If you would avoid waste in your family, attend to the following
rules, and do not despise them because they appear so unimportant:
'many a little makes a mickle.'
Look frequently to the pails, to see that nothing is thrown to the
pigs which should have been in the grease-pot.
Look to the grease-pot, and see that nothing is there which might have
served to nourish your own family, or a poorer one.
See that the beef and pork are always _under_ brine; and that the
brine is sweet and clean.
Count towels, sheets, spoons, &c. occasionally; that those who use
them may not become careless.
See that the vegetables are neither sprouting nor decaying: if they
are so, remove them to a drier place, and spread them.
Examine preserves, to see that they are not contracting mould; and
your pickles, to see that they are not growing soft and tasteless.
As far as it is possible, have bits of bread eaten up before they
become hard. Spread those that are not eaten, and let them dry, to be
pounded for puddings, or soaked for brewis. Brewis is made of crusts
and dry pieces of bread, soaked a good while in hot milk, mashed up,
and salted, and buttered like toast. Above all, do not let crusts
accumulate in such quantities that they cannot be used. With proper
care, there is no need of losing a particle of bread, even in the
hottest weather.
Attend to all the mending in the house, once a week, if possible.
Never put out sewing. If it be impossible to do it in your own family,
hire some one into the house, and work with them.
Make your own bread and cake. Some people think it is just as cheap
to buy of the baker and confectioner; but it is not half as cheap.
True, it is more convenient; and therefore the rich are justifiable
in employing them; but those who are under the necessity of being
economical, should make convenience a secondary object. In the first
place, confectioners make their cake richer than people of moderate
income can afford to make it; in the next place, your domestic, or
yourself, may just as well employ your own time, as to pay them for
theirs.
When ivory-handled knives turn yellow, rub them with nice sand paper,
or emery; it will take off the spots, and restore their whiteness.
When a carpet is faded, I have been told that it may be restored, in
a great measure, (provided there be no grease in it,) by being dipped
into strong salt and water. I never tried this; but I know that silk
pocket handkerchiefs, and deep blue factory cotton will not fade, if
dipped in salt and water while new.
An ox's gall will set any color,--silk, cotton, or woollen. I have
seen the colors of calico, which faded at one washing, fixed by it.
Where one lives near a slaughterhouse, it is worth while to buy cheap,
fading goods, and set them in this way. The gall can be bought for a
few cents. Get out all the liquid, and cork it up in a large phial.
One large spoonful of this in a gallon of warm water is sufficient.
This is likewise excellent for taking out spots from bombazine,
bombazet, &c. After being washed in this, they look about as well as
when new. It must be thoroughly stirred into the water, and not put
upon the cloth. It is used without soap. After being washed in this,
cloth which you want to _clean_ should be washed in warm suds, without
using soap.
Tortoise shell and horn combs last much longer for having oil rubbed
into them once in a while.
Indian meal and rye meal are in danger of fermenting in summer;
particularly Indian. They should be kept in a cool place, and stirred
open to the air, once in a while. A large stone, put in the middle of
a barrel of meal, is a good thing to keep it cool.
The covering of oil-flasks, sewed together with strong thread, and
lined and bound neatly, makes useful tablemats.
A warming-pan full of coals, or a shovel of coals, held over varnished
furniture, will take out white spots. Care should be taken not to hold
the coals near enough to scorch; and the place should be rubbed with
flannel while warm.
Spots in furniture may usually be cleansed by rubbing them quick and
hard, with a flannel wet with the same thing which took out the color;
if rum, wet the cloth with rum, &c. The very best restorative for
defaced varnished furniture, is rotten-stone pulverized, and rubbed on
with linseed oil.
Sal-volatile, or hartshorn, will restore colors taken out by acid. It
may be dropped upon any garment without doing harm.
Spirits of turpentine is good to take grease-spots out of woollen
clothes; to take spots of paint, &c., from mahogany furniture; and
to cleanse white kid gloves. Cockroaches, and all vermin, have an
aversion to spirits of turpentine.
