Why do they call it Spring cleanup? Shouldn't we have a special 'clean up" all year long? Why not Autumn or Winter cleanup? I think Winter would be a better time to clean anyway. After all, aren't we stuck in the house a lot more when it's cold? When you clean vigorously, you get pretty warm, at least I do. When it's really cold out, instead of turning the heat up, we should get up and scrub a floor or the bathroom. It gets clean and you're not as uncomfortable for awhile. The problem is, as soon as you relax, you're cold again!
I think I remember that the term Spring cleanup started way back in the old days when people had dirt or rough wood floors. Those floors would have been in need of a good sweep or scrub. They would also open up the windows to air the place out. The house probably was full of stale and bad smells from all sorts of things.
Did you ever forget to put on deodorant or wear the same clothes for six months at a time? Eeeew! They must have gotten pretty ripe. Most of us don't take a bath or a shower and then wear the same clothes day after day, every single day. Well, since you probably don't, just try to imagine it. I know now you're getting it! Yuk. A lot of people only had 2 outfits. They had everyday clothes and Sunday clothes. I bet the Sunday clothes weren't too fresh either. Basically they had to wash in a stream or a big wooden tub in a little water heated in the fireplace, and they SHARED the bath water. I'd have been taking a bath with my clothes on and I would insist on going first!
It would have been too cold to keep the doors and windows open anyway, so they must have just waited to do it when it had gotten warmer. Thus, Spring cleanup. So the term was born. Am I close? I'm not doing a history lesson here! I'm sort of trying to remember what I've read. Hey, I'm getting old. Give me a break.
Now it doesn't mean that they were slobs and didn't clean at all just because they did their major cleaning then. It was just the best time for them to scrub everything down. They didn't have heat and had to use the fireplace to keep the place warm. They had to chop the wood themselves or buy it. I don't think that there was too much chopping going on in the dead of winter. Or too much money coming in. If you have to chop a tree down yourself, you really don't want to waste the wood or the effort by opening doors and windows in the cold. I'd be so cold, I 'd be sleeping right next to the fireplace or burning everything I could find, even the furniture.
I think I remember that the term Spring cleanup started way back in the old days when people had dirt or rough wood floors. Those floors would have been in need of a good sweep or scrub. They would also open up the windows to air the place out. The house probably was full of stale and bad smells from all sorts of things.
Did you ever forget to put on deodorant or wear the same clothes for six months at a time? Eeeew! They must have gotten pretty ripe. Most of us don't take a bath or a shower and then wear the same clothes day after day, every single day. Well, since you probably don't, just try to imagine it. I know now you're getting it! Yuk. A lot of people only had 2 outfits. They had everyday clothes and Sunday clothes. I bet the Sunday clothes weren't too fresh either. Basically they had to wash in a stream or a big wooden tub in a little water heated in the fireplace, and they SHARED the bath water. I'd have been taking a bath with my clothes on and I would insist on going first!
It would have been too cold to keep the doors and windows open anyway, so they must have just waited to do it when it had gotten warmer. Thus, Spring cleanup. So the term was born. Am I close? I'm not doing a history lesson here! I'm sort of trying to remember what I've read. Hey, I'm getting old. Give me a break.
Now it doesn't mean that they were slobs and didn't clean at all just because they did their major cleaning then. It was just the best time for them to scrub everything down. They didn't have heat and had to use the fireplace to keep the place warm. They had to chop the wood themselves or buy it. I don't think that there was too much chopping going on in the dead of winter. Or too much money coming in. If you have to chop a tree down yourself, you really don't want to waste the wood or the effort by opening doors and windows in the cold. I'd be so cold, I 'd be sleeping right next to the fireplace or burning everything I could find, even the furniture.
