In the early 1900s housewives had to spend hours doing laundry, cleaning the house, cooking, and making clothing. Everything had to be done by hand. At the time technology did not exist to allow them to just set a timer and walk away. Some of the chores that take only one hour to do today used to take them a couple hours to half a day to complete.

Washing and ironing clothes typically took up most of the working day. A housewive's day started off by hauling water from the well to the house. They used a scrub board and would continue to scrub until the clothes were clean. They would bring more water from the well to the house, then would boil the water on the stove. Once the water was boiling they would set the clothes in for a half-hour. Soon after the clothes would be placed in cold water to get the soapsuds out. The clothes would be rinsed off one last time and rung out. They were then placed out on the line to dry. Later they would be ironed. The only way a housewife could iron clothes was by using the stove to heat the irons. Using the stove created problems, the heat was uncontrollable so their clothes were often scorched. They also had to mend their own clothes and starch them. Later on a few housewives were lucky to be able to afford hand washers. These helped to cut down on their working time. To use the hand washers the only thing they were required to do was heat the water on the stove.

Housewives had to do their own sewing. The fortunate housewives could afford to buy patterns for their clothing. Unfortunately many could not afford these patterns. These women had to come up with their own patterns. They made these patterns with the cheapest materials that they could find, or by remaking old clothes from hand-me-downs. Quilting bees were also held to make quilts for their families, and during the war to send overseas.

Food

When the early settlers came they needed to go a long way to get groceries. Early homesteaders didn't have any local grocery stores until town settlements began. When a town was started many businesses sprang up, including grocery stores. Many people had to preserve their own food as well. Depending on what type of preserving the person was doing, it could take days. To preserve meat, such as roasts, side pork, ham, or stew (with vegetables) they would put the meat in jam tins and roast it in the oven. Once they were roasted the housewife would seal lids on the jars and they could be stored. Other types of meat could be cooked then covered with lard. This was a messy job. Meat could also be smoked. Making jams, sauces, syrups or vinegar helped to preserve berries. Housewives baked their own bread. To keep foods cold they would either be put into a cellar or deep down into a well. For those who were able to buy and raise chickens, turkeys, or geese extra money was to be made. A live chicken usually sold for about $.75 and live geese and turkeys sold for $3.00 each. In the early 1900s people tended to eat lots of salted pork. They also hunted prairie chickens, ducks and rabbits. The men and younger boys also spent a lot of time fishing for food.

Stoves

Each house was often equipped with two stoves. One stove was mainly used for cooking; the other was used to heat the house. The second stove was often used for different things. It heated the iron for ironing clothes and was also used to heat water to have a bath. In the winter if a homesteader wanted to have a bath he/she would have to melt snow over the stove. Once the water reached a desired temperature it would be poured into the bathtub. Because it took so long to haul and heat the water people would only bathe a few times a week. Family members would usually bathe the same day. The same water would be used until it was dirty. Warm water would be added when the water got cold. Coal was dug, hauled home and used as fuel for the stove. Another type of fuel used in stoves were "cow chips".