An ounce of quicksilver, beat up with the white of two eggs, and put
on with a feather, is the cleanest and surest bed-bug poison. What
is left should be thrown away: it is dangerous to have it about
the house. If the vermin are in your walls, fill up the cracks with
_verdigris_-green paint.[1]
[Footnote 1: There are two kinds of green paint; one is of no use in
destroying insects.]
Lamps will have a less disagreeable smell if you dip your wick-yarn in
strong hot vinegar, and dry it.
Those who make candles will find it a great improvement to steep the
wicks in lime-water and saltpetre, and dry them. The flame is clearer,
and the tallow will not '_run_.'
Britannia Ware should be first rubbed gently with a woollen cloth and
sweet oil; then washed in warm suds, and rubbed with soft leather and
whiting. Thus treated, it will retain its beauty to the last.
Eggs will keep almost any length of time in lime-water properly
prepared. One pint of coarse salt, and one pint of unslacked lime, to
a pailful of water. If there be too much lime, it will eat the shells
from the eggs; and if there be a single egg cracked, it will spoil
the whole. They should be covered with lime-water, and kept in a cold
place. The yolk becomes slightly red; but I have seen eggs, thus kept,
perfectly sweet and fresh at the end of three years. The cheapest
time to lay down eggs, is early in spring, and the middle and last
of September. It is bad economy to buy eggs by the dozen, as you want
them.
New iron should be very gradually heated at first. After it has become
inured to the heat, it is not as likely to crack.
It is a good plan to put new earthen ware into cold water, and let it
heat gradually, until it boils,--then cool again. Brown earthen ware,
in particular, may be toughened in this way. A handful of rye, or
wheat, bran, thrown in while it is boiling, will preserve the glazing,
so that it will not be destroyed by acid or salt.
Clean a brass kettle, before using it for cooking, with salt and
vinegar.
Skim-milk and water, with a bit of glue in it, heated scalding hot, is
excellent to restore old, rusty, black Italian crape. If clapped and
pulled dry, like nice muslin, it will look as well, or better, than
when new.
Wash-leather gloves should be washed in clean suds, scarcely warm.
The oftener carpets are shaken, the longer they wear; the dirt that
collects under them, grinds out the threads.
Do not have carpets swept any oftener than is absolutely necessary.
After dinner, sweep the crumbs into a dusting-pan with your
hearth-brush; and if you have been sewing, pick up the shreds by hand.
A carpet can be kept very neat in this way; and a broom wears it very
much.
Buy your woollen yarn in quantities from some one in the country, whom
you can trust. The thread-stores make profits upon it, of course.
It is not well to clean brass andirons, handles, &c. with vinegar.
It makes them very clean at first; but they soon spot and tarnish.
Rotten-stone and oil are proper materials for cleaning brasses. If
wiped every morning with flannel and New England rum, they will not
need to be cleaned half as often.
If you happen to live in a house which has marble fire-places, never
wash them with suds; this destroys the polish, in time. They should be
dusted; the spots taken off with a nice oiled cloth, and then rubbed
dry with a soft rag.
Feathers should be very thoroughly dried before they are used. For
this reason they should not be packed away in bags, when they are
first plucked. They should be laid lightly in a basket, or something
of that kind, and stirred up often. The garret is the best place to
dry them; because they will there be kept free from dirt and moisture;
and will be in no danger of being blown away. It is well to put the
parcels, which you may have from time to time, into the oven, after
you have removed your bread, and let them stand a day.
If feather-beds smell badly, or become heavy, from want of proper
preservation of the feathers, or from old age, empty them, and wash
the feathers thoroughly in a tub of suds; spread them in your garret
to dry, and they will be as light and as good as new.
New England rum, constantly used to wash the hair, keeps it very
clean, and free from disease, and promotes its growth a great deal
more than Macassar oil. Brandy is very strengthening to the roots of
the hair; but it has a hot, drying tendency, which N.E. rum has not.
If you wish to preserve fine teeth, always clean them thoroughly after
you have eaten your last meal at night.
Rags should never be thrown away because they are dirty. Mop-rags,
lamp-rags, &c. should be washed, dried, and put in the rag-bag. There
is no need of expending soap upon them: boil them out in dirty suds,
after you have done washing.
