Aids to Housekeeping

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 15 June 1935, Page 12

Aids to Housekeeping

Hjnts and Ideas

To render boots and shoes waterproof, rub a little mutton fat around the edges of the soles. A few drops of vinegar in a. pan on a hot stove will kill all strong cooking odours.

It your draining-board has become discoloured, try rubbing it with half a lemon and then scrubbing it in the usual wav.

.Mahogany should be* washed either with cold tea or vinegar and water. To turn a jelly out of a mould without breaking it, try rubbing a. little olive oil on the shape before pouring in the jelly. Leather coats can be cleaned with saddle soap, which is obtainable from a saddler’s. Work the soap well into the leather, then polish off with a soft, clean duster.

Before laying new linoleum, allow it to remain in a warm room for a <lay or so, otherwise it may crack while being unrolled. It should not bo tacked to the floor until three or four days after it has been laid. After washing linoleum, rub a little warm milk over it. This helps to preserve it. Dress shields are frequently thrown . aside, but with a little care their use can easily be increased. Wash them frequently with cool or tepid water and a good white soap. They must not be ironed, and it is wise not to sew thorn into a garment, but to fasten them with small safety-pins. After cutting off the rinds from rashers of bacon, dip each rasher in Hour and fry quickly. The flour prevents the bacon running too much to fat, and 1 also improves the flavour. In a case of suspected poisoning administer an emetic of mustard or salt—one tablespoonful to tumbler of water. Induce vomiting with the finger. Don’t give an emetic if there is staining around the mouth; give instead milk, olive oil, or raw oggs.

When making net curtains try, if possible, to use the width of the not for the lennth of the window, then you get the. selvedge for the hem. You will lind when the curtains are washed that the width of the material, will not shrink nearly so much as tbs length. Various articles of food (amongst others cream cheese) are spoiled if kept in a damp place. Where this is not preventable, a little dry oatmeal put round them will keep the air in their immediate vicinity perfectly dry. When washing cretonne curtains the chief point is not to rub them even, though the colours are stated to be “fast.” For this reason do not give them a preliminary soaking in salt water, as this treatment makes it harder for the soap to do its work without rubbing, which always seems to blur the colours.