Name a chore....

I remember, aged 7 and feeling very grown up, being sent to the greengrocer for a pound of carrots and onions. Setting the tables from and early age and then helping clearing away and washing up when I was a bit older. I swept down the stairs not because it was my chore but because I wanted to help my Mum when she was busy cleaning. My brother was 3 years younger and never did much in the house and he continued like that for the rest of his life. I used to clean the brass with my Mum and held the skeins of wool while Mum wound it into balls. When I was a young teenager Dad and I used to clear away and wash up after Sunday lunch as Mum had done the cooking. As I young teenager I loved to chat to my Dad after we had finished dinner before we cleared away. Mum used to get so cross because we hadn't washed up as quickly as she thought we should.

It might have been Blanco Sparkle . For some reason Melton or Mel something keep popping into my head!

Seems cleaning the brass was a popular chore. I must admit I liked doing it.
I also helped with cooking but I think I asked to do that as I loved it.
I was an only child so mum probably wasn't that busy & I didn't do much around the house.

When I first met my Yorkshire-bred in-laws, it was like a foreign language. I had no idea that 'siding the pots' meant putting away the dishes.

I used to have to wash my father's used handkerchiefs by hand. I loved my dad but even now this makes me shudder. No rubber gloves. Urghhhhhhh!

I had to go shopping on a Saturday morning, several trips and lots of queuing in individual shops, Wasn't that keen on it but refusal wasn't an option.

GillyEB
That made me laugh...it's geyser.

Shelling peas into an old metal colander for my Nan . When it became so broken and jagged last year that it was a danger and I had to get rid I cried buckets!

Cleaning the bathroom (but not the loo, as we had a separate bathroom and loo). I loved doing it and putting all the shampoo bottles, etc back in a special arrangement.

Siding the table! I'm from Merseyside too. Being sent to the shops with a list. Especially winter of 1947 when I slid all the way in leather soled boots. When I came home I was sent again to do next doors shopping as she had 6 children. I also remember the note with ST'S on. H ad no idea what it meant. Being shouted at by my Dad for reading, I was deep into the story, and told to help Mum with washing up.

I was lucky there was only me and my brother who I looked after in school holidays as a mum worked part time. I was 6 years older Mum worked 10 to 3. There seemed to be lots of part time Mum jobs then.

Ironing the hankies :-)

KatyK yes I remember the white stuff too, I used it to cover the grass stains on white pumps. What was it called? I think we got it from Woolworths

Wasn't it called Blanco?

Me too!

Buying 3lbs of melts (stomach) or lights (lungs) for our lovely boxer, Candy, on my way home from school. They cost 6d for the 3lbs. My mum would then boil them to oblivion!

Many of these chores were so unnecessary. My mother ironed nappies and sheets. All the bedding for a family of 7 was washed every week, all the beds were made every morning, all the children’s clothes were homemade as was every single meal.

I can't remember what it was called. I used to love doing my pumps/sandals with it, although I used to get in a right mess!

Trendygran I used to go to the Co-op for my Mum too, when I was old enough. Her number was 1652.

Jocork yes I also remember shelling peas from Dad’s vegetable patch and eating some as I went along - delicious!

KatyK yes I remember the white stuff too, I used it to cover the grass stains on white pumps. What was it called? I think we got it from Woolworths.

Turning the handle of the mangle for my mother on Monday, wash day.

Yes I remember that KatyK. Mum used to do our white leather? shoes/sandals with it too. Early 1960's I know she used to buy it from Timpsons the shoe shop.

Brassoing the taps and the back door knobs, I lived with my Nanno and Grandad. Later poishing the table I asked Nanna how she got it so shiny she said Elbow Grease I looked but couldn't find it.

I used to clean the brass handles and finger plates on the doors at the church my mum still attends (as do I when I go home) - and yes, henetha Brasso is still around as I now clean the brasses (various commemorative plaques) in our local church!

I also used to have to do all the dusting when I was older, something our grandchildren like helping with now though I rather think they like playing with the long handled 'feather' (microfibre!) duster and my cordless Dyson!

Anyone remember cleaning their white pumps/plimsolls with some whitening stuff on a sort of stick thing that went everywhere?

We had to polish our shoes every morning before school and, between 3 of us, empty out the ashes, chop kindling and lay the fire then dust, mop and Hoover the sitting room , dining room and hall. And wash up the breakfast things.
At weekends we had to help on 2 allotments and I made cakes and did the ironing.
All this from the age of 10.

I remember shelling peas sitting on the back step. I also went errands to the local shop for my mum and sometimes for a neighbour across the road. The neighbour 'paid' me by letting me choose an ornament from her shelf every time. I sometimes looked after the small children of another neighbour, taking the baby out in the pram and I taught the oldest child to read. When I was a bit older my mum used to pay me to do the ironing. There were set rates for each item and I soon learned which were the easiest to do and which were not worth the effort required! I must have been quite a mercenary child, but then we didn't get much pocket money - we could earn some extra for doing jobs. I also used to walk to school sometimes to save the bus fare. My brother thought that was unfair as his school was a bit further away so his bus was free!

I can remember brushing down the stairs from a young age too, about 6 or 7 I think. Breathing in all that dust has given me respiratory problems now I believe.
Also polished the brass door step which I hated, but I did like to see what sort of pattern the coconut door mat had made on my knees while down there!
Like others, I resented that the boys didn't have to do any jobs, even though my dad was happy to do a lot of the housework.
One job I did enjoy was sticking in all the Green Shield stamps in a book. No idea why as I seem to remember they tasted horrible.