My Best Life Enhancing Gadgets

Do you remember Shirley Conran’s book “Superwoman’ which contained the excellent advice that “Life’s too short to stuff a mushroom”? Published over forty years ago, this was intended as a guide to homemaking, but one which encouraged us all to rebel against what society expected of good, diligent housewives by doing your own thing. 

I think that I must have taken this advice very much to heart because, sitting here at my computer I can see a light film of dust on the shelves to my right which I observe quite dispassionately as if this is nothing to do with me, whilst acknowledging that at some point in the next day or two I may or may not go and  get a microfibre cloth and remove that dust along with the layer that has also accumulated on all the ornaments, photos and books that adorn the shelves. 

I recently realised that my ‘housework’ has become entirely arbitrary and somewhat ‘ad hoc.’ I do keep it all clean, but when and how I do so no longer fits any pattern or specific allocation of time.

Is it just me, or do you take housework a lot less seriously than you may once have done? I was recently watching the redoubtable Lesley Manville in the film ‘Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris’. In it the eponymous heroine is what used to be called a ‘charlady’ living in 1950s London. She wears a scarf as a turban and a pinny to protect her hair and clothes from all the dirt, mess and mayhem created by her various employers, all of whom are too posh to push the Ewbank sweeper which Mrs Harris uses ineffectually to clean their expensive rugs and carpets. The film was light and amusing if somewhat implausible, but it was that dreadful and utterly useless Ewbank which evoked thoughts of how lucky I am to live now and with all my modern labour-saving appliances.

For Mrs. H, that Ewbank represented a step-up from having to heave the rugs over the washing line outside in order to beat the dust out of them, but it’s a world away from the nifty and powerful little gadget that I now use on my three floor rugs, so I’ve been giving some thought to all the marvels that have gradually shrunk housework right down to something that gets fitted around the important business of getting on with the rest of my life.

Let’s start with the obvious biggies: central heating, fridges and washing machines. Coal fires, paraffin stoves, coke boilers. Not only filthy and smelly but seriously dangerous. No wonder people didn’t bathe very often, especially in winter when the only option, as at my parents-in-law in the 60s, was a small paraffin heater lit about 30 minutes before you shiveringly stripped off to get into warmish, shallow water. And you’d probably leave that water for someone else to ‘top up’ after you’d finished. I never seem to need to clean my bath these days, probably because I’m already pretty clean when I get in every evening to luxuriate in the foamy suds.

We tend not to think of fridges as labour saving. In a recent and quite fabulous adaptation of ‘Ripley’ with Andrew Scott in the title role, the wealthy soon-to-be-murdered Dickie and his girlfriend get very excited when they buy their first fridge because it means an endless supply of ice cubes for their endless gin and tonics. I love my pink retro Smeg fridge (very 1950s!) not for the ice cubes so much as the fact that I only need to go shopping for food a couple of times a week. I’ve also not forgotten the nasty wire mesh ‘meat safe’ we had in one student flat in the 60s which often had something unspeakable in it which would have given us serious food poisoning if we’d been stupid enough to eat it. No ‘use by’ dates in those days!

When I got married in 1970 we couldn’t afford a washing machine, so I used to take everything down to the local laundrette. Of course that would have been seen as a luxury compared to my grandmother who used to dedicate every Monday (designated ‘wash day’ every week) to filling and heating a huge copper with water from a pump in the yard so she could ‘boil wash’ the sheets. These would then be rinsed and passed by hand through a mangle to squeeze out the water and then, in summer, hung on the line to dry, or, in winter draped over a contraption in front of the fire. My other grandmother had an upgrade in the form of a tub of hot water with a paddle attached to a handle in the lid which a human being could move back and forth in order to agitate the clothes. 

