Cleaning Now and Then or How Evolution of Science and Technology Influenced Simple Household Duties

Being children of this millennium we rarely think about how the things were before. Of course we know that our grandparents lived a harder life but do we completely understand?

Let's first make a short list of household duties and then see how they have been influenced by the revolution in science and technology. What, in general, we need to do every day to keep our homes clean and tidy?

• Dishes need to be washed
• Dust needs to be swept
• Clothes need to be washed
• Carpets and floors need to be vacuumed
• Tiles and windows requires regular cleaning as well

The list doesn't stop here - upholstery also requires cleaning such as most appliances(for example ovens and fridges). We could continue but we said that it will be a short list so let's keep it that way. There is enough material to work with.

Maybe dust cleaning is one of the fewer things not influenced by technology. We still use cloth to sweep the dust just like our grandmothers did. Nevertheless, the cloth we use is probably different. Microfiber, special fibers...What's more the simple cloth obviously was not enough and a special manual dust sweepers and electrical dust sweeping machines were invented. We have the opportunity to use them and we do it all the time. I'm not very sure if they are much more effective than the old-school methods our grannies used but still they have advantages for sure.When we talk about dishes there are several things to mention. First of all remember that the dishwasher was invented in the late 19th century. First reports for mechanical dishwasher are from 1850 (US patent). Before that time every dish was obviously washed by hand. Soap is known for hundreds of years but synthetic detergents were made in the last centuries - in Germany during the WWI. Dish washing is probably not something you do with pleasure. Now imagine we have to do it without the help of the modern cleaning products. It's not an easy job to clean a greasy pot only with a brush, soap and water. I've read that in the past sand is used for scrubbing the dishes but it doesn't seem to be of such great help with the absence of all other tools and products. What's more such methods can damage your utensils if they have special (for example) teflon layers.

Washing the clothes. Forget the washing machine - first steam-driven machines appear back in 1850s and are used for commercial laundry. However we need to mention that from 1797 on our ancestors could rely on washboard - the earliest special-purpose washing device. Forget the stain removal products and the precise temperature control. Now try to find a way to wash clothes made of wool, silk of artificial fibers. Soap can not remove all stains, it can also be harmful for some fibers so this is not an easy task as well.

And here come all other types of house cleaning. Vacuum machines, steam cleaning machines, mops with special functions,different cleaning products for every surface. Today we have all that but back then all has been done with a bucket and a cloth...and a broom. Even ancient Mesopotamians knew the broom. On the other hand advanced electrical cleaning tools didn't appear in households until industrial revolution.

Tool after tool, product after product, cleaning became an industry and a profession. Today we can not speak just for cleaning. Every speciality is separated in a different branch. The perfect housewife of the 21st century has to be expert in house cleaning - all the types, laundry, washing, etc. Luckily for us we have Internet. Evolution of technology not only made the cleaning equipment more advanced but gave us the power of information. Finding all about something is just several clicks away. Even more we can easily search for, find and even book a carpet cleaner (for example) from a mobile device, not being at home and with no need of personal interaction.Maybe our grandparents and ancestors couldn't deal with modern technology like we could but when it comes to cleaning I'm pretty sure they could do a better job than a modern housewife. There is a lot of wisdom in the past. There are cleaning tips and tricks that worked for centuries and are still working for particular tasks. People said: respect the past, cherish the present and dream about future. And it is true for all aspects of life even household duties.