By the mid-century, very few middle-class households had live-in servants. Some people could afford a 'daily' cleaner but for most, it was the housewife who was expected to do all the housework, shopping and cooking, as well as bringing up children, in spite of the increasing trend for women to go out to work. New domestic appliances and facilities greatly reduced the heavy work. Electric or gas fires and, later, central heating, replaced messy, labour-intensive coal fires. However, the amount of time spent on housework was not necessarily reduced. Appliances such as vacuum cleaners and washing machines encouraged higher standards and catered to the aesthetic of cleanliness that was characteristic of the century.