than space in the dish rack, then, I will spread a clean kitchen towel on the table and place the washed plates and dishes, up side down, on the towel to dry overnight. As for ironing, I rarely iron! Things usually get hung up as soon as they come out of the dryer (or are air dried). Either I don't have many items that require ironing or I don't notice that my clothes are wrinkled?

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  13. I think not noticing wrinkles is generally a good idea, whether on your clothes or your face!

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