Cleanliness

NECESSITY FOR CLEANLINESS

One of the most important things for us to learn in this work is that we must be clean.

There are two reasons why we should keep everything neat and clean: One, on account of looks, and the other on account of health.

CLEANLINESS OF PERSON

Since it is so necessary to keep clean at all times, those who are to work in the kitchen preparing foods should be especially careful to keep themselves clean, and to handle in a perfectly clean way all the food which they prepare.

It is best to wear a plain, cotton dress, short enough to clear the floor, when cooking or doing other housework. The hair should be so carefully arranged that there is no danger of any falling into the food. When sweeping, it should be protected from the dust by covering it with a cap or kerchief.

Before preparing any food, the hands should be washed thoroughly with soap and water; the nails cleaned with a brush and a wooden toothpick, or a regular nail cleaner. The hands should always be washed after touching the hair, pocket handkerchief or anything else unclean. No rings, bracelets, etc., should be worn in the kitchen.

It is a good plan to have a hand towel buttoned on the apron band while at work in the kitchen. The dishes must never be wiped on the same towel which is being used to wipe the hands or face. A tasting spoon should be near at hand, so that a small portion of the food may be put into it from the mixing spoon for tasting purposes. Never dip a tasting spoon into a dish of food which is to be served.

SANITARY HOUSEKEEPING

CLEANLINESS OF ROOM

SWEEPING

Object. The object of sweeping is the removal of loose dirt, raising as little dust as possible.

Dirt is anything unclean. Example: Visible Dirt, (dust, grease, etc.).

As commonly used, the word includes remnants of anything left where they do not belong, such as sand, bits of paper, animal or vegetable refuse, etc.

Mingled with the dust and dirt is the Invisible live dust that is composed of millions of germs, called bacteria, yeasts, moulds, etc., some of them known to cause diseases, such as diphtheria, lock-jaw, consumption, typhoid, grippe, etc.

Implements for sweeping. A long handled soft brush is best for smooth floors, ex.-oiled or waxed floors. The brush or broom covered with a bag made of soft cloth, like Canton flannel or cheese cloth, may be used for painted or polished floors. If the cloth is dampened or oiled it will hold the dust better. A common broom may be used for sweeping ordinary floors. A small brush should be used to clean out the corners. A woolen cloth wrung out of warm water, to which 1 tbsp. ammonia to 1 gallon of water has been added will remove dust from carpets and brighten them wonderfully. A carpet sweeper which is a brush with broom action enclosed in a box, is good for carpets. The box serves as a dust pan. It is a sanitary dirt remover.

Method. Begin at one corner and sweep along the sides of the room with the grain of the wood. Sweep with short strokes, keeping the broom close to the floor. Always sweep from the sides of the room toward the center, unless there is some good reason for doing otherwise.

Collecting. By collecting dust into small piles rather than into one large one less dust will rise. If the dust pan is covered with a damp paper, so arranged that it will stand a little higher at the back of the dust pan, less dust will rise, as damp surfaces catch dust.

Disposal. Burn the sweepings.

Caution. Before beginning to sweep, see that no food or beverages is left uncovered in the room.

Care of Sweeping Utensils. The broom should be changed during sweeping and used on alternate sides, as well as on opposite corners. When not in use it should be hung up; the lint and threads or hairs cleaned off every time after using.

Brooms should be washed in hot soapy water once a week to keep them soft and pliable, and to make them last longer.

DO NOT WET the tacks or wires on the broom as they will rust and break.

BRUSHES MAY BE WASHED also. Use cold water instead of hot water, on account of the glue with which brushes are fastened.

Much labor can be saved by habits of neatness.

After every meal the towels and dish-cloths should be washed in hot water with soap and a little borax, and they should then be well rinsed and dried in the sun or air before using them again. 

DUSTING

Object. The object of dusting is the removal of dust from the house. Dusting should not be done immediately after sweeping-about 2 hours should elapse.

What to Use. USE A SOFT COTTON CLOTH. If new cloth is used it should be hemmed or overcast, as it ravels easily and the ravelings might catch and break small articles. Old cloth does not ravel so easily. Cheese cloth makes good dusters. It is inexpensive and dries quickly. Make dusters about 4 yds. square,—for many purposes smaller ones are better. Have several dusters. Do not use a feather duster, as it only scatters the dust.

Order. 1. Wood-work. 2. Furniture. 3. Movable articles.

Dust the higher places first, then the lower ones.

Method. SPREAD THE CLOTH and gather the dust into it, folding it in as you work. Where there are no articles to be injured by moisture, the cloth should be dampened or oiled, as it will hold the dust plants.

Care of Dust Cloths. Dust cloths should be washed thoroughly each time after using. Wash the cloths in warm soapy water, scald in clean soapy water, rinse in clear water. Wring as dry as possible and hang them to dry with the ends pulled evenly. Dry out of doors in the sun if possible. Why? Why scald? When dry, fold and put them in the drawer where they belong. Have a place for everything and everything in its place.

Care of Dish Cloths and Towels.-Dish cloths and towels should be washed, rinsed and dried each time after using; scalded often and dried out of doors when possible. A damp dish cloth breeds disease.

Badly Soiled Cloths, Towels, etc., should be soaked to cleanse them thoroly. Wet the soiled portions, rub them with soap, roll up tightly, place in a pail or pan, cover with soapy water, and let stand one hour or more. Wash in this water, then scald in clean soapy water, and rinse in clear water. Wash and hang up the cloths with the ends pulled evenly together. Try soaking soiled cloths in cold water to which the juice of a lemon has been added. Heat slowly to boiling point. Proceed according to above directions.

If the kitchen is already painted, and only needs cleaning, use hot water and soap with a flannel rag. The addition of a handful of borax or four tablespoonfuls of liquid ammonia to a gallon of hot water will make a solution which will clean paint and glass quickly and well without soap.
Wash oilcloths by first rubbing them over with a cloth wet in equal parts of milk and water, and then with another wet in warm water, and finally with a soft dry cloth; wet only a small place at once, and never use a brush if it can be avoided. Keep oilcloths clean ordinarily by wiping them first with a damp cloth and then with a dry one; but do not apply soap, or use a harsh brush or a mop. When the paint has been scrubbed off oilcloths, and their texture is still unbroken, they can be restored by having a coat of good oil paint laid over them about once a year. Some durable bright color is preferable; and the effect can be heightened by having a solid color for the centre, and a contrasting hue for the border. Rubbing with a few drops of ammonia on a damp cloth, and subsequent polishing with dry cloth, will clean windows easily and well.
Kitchen-tables should be cleaned every day, with hot water in which either borax or washing-soda is dissolved.
​The sink should be flushed every day with boiling water, and a handful of washing-soda thrown upon the strainer over the drain-pipe before the greasy water is poured down it after a meal is over. If this point is attended to, and no scraps of refuse or grounds of tea or coffee are allowed to pass into the drain-pipe, housekeepers will cscape that troublesome and expensive plumber's job of cutting out the drain-pipe. Every week in winter, and oftener in summer, a cupful of quicklime or of chloride of lime, or a pailful of hot copperas-water, should be thrown upon the drain. Copperas-water is a valuable disinfectant, free from the objectionable odor and physical effect of lime; it is made by placing the copperas in the bottom of a barrel, and covering it with water; enough copperas should be used to be plainly seen always upon the bottom of the barrel. The water, heated and poured in drains, sinks, and water-closets, by the pailful, once or twice a week, will keep them entirely free from dangerous emanations: note this when there is a closet upon the lower floor, or near the kitchen.

Basic Principles of Domestic Science, by Lilla Pauline Frich