When you were growing up was your Mom big on airing out the house? Do you?

Ruth n Jersey

Ruth n Jersey

Well-known Member
Location
Northern New Jersey
My Mom was always airing out the house. I grew up in the 50's and her usual cleaning day was on Thursday. She would change the sheets and leave the bed neatly turned down,this was the only day she didn't make the bed.. After dusting and moping the floor she would open the windows and stick the blankets out to air with the pillow on the top. Close the door and go on to the next room. I think the only time she didn't do this was when it rained.

I still do this but don't stick the blankets out the window. My neighbors would think I'm crazy. I do have a clothes line on our porch and will hang them out there, but not every week. I put the pillows out also. My hubby was brought up just the opposite. His house was closed up tight for fear dust would come in if you left a window open. Shades were drawn so the furniture wouldn't fade in the hot summer sun and to keep the place cooler. . Seems to me it must have been like living in a morgue,but I didn't tell him that. His complaint is that in the dead of winter everything is getting cold and it takes a lot to heat it back up.

I thought I read somewhere that fresh clean air heats up quicker than stale air. I have no idea if that is true.Say what you will,while I'm in charge of cleaning, the windows will remain open. I actually think I sleep better on cleaning day. I can smell the freshness. A few times a year I do wash the heavy blankets and comforter.
 

We lived in an apartment and my mother also like to open up the windows for a fresh airing whenever she could, even in winter sometimes just for shorter periods of time. She cleaned house on Saturdays and my job was always to help her, lots of fresh air coming in and nice scents of Pledge furniture polish and various cleaners. She never did put the blankets and pillows out the windows, but when she washed blankets and bedspreads, she always hung them out on the wash line to dry.

I'm big on having the front screen door only and windows open whenever I'm cleaning or just when the weather is nice, I love the fresh air and my furkids like to look out too.
 

My mother also aired out the house at least weekly but I don't recall her doing it in winter (maybe I was in school) and she didn't hang bedding out of the windows. I seem to remember that she also hung blankets on the line for a few hours.

I air the house out but less often; usually when I think of it. All my bedding is light weight and washable so I can throw it all in the machine more often.
 
My mother was big on airing, too. Remember the big spring cleaning? At our house, all the mattresses in the house were dragged out into the back yard and leaned up against the fence to bake in the sun all day. Then she'd beat the dickens out of them with a broom. All the curtains came down and were washed, stretched on frames to dry and put back up. Any movable rugs went outdoors to hang on the clothes line all day and to be beaten. Every dish came out of the cabinets and the cabinets were washed inside. Quilts were washed. Any removable cushion was taken outside and beat to within an inch of its life. I have a theory that all that beating was therapeutic for my mother.....it probably kept her from killing us kids - we were pretty awful.
 
I remember both spring and fall cleaning, where walls were scrubbed throughout (top to bottom), where furniture was moved, vacuumed under, and a lot of times, reorganized to reflect a different layout in the room, where blankets, comforters, and whatever else that could be draped over the outdoor clothesline, was, and I can still smell the clean fresh scent of Pine-Sol, and feel the clean fresh breeze sifting in through the open window screens when the warmth and sunshine of early spring made it's debut.
 
Lee said:
My mother was not the best housekeeper, could be that's why I am a neatnik.

I do spring cleaning spring and fall. Don't wash walls though.
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I still scrub walls, but not with the vigor I once did. Just don't have the energy like I did when I was younger.
 
Aunt Marg said:
I remember both spring and fall cleaning, where walls were scrubbed throughout (top to bottom), where furniture was moved, vacuumed under, and a lot of times, reorganized to reflect a different layout in the room, where blankets, comforters, and whatever else that could be draped over the outdoor clothesline, was, and I can still smell the clean fresh scent of Pine-Sol, and feel the clean fresh breeze sifting in through the open window screens when the warmth and sunshine of early spring made it's debut.
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We also had different room-size rugs in the living room and dining room for winter and summer. The rugs were taken out and hung over the clothesline, beaten, rolled up, stored in the attic. Winter rugs were rolled up mothballs before going to the attic. Summer rugs were woven but something like bamboo? Really don't remember what they were made of. After the winter rugs were hung outside and before the summer rugs were laid, we stripped the wax off the floors and rewaxed. All the bedroom curtains were washed, starched, put on the curtain stretchers to dry, then ironed and hung back up. Curtains in the living and dining rooms were like the rugs...there were curtains that were used in winter and curtains for summer. Those got washed before storing, washed before being hung. Omigosh, That was a whole lotta work! We started on Friday, finished on Saturday.

There was also the weekend when the storm windows were taken down and the screens put up. All those darned windows that had to be washed. Ugh.

Anybody remember the whistling sound when the breeze blew through the screen doors and windows? And the sound of the screen door closing? Memories from way back in the way back.
 
Georgia, The squeaky screen door is one of my most treasured sounds.
My windows are almost always wide open, except in the coldest part of winter. My front door is almost always wide open. How can I live in stagnant air? And the sound of wind whistling around the corner of the house? Aah! Yes, memories!
 
When I was a child our house was always open to fresh air, even in Winter. We had no flyscreens on the windows and doors and Mum insisted on opening the windows every morning and the front and back doors were open all day unless we left the house. The back door was actually propped open 24/7 to allow the small dogs to come and go freely.

We had a combustion heater in the living room and I assume that might have been the reason why she was so insistent on getting fresh air into the house. Her generation grew up with fuel stoves and open fires.

