Editing Homemaking (section)

==Housekeeping==
[[File:dyson.cleaner.dc07.arp.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[vacuum cleaner]]]]
[[Housekeeping]] by the homemaker is the care and control of property, ensuring its maintenance, proper use and appearance. In a private home a [[maid]] or [[Housekeeper (domestic worker)|housekeeper]] is sometimes employed to do some of the housekeeping. Housework is work done by the act of housekeeping. Some housekeeping is housecleaning and some housekeeping is home chores. Home chores are housework that needs to be done at regular intervals.<ref>Gove, Philip et al. 1961. ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language'' Unabridged. Springfield, Massachusetts: G & C Merriam Company</ref> Housekeeping includes the budget and control of expenditures, preparing meals and buying food, paying the heat bill, and cleaning the house.<ref>Ansley, Clark et al. 1935. ''The Columbia Encyclopedia in One Volume''. Morningside Heights, NY: Columbia University Press.</ref>

===Cooking===
{{main|Cooking}}
{{See also|List of food preparation utensils|Diet (nutrition)|Cuisine|Cookbook}}
Most modern-day houses contain sanitary facilities and a means of [[Cooking|preparing food]]. A [[kitchen]] is a room or part of a room used by the homemaker for [[cooking]], [[food preparation]] and [[food preservation]]. In the West, a modern kitchen is typically equipped with a [[stove]], an oven, a [[sink]] with hot and cold running water, a [[refrigerator]] and [[kitchen cabinet]]s. Many homemakers use a [[microwave oven]], a [[dishwasher]] and other electric appliances like [[blender]] and convection [[cooker]] and automatic appliances like [[rice cooker]]s. The main function of a kitchen is cooking or preparing food but it may also be used for [[dining]] for a casual meal such as [[lunch]].

[[Cooking]] is the process of preparing [[food]], making, selecting, measuring and combining ingredients in an ordered procedure for producing safe and edible food. The process encompasses a vast range of methods, tools and combinations of [[ingredient]]s to alter the [[Flavor (taste)|flavor]], appearance, texture, or [[digestion|digestibility]] of food. Factors affecting the outcome include the variability of ingredients, ambient conditions, [[tool]]s, and the skill of the individual doing the actual cooking.

The diversity of cooking worldwide is a reflection of the aesthetic, agricultural, economic, cultural, social and religious diversity of people across the globe. Applying heat to a food usually, though not always, [[chemistry|chemically]] transforms it, thus changing its flavor, texture, consistency, appearance, and nutritional properties. Methods of cooking that involve the boiling of [[liquid]] in a receptacle have been practised at least since the 10th millennium BC, with the introduction of [[pottery]].

===Cleaning===
[[File:The Girl Guides Association in Britain, 1914-1918 Q27921.jpg|thumb|Girl guides cleaning a room, 1917]]
[[Housekeeping|House cleaning]] by the homemaker is the systematic process of making a home neat and clean. This may be applied more broadly than just an individual home, such as a metaphor for a similar "clean up" process applied elsewhere such as at a [[hotel]] or as a procedural reform. In the process of house cleaning general cleaning activities are completed, such as disposing of [[Waste|rubbish]], storing of belongings in regular places, cleaning dirty surfaces, [[dust]]ing and [[Vacuum cleaner|vacuuming]]. The details of this are various and complicated enough that many books have been published on the subject. How-to sites on the internet have many articles on house cleaning. Tools include the [[vacuum cleaner]], [[broom]] and [[mop]]. Supplies such as [[Detergent|cleaning solutions]] and sponges are sold in grocery stores and elsewhere. Professional cleaners can be hired for less frequent or specialist tasks such as cleaning blinds, rugs, and sofas. Professional services are also offered for the basic tasks. Safety is a consideration because some cleaning products are [[toxic]] and some cleaning tasks are physically demanding. ''[[Green cleaning]]'' refers to cleaning without causing pollution or chemicals that may cause bodily harm. The history of house cleaning has links to the advancement of technology.

Outdoor housecleaning chores include removing leaves from rain gutters, washing windows, sweeping doormats, cleaning the pool, putting away lawn furniture, and taking out the trash.<ref>Smallin, Donna. 2006. ''Cleaning Plain & Simple''. Storey Publishing, North Adams, MA.</ref>

===Laundry===
{{see also|Ironing}}
[[File:Waschvollautomat Constructa 1950er.jpg|thumb|left|A 1950s [[washing machine]] from [[Constructa (company)|Constructa]]]]

[[Laundry]] refers to the act of [[washing]] [[clothing]] and [[linen]]s, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered. Various chemicals may be used to increase the solvent power of water, such as the compounds in [[soaproot]] or yucca-root used by Native American tribes. [[Soap]], a compound made from [[lye]] (from wood-ash) and [[fat]], is an ancient and very common laundry aid. Modern [[washing machine]]s typically use powdered or liquid [[laundry detergent]] in place of more traditional soap. Once clean, the clothes are dried.

Washing machines and dryers are now fixtures in homes around the world. In some parts of the world, including the US, Canada, and Switzerland, [[apartment building]]s and [[dormitory|dormitories]] often have laundry rooms, where residents share washing machines and dryers. Usually the machines are set to run only when money is put in a [[Currency detector|coin slot]]. In other parts of the world, apartment buildings with laundry rooms are uncommon, and each apartment may have its own washing machine. Those without a machine at home or the use of a laundry room must either wash their clothes by hand or visit a commercial [[laundromat]].

A [[clothes dryer]] is a household appliance that is used to remove moisture from a load of [[clothing]] and other [[textiles]], generally shortly after they are cleaned in a washing machine. Most dryers consist of a rotating [[drum]] called a tumbler through which heated air is circulated to [[evaporate]] the moisture from the load. The tumbler is rotated relatively slowly in order to maintain space between the articles in the load. In most cases, the tumbler is belt-driven by an [[induction motor]]. Using these machines may cause clothes to shrink, become less soft (due to loss of short soft fibers/ lint) and fade. For these reasons, as well as environmental concerns, many people use open air methods such as a [[clothes line]] and [[clotheshorse]].

[[starch|Laundry starch]] is used in the [[laundry|laundering]] of [[clothing|clothes]]. Starch was widely used in [[Europe]] in the 16th and 17th centuries to stiffen the wide collars and [[Ruff (clothing)|ruffs]] of fine linen which surrounded the necks of the well-to-do. During the 19th century and early 20th century, it was stylish to stiffen the collars and sleeves of men's [[shirt]]s and the ruffles of girls' [[petticoat]]s by applying starch to them as the clean clothes were being [[ironing|ironed]]. Aside from the smooth, crisp edges it gave to clothing, it served practical purposes as well. [[dust|Dirt]] and [[sweat]] from a person's neck and wrists would stick to the starch rather than to the fibers of the clothing, and would easily wash away along with the starch. After each laundering, the starch would be reapplied. Today the product is sold in [[Aerosol spray|aerosol cans]] for home use. Kitchen starch used as a thickening agent for food can also be applied to laundered fabrics (requires boiling).