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Couture British Lingerie Company Stumpet and Pink could once only be admired from afar, but are now available to buy online. Their style is completely over the top, playful, sexy, and very luxurious.  These almost to pretty to wear panties are made with handmade pure silk, satin, chiffon, crepe, and adorned with glamorous extras from ribbon to ruffled tulle. Interested in a bespoke pair of knickers, they’ll cost you a pretty penny, Some pieces go for more then 500.00 dollars! – THE WIFE

www.StumpetandPink.Com

The point of ironing a newspaper is not as ridiculous as it sounds. Many butlers and 5 star hotels still practice this age-old tradition. Not only does it eliminate creases and make the paper crisp and easier to read, but the hot iron dries the ink so the reader does not end up with dark smudged fingertips. The ink should remain on the paper and not on your hands to go along with reminder of the front headline news. This timeless problem is now fixable, you’ll wonder how you ever read the Sunday Times without it.

Set your iron on the lowest setting to warm, iron one page at a time, in-between sheets of brown paper or parchment. The newspaper needs to be ironed from the top downward and then folded loosely in a horizontal fashion before being handed to the reader. So  now when graciously serving your Husband breakfast, you can also hand him a wrinkle and ink free business section. – THE WIFE

I’ve been slightly enthralled with this book since discovering an antique copy in London. Isabel Beeton if you will was the Martha Stewart/Emily Post of her time. She published “Mrs. Beeton’s household management” in the late 1800’s, which was essentially a 1,112 page guide to properly caring for and running a Victorian home. Filled with everything from  fashion, childcare, recipes and management of  the help. Continue reading for the complete first chapter. – THE WIFE

Chapter One: The Mistress (Old fashion term for Lady of The House)

1. AS WITH THE COMMANDER OF AN ARMY, or the leader of any enterprise, so is it with the mistress of a house. Her spirit will be seen through the whole establishment; and just in proportion as she performs her duties intelligently and thoroughly, so will her domestics follow in her path. Of all those acquirements, which more particularly belong to the feminine character, there are none which take a higher rank, in our estimation, than such as enter into a knowledge of household duties; for on these are perpetually dependent the happiness, comfort, and well-being of a family. In this opinion we are borne out by the author of “The Vicar of Wakefield,” who says: “The modest virgin, the prudent wife, and the careful matron, are much more serviceable in life than petticoated philosophers, blustering heroines, or virago queens. She who makes her husband and her children happy, who reclaims the one from vice and trains up the other to virtue, is a much greater character than ladies described in romances, whose whole occupation is to murder mankind with shafts from their quiver, or their eyes.”

2. PURSUING THIS PICTURE, we may add, that to be a good housewife does not necessarily imply an abandonment of proper pleasures or amusing recreation; and we think it the more necessary to express this, as the performance of the duties of a mistress may, to some minds, perhaps seem to be incompatible with the enjoyment of life. Let us, however, now proceed to describe some of those home qualities and virtues which are necessary to the proper management of a Household, and then point out the plan which may be the most profitably pursued for the daily regulation of its affairs.

3. EARLY RISING IS ONE OF THE MOST ESSENTIAL QUALITIES which enter into good Household Management, as it is not only the parent of health, but of innumerable other advantages. Indeed, when a mistress is an early riser, it is almost certain that her house will be orderly and well-managed. On the contrary, if she remain in bed till a late hour, then the domestics, who, as we have before observed, invariably partake somewhat of their mistress’s character, will surely become sluggards. To self-indulgence all are more or less disposed, and it is not to be expected that servants are freer from this fault than the heads of houses. The great Lord Chatham thus gave his advice in reference to this subject:—“I would have inscribed on the curtains of your bed, and the walls of your chamber, ‘If you do not rise early, you can make progress in nothing.’”

4. CLEANLINESS IS ALSO INDISPENSABLE TO HEALTH, and must be studied both in regard to the person and the house, and all that it contains. Cold or tepid baths should be employed every morning, unless, on account of illness or other circumstances, they should be deemed objectionable. The bathing of children will be treated of under the head of “MANAGEMENT OF CHILDREN.”

5. FRUGALITY AND ECONOMY ARE HOME VIRTUES, without which no household can prosper. Dr. Johnson says: “Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance, and the parent of Liberty. He that is extravagant will quickly become poor, and poverty will enforce dependence and invite corruption.” The necessity of practising economy should be evident to every one, whether in the possession of an income no more than sufficient for a family’s requirements, or of a large fortune, which puts financial adversity out of the question. We must always remember that it is a great merit in housekeeping to manage a little well. “He is a good waggoner,” says Bishop Hall, “that can turn in a little room. To live well in abundance is the praise of the estate, not of the person. I will study more how to give a good account of my little, than how to make it more.” In this there is true wisdom, and it may be added, that those who can manage a little well, are most likely to succeed in their management of larger matters. Economy and frugality must never, however, be allowed to degenerate into parsimony and meanness.

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