HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18063, 25 January 1927, Page 11

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Oil a lock that is stiff and hard with a feather dipped in machine oil. Always mix starch with soapy water. This will prevent the iron sticking, and will give the linen a better gloss. Glass may be filed with comparative ease if the work is done under water. This ensures that the file will not become dull so rapidly. A raw egg swallowed whole with a little pepper and vinegar is good for a sore throat. A pinch of borax added to water is excellent for watering indoor plants. Don't throw away waste-paper—-twist it into thick, fairly tight faggots. Use it instead of firewood. An inverted saucer placed in the bottom of an old saucepan will prevent the contents burning. If baking soda is shaken thickly over a burn as soon as possible, it will ease pain and prevent blistering. Shabby black satin shoes can be renovated by the use of diluted spirits of wine. To remove tarnish from nickel, rub the metal with a paste composed of pumice powder and sweet soil; then polish with a soft cloth. When Buying Meat.—Meat should be firm and elastic to the touch, and the grain should be fine. It should be moist, not wet nor clammy. Beef should have yellowish fat, but the fat of all other meats should be white. To Peel Oranges.—When peeling oranges, start at the top where the stalk has been. This will cause the white pithy substance to come clear away with the skin. To Clean Morocco Leather.—Leather which has become greasy should be rubbed with a brush dipped in weak soda water; then sponged with warm water and dried roughly. Mix a third of a pint of vinegar and two-thirds of a pint of linseed oil, pour into a bottle, ami shake till creamy. Rub a little of this into the leather, and polish with a soft duster. Salt and Carpets.—An excellent way to remove soot from a carpet is to sprinkle the place thickly with salt; sweep up the salt and soot together. This prevents the soot leaving a stain on the carpet. Salt scattered on a carpet keeps away moths. Sprinkling salt on a carpet before sweeping it lays the dust and cleanses the carpet. Make Use of Coal Dust.—When a fire has been lit in an open grate, get a shovelful of slack coal dust and damp it. Then fill an old tin with it, or strong paper bags, and drop the tin or bags into the middle of the fire. Finallv put another shovel of coal on the fire. The fire should then last all day and give out a good heat. When Ink is Upset.—When ink is upset, do not try to soak it up with a cloth or blotting paper, but pour some cold water on the ink. The ink floats on the water, instead of soaking into the fabric, and when it is afterwards wiped up the stain is less serious. An Omelet Hint. -When making an omelet add a dessertspoonful of milk to each egg. This will not only make your dish light and feathery, but the omelet will not spoil if it is kept in | the oven for a little while before being eaten. This is useful in a family where the members do not come down to j breakfast punctually. For Mahogany Tables.—lf a mahogany table top has been neglected and become shabby, try this method: Dissolve some bees wax in turpentine till it makes a very soft paste. Smear this all over the surface of the table and then sprinkle it with fine pumice powder. Now take a rubber, moisten with turps, and go all over the table, keep ing the rubber moistened with the turps as becomes necessary. This tine friction will give an even, but dull surface. But a further rubbing with a j little wax and a fresh rubber will soon restore a polish. The Steel Hot Plate.—All modern gas stoves and electric cookers have

steel tops and hot plates. It is a wise housewife who does not start to polish this steel. It is not meant to have a highly reflective surface, and if the plate is examined it will mostly be found to have a dull tooled surface. All this needs is to be kept free from grease and rust. After the day’s cooking is over it should be treated with an ordinary household cleanser of the frictional type, applied on a damp doth. A second rubbing with a dry cloth will give a result that is bright and satisfactory.