A PAGE TO HELP YOU WITH ALL YOUR HOUSEHOLD TASKS IN AND OUT YOUR HOME 1940s STYLE.
To Remove Heat Marks From Polished Furniture
Pour one or two drops (not more) of methylated spirit on to a pad of cotton wool or soft absorbent material.
Cover with double layer of muslin (which you can still get) or thin fabric and rub over and around the marks.
It will be found that sufficient stain and polish is removed from the undamaged part of the wood to mask the discoloration.
While excellent for small marks this method is not, however, practical when an extensive area of the wood has been damaged.
In this the furniture repolished professionally
To Preserve a Hide Suite
Sponge with a mixture of 1 teaspoonful of strong ammonia and 4 teaspoonfuls of vinegar added to 1 quart of cold water.
Afterwards apply a little castor oil by means of slightly greased rag, rubbing it in well.
When this is dry a light application of a good colourless shoe cream followed by a thorough polishing with a soft rag will generally restore the leather.
To Stain Morocco Leather
If chair covers or other morocco leather articles have become discoloured of faded in parts they can be revived considerably by washing with milk and water and dabbing on a little Castile soap.
To remove grease, etc, rub over the leather when dry with carbon tetrachloride.
Finally the leather can be stained with a spirit dye or if it is faded or only slightly discoloured the application of a reliable coloured shoe cream is suggested.
THE HANDY HOUSEHOLDER
To find a gas leak - Lather the pipes with soapy water. The lather will bubble over the leak. Then plug the leak with a moistened cake of soap which will then harden and last until the gas service arrives
If a candle is too big for your candlestick. Then just dip the end into hot water until it is soft to fit in.
If you have postage stamps that are stuck together try putting them into your freezer over night, then next morning just take them apart.
Ease tight fitting drawers, just put soap or candle wax along the upper edges.
To silence a creaking door rub some soap on to the hinges.
Cups and saucers and any other articles of fine china often take on a yellow discoloration. To remove this try using a moistened soft cloth in water and dip it into dry salt or wood ashes and then rub the stain with it, when that is done wash with soap and water.
To rid tan or greenish stains from your bathtub, try rubbing them with a freshly cut lemon. Then leave for a few minutes then wash out the tub.
Lemon juice will remove adhesive tape, chewing gum, and any other sticky substances from your hands and fabrics.
To remove wax crayon marks from any smooth surface, try rubbing on some cigarette ash with your finger.
To remove mildew from shower curtains, Scrub the curtains with a paste of baking soda and water then rinse well.
TO REDUCE YOUR COAL BILL.
Take old newspapers, paper bags, paste board boxes and wrappings, lay them in the kitchen sink and soak in water until reduced to a pulp.
Next morning squeeze and roll into balls the size of your fist.
Roll coal dust and use for stoking fires.
Burn all orange and lemon skins, they give out great heat as well as a most delightful aroma.
Coal dust moistened with hot dirty soda water and allowed to stand for an hour, can be used to bank up the fire when it is not needed for the time being.
VINEGAR(for the use of)
A few drops of vinegar in a tumbler of water is an excellent mouth wash.
If you have a bad headache try putting a handkerchief dipped in vinegar and placed on the forehead often cures the pain.
Vinegar in washing up water removes the grease, brightens your china, and is a disinfectant.
Vinegar and salt mixed together will take away stains on your china; cleanse flower vases, water bottles and tumblers.
Vinegar and linseed oil in equal parts make an excellent furniture polish.
Vinegar brightens glass, brass and copper articles.
Vinegar rubbed over raw meat makes it tender, but only use a small bit on your meat.
Hot vinegar also takes away paint stains.
Vinegar and water in equal parts clean gilt frames.
Vinegar diluted, applied to furniture before polishing, ensures a brilliant polish.
Vinegar makes a new gas mantle last much longer, soak the mantle for 5 minutes in the vinegar, dry and burn off.
WHEN LEATHER STRAPS AND BELT BECOME HARD.
Leather belts and straps are apt to get hard and unbendable.
Quite the best method of making then soft and pliable again is to soak them in hot, soapy water for an hour or more.
Then hang them up to dry in a cool place.
Allowing the water to drip out
When they are quite dry, polish them with brown boot polish and they will be good as new again.
TO LAUNDER AN EIDERDOWN
Eiderdowns although large and bulky, can be washed quite successfully at home.
Fill a small bath with warm soapsuds, prepared soap flakes provide the easiest method.
Put the quilt into the bath and squeeze until the water is dirty.
Then make fresh soapsuds and repeat the process once more.
If the eiderdown is very dirty a third bathful is usually necessary.
To rinse squeeze the quilt again and again in clean warm water until every particle of soap is removed.
Squeeze out as much water as possible then hang out in the air to dry.
