The task of keeping one's home clean and pleasant was tremendously time-consuming in nineteenth-century America. Some families were wealthy enough to hire domestic servants, but most were not. Even when a woman could afford to hire outside help, as the Marches do in Little Women, there was so much to accomplish that she was still kept quite busy. First, women were responsible for cooking three somewhat elaborate meals every day. Breakfast alone typically consisted of fresh bread, cooked potatoes, cooked or raw fruit, and beef, ham, or fish. These had to be prepared from scratch with the exception of cured meats. Very little could be bought already prepared, although smokehouses and cellars commonly housed the preserved fruits from a harvest and the cured meats. At the time, most stoves were fueled by coal or wood, so a woman had to deal with more than just the food in preparing a warm meal.
In addition to cooking, women were also responsible for cleaning the furniture and clothing of the household. Often an entire day was devoted to doing a family's laundry, since clothes had to be washed by hand and hung to dry.
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