EVERYDAY ECONOMIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 283, 20 February 1928, Page 4

EVERYDAY ECONOMIES

THE Wrrs-END CLUB

A new novel may be selected by the winner each week as a p/ize Tor the most original household hint or recipe that has been tested and found to save time, labour or money. Many folk might be glad to have the benefit of your experience, so send in you. suggestions, addressed to The Homecrafts editor. Women’s Page, THE SUN. Auckland. The prize has been awarded this week to Mrs. R. Rogers, Herne Bay. for the following' suggestion:—SHOWERPROOFING HOSE The better makes of silk stockings are now so good that they have only • one real disadvantage, the fact that they suffer from "spotting”' on a rainy day. The “spotting” takes place because the lustre of artificial silk is very largely dependent on the degree to which it is stretched. The greater the stretching the brighter the sheen. When a drop of rain falls on a knitted artificial silk stocking the wetted threads slightly increase in length so that their tension of stretch is relieved. The spot thus becomes dull oy comparison with the surrounding silk. But the artificial silk stocking can be rendered showerproof—at home. And quito easily and cheaply, by the fol- ' lowing method: Dissolve three ounces of alum in one quart of tepid water and steep the stockings in this solution tor about a quarter of an hour. Then remove the stockings, squeeze or mangle evenly without any previous rinsing, and gently work them in a warm liquid prepared 'by dissolving one ounce of soap and half an eggeupful of ammonia in three quarts of hot water. Allow the stockings to remain in the soap liquid for another quarter of an hour: then remove, rinse lightly in tepid water, squeeze and dry. This treatment as a rule has no appreciable effect on the original colour of the stockings, but renders them perfectly showerproof for a considerable period of regular use. They may then be showerproofed again in the same manner. R.R. A GAS STOVE ECONOMY When cooking potatoes and a second vegetable, quite a considerable economy of gas can be effected if this simple plan is regularly adopted. Place your potato saucepan on the gas without a lid on top. In place of the lid have a tin plate, in the centre of which five holes have been bored. Over this plate place the other saucepan containing the

second vegetable. The contents of the two saucepans will simmer together. SWEDISH PATTIES Swedish patties can be served either hot or cold, and are useful as an entree if you are giving an informal dinner party. Roll out thinly £lb. of puff pastry and line 1 doz. small patty tins that are already liped with greased paper. Fill with uncooked rice and bake in a quick oven, afterwards removing the paper and rice. Mix well together in a basin two tablespoonsful each of chopped cooked sweetbread, cooked ham, shrimps or prawns, grated parmensan cheese and good white sauce, add a few drops of lemon juice and salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Make hot by placing the basin in a pan of boiling water. ISTow fill the pastry cases with this mixture, sprinkle with grated cheese, and return to a quick oven for five minutes.

Little Annoyances and their Remedies RIBBON IN LINGERIE Who has not been annoyed by having to run ribbons in lingerie at the last moment before use? Here is a remedy: When you are removing the ribbon, before sending the garment to the wash, sew to one end of it a piece of tape of the same length. As you draw out the ribbon the tape will take its place. You can then detach the ribbon and leave in the tape. When the garment is returned, again tack the ribbon to the tape and draw it into place as the tape is pulled out. The whole proceeding will take about one minute. TAGLESS SHOELACES When you have lost the tag from your shoelace, dip the end of the lace in melted sealing wax, choosing wax of the same colour as your shoe, if possible. Mould to a point quickly, while still soft, and you will have a new tag. THE VIRTUES OF VINEGAR The house-mother would do well to keep an extra supply of vinegar on her shelves, apart from the quantity ordered in the usual way for culinary purposes, because vinegar has other uses than those represented by the salad bowl and sauce boat. The finest possible dressing for leather chairs, for instance, is one part of vinegar to two of linseed oil, this simple mixture being a preservative as well as a polish. It should be well shaken before it is used, applied sparingly and then should be followed by a good rubbing with a dry cloth. Vinegar should also have a place in the family medicine cupboard. Honey and vinegar is a sovereign cough mixture. And painful corns can be removed by the application of ivy leaves which have been thoroughly soaked in vinegar. It has its place, too, in culinary hygiene. Any meat suspected of being slightly “high” is definitely “saved” and made perfectly fit for human consumption if it is washed with a little vinegar in Good digestion waits on appetite when a teaspoonful of vinegar is added to the water in which a fowl is to be boiled, for it makes the bird incomparably more tender. The same applies to meat, "whether it is intended for a roast or for boiling. If rubbed with a little pure vinegar, undiluted by water, there 'will be no complaints of toughness. And gravy, incidentally, is a vastly more piquant and less “queasy” proposition if a few drops of vinegar are added in the making. NEW USE FOR POSTAGE STAMP If you are cycling miles from hime and have punctured your tyre, use a postage stamp to mend it temporarily. This will last you for many miles if you are careful not to blow up the inner tube until you have replaced it inside the outer tube. THAT KETTLE LID If your kettle lid loses its knob and you cannot get it mended at once, cut the top off a medicine bottle cork, put a screw through the hole in the lid from the underside, and screw the cork on to it. The new knob will have the additional advantage of being cool to hold. FOR YOUR FLAT IRON If you have difficulty in keeping your flat irons hot while at work, heat an ordinary building brick and use it as an iron stand. It will hold the heat, instead of cooling the iron as does the ordinary stand. Test tinned fruits by placing a shining knife-blade in the tin for a few seconds. The blade will show traces of copper if any is present.