Butlers' Trainers Give Simple Living Advice
Even Wealthy Households Adhere to Ecological Values
Jun 18, 2009
These days, even the wealthy are reducing staff, many domestic workers are asked to take on additional tasks. “Knowledge is power,” says Charles MacPherson, the founder Charles MacPherson Associates, Inc., a Toronto-based butler school that trains domestic staff and housekeepers.
“Having a staff-member who is aware of various aspects of household management, from making beds to packing luggage without wrinkling clothes, makes someone that much more valuable.”
One doesn’t have to have to hire or even be a butler to find out what makes a good one : Charles MacPherson Associates features classes on housekeeping and managing household and social calendars, along with mechanical maintenance. Buying and matching food with wine as well as managing wine cellars selections, are some of the classes offered in the interest of running a well organized, and cultured home.
An effective household is an organized one, and some of the tricks that Charles MacPherson himself suggests is sticking to a routine, or establishing a method that is easiest for the household to remember. Keeping your clothes colour co-ordinated from light to dark, keeps your pants and matching shirts in respective sets, and minimizes on last-minute riffling through closets. Having pants on a separate rack below the shirts, in the same order allows for matching outfits, and more room in the average closet.
An artful arrangement of stacked woven baskets on metal baker’s rack separates napkins, tea towels and tablecloths, with a simple paper tag tied to the outside handle of the woven basket, identifying its contents. It’s still attractive, and lets anyone walking into a pantry or kitchen know how to find what, and where.
“It’s important to know how to find a specific item at a moment’s glance. When an emergency strikes, and you need to know how to change the tablecloth, or find an environmentally friendly cleanser, you need to know where to look, rather than waste time looking for it.” Each basket is clearly labelled in large block letters, and while they are colour co-ordinated, they are still functional.
“We are moving towards more eco-friendly awareness,” states Gary Hepworth of Charles MacPherson Associates. “More luxury households are moving towards driving smaller, more fuel-economical cars, as opposed to limousines. Wealthy households now drive Prius’ – they’ll have drivers for them, but they are just smaller cars.”
Finding ways to live well while preserving ecological values is still possible. Charles MacPherson himself recommends using vinegar on countertops, windows, smudges and even surface that came into contact with foods such as fish. For more tenacious stains, such as grease spots, he recommends making a solution of a few drops of dish detergent with a PH balance that is kind to sensitive skin. By pouring this solvent into a spray-bottle, it can be used on banisters, doorknobs, and any surface marred by greasy digits.
Keep all your cleaning material together in one caddy that can be carried easily from room to room, and you’ll have any stain busting, dirt cleaning on hand on quick notice: You’ll be your own butler, or gentleman’s gentleman… Jeeves, beware.
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