Household Hints

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 67, 31 January 1918, Page 4

Household Hints

Tea or coff»e. when kept after being made should be poured into an earth' ?nwar«i vessel, and not left in a tit one. To remove a cake quickly from the tin, turn the tin upside down and press a very wet cloth to the bottom. The cake will turn out at once To clean glass toilet bottles, put a little vinegar and salt into the bottle, allow it to stand for two hours, and then rinse out in clear warm water. To clean a saucepan in which oatmeal or rice has been boiled, place a handful of ashes in it as soon as removed from the fire and fill with water. To keep the hair in good condition, try daily for five minutes a brisk friction, pressing the finger-tips with a rotary movement on the crown of the head. To remove hot-water marks from Japanned trays, use sweet oil. Rub it in well till all the marks disappear, then polish the tray with dry flour and a soft cloth. Smoke-blackened ceilings can be cleaned with a paste of starch and water. Apply the paste with a pad of flannel, allow it to dry on, then brush with a soft brush. To clean windows in damp weather, use a little methylated spirits, and you will polish the windows in half the time, as the spirit evaporates, and dries the superfluous moisture as it goes. Whsn about to roast a joint, cover it with a rind saved from a piece of ham or bacon., and cook with it on. This will save the trouble of constant basting and prevent the joint from burning or drying. Soilacl white or light-coloured shoes should be cleaned with a paste of petrol and bran. Cover thickly with the paste, leave to dry for ten minutes, then shake off and dust with a clean, damp cloth. Boiling Eggs. Eggs covered with boiling water and allowed to stand for five minutes are more nourishing and more easily digested than eggs placed in boiling water and allowed to boil for three and a half minutes.

As a kitchen disinfectant salt has no equal. It cleans iron, makes a good dentifrice, brighten s the carpets, removes egg stains from silver spoons, will cause fruit stains to be more easily removed from linen, and, combinad with acids, will clean brass. When peeling apples have at hand a pan of cold water to which a few drops of lemon juice have been added. As they are pared drop the apples one by one into the pan ; they will net then turn brown. Apples should when possible be cut with a silver knife. If you wish your table linen to look nice, do not put it through the wringer, as it makes creases that will not come out even if the cloth is ironed when very damp. In fact, any clothes that you wish to look very nice when ironed will be better if they are wrung by hand. Pack glass or china, if to travel far, in straw or hay made slightly damp. This will prevent the articles from slipping about. Allow the largest and heaviest to be placed at the bottom of the box or hamper. Let there be plenty of straw, and wrap each article separately. Instead of shelling peas., throw them, pods and all, into a saucepan of boiling water after washing and discarding all spoiled ones. When they are 1 done the pods will rise to the surface, while the peas will stay at the bottom of the saucepan. Peas cooked in this manner have a fine flavour. That tiresome blight of the summer | cliess —iron-mould from hooks and •eyes —can be easily done, away with a little forethought; simply, indeed, by boiling the hooks and eyes before put- | ting them on in ordinary soda and | -water. The same treatment applies, : of course to the patent fasteners. After boiling they should be laid on a 1 newspaper and dried before the fire, i and they are then quite mould-proof. Simple Disinfectants. Some kind of j "disinfectant should always be at hand. j Some pleasing ones are easily made. The following is a refreshing one for a sick room or any room that has an Tiuplcasant odour pervading it. Put some freshlv ground coffee into a •saucer, and in the centre place a small •piece of camphor. Light it with a .match. As it bums allow sufficient •coffee to consume with it. The perfume is very pleasant and healthful. i :it is far superior to pastilles and very much cheaper. Powdered charcoal is I :another good disinfectant. It is very •prompt in absorbing effluvia and ' gaseous bodies, and renders harmless :a nd even useful those bodies which :arc easily changed. A third is common copperas, called sulphate of iron, ■which in its '-rude shape is quite i 'Cheap. It should be dissolved in wa- ■ tcr in proportion of one pound of cop- ': ;peras to two gallons of water, and j thrown over evil-smelling places. It | h one of the simplest and most conV'vcnient deodorisers, and is very useful to flush out sinks.