Maggie's Farm

Many years ago, I'd read a piece about how we did as much housework today as we did 100 years ago, despite a plethora of labor-saving devices.  This may not be as true as it once was, but the recent storms gave me some insight about why it may have been.

I noticed that without power, we were busy doing many things to keep the house going.  Finding firewood, getting gas, sweeping, going to the laundromat, getting and cooking food.  Clearly having power means the gas lines are shorter and I don't have to seek out firewood on a daily basis.  But what is it about labor-saving devices may have caused us to do continue to spend as much time doing housework as we may have prior to having them?

One day, as I was sorting the laundry, it hit me.  By being able to do more in less time, our standards and expectations rose, so we tended to do more.  We do things we couldn't do before, because we can.

I didn't like that my home's cleanliness took a slight dip during the storm, but given the time I was forced to spend doing other things, it just seemed like there was a logical trade-off in letting some things go for a bit until I had the chance to get around to them.