AN OUT-OF-DATE FETISH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19753, 28 September 1927, Page 7

AN OUT-OF-DATE FETISH.

GET RID OF RUBBiSH. To the zealous housewife, spring-clean-ing is the primary event in her domestic calendar, it is her annual opportunity to scour, scruo and poiisn eveiy nook and cranny tram cellar to attic. It is, in her opinion, a great institution. To the husband, however, it is the dreaded period ot bare boards, scratch meals and the all-pervading aroma of soap suds. It is an occasion of unqualified torture, which even the higHest ideals of domestic science do not warrant. Says he: "Spring-cleaning be hanged '■ It is a fetish!" Yet, despite these opposing views, spring-cleaning, like other hardy annuals, continues to appear in due season, and we remind ourselves that it is all in the hallowed name of "Cleanliness." Can something, then, be done to minimise the personal discomfort and occasional strife attached to spring-cleaning ? I suggest (very humhly, for fear of earning the dispieasure of the Housewives' Union!) that something can be done. So savs a modern writer. I do not mean by investing in all the latest labour-saving appliances on tho market. As a matter of fact, most up-to-date houses are already generously equipped with modern gadgets. \Vnat I am thinking of is the lumberharbouring mania with which the vast majority of us are afflicted; that deeprooted habit of saving this and putting away that, "in case tnev might come in useful later on." With some people it is an absolute obsession; and I feel sure that if we could be persuaded to banish for ever the popular craze for storing useless lumber we should considerably reduce the toil and stress of the annual spring-clean. As it is, most of us seem to possess a natural habit of hoarding old rubbish. Perhaps it is empty boxes and tins, which might come in handy for packing up Parcels; or it mav be old magazines, which we might be glad to read if we are ill at anv time; when it is old clothes, which we* might be able to wear, and, occasionally, it. in chipped or broken ornaments, which we do not like to throw away, because they were given to us msmv years ago. This" accumulation of "treasures is carefully stowed away, usually in an already overcrowded box or cupboard. Occasionally a room is set apart for the purpose, and into this "lumber room is bundled the collection of household rubbish. This involves further scrutinising, dusting and putting back "in case it could be used for so-and-so." Surely this is tho most laborious part of spring-cleaning. It is an item which could he entirely dispensed with, if only we could acquire the habit of disposing of things as we finish with them !