Making Housework 



Easier 



By NELL FLATT GOODMAN 



^^4 —HAT she will have for supper 

 \^yi/ tonight doesn't worry Mrs. 

 g g Harry Bower of McLean 

 county. She had that planned several 

 days ago. 



As Home Bureau leader in a county 

 with a membership of nearly 1 500, Mrs. 

 Bower realizes she must plan in advance 

 if her home work is not to be neglected. 

 With a carefully considered schedule of 

 what is to be done each day of the week, 

 she finds that family life, housework, 

 garden work. Home Bureau affairs move 

 along comfortably, easily, and not too 

 hurriedly. 



For some people, managing an eight 

 room house, raising 300 chickens, tend- 

 ing a garden and a larger-sized truck 

 patch, doing their own sewing, canning 

 300 or 400 quarts of fruit and several 

 hundred quarts of meat, leading a 4-H 

 club, besides being county chairman, 

 would be a huge undertaking. Life could 

 easily get into a muddle. Mrs. Bower 

 says it is easier now for her than it was 

 1 5 years ago because she has learned a lit- 

 tle more system. 



"Last Saturday, I knew two weeks in 

 advance the schedule to be followed. 

 Usually one week is enough. Certainly 

 every woman should be a day ahead. All 

 Home Bureau management lessons bring 

 out that point. 



"Monday morning is laundry day, she 

 said. Seldom do I allow anything to 

 interfere with that. Ironing is more flex- 

 ible. It may be done Tuesday or later. 

 Baking is never done on the spur of the 

 moment. I try to look ahead, have plenty 

 for over Sunday, then Monday, wash day, 

 there isn't a scramble for something to 

 eat." 



Asked for a sample of one days sched- 

 ule she cited a recent Monday. 



"Until 9:30, it was work in the gar- 

 den. Then the laundry. By 12, dinner 

 for husband and hired man. In the after- 

 noon, dentist; and then to Home Bureau 

 office to consult with Miss Brian, the 

 home adviser." 



Mrs. Bower suggests that housewives 

 simplify their work in every way possible. 

 "Why bake an elaborate cake for a steak 



JULY. 1938 



MRS. HARBY BOWER 

 "Getting up •arly helps too." Heie 

 Mrs. Bower is in the Home Bureau office 

 checking reports. 



fry, when a simple one-egg, freshly baked 

 one will go just 'like hot cakes'?" A 

 pad with an attached pencil hangs in her 

 kitchen, and it isn't there only to com- 

 plete the color scheme. She actually jots 

 down things she needs. When she goes 

 to the grocery store she knows what she 

 wants. 



Remember how your mother used to 

 tell you to pick up your things before you 

 went to bed? Mrs. Bower really does 

 that. 



"Its half the battle in keeping order," 

 Mrs. Bower says, "I pick up in the living 

 room always before going to bed. I 

 don't have a maid to do it before I get 

 up so I do it at night. And another 

 thing, pick up pins and scraps after sew- 

 ing. Don't think any time is saved by 

 going away and leaving it for some other 

 time. 



"Getting up early helps too. For ex- 

 ample this morning when I left home at 

 7 o'clock, all the house was in order, the 

 lunch prepared and several extras for the 

 evening meal." 



With other members of a committee, 

 Mrs. Bower had driven some 60 miles 

 that morning in Home Bureau work. 



McLean county Home Bureau is fam- 

 ous for its variety of projects. The latest 

 of these to which Mrs. Bower, as well as 

 Miss Clara Brian, dean of Illinois Home 

 Advisers, point with pride is their county 

 cook book. The point of interest in this 

 particular cook book is that Home Bu- 

 reau women have not bothered the mer- 

 chants of Bloomington and other towns 

 for advertising. There is no advertising 

 in the book. Miss Brian believes the book 

 should sell and pay for itself. Favorite 

 recipes of home economics leaders. Miss 

 Bevier and Miss Bane are listed. Other 

 prominent women included in the recipe 

 lists are Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt, Mrs. 

 Dwight Morrow, and many others. Ac- 

 cording to Mrs. Bower, each unit will be 

 given 25 percent for selling the books 

 and the county will derive no profit until 

 2000 copies have been sold. 



"Home Bureau in this county could 

 not accomplish so much if its projects 

 were not so carefully planned," Mrs. 

 Bower said. "The same is true in any 

 home. Any woman can accomplish more 

 if she works with a plan. Just try it and 



Third annual conference of Home 



Bureau leaders will be held in the 

 Woman's Building, State Fair Grounds, 

 Springfield, July 19 to 22. Mrs. John 

 Clifton, Milford, state president, will 

 be in charge. 



Talks by Mrs. C. H. Casberg, Urbana, 

 "Legislation Concerning Rural Schools;" 

 Mrs. Lottie Holman O'Neil, "Tracing 

 a Bill through the Legislature; " Father 

 George M. Link, "Nature Apprecia- 

 tion;"' a pilgrimage to New Salem and 

 picnic are some of the features on the 

 program. 



Mrs. R. E. Milligan, Ivesdale, will 

 be in charge of recreation. 



Mrs. Elsie Mies, state organization 



chairman, reports four new Home 

 Bureau organizations in five counties 

 which include St. Clair, Wabash-Ed- 

 wards, Douglas and Moultrie. 



Easy payment plans are not always 



wise, according to Miss Gladys Ward, 

 extension specialist in home manage- 

 ment, U. of I. Before choosing be- 

 tween paying cash and buying on time, 

 the family should ask itself these ques- 

 tions: How much can we save by pay- 

 ing cash? What additional goods or 

 services can we buy with the cash 

 saved? Will it be cheaper and easier 

 for the family to buy on the install- 

 ment plan than to wait long enough 

 to save the cash price asked? Is the 

 family income adequate and stable to 

 carry the burden of installments? Are 

 there other debts that have a prior 

 claim on the family income? 



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