Linen rags should be carefully saved; for they are extremely useful in
sickness. If they have become dirty and worn by cleaning silver, &c.,
wash them, and scrape them into lint.
After old coats, pantaloons, &c. have been cut up for boys, and are no
longer capable of being converted into garments, cut them into strips,
and employ the leisure moments of children, or domestics, in sewing
and braiding them for door-mats.
If you are troubled to get soft water for washing, fill a tub or
barrel half full of ashes, and fill it up with water, so that you may
have lye whenever you want it. A gallon of strong lye put into a great
kettle of hard water will make it as soft as rain water. Some people
use pearlash, or potash; but this costs something, and is very apt to
injure the texture of the cloth.
If you have a strip of land, do not throw away suds. Both ashes and
suds are good manure for bushes and young plants.
When a white Navarino bonnet becomes soiled, rip it in pieces, and
wash it with a sponge and soft water. While it is yet damp, wash it
two or three times with a clean sponge dipped into a strong saffron
tea, nicely strained. Repeat this till the bonnet is as dark a straw
color as you wish. Press it on the wrong side with a warm iron, and it
will look like a new Leghorn.
About the last of May, or the first of June, the little millers, which
lay moth-eggs begin to appear. Therefore brush all your woollens, and
pack them away in a dark place covered with linen. Pepper, red-cedar
chips, tobacco,--indeed, almost any strong spicy smell,--is good to
keep moths out of your chests and drawers. But nothing is so good as
camphor. Sprinkle your woollens with camphorated spirit, and scatter
pieces of camphor-gum among them, and you will never be troubled with
moths. Some people buy camphor-wood trunks, for this purpose; but they
are very expensive, and the gum answers just as well.
The first young leaves of the common currant-bush, gathered as soon as
they put out, and dried on tin, can hardly be distinguished from green
tea.
Cream of tartar, rubbed upon soiled white kid gloves, cleanses them
very much.
Bottles that have been used for rose-water, should be used for nothing
else; if scalded ever so much, they will kill the spirit of what is
put in them.
If you have a greater quantity of cheeses in the house than is likely
to be soon used, cover them carefully with paper, fastened on with
flour paste, so as to exclude the air. In this way they may be kept
free from insects for years. They should be kept in a dry, cool place.
Pulverized alum possesses the property of purifying water. A large
spoonful stirred into a hogshead of water will so purify it, that in
a few hours the dirt will all sink to the bottom, and it will be as
fresh and clear as spring water. Four gallons may be purified by a
tea-spoonful.
Save vials and bottles. Apothecaries and grocers will give something
for them. If the bottles are of good thick glass, they will always be
useful for bottling cider or beer; but if they are thin French glass,
like claret bottles, they will not answer.
Woollens should be washed in very hot suds, and not rinsed. Lukewarm
water shrinks them.
On the contrary, silk, or anything that has silk in it, should be
washed in water almost cold. Hot water turns it yellow. It may be
washed in suds made of nice white soap; but no soap should be put upon
it. Likewise avoid the use of hot irons in smoothing silk. Either rub
the articles dry with a soft cloth, or put them between two towels,
and press them with weights.
Do not let knives be dropped into hot dish-water. It is a good plan
to have a large tin pot to wash them in, just high enough to wash the
blades, _without wetting_ the handles. Keep your castors covered with
blotting-paper and green flannel. Keep your salt-spoons out of the
salt, and clean them often.
Do not wrap knives and forks in woollens. Wrap them in good, strong
paper. Steel is injured by lying in woollens.
If it be practicable, get a friend in the country to procure you a
quantity of lard, butter, and eggs, at the time they are cheapest, to
be put down for winter use. You will be likely to get them cheaper
and better than in the city market; but by all means put down your
winter's stock. Lard requires no other care than to be kept in a dry,
cool place. Butter is sweetest in September and June; because food is
then plenty, and not rendered bitter by frost. Pack your butter in a
clean, scalded firkin, cover it with strong brine, and spread a cloth
all over the top, and it will keep good until the Jews get into Grand
Isle. If you happen to have a bit of salt-petre, dissolve it with
the brine. Dairy-women say that butter comes more easily, and has a
peculiar hardness and sweetness, if the cream is scalded and strained
before it is used. The cream should stand down cellar over night,
after being scalded, that it may get perfectly cold.