I’ve been doing a week’s wash whilst sitting here writing this. It’s just finished its fifty minute cycle, so I need to hang it all outside to dry as I don’t have room for a tumble drier. Most of it won’t need ironing because modern fabrics often don’t, but the few bits that do will take minutes because I have a very efficient steam iron. I’m not going to mention dishwashers in my pantheon of all time great labour saving devices because I could quickly and easily wash my few dishes every day, but absolutely love the fact that I don’t have to do so. Same goes for the oven and hob, which we’ve always had in some form or another. I’ll admit that my oven could do with a good clean (any must-have quick, mess-free product recommendations would be gratefully received), but cleaning the new induction hob every evening after supper is an absolute doddle.

I also have a small, cheap, light-weight plug-in vacuum cleaner, which I bought to replace the expensive and heavy Miele one which was wrecked when the builders who reconfigured my flat used it to clean up after themselves. But I only use it occasionally when I notice those little balls of fluff that accumulate under the radiators. I also bought myself a fantastic mop in Lakeland for all my wooden floors. It has a massive head with a soft covering and a reservoir for cleaning liquid attached to the long handle. You squeeze this product onto the floor and it sprays in a wide arc just in front of the mop head. It’s incredibly efficient and effective. I can guarantee that Mrs. Harris would die for one to replace her dirty old mop and bucket.

And that’s it for labour-saving appliances I own apart from a few other small gadgets that I have acquired relatively recently and which I genuinely feel have greatly enhanced my life. 

These are, in no particular order:

1- G Tech Multi Cordless, battery-powered handheld vacuum cleaner. I use this most days, especially on a dark navy runner in my hallway which shows every speck. The battery lasts for ages and it fits into a small kitchen cupboard when not in use. It’s also fantastic for cleaning the inside of the car.

2- Karcher Window Vac. Also battery operated. Another ‘how did I ever live without this’ product! I do use this to clean all my windows both inside and out every few months, but the best for me is the way it keeps my new shower sparkling clean. When I’ve finished showering I wrap myself in a towel and immediately use this to suck up every last drop of moisture on the tiles, shower screen and shower tray. Brilliant in every way.

3- ‘Magic’ Eraser chemical free sponge for marks and stain removal. I have no idea how this thing works but it really is quite miraculous. I had a pure white quartz work surface installed into my new kitchen and was worried that it might stain very easily. I was recommended these magic erasers and, oh my goodness, they are amazing. Over time the work surface acquires small, faint dark scratch marks but I just rub them with this sponge and voila - instantly restored to perfection. I also use mine to clean my Apple Mac Laptop both outside and the screen and keys.

4- Nut Chopper. I’ve searched for a brand name on this but cannot see one, but it's similar to the Oxo Good Grips vegetable and nut chopper. I’m sure many of you will have a food processor for this task, but I’ve never had or wanted one.  However, I make my own delicious breakfast cereal every couple of weeks and this requires the chopping of 100g of mixed nuts, which used to take forever with a sharp knife. Then I bought this handy device and it changed my life! Takes about 30 seconds to do something that used to take me a good 15 minutes.

5- Good Grips Jar/Bottle Top Opener. This is somewhat age-related, but I use it every day to loosen the caps on bottles and jars. There is nothing more frustrating as an older woman living alone than not being able to get into something because of the way that it is secured or packaged. I love San Pellegrino water, but the initial twist of the bottle top is no longer possible for me - but my adjustable opener makes very light work of it.

I suspect that if my dear old mum could read the opening of this blog about my current relaxed and casual attitude to housework, two words would come to her mind: lazy and slattern. But I also suspect that this is somewhat the point of my approach, which would be in direct contrast to the foibles, fussiness and exacting housekeeping standards of someone who always insisted on hospital corners when making the bed.

However, Mrs. Harris might be delighted to learn that in the 1950s the drudgery of housework was on the verge of being transformed by the introduction of so many wonderful labour saving and life enhancing appliances, however she might be very worried that she’d soon be out of a job!

What appliances or gadgets could you not live without and, seriously, how do you clean your oven?

Tricia x

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