SPRING CLEANING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1940, Page 8

SPRING CLEANING

SOME USEFUL HINTS. Do you remember the proverb about the new broom? I hope you will take it in its literal sense, because my home slogan for this week is a clean sweep, says a Homecraft writer. Sunshine shows up the odd, dark corners in which cobwebs lurk, and the first sunny days find you making plans for cleaning carpets or curtains, or, may be. turning out a cupboard. My new broom starts off with the fireplaces. After the chimneys have been swept, you can prevent more soot from accumulating if two handfuls of rock salt and two tablespoonfuls of saltpetre mixed together are thrown on to a clear fire one or twice a week. This will save those falls of' soot which undo good work of the spring clean, and it economises coal. Lace and net curtains seem to attract all. the winter dirt that’s going, so let’s have them down, I say, before the spring gets any older. Soaking for an hour in cold water loosens dust and smoke, then it is only necessary to put the curtains throughone soapy lathei’ and rinse. Net curtains keep a better shape when they are ironed the way of the selvedge from top to, bottom rather than across the width of the material. Floors, too, are victims of the winter, and coloured rugs and carpets became dulled by smoke and by wet or muddy shoes. Choose a dry, blowy day to give rugs a shampoo and dry them out of doors.

First a thorough clean with carpet broom or vacuum cleaner, then shampoo with carpet soap or hot soap water with a little cloudy ammonia added to it, rinse off the ends with a damp cloth then hang over the line. I have heard country people say that sweeping rugs on the grass and leaving them out for a few hours helps to freshen the colour, a good tip to try if you have a patch of lawn. My new broom is going into all sorts of corners which are often overlooked during the winter. Tops of wardrobes and cupboards, for example. A good way to clean these is to wipe up the dust with a damp cloth, wrung out in water containing two or three tablespoonfuls of household disinfec : tant. The dust won’t scatter again and the disinfectant will discourage flies and moths. You can use the same solution for cleaning the tops of picture rails or pelmet boards before you clean down the walls during spring cleaning. Then light fittings. You will be surprised how many dead moths as well as dust you will find in an inverted bowl, and how much brighter the light will be when the bowl has been wiped over inside and out.

I use warm soapy water with a touch of disinfectant for china and glass fittings, but alabaster bowls are best cleaned with a little turpentine, which does not spoil the waxed finish. Do you know that turpentine will discourage mice and insect pests? After washing over cupboard shelves and letting them get thoroughly dry rub them over with a rag sprinkled with turps. This does not apply, of course, to cupboards used for storing food; shelves here should be wiped over with weak disinfectant only. Winter smoke dulls mirrors and picture glasses. I find it easiest to clean these with powdered whitening or washing blue sprinkled on a damp cloth, or with a special liquid which dries on the glass and is polished off with duster or leather. But do clean the wood or cardboard backing, because a surprising amount of dirt can collect on it, and it makes a good home for flies and moth grubs if not removed.

Carpets should also be thoroughly brushed, and put down over cedar dust, a moth-proof underlay, or even several layers of newspaper. A rub with carpet shampoo cleans the'pile after the winter, and you will find that the colours perk up to meet spring sunshine.