Cleaning your home today has been made extremely easy.

Just go to your local store, buy a package of cleansing cloth products to help dust or give your furniture, mirrors or windows a high shine.

The problem is where do you dispose of these all-purpose cleansing cloths?

An elderly neighbor of mine was dumping hers down the toilet then could not understand why her drains were clogged. She thought only disposable diapers were not to be flushed.

What happen to the day when we used old clothes to clean and dust.... when dirty, we wash & reused these cloths until rags really became rags and could no longer be used?

Cloth diapers were later used for dusting and cleaning,

Old newspapers were use to clean windows and mirrors or rolled up, and used to help light the stove or fireplace.

Hems were let down, lace or ribbon added to hide the old seam line

Old clothing was also torn up and made into quilts the whole family for generations could enjoy In those days, very little went to waste.

With the advent of the spray can and flora-carbons, which were later discovered to be dangerous to our atmosphere, just about everyone began to use the convenience of modern cleaning products.

Today, companies claim to have products, which will

Clean your windows so well that birds will not realize they are there,

Laundry detergents which will get your cloths sunshine bright (what happened to the old fashioned clothesline?) with outdoor freshness

Our dishes will be squeaky clean

Bathrooms will be germ free

And, our home will smell so fresh no one will want to leave.

We had hardwood floors, with area rugs, which we took out to clean at least twice a year. We cleaned our windows every spring if not more often, and we cleaned our kitchens after every meal and bathroom every day.

After World War II, we wanted everything to be more convenient, we were moving into the "Space Age." Factories, which manufactured war equipment, now began to mass-produced appliances, making their price affordable for everyone.

Returning service men and women used their GI Bill to buy single-family homes or went to college. Many of these men and women had grown up in the great depression of the 1930's and wanted their families to have every modern convenience to make their life easier.

Women could put their food in an oven, set the temperature and timer then walk away.

They no longer had to put their clothes through the ringer on the washing machine.

They now had portable radios in every room in the house

Television become more affordable

Just about every home had a telephone

We were in the latter part of the 20th Century, rapidly moving into the modern space age.

Today, we have become so dependent upon modern products, especially people thirty and under, that if for some reason these products were no longer available, many would not know how to clean their house or apartment.

In our youth, we think we know everything and the things our parents or grandparents tell us is out of date. We don't want to know how to do things the "Old Fashioned", "Prehistoric", "Stone age", way.

We complain today of too many chemicals in the atmosphere, yet with the advent of modern cleaning solutions, we ourselves are helping, sometimes causing, the problem.

So, what happened to open windows and cleansing as you go? And, as an extra bonus you got great exercise doing these daily chores.

With many of our modern conveniences, we no longer get the exercise we once did, and have we also become more wasteful?

Instead of buying cloth diapers and reusing them, we purchase disposable and throw them away,

We purchase paper towels, which often tear as soon as we use them, then throw them away,

We dry our clothes in dryers, throw in a sheet of fabric softener, use once or twice, then throw them away

Purchase sheets to put on our damp mops which, once again, we use once or twice, then throw them away

We no longer go to the Green Grocer to buy our vegetables & fruit or the Meat Market to have our meats cut the way we want, the Fish Market for fresh fish or have our daily products delivered fresh to our doorsteps.

Now, we buy everything in the "Super" market, where it is wrapped in foam, paper or plastic, which we then throw away.

And, what about all those plastic containers, which may take years to break down, which we throw away? We now have invented another industry, re-cycling, to take care of this problem, but does it?

At the Super/Mega market, we think we are actually choosing the products we want. But in reality, we are choosing those products, which the purchasing departments think we want.

So, Mrs. Johnson, when you purchase your next cleansing product, is it one you want or one, which "Big Business" thinks you should have?

For Big Business' are really the ones who decides for you which product you will use.

With their high priced commercials on every channel, radio station and/or public transportation, we have become brainwashed into buying and using their product.

For, as we all know, their products will

Clean your floors better

Make your clothes, furniture and home smell better

Your meal preparations easier

Your bathroom germ free

Etc, etc, etc.

By purchasing all of these products, you have become a distant cousin of the Johnson family, without the benefits and amenities of the monetary benefits.