[Vella Gonzaga]

Monday to Sunday tasks​

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Credits: Facebook/Australia Remember When

Who still remembers when each day of the week had different tasks? Monday was wash day, Tuesday meant ironing, Wednesday was for mending, sewing, and baking, Thursday was for cleaning, and Friday was all about shopping. Saturday was for sports, while Sunday was dedicated to worship, church, visiting relatives and friends, and topped off with a delightful evening tea at Nana’s. What were your tasks back in the day? Tell us here.

 

[laboheme]

Mondys ./ fridays baking
Tuesdays washing towels .wed change / beds sheets ...Thurs Vacuum

 

[pixiemoon]

When I was little I remember Monday wash day & Tuesday was ironing day as I got to sprinkle water & roll up the items to be ironed. A lot of them were stiffly starched. Pillow cases, tablecloths, tea towels & clothes. I still like my pillow cases done with spray starch and ironed. When I started grade 5 (10 yrs old)mum decided I was to iron my clothes. My 2 school uniforms & sport uniform were full of pleats (hate pleats to this day) if not done properly she would make me do them again. Today’s youth don’t know what a iron is.

 

[Benny's Light]

When I was a child my relatives all followed the same patterns. My grand parents had a song they would sing to us outlining their weekly tasks. Ah the memories of a simpler less chaotic life. Now that I am retired I am doing the same things with days for special activities (I emulate my grand parents song in what I do for each day). Today, Friday, is towel washing day - all done and now to do as I please for the rest of the day.

 

[Rick]

There is a rhyme dating back generations to the pre literary period that described the duties of the housewife however I cannot recall it

 

[Jarred Santos]

When I was little I remember Monday wash day & Tuesday was ironing day as I got to sprinkle water & roll up the items to be ironed. A lot of them were stiffly starched. Pillow cases, tablecloths, tea towels & clothes. I still like my pillow cases done with spray starch and ironed. When I started grade 5 (10 yrs old)mum decided I was to iron my clothes. My 2 school uniforms & sport uniform were full of pleats (hate pleats to this day) if not done properly she would make me do them again. Today’s youth don’t know what a iron is.

Wow! Definitely tough love from mum, but I'm sure growing up you appreciated her lessons in hindsight Love the side note about the pleats too

 

[Gsr]

Yes I well remember, Monday was washing, Tuesday ironing, and almost everything was ironed back then, even cotton undies by some people, Wednesday and Thursday sheets were washed, we had too many beds with a big family to do them all in one day, but sheets were washed every week without fail, more often if anyone was sick. Friday morning mum made a grocery list and got the neighbour who ran the telephone exchange to ring it through to the grocer in town, who had it ready for dad to collect on his way home from his week away working at a sawmill where he stayed during the week. Friday afternoon was putting away groceries. Saturday was washing dads clothes, cleaning up any rubbish in the yard, boy we had a big area to clean as we had no fence around the house, dad mowed, kids raked up the grass and carted it over the paddock away from the house. Saturday afternoon dad cut the heads off a couple of chooks for sunday lunch and us kids had to pluck and gut them, awful job. Sunday morning us kids took turns helping dig a hole for dad to empty the toilet into, no septic or dunny collectors out in the sticks. Sunday was roast dinner and our once a week dessert, mum and a couple of us girls would also cook cakes, bikkies for dad to take to the mill and for us for school and home, then if we were lucky we could rest a bit Sunday afternoon. Housework like sweeping and dusting was done daily, mopping the wooden floors was done twice a week, even the old boards used as a walkway to our outside laundry were mopped and boy did mum rouse if anyone walked on the wet floors. Life was tough but good.

 

[Gsr]

When I was little I remember Monday wash day & Tuesday was ironing day as I got to sprinkle water & roll up the items to be ironed. A lot of them were stiffly starched. Pillow cases, tablecloths, tea towels & clothes. I still like my pillow cases done with spray starch and ironed. When I started grade 5 (10 yrs old)mum decided I was to iron my clothes. My 2 school uniforms & sport uniform were full of pleats (hate pleats to this day) if not done properly she would make me do them again. Today’s youth don’t know what a iron is.

