WASHING DAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 326, 11 April 1928, Page 6

WASHING DAY

SOME LAUNDRY HINTS Where water is hard, much labour is saved as wei! as soap if powdered pipeclay is dissolved in the washing water, in the proportion of a pennyworth to four gallons of water. This not only softens the water, but whitens linen and cotton goods as if they had been bleached out of doors, and' it does this without acting destructively upon the fabrics as so many i more expensive bleachers containing | chlorine are apt to do. When washing ! out tea cloths and kitchen cloths and • aprons, about a teaspoonful of pipe- ! clay in the hot water helps wonderfully to loosen grease and restore whiteness. In frosty weather trouble is often , caused in out-of-doors drying by the i clothes becoming stiff. This can be ; prevented by' adding a small handful of salt to the rinsing water. Two simple ways of giving a slight stiffening without using starch, for such things as tray cloths, table napkins, and so iorth. ; are as follows: (1) Add a tablespooniful of methylated spirit to the rinsing I water, or (2) rinse in very hot water, fold evenly, mangle as dry as possible and then iron at once. By both « methods a fine gloss as well as crispness is obtained. With electric irons and limited space, many women nowadays have to do : their ironing upon the dining-room • table. This will suffer if an ironing • board is laid upon it in the ordinary ! way, and anything laid between board : and polished surface is apt either to slip about or to stick. The best way is to buy four round rubber heels, such as are sold for a few pence by any small ware shop, and to screw these on !to the corners of the ironing board, i taking care that the screws go well into the rubber to prevent their contact with the table. The board will then stand firmly on the smoothest surface without making any marks. Some people find that a piece of stout yellow paper makes a : better ironing surface above the i blanket than sheeting. It does not wrinkle, saves washing, and is easily renewed.