Suet and lard keep better in tin than in earthen.
Suet keeps good all the year round, if chopped and packed down in a
stone jar, covered with molasses.
Pick suet free from veins and skin, melt it in water before a moderate
fire, let it cool till it forms into a hard cake, then wipe it dry,
and put it in clean paper in linen bags.
Preserve the backs of old letters to write upon. If you have children
who are learning to write, buy coarse white paper by the quantity, and
keep it locked up, ready to be made into writing books. It does not
cost half as much as it does to buy them at the stationer's.
Do not let coffee and tea stand in tin. Scald your wooden ware often;
and keep your tin ware dry.
When mattresses get hard and bunchy, rip them, take the hair out, pull
it thoroughly by hand, let it lie a day or two to air, wash the tick,
lay it in as light and even as possible, and catch it down, as before.
Thus prepared, they will be as good as new.
It is poor economy to buy vinegar by the gallon, Buy a barrel, or half
a barrel, of really strong vinegar, when you begin house-keeping.
As you use it, fill the barrel with old cider, sour beer, or
wine-settlings, &c., left in pitchers, decanters or tumblers; weak tea
is likewise said to be good: nothing is hurtful, which has a tolerable
portion of spirit, or acidity. Care must be taken not to add these
things in too large quantities, or too often: if the vinegar once
gets weak, it is difficult to restore it. If possible, it is well to
keep such slops as I have mentioned in a different keg, and draw them
off once in three or four weeks, in such a quantity as you think the
vinegar will bear. If by any carelessness you do weaken it, a few
white beans dropped in, or white paper dipped in molasses, is said
to be useful. If beer grows sour, it may be used to advantage for
pancakes and fritters. If very sour indeed, put a pint of molasses and
water to it, and, two or three days after, put a half pint of vinegar;
and in ten days it will be first rate vinegar.
Barley straw is the best for beds; dry corn husks, slit into shreds,
are far better than straw.
Straw beds are much better for being boxed at the sides; in the same
manner upholsterers prepare ticks for feathers. Brass andirons should
be cleaned, done up in papers, and put in a dry place, during the
summer season.
If you have a large family, it is well to keep white rags separate
from colored ones, and cotton separate from woollen; they bring a
higher price. Paper brings a cent a pound, and if you have plenty of
room, it is well to save it. 'A penny saved is a penny got.'
Always have plenty of dish-water, and have it hot. There is no need
of asking the character of a domestic, if you have ever seen her wash
dishes in a little greasy water. When molasses is used in cooking, it
is a prodigious improvement to boil and skim it before you use it.
It takes out the unpleasant raw taste, and makes it almost as good as
sugar. Where molasses is used much for cooking, it is well to prepare
one or two gallons in this way at a time.
In winter, always set the handle of your pump as high as possible,
before you go to bed. Except in very rigid weather, this keeps the
handle from freezing. When there is reason to apprehend extreme cold,
do not forget to throw a rug or horse-blanket over your pump; a frozen
pump is a comfortless preparation for a winter's breakfast. Never
allow ashes to be taken up in wood, or put into wood. Always have your
tinder-box and lantern ready for use, in case of sudden alarm. Have
important papers all together, where you can lay your hand on them at
once, in case of fire.
Keep an old blanket and sheet on purpose for ironing, and on no
account suffer any other to be used. Have plenty of holders always
made, that your towels may not be burned out in such service.
Keep a coarse broom for the cellar stairs, wood-shed, yard, &c. No
good housekeeper allows her carpet broom to be used for such things.
There should always be a heavy stone on the top of your pork, to keep
it down. This stone is an excellent place to keep a bit of fresh meat
in the summer, when you are afraid of its spoiling.
Have all the good bits of vegetables and meat collected after dinner,
and minced before they are set away; that they may be in readiness
to make a little savoury mince meat for supper or breakfast. Take the
skins off your potatoes before they grow cold.
