Homemaking Independence

As a child, I remember having a very large book called "Training our Daughters to be Keepers at Home."  It was full of very useful information about everything from sewing clothes and how to clean a toilet to creating flower arrangements.  However, I looked upon it with disdain around the time I turned 18, thinking of it as "Wife Training 101."

As the years have gone by, I realize my ignorance.  My parents were not trying to train me only to be a wife, but to just know a variety of lost sciences.  Many don't know how to properly boil water, replace a button or correctly clean a load of laundry.  I remember my mother wishing she knew how to sew, something that I thankfully did learn.  The feminist revolution did away with all these things, looking upon them as chains keeping them at home while they should have looked at them as practical things that every person (man or woman) should know.

My dear friend recently showed me a book called "Home Economics: Vintage Advice and Practical Science for the 21st-Century Household."  The fountain of knowledge coming from this book is incredible.  Things that have long been forgotten are coming back.  We are coming to a realization that no one knows how to do anything.  It causes waste when we are incapable of repairing clothes, curtains, bedding, etc.  We no longer know how to keep a home clean without using large amounts of harmful chemicals.  The more we don't know, the more we have to spend.

So now I am delving once more into the art and science of homemaking.  I am taking this information as wisdom from previous generations who spent all their energy in creating the most happy, healthy homes they possibly could.  I'm claiming this as my independence rather than chains.