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I have days of the week jobs. Monday is laundry, change beds, clean the downstairs, and bake bread. Every day is a specific day’s work. That way I can keep this big old house relatively clean. Yard and garden work I do around the weather or early of the morning before my day’s chores and it is still cool. My sewing, knitting, quilting, weaving and so forth are done of the evening. Bed time is 10; wake up is with the sun so it varies. It’s nice to have each day set with chores as it makes my life a lot easier! 

I have always washed my sheets and laundry on Monday. Seeing all the laundry swaying on the line brings me such contentment. Ironing and house chores that weren’t finished on Monday go to Tuesday . I don’t have a dedicated days to do all the other chores. I will have to work on that. As far as making gifts , I love to knit socks. I knit two pair to send out to my daughter for her birthday. I have embroidered dishcloths before but they are pretty worn out . So I look forward to making a new set. I can’t wait to see others projects. This journey through 1940 has been a lot of fun . I loved reading about the washeterias . I had no idea the had anything like that in the past. Thank you Donna for sharing and giving us glimpses of the past

I'm glad you posted the photo of the summer union suit, because when you wrote about it before, I pictured longjohns that were just a lightweight fabric.  It makes more sense now.

My work schedule doesn't really allow for doing  housework on the side every day, but I do appreciate the concept behind it.  I guess I will be a busy working woman in this study too, as some of my ancestors were in 1940 (though in a very different job!)

Speaking of working women in the 1940's. . .  Do you (or does anyone reading this) know how to tie your hair up in a scarf with a little knot in front, like Rosie the Riveter?  I've seen photos of my great-grandmother and one of my great-grandfather's sisters wearing their hair like that, and was trying to do it, but couldn't even figure out what size and shape of scarf to start with, or what the first step would be.  If anyone knows, instructions would be greatly appreciated:)

I would like to know about tying head scarves.  I can’t get it right.  

I learned so much about laundry especially sending it out.  
I have always loved days of the week towels.  I have lots of embroidery designs, vintage.  I need to give up knitting in the summer and work on lighter weight towels.  
thank you for the information.  

I have always worked and as a nurse my schedule was constantly changing. When I got a Monday thru Friday job, I did housework & laundry on the weekend. I often "batch cooked" on the weekend for the coming week. My mother was widowed young & she was a nurse too. We children did housework on the weekend. I suppose you adapt your schedule to fit your circumstances. I liked to do laundry, clean, cook on the weekend to get things in order for the work week. Then all I had to do was get my clothing out & make my lunch for the next day. My grandmother never worked outside the home. I don't remember that she used a particular schedule, but she got everything done. 

I just finished watching a video about an English family who lived like 1940.  England's situation in 1940 was much more dire than in the USA.  However, people in this country were well aware of the situation in England.  Fortunately, things never became as bad here even after our entry into WW II.  I would say 1940 was probably the last year of innocence before December 1941.  

Living life in a 1940s house (youtube.com)

Thea S I was going to post this before but wasn't sure if anyone would want it and then you asked the question! Hope this helps.

I love reading about everyone's schedules! I work at a plant nursery in the spring and summer, and I'm also a part-time professional writer, so my home schedule must fit around those responsibilities.

Saturday- Laundry and market day.  Afterward, I go to the farmer's market and grocery store for the week's groceries. It's also library day, as the library is right next to the farmer's market!

Sunday - Cleaning and baking day.  I bake at least two treats/snacks a week as we try to avoid ultra-processed food. This is also the day I make anything time consuming we may need for meals that week, like fresh pasta or a farmhouse cheese. I might do some canning or food dehydration, depending on the garden and market offerings. If it was the week I purchase the month's meat, I will divide it up into portions and either boil or bake a chicken to portion out for the freezer. Cleaning is easy since it's only adults in the house these days and we are all fairly tidy and we all pitch in, it only takes to clean. I also put away the laundry from the line (we wear few things that need ironing, as long as they are line dried). 

M-F- I work until about 3pm most days. Afternoons and evenings are dedicated to gardening,  food preservation in summer, sewing projects and mending, reading, research on the future home and property we are saving up for, and handwork like embroidery and knitting. I keep a running list of these types of tasks, and try to pick one or two that I can handle with post-work energy levels to work on most days. For the lowest energy evenings, I can always find the energy to crank out an item or two from my mending basket or to stitch together a few squares for the scrap quilt I am (slowly) hand sewing. I'm great at sitting, but not so great at sitting and doing nothing :)

I like to embroider stamped tea towels. I gift them as gifts to my grandkids, at wedding showers, as thank you gifts etc. It is a great pass time.

Tandi S.,

Thanks so much for posting that!  I had tried to Google it before, but could never find anything, probably because I didn't know they called it a turban.  Much appreciated:)

When my kids were very small I stayed at home with them about 3 years.  While I was home, I created a housework notebook that had daily chores such as dishes, weekly chores such as dusting (Tuesdays), laundry (Mondays) and baking (Saturdays), monthly chores such as washing the shower curtain and the windows' inside panes, quarterly chores such as defrost the refrigerator (that dates me) and clean the oven, bi-annual chores such as changing out storm windows and window screens (which also dates me), and yearly chores such as going through receipts, statements and tax information, tossing what wasn't needed.  I left Sundays open for rest.  It worked well for me in those days.  Now with a full time job and a long commute, I use the Fly Lady system and prep meals ahead on the weekends. 

Thanks for linking that, I loved watching it! Some of the things they said made me laugh so hard, especially when she was getting ready for bed in the beginning..lol

I’ve had this on DVD for years, it is so good! I like to watch it periodically. I love how it really changed the family. The children would be adults now; It would be neat to see a follow up to know if the changes lasted for them

Grandma Donna Wrote, Once again, I am so happy that everyone is communicating with each other and bringing into the study interesting information that you have to add.  I take a chance keeping it open like this for anyone to add information so if you ever see anything inappropriate, please contact me by email as soon as possible.  So far it has been wonderful and interesting information and I read each and every comment but I do have to sleep at times. :)  What I did on the video is I saved it to my computer to watch parts of it as I have the time, a very good look at this time in history. 

This is good, we will continue on into 1940, depending on where you live some of you are already at war and doing rations.  In 1940, we would not have known where we were heading, only where we have been.  Grandma Donna

A lot of women were doing war work in 1940, taking on men’s jobs, joining the uniformed services, joining the Women’s Voluntary Service, for all of the extra work which was needed. Everyone was doing First Aid Courses, joining working parties and fund raising. Many were working in the new canteens. Shopping using ration coupons meant a lot of time waiting in queues. Housework has had to be fitted in when possible. 

I have been watching the weather forecast all of the year to do the washing when there will be a gap in the rain to dry it outside. It doesn’t feel like summer. I have been glad of my porridge for breakfast, and have got used to it made with water instead of milk, and we have our pot of tea without sugar. 

The Minister of Food, Lord Woolton reminds us to use just one teaspoon per person, “And none for the pot.” It is strong enough to top up the pot with boiling water for a second cup.”

I have been reading  The Times, and thought the British wartime adverts might interest you.

My reading this week is the Mrs Tim books by D. E. Stevenson, based on her diaries as the wife of an officer. In Mrs Tim Carries On, 1941, the heroine's husband has gone missing on the retreat to Dunkirk. 

Hello Tea, When I had to shave my hair during chemo, one of my daughters wrapped my head that way. I am sure there must be a tutorial on YouTube. There is so much to learn there.

Enjoy!

Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage

Socks are my go to for family members and close friends. My husband has made a big deal out of telling my kids just how long it takes and calls his socks $300 socks since he wears size 13 (as do all the men in my family).

I have enjoyed your 1940's study.My husband and I are trying to live a much simpler and slower life.I am new to your blog so I have much reading to do! :) Thank you for sharing  and teaching the ways of the past. Have a blessed week. 

Angela

I think I have the same expression on my face as your poor kitten as I do my chores too!  I only do basic chores during the week, cooking, laundry, airing the house and general tidying, and save my cleaning for Saturday morning--the one time I have the house to myself.  If for some reason my kids are at home and not at their usual activities, I put them to work too (the four year old loves this, the fourteen year old not so much).  

Grandma Donna Wrote:  Angela B, Welcome to the forum and to the blog.  I am very happy you are here and I am sure others are as well.  My blog is mostly how to live a sensible life and we do history studies to learn about how our generations before us did things without all the modern items of today.  Happy reading.... Grandma Donna

Laura, would you be able to share your sock pattern or a link to it?  I've made socks a few times but I'm not very good at it.  I would like to do better so I can give them a gifts.  Also, my son wears size 14 and I don't know how to adjust the pattern for different sizes.  Any help you share is very much appreciated.  

Jacki

I've always loved this idea of planned chores for each day of the week. And having it be similar to others in the region must have been nice in some ways. Perhaps people would hang up laundry with friends. On the other hand, imagine the Thursday shopping traffic, or a line at the washeteria on Monday! Business owners and city water lines must have felt the strain of uneven daily use. In most municipalities today, people are assigned different landscape irrigation days even when not in a drought, just to even out the water use from day to day.

In my own life I have had to experiment with economies and diseconomies of scale when it comes to doing chores daily or weekly. In this stage of life with three young children including a 2 month old, things look different than they might in ten years. Here's what works for me now:

When I was a teenager I cleaned houses for a living because we needed the money. I learned proper ways to clean and how to clean efficiently. Some homestead almost nothing in and others were just me coming in to do the maintenance cleaning. I do now all bedding and towels with vacuuming on Mondays, Tuesdays are sweep, mop and bathrooms, Wednesday is just vacuuming, Thursday is just sweeping and friday is vcuuming with saturdays the flex days for our large projects. I have used as long as I a remember the side tracked home executive system book. I have everything on it from cleaning windows, cabinets, baseboards, etc. I don't have a ton of time, but it keeps things flowing well and not out of control. It allows me to be flexible with our work schedule as we are self employed. I do a lot of shopping from azure standard and amish around us filled in with farm stands. I try and buy everything in bulk because I just don't have time to be in a store. I'd prefer to be at home working on crochet items or doing studies. We have home school year round that we do which makes it much easier to keep flexible for activities and it's just our family. I don't mind doing housework such as simple tasks because when you stay on top of it it really doesn't take long to do. I have friends who just dread it but that's because they have out it off so long they are overwhelmed. I really enjoy this study and have always wanted to embroider. Thanks for showing the scarf tying. Always want to wear one, but can't tie it right either. 

I forgot to mention I can remember dropping by friends homes as a kid ad if they weren't home we'd leave a note. It was so much fun to get notes on our door. We loved having friends randomly stop by and "be in their neighborhood". Fun times.