HOUSEHOLD HINTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 4 August 1928, Page 10

HOUSEHOLD HINTS

THINGS USEFUL TO KNOW When a door squeaks try rubbing a lead pencil on the hinges] This is a clean and quick way of preventing unpleasant noise. If leather straps arc hard they should be soaked in hot soapy water to make them pliable. As a leather preservative, linseed oil should then be applied to them. Steamed potatoes are very much better than boiled, as they then retain their salts. The best plan is to scrub them well aud boil them with their jackets on. All the necessary vitamins are then kept in.

When the collar of a coat becomes shiny, try sponging it with a cloth moistened with ammonia or vinegar. Hot lemon is made by adding the washed peel and juice of one or two lemons to a jug of boiling water in which plenty of Demerara sugar or honey has been dissolved. Mix everything well together, strain, and drink it while it is still hot.

Scissors can bo sharpened by using them to cut the top of a narrow-neck-ed bottle, as if trying to cut it off. • A teaspoonful of eau de Cologne in a warm bath is most refreshing, while a little of the scent placed on the forehead of anyone who suffers from headache generally gives relief. Kid shoes can bo kept soft and free from cracks by rubbing them once a week with glycerine or castor oil. A paraffin can should always-be kept tightly corked. Unless this is done the oil will not give a good light when used. : ' ■"_■ / '.-.

Cinders soaked in paraffin make excellent fire-lighters. Keep a little oil in an old tin,, and each day put in about half-a-dozen cinders. In the morning the cinders are ready for starting the lire. When cooking vegetables remember that all vegetables which grow above ground should be- put into boiling water, and all which grow underground in cold water, with the exception of new potatoes. To remove ink stains while fresh, sprinkle with salt and rub with a cut lemon. Rinse out the lemon juice and wash, at onceThere will be less danger of the hands becoming chapped if a little oatmeal is rubbed over them occasionally. Very rusty steel can be cleaned by rubbing with hot vinegar and salt. Polish with a flannel. Baked potatoes are much improved by first boiling for about ten minutes with the skins on, and then draining them before putting them in the oven. • Before darning stockiugs with woollen yarn, shrink it while in the skein by hanging it where the steam from a boiling kettle can reach it. Then dry. It will shrink and cause other holes if this precaution is omitted. ; Grease stains on a stove should be wiped off immediately with newspaper. Before cleaning the stove rub the stain with a cloth dipped in turpentine.