For myself, I like to expose the pillows and mattress protector to sunlight on a regular basis and all of my washing is dried on outside clothes lines. Like Mum, I open the front and back doors when I want the house aired after being closed up for any length of time.
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
We also had different room-size rugs in the living room and dining room for winter and summer. The rugs were taken out and hung over the clothesline, beaten, rolled up, stored in the attic. Winter rugs were rolled up mothballs before going to the attic. Summer rugs were woven but something like bamboo? Really don't remember what they were made of. After the winter rugs were hung outside and before the summer rugs were laid, we stripped the wax off the floors and rewaxed. All the bedroom curtains were washed, starched, put on the curtain stretchers to dry, then ironed and hung back up. Curtains in the living and dining rooms were like the rugs...there were curtains that were used in winter and curtains for summer. Those got washed before storing, washed before being hung. Omigosh, That was a whole lotta work! We started on Friday, finished on Saturday.

There was also the weekend when the storm windows were taken down and the screens put up. All those darned windows that had to be washed. Ugh.

Anybody remember the whistling sound when the breeze blew through the screen doors and windows? And the sound of the screen door closing? Memories from way back in the way back.
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Wonderful memories, Georgia. :)

I remember room rugs, oval in shape and multi-coloured, and I can still hear the front porch screen door slapping up against the door-jam with each exit and entry us kids made, just as I can still smell the small blue rubber kids swimming pool that sat towards one corner of the fenced-in patio, plastic juice jugs, cups, and other miscellaneous play things floating in the water. How I wish I could go back for even a day...

Yes, the heavy brocade draperies, and at my aunts, fine, feather-light white shear curtains with flower, vine, and petal patterns all over them, and in the bathroom, plastic drapes. Haven't seen plastic drapes or curtains in decades.
 
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I air out my apartment on cool breezy mornings all the time .... prop open the front door to the hallway which is near an open landing, and open the back patio door and let the wind blow through... feels so good
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
My Mom was always airing out the house. I grew up in the 50's and her usual cleaning day was on Thursday. She would change the sheets and leave the bed neatly turned down,this was the only day she didn't make the bed.. After dusting and moping the floor she would open the windows and stick the blankets out to air with the pillow on the top. Close the door and go on to the next room. I think the only time she didn't do this was when it rained.

I still do this but don't stick the blankets out the window. My neighbors would think I'm crazy. I do have a clothes line on our porch and will hang them out there, but not every week. I put the pillows out also. My hubby was brought up just the opposite. His house was closed up tight for fear dust would come in if you left a window open. Shades were drawn so the furniture wouldn't fade in the hot summer sun and to keep the place cooler. . Seems to me it must have been like living in a morgue,but I didn't tell him that. His complaint is that in the dead of winter everything is getting cold and it takes a lot to heat it back up.

I thought I read somewhere that fresh clean air heats up quicker than stale air. I have no idea if that is true.Say what you will,while I'm in charge of cleaning, the windows will remain open. I actually think I sleep better on cleaning day. I can smell the freshness. A few times a year I do wash the heavy blankets and comforter.
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It doesn't heat up any faster. The difference between fresh air and stale air is the humidity. Fresh air has more humidity and at the same temperatures it feels more comfortable.
 
Aunt Marg said:
Wonderful memories, Georgia. :)

I remember room rugs, oval in shape and multi-coloured, and I can still hear the front porch screen door slapping up against the door-jam with each exit and entry us kids made, just as I can still smell the small blue rubber kids swimming pool that sat towards one corner of the fenced-in patio, plastic juice jugs, cups, and other miscellaneous play things floating in the water. How I wish I could go back for even a day...

Yes, the heavy brocade draperies, and at my aunts, fine, feather-light white shear curtains with flower, vine, and petal patterns all over them, and in the bathroom, plastic drapes. Haven't seen plastic drapes or curtains in decades.
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Something else I just remembered is that when the spring cleaning got done, we took the flannel sheets off the beds in favor or muslin or percale for the summer. The spring cleaning was done after we'd gone a week or two without the nighttime temperature falling below freezing. The blankets were washed but instead of putting them back on the beds, they were folded and laid across the foot of the bed to use if we had a cold spell before full-on summer.

When I got older and had my own home, I kept cotton flannel sheets on year 'round because cotton wicks moisture away from the body and because it would still get darned cold at night.
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
Something else I just remembered is that when the spring cleaning got done, we took the flannel sheets off the beds in favor or muslin or percale for the summer. The spring cleaning was done after we'd gone a week or two without the nighttime temperature falling below freezing. The blankets were washed but instead of putting them back on the beds, they were folded and laid across the foot of the bed to use if we had a cold spell before full-on summer.

When I got older and had my own home, I kept cotton flannel sheets on year 'round because cotton wicks moisture away from the body and because it would still get darned cold at night.
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One thing I remember in our house, mom used quilts and comforters, so beds were made with just a mattress-topper, pillowcases, and a thin cotton cover with ties at the foot of it, for helping to protect the quilts and comforters.

To this day it drives me crazy to stay at someone's house or in a motel/hotel where beds are made with a mass of sheets and blankets. :)
 
Yes, my mother did like to "air things out." She was a clean freak and unfortunately I inherited that gene. There are very few days in the Houston humidity when I can open up the house, but I do when I can. Usually a few spring days and then in the fall.
 
when i lived by myself i always had a window opened winter and summer--i always washed all my walls ceiling and cabinets at least once a year-when the pollen was falling real bad i had a fan i reversed -so still got fresh air
 
Yes indeed my mom believed in airing out the house. Mom kept a tidy house all the time and taught me well from a really early age as I do the same. Not as much with the airing out as she did, but I still do that every once in awhile. I do keep a clean home though.
 

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