Vials, which have been used for medicine, should be put into cold
ashes and water, boiled, and suffered to cool before they are rinsed.
If you live in the city, where it is always easy to procure
provisions, be careful and not buy too much for your daily wants,
while the weather is warm.
Never leave out your clothes-line over night; and see that your
clothes-pins are all gathered into a basket.
Have plenty of crash towels in the kitchen; never let your white
napkins be used there.
Soap your dirtiest clothes, and soak them in soft water over night.
Use hard soap to wash your clothes, and soft to wash your floors. Soft
soap is so slippery, that it wastes a good deal in washing clothes.
Instead of covering up your glasses and pictures with muslin, cover
the frames only with cheap, yellow cambric, neatly put on, and as near
the color of the gilt as you can procure it. This looks better; leaves
the glasses open for use, and the pictures for ornament; and is
an effectual barrier to dust as well as flies. It can easily be
re-colored with saffron tea, when it is faded.
Have a bottle full of brandy, with as large a mouth as any bottle you
have, into which cut your lemon and orange peel when they are fresh
and sweet. This brandy gives a delicious flavor to all sorts of
pies, puddings, and cakes. Lemon is the pleasantest spice of the
two; therefore they should be kept in separate bottles. It is a good
plan to preserve rose-leaves in brandy. The flavor is pleasanter
than rose-water; and there are few people who have the utensils for
distilling. Peach leaves steeped in brandy make excellent spice for
custards and puddings.
It is easy to have a supply of horse-radish all winter. Have a
quantity grated, while the root is in perfection, put it in bottles,
fill it with strong vinegar, and keep it corked tight.
It is thought to be a preventive to the unhealthy influence of
cucumbers to cut the slices very thin, and drop each one into cold
water as you cut it. A few minutes in the water takes out a large
portion of the slimy matter, so injurious to health. They should be
eaten with high seasoning.
Where sweet oil is much used, it is more economical to buy it by the
bottle than by the flask. A bottle holds more than twice as much as a
flask, and it is never double the price.
If you wish to have free-stone hearths dark, wash them with soap, and
wipe them with a wet cloth; some people rub in lamp-oil, once in a
while, and wash the hearth faithfully afterwards. This does very well
in a large, dirty family; for the hearth looks very clean, and is not
liable to show grease spots. But if you wish to preserve the beauty
of a freestone hearth, buy a quantity of free-stone powder of the
stone-cutter, and rub on a portion of it wet, after you have washed
your hearth in hot water. When it is dry, brush it off, and it will
look like new stone. Bricks can be kept clean with redding stirred up
in water, and put on with a brush. Pulverized clay mixed with redding,
makes a pretty rose color. Some think it is less likely to come
off, if mixed with skim milk instead of water. But black lead is far
handsomer than anything else for this purpose. It looks very well
mixed with water, like redding; but it gives it a glossy appearance
to boil the lead in soft soap, with a little water to keep it from
burning. It should be put on with a brush, in the same manner as
redding; it looks nice for a long time, when done in this way.
Keep a bag for odd pieces of tape and strings; they will come in use.
Keep a bag or box for old buttons, so that you may know where to go
when you want one.
Run the heels of stockings faithfully; and mend thin places, as well
as holes. 'A stitch in time saves nine.'
Poke-root, boiled in water and mixed with a good quantity of molasses,
set about the kitchen, the pantry, &c. in large deep plates, will kill
cockroaches in great numbers, and finally rid the house of them. The
Indians say that poke-root boiled into a soft poultice is the cure for
the bite of a snake. I have heard of a fine horse saved by it.
A little salt sprinkled in starch while it is boiling, tends to
prevent it from sticking; it is likewise good to stir it with a clean
spermaceti candle.
A few potatoes sliced, and boiling water poured over them, makes an
excellent preparation for cleansing and stiffening old rusty black
silk.
Green tea is excellent to restore rusty silk. It should be boiled in
iron, nearly a cup full to three quarts. The silk should not be wrung,
and should be ironed damp.