I well remember once we started high school us girls having to wear tunics with pleats, white shirts under them, a school tie, a blazer, a starched belt made from the same colour material as the tunic. It was a real trick ironing them and getting the pleats right, all nicely pressed and even. Boys had shorts or trousers that had to have a nice neat crease ironed down the centre of each leg. That was a fun job too. Shirts had to have a nice crease down the middle of the sleeve as well, blazers had to be nicely pressed so the lapels sat just right. Our home science dresses were white and had one large pleat in the back so the extra material gave us room to bend etc when we were cooking, sewing. Then I started nurses training and our uniforms had to be starched stiff with a pleat ironed into the back, it was a wonder we could do anything in them they were so stiff, we had starched caps with a stripe stitched onto them for each year of our training, eg 1 stripe 1st year nurse and so on. We had buttons that we attached to our nurses uniforms with a pin through the back to hold them on, and we only got 1 set, so we had to change them from one uniform to another every day, that was a tedious job as uniforms were buttoned all down the front. At school and nursing we all had to have highly polished shoes, no scuffed toes, brilliant white sandshoes for sport, sneakers weren’t allowed to be worn, not sure joggers were invented back then. How things have changed for the better with school and nurses uniforms these days.

 

[Jarred Santos]

Yes I well remember, Monday was washing, Tuesday ironing, and almost everything was ironed back then, even cotton undies by some people, Wednesday and Thursday sheets were washed, we had too many beds with a big family to do them all in one day, but sheets were washed every week without fail, more often if anyone was sick. Friday morning mum made a grocery list and got the neighbour who ran the telephone exchange to ring it through to the grocer in town, who had it ready for dad to collect on his way home from his week away working at a sawmill where he stayed during the week. Friday afternoon was putting away groceries. Saturday was washing dads clothes, cleaning up any rubbish in the yard, boy we had a big area to clean as we had no fence around the house, dad mowed, kids raked up the grass and carted it over the paddock away from the house. Saturday afternoon dad cut the heads off a couple of chooks for sunday lunch and us kids had to pluck and gut them, awful job. Sunday morning us kids took turns helping dig a hole for dad to empty the toilet into, no septic or dunny collectors out in the sticks. Sunday was roast dinner and our once a week dessert, mum and a couple of us girls would also cook cakes, bikkies for dad to take to the mill and for us for school and home, then if we were lucky we could rest a bit Sunday afternoon. Housework like sweeping and dusting was done daily, mopping the wooden floors was done twice a week, even the old boards used as a walkway to our outside laundry were mopped and boy did mum rouse if anyone walked on the wet floors. Life was tough but good.

I well remember once we started high school us girls having to wear tunics with pleats, white shirts under them, a school tie, a blazer, a starched belt made from the same colour material as the tunic. It was a real trick ironing them and getting the pleats right, all nicely pressed and even. Boys had shorts or trousers that had to have a nice neat crease ironed down the centre of each leg. That was a fun job too. Shirts had to have a nice crease down the middle of the sleeve as well, blazers had to be nicely pressed so the lapels sat just right. Our home science dresses were white and had one large pleat in the back so the extra material gave us room to bend etc when we were cooking, sewing. Then I started nurses training and our uniforms had to be starched stiff with a pleat ironed into the back, it was a wonder we could do anything in them they were so stiff, we had starched caps with a stripe stitched onto them for each year of our training, eg 1 stripe 1st year nurse and so on. We had buttons that we attached to our nurses uniforms with a pin through the back to hold them on, and we only got 1 set, so we had to change them from one uniform to another every day, that was a tedious job as uniforms were buttoned all down the front. At school and nursing we all had to have highly polished shoes, no scuffed toes, brilliant white sandshoes for sport, sneakers weren’t allowed to be worn, not sure joggers were invented back then. How things have changed for the better with school and nurses uniforms these days.

