A century or two ago, spring cleaning was less of a tradition and more of a necessity. “In a time when people heated their houses with coal or wood, not only was there more dirt on everything after winter, there were limited options for cleaning things up,” says historian Susan Strasser, author of “Never Done: A History of American Housework.” (Vacuum cleaners and automatic clothes washers weren’t in common household use until the middle of the 20th century.)