Lime pulverized, sifted through coarse muslin, and stirred up
tolerably thick in white of eggs, makes a strong cement for glass
and china. Plaster of Paris is still better; particularly for mending
broken images of the same material. It should be stirred up by the
spoonful, as it is wanted.[2]
[Footnote 2: Some think it an improvement to make whey of vinegar and
milk, and heat it well up with the eggs before the lime is put in. I
have heard of iron mended with it.]
A bit of isinglass dissolved in gin, or boiled in spirits of wine, is
said to make strong cement for broken glass, china, and sea-shells.
The lemon syrup, usually sold at fifty cents a bottle, may be made
much cheaper. Those who use a great quantity of it will find it worth
their while to make it. Take about a pound of Havana sugar; boil it
in water down to a quart; drop in the white of an egg, to clarify it;
strain it; add one quarter of an oz. of tartaric acid, or citric acid;
if you do not find it sour enough, after it has stood two or three
days and shaken freely, add more of the acid. A few drops of the oil
of lemon improves it.
If you wish to clarify sugar and water, you are about to boil, it is
well to stir in the white of one egg, while cold; if put in after it
boils, the egg is apt to get hardened before it can do any good.
Those who are fond of soda powders will do well to inquire at the
apothecaries for the suitable acid and alkali, and buy them by
the ounce, or the pound, according to the size of their families.
Experience soon teaches the right proportions; and, sweetened with
a little sugar or lemon syrup, it is quite as good as what one gives
five times as much for, done up in papers. The case is the same with
Rochelle powders.
When the stopper of a glass decanter becomes too tight, a cloth
wet with hot water and applied to the neck, will cause the glass to
expand, so that the stopper may be easily removed.
Glass vessels in a cylindrical form, may be cut in two, by tying
around them a worsted thread, thoroughly wet with spirits of
turpentine, and then setting fire to the thread. Court plaster is
made of thin silk first dipped in dissolved isinglass and dried, then
dipped several times in the white of egg and dried.
When plain tortoise-shell combs are defaced, the polish may be renewed
by rubbing them with pulverized rotten-stone and oil. The rotten-stone
should be sifted through muslin. It looks better to be rubbed on by
the hand. The jewellers afterwards polish them by rubbing them with
dry _rouge powder_; but sifted magnesia does just as well--and if the
ladies had rouge, perhaps they would, _by mistake_, put it upon their
cheeks, instead of their combs; and thereby spoil their complexions.
The best way to cleanse gold is, to wash it in warm suds made of
delicate soap, with ten or fifteen drops of _sal-volatile_ in it. This
makes jewels very brilliant.
Straw carpets should be washed in salt and water, and wiped with a
dry, coarse towel. They have a strong tendency to turn yellow; and
the salt prevents it. Moisture makes them decay soon; therefore they
should be kept thoroughly dry.
Rye paste is more adhesive than any other paste; because that grain is
very glutinous. It is much improved by adding a little pounded alum,
while it is boiling. This makes it almost as strong as glue.
Red ants are among the worst plagues that can infest a house. A lady
who had long been troubled with them, assured me she destroyed them in
a few days, after the following manner. She placed a dish of cracked
shagbarks (of which they are more fond than of anything else) in
the closet. They soon gathered upon it in troops. She then put some
corrosive sublimate in a cup; ordered the dish to be carried carefully
to the fire, and all its contents brushed in; while she swept the few
that dropped upon the shelf into the cup, and, with a feather, wet
all the cracks from whence they came, with corrosive sublimate. When
this had been repeated four or five times, the house was effectually
cleared. Too much care cannot be taken of corrosive sublimate,
especially when children are about. Many dreadful accidents have
happened in consequence of carelessness. Bottles which have contained
it should be broken, and buried; and cups should be boiled out in
ashes and water. If kept in the house, it should be hung up high, out
of reach, with POISON written upon it in large letters.
The neatest way to separate wax from honey-comb is to tie the comb
up in a linen or woollen bag; place it in a kettle of cold water, and
hang it over the fire. As the water heats, the wax melts, and rises to
the surface, while all the impurities remain in the bag. It is well
to put a few pebbles in the bag, to keep it from floating. Honey may
be separated from the