GENERAL HINTS

Evening Star, Issue 21318, 24 January 1933, Page 2

GENERAL HINTS

Looking-glasses which are tarnished will become lustrous again if rubbed over with a blue-bag and polished with soft cloth or leather. • • * • Iron, kitchen utensils, when not in use, should be protected from rust by covering, inside and out, with a thin film of oil or vaseline. » • * • Mahogany tables which have become stained through ink having been spilt on them can be cleaned by rubbing with a rag moistened with a small quantity of spirits of salts. • • • * Valuable books that are seldom used are sometimes damaged by silver-fish or borers. This can be prevented by dusting the books occasionally with 1 powdered alum and white pepper. * * * * Baking dishes of fireproof glass are a great advance in cooking utensils. Equip your kitchen with these, and you will find them sanitary, attractive, and economical. They do not crack or chip. Neither do they absorb odours. They reduce dish washing, because you are able to cook and serve in the same dish. • * • • Fresh ink stains can usually be removed by soaking iu milk. When the stains are gone the milk should be washed or sponged out, so that it will not leave a mark. Another effective method is to soak and rub the stains in lemon juice, over which a little salt has been sprinkled. Stainless steel knives for fruit are invaluable in saving time and energy. They are specially advised for grapefruit, lemons, and other acid fruits and vegetables. They cut and pare without leaving the slightest stain, even if many hours elapse before they are washed. Every sensible housewife knows what this means in saving much unpleasant knife-cleaning. • • • • A good polish for silver, brass, copper, nickel, and aluminium is a most essential part of the kitchen cleaning devices. But the cleaning of many metal articles may be reduced to a halfyearly job with the aid of transparent lacquer. First clean and polish the article thoroughly; then paint it lightly and quickly with lacquer. This treatment is recommended for bathroom fixtures (excepting taps, because these are handled frequently), brass candlesticks, vases, and so on. * * * * A dark kitchen is a depressing place. However, much can be clone to brighten it with a little decoration and coloured linen. Gay curtains, such as yellow and white or given and white check, with tablecloths to match, are attractive. Walls painted in cream or buff are lightening, while furniture in white or pale colours helps, too. Additional brightness can be added with coloured linen towels, dish-cloths, and dusters. « * * * If you use oil on your floors a polishing mop is needed. Buy a full _ mop made of durable cotton strands with a well-padded bumper that protects your furniture. Keep this mop for oil floors only, and do not use it on waxed floors. When it needs oiling, place in a dish in which you have first put a few drops of good floor oil. For the hardwood floor a hair broom should remove as much dust as possible before the dusting and polishing begin. It is well to buy a hair broom of best quality bristles. Wash it occasionally in lukewarm water and white soap. Always hang up a hair broom. * * • * The carpet sweeper is a splendid stand-by for daily use. It is just the thing for taking up surface dust, cottons, bits of paper, and other debris, and by placing them in the pan causes little dust disturbance. It keeps the carpets looking respectable until you can give them the thorough weekly cleaning. When you put your sweeper away tilt it so that the weight does not rest on the bristles of the brush, or they will be spoilt. Better still, hang the sweeper by means of a screw-eye in the top of the handle. « • # • A preparation for cleaning doorsteps outside may bo made as follows:—Dissolve ilb of powdered glue iu li pints of simmering water; stir in 11b of powdered whiting. Apply with a stiff brush. The mixture will retain its colour, and it may be washed with water when soiled. • » « « Curtain rods and rings of brass are apt to become green and tarnished, particularly iu seaside places. The tarnish is easily removed by rubbing the brass with a reliable aluminium cleaner. Oil the rods before putting them back into place. Perambulators that have becoine badly splashed with tar stains which will not yield to treatment with turpentine should he carefully and lightly rubbed with a'little metal polish applied with a very soft rag. Polish over afterwards with a good furniture cream. • « * • Does your polished floor show every footmark? If so, make a polish of beeswax and turpentine, adding just a small amount of linseed oil. Use as usual, polish with a soft cloth, and this polish should not footmark so easily.