Press Democrat readers share household hacks they learned from their moms

Many of us tend to household chores a certain way for no other reason than it’s the way mom did it. We absorb these habits and truism often without even thinking, because we watched her do it a hundred times. It becomes simply the way we do things.

There is a story, perhaps true, maybe apocryphal, of a woman who always cut her turkey in half before popping it in the oven. Why? Because her mom always did. It was only later in life that she discovered her mother cut the turkey not because it was a better way to cook but because her oven was too short to take the whole bird.

My mother wasn’t particularly neat, but she was fastidious about certain things, which came out of her nurse’s training. She was very clean when handling food, a practice that embedded in me. The other was making beds. She knew how to make a crisp hospital corner with the bedsheets. I learned that trick as soon as I could make a bed, one that can also be applied to wrapping packages.

In honor of mom, we asked readers to share the housekeeping hacks they picked up from their own mothers.

For Eleanor Hodge of Petaluma, the motherly advice that has helped keep her house tidy is simple. No need to consult Marie Kondo, an organizing expert or make multiple trips The Container Store. Head clutter off at the pass by always remembering this: “A place for everything, and everything in its place.”

Jackie Rush of Santa Rosa remembers her grandmother repeating the same proverb, a practice that was a pure necessity when you’re raising 11 children. Rush’s own mom, left a widow with four kids ages 4 to 11, followed that same advice to maintain in-home order. “Don’t put it down. Put it away.”

Rush also picked up this handy hack from mom to keep her soap fresh.

“What Mom taught me was to remove bath soaps from the packaging and place them in the linen closet to refresh lines and to dray the bars of soap,” she said. “This drying will make the soap last longer.”

In today’s product-driven world it can be wise to remember that our moms had to be much more resourceful with what they had. Norma Smith Davis of Santa Rosa said her mother taught her about the most effective tool for tiny and stubborn clean-ups, one that you’re always equipped with. “The best cleaning tool is your fingernail,” her mom told her. “It gets the stick or hardened food off quickly and you can feel it’s done the job.”

Shirley Phillips of Santa Rosa learned an important trick from her mother that has saved her many a tear over the years, and that is how to cut an onion without crying. “Cut off the root end of the onion while it’s being held in a stream of water at the kitchen faucet,” she shared. “The acid spray of the onion gets washed away in the water.” It’s simple but effective.

“Works like a charm” Phillips said. “I’ve never cried in over 50 years of cooking with onions!”

Deborah Doyle of Windsor said her mother offered some advice that goes beyond the how-tos and work-arounds and gets to the heart of maintaining peace among partners.

“She said spousal partners should always have separate bathrooms, separate closets, separate bank accounts. It’s worked for me for 36 years and counting!“

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 707-521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com.