Many articles on "the Victorian home" offer advice to the new housekeeper. Most often, this is the young bride, setting up her own home for the very first time. These articles generally assume that up to this point, the young woman has lived in her parents' household; now, she must learn how to manage a home on her own. This would include handling the household budget, choosing the furniture and decor for the home, making the home comfortable, keeping it clean, and (generally) managing at least one or two servants. Here is some Victorian advice for the new mistress of the house.

Letters Addressed to a Young Wife: Our House, by Jennie June (Demorest, 1874)

On the Art of Making Home Life Happy, by Ardern Holt (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1876)

The author describes her efforts in managing her household on becoming the stepmother to twelve children!

On Choosing House and Home (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1877)

"Some may say, 'Why need I be so very particular about the choice of a house? If I do not like it, I can leave it.' Yes, so you can; but I can tell you from experience that there is no more troublesome, tiresome, and expensive occupation in the world than that of 'flitting,'as the Scotch call it; and it is better to remain in lodgings for months, or even years, until you find a good place to suit you, than to rush into a house without sufficient inquiry into its merits and demerits."

Love and Order in the Home (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1878)

"Let every person who possesses a home of any sort or condition whatever, look round and observe how far it is governed by those twin sisters; consider well if every action of every day is prompted by love, and carried out by order; if affection is the ruling principle, punctuality the ruling practice of every-day life."

The House Beautiful: A Study for Girls, by Jennie June (Demorest, 1880)

A Happy Home Well-Ordered: Choosing the House, by Ardern Holt (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

A Happy Home Well-Ordered: The Model Mistress of a Home, by Ardern Holt (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

A Happy Home Well-Ordered: How to Make Men Fond of the Home, by Ardern Holt (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

A Happy Home Well-Ordered: Household Government, by Ardern Holt (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

A Happy Home Well-Ordered: Hostess and Guests, by Ardern Holt (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

How We Live in New York, by Jenny June (Demorest, 1884)

Subtitled "A Model House for the Newly Married."

How to Choose a New House, by Phyllis Browne (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1891)

How I Set Up for Myself (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1894)

• See also The Trials of a Young Housekeeper

Moving Day

To have a new home, sometimes you have to move - which was no simple matter in Victorian days! As the first article notes, if you're not careful, when it comes to damage, "three removes are as good as a fire."

Removing, by Phillis Browne (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1875)

How We Moved from Camberwell to Kensington (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1878)

What house-hunting and moving were like in the 1870's!

Some Hints on Moving (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1880)

Going to the New Home: How to Pack and Move, by Edward Willis Blakeley (Demorest, 1889)

A Moving Story, by J. Hall Richardson (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1894)

Moving day, Victorian style.