Always, always love reading your comments, @Gsr!

 

[Gsr]

I remember fresh bread, mail and newspapers were delivered by Fletchers milk truck on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays when the milk from the dairy farms was picked up. Milk was stored in heavy steel milk cans, no refrigeration, in between pick ups. The farmers had to take the cans to the roadside and put them on the milk stand, a platform that was high enough so the milk truck driver could pull alongside and slide the cans into the truck, they were very heavy. The cans were tied to bars around the front and sides of the truck with rope so they didn’t slide out of the truck . The back of the truck was wooden, it was open at the back and had an opening about half way along each side big enough for milk cans to be loaded or unloaded. The floor was wooden and the cans would slide about as the truck hurtled along the dirt roads, as they weren’t tied tight to the bars. The whole truck was red. Mr Fletcher who drove the truck would let us kids ride to school in the back if he was early enough, and he would let us go for a ride with him in school holidays while he went to the farms up past our house and drop us off on his way back. Always in the back of the truck. We would run about from side to side, hang out the back and the side openings as he drove along. He would yell at us to get up the front and hang onto the bars but we didn’t take much notice. He was an older kind man and never stopped us from riding in his truck. It was great fun, how none of us ended up injured or worse I don’t know. All the kids in the district joined in. The milk truck also delivered small bottles of milk with little foil caps, supplied by the government, to our country school for each child enrolled on the days it ran. I remember potatoes and bread being really cheap back then and that is mostly what we lived on besides cereal and what we grew in our garden. We got milk from our grandparents house cow daily, and had chooks for eggs and roast dinners. Mum always got a 10 pound in weight bag of potatoes each week and we got 3 loaves of bread 3 times a week. Crusty high top loaves that when you broke them in halves had a nice bubble like piece of bread on each side, boy did we fight over them and the crusts. No sliced bread back then, we cut slices with the bread knife so some were thick and some were thin and some were very crooked. What a great adventurous childhood we had.

 

[pixiemoon]

I remember fresh bread, mail and newspapers were delivered by Fletchers milk truck on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays when the milk from the dairy farms was picked up. Milk was stored in heavy steel milk cans, no refrigeration, in between pick ups. The farmers had to take the cans to the roadside and put them on the milk stand, a platform that was high enough so the milk truck driver could pull alongside and slide the cans into the truck, they were very heavy. The cans were tied to bars around the front and sides of the truck with rope so they didn’t slide out of the truck . The back of the truck was wooden, it was open at the back and had an opening about half way along each side big enough for milk cans to be loaded or unloaded. The floor was wooden and the cans would slide about as the truck hurtled along the dirt roads, as they weren’t tied tight to the bars. The whole truck was red. Mr Fletcher who drove the truck would let us kids ride to school in the back if he was early enough, and he would let us go for a ride with him in school holidays while he went to the farms up past our house and drop us off on his way back. Always in the back of the truck. We would run about from side to side, hang out the back and the side openings as he drove along. He would yell at us to get up the front and hang onto the bars but we didn’t take much notice. He was an older kind man and never stopped us from riding in his truck. It was great fun, how none of us ended up injured or worse I don’t know. All the kids in the district joined in. The milk truck also delivered small bottles of milk with little foil caps, supplied by the government, to our country school for each child enrolled on the days it ran. I remember potatoes and bread being really cheap back then and that is mostly what we lived on besides cereal and what we grew in our garden. We got milk from our grandparents house cow daily, and had chooks for eggs and roast dinners. Mum always got a 10 pound in weight bag of potatoes each week and we got 3 loaves of bread 3 times a week. Crusty high top loaves that when you broke them in halves had a nice bubble like piece of bread on each side, boy did we fight over them and the crusts. No sliced bread back then, we cut slices with the bread knife so some were thick and some were thin and some were very crooked. What a great adventurous childhood we had.

What a great childhood. Times were very simple then. You did what you had to do got your chores over & done with. No use complaining or you would get a swat or kick up the behind. Quicker you got them done left more time for fun & adventure.