Talk:Housekeeping

Merge proposal
Seeing as how we now have multiple stub articles on housecleaning, house work and household management, I propose merging all three of them into a single article, housekeeping. This merger will also require moving the current housekeeping disambiguation list to a new housekeeping (disambiguation) article. Any feedback is appreciated. -- Zim Zala Bim talk  02:51, 12 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I’m still working on the Housecleaning article. I think it will be long enough to be separate article. House work, Household management and Housekeeping in a “See also“ section. I think the words are different in meaning. For example, Housekeeping is a department at a hotel, Household management sounds like being a butler and housework includes washing clothes, cooking, changing light bulbs, etc. Housecleaning is a separate word in unabridged dictionaries and I think would be fine as a separate article in a big encyclopedia.--Chuck (talk) 19:59, 12 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Responding to the request for a third opinon.
 * Merging Household management, house work, and housekeeping seems reasonable. While there are differences, (e.g. manager vs. work managed), all the jobs are often performed by the same person.  Covering them in one article might make it easier to cover the distinctions; if such an article grows large enough, it could be split along whatever lines then seem appropriate.
 * Housecleaning appears to be a subarea within house work. Since housekeeping includes a lot of other areas (marketing, meal preparation, financial management, entertainment planning, etc.) and there is a significant article about house cleaning, I think it makes sense to keep house cleaning as a separate article.
 * Also consider the relationship of these articles to the articles on the people who do these jobs, e.g. Butler, Housekeeper (a disambiguation page), Housekeeper (servant) (a stub), and Homemaker. For instance, housekeeper (servant) might easily be combined into an article on housekeeping. Zodon (talk) 03:25, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

I think some sort of merger is in order, though the house keeping article could have a small section on house cleaning, house work etc. with a separate main article if it warrants it. Though looking at housecleaning I'm not sure how signigicant it is relative to just cleaning, sure it's slightly more specialised, but not that much more so. The housecleaning article needs a lot of work and I'm concerned it's being made arbitaritly long by (a) repetition between the short sections (b) lots of irrelevant information and (c) non encyclopedic content either in terms of the tone used (how to style), overly descriptive style etc. or in terms of it simply only being weakly related to the matter in hand. --81.104.39.44 (talk) 07:17, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Definitely merge, with redirects from the other terms. All of the current articles are barely even stubs except for housecleaning, which needs a lot of work (the nature of which will probably result in significantly shortening it), and I can't imagine any of them ever being strong enough to stand on its own.  I'm itching to get my hands on the editing once this question is resolved... --  edi  (talk)  12:04, 13 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Merge unless reliable sources can be found that distinguish them from one another. If so, then by all means split them up.-- 2008 Olym pian chit chat 06:42, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

It seems to me that housekeeping could be its own article if it included its common use referring to any organized group doing standard business, such as reading a previous meetings minutes. In offices paperwork is often referred to as housekeeping, while house cleaning, or cleaning house usually means mass firings. That is a considerable difference, albeit a cultural one and not one that I suspect can be cited easily. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.161.28.133 (talk) 01:10, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

I disagree that "Household Management" should be merged into housework, housekeeping, housecleaning, etc. As a professional that carries the title of "Household Manager", my duties are not limited to cleaning or "keeping house". "Household Management" could be merged into a larger "Private Service Professionals" article that could include similarly titles roles such as Major Domo, Butler or Estate Manager for those specific roles and include other roles such as Nanny, Housekeeper, Private Chef, etc. For "reliable sources", the [Starkey_International_Institute_for_Household_Management] cites several New York Times articles as well as a number of books that use the term "Household Management". A web search of domestic service placement agencies will also verify an industry wide use of this term.Cmentmixer (talk) 04:10, 27 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Approve of merge. I think that these pages are weirdly disjointed and truncated.  I agree with the concerns of those above--HOWEVER, we can note the distinction between cleaning a home and managing it.  Another strongly related article is Housewife.  I think that all of these pages can become one, and that a feminist critique of housework should be included.  Cheers, --Smilo Don (talk) 04:43, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Household Management/Manager
It does seem very odd, IMO, to have Household Management defaulting to, and merged with, a page on housekeeping and cleaning. I keep my own house and clean it, but that hardly makes me a Household Manager any more than managing my bank accounts makes me a Bank Manager. Housekeeping may be part of a household manager's responsibilities, but it is misleading to label household management and housekeeping/cleaning as the same thing.

In my experience the term Household Management/Manager is a task undertaken as a trained occupation managing the (usu. formal) household and secretarial affairs of another on a salaried basis, i.e. not simple labour such as a once-a-week cleaner, live-in unskilled maid, or a spouse. In this sense a major-domo who runs an upscale household - such as an embassy - who plans events, controls finances, trains/hires/fires staff, etc., is engaging in Household Management rather than simply "housekeeping".

Such a person would tend to have some sort of prior qualification such as a college degree, be a trained chef, be retired military personnel, etc., or even a combination of these things. They would usually have formal training in protocol, table service and-the-like or have apprenticed in these things as a staff member in a formal environment, i.e. great house, hotel or military.

The difference between "housekeeping" and "Household Management" is something akin to the difference between the handyman who fixes your TV versus a professional engineer who designs and supervises the manufacture of televisions, or a 15 year-old babysitter versus a college trained professional nanny or school teacher. Metaphorically speaking - a backpacker's hostel and a 5-star hotel are not the same thing just because they are both beds for the night.

121.73.7.84 (talk) 05:01, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

A further note: I see from further research that "Household Manager" is also an American euphemism for a Butler. It appears that a Household Manager may not be in charge of other household staff in the way a traditional butler is. 121.73.7.84 (talk) 10:45, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

History?
I think this page is missing the History of Housekeeping. I wanna giggle when I type that, but it's true! Somebody could be interested. And adding information like that would make it feel more like a real article.--Plavalagunanbanshee (talk) 13:18, 7 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed. &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 07:00, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

Merging
This supposedly encyclopedic article currently suffers from many of the unwanted consequences of merging, including, but not limited to, factual errors, empty generalisations and references which don't correspond to the item being referenced. Will try to find time to sort out some of the worst cases. If Wikipedia is to reach/maintain high standards of credibility, care must be taken to ensure that even this kind of article, however humble, is of the same standard expected of those related to non-minimally coupled inflation or Madonna's latest video clip... --Technopat (talk) 10:40, 2 June 2013 (UTC)
 * See also Talk:Homemaking--Johnsoniensis (talk) 18:04, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

Scope
Does the term cover similar activities for establishments such as boarding houses, dormitories, hotels, hospitals, and prisons? If so this should be mentioned, if not, this should be explained. Cheers, &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 06:57, 12 October 2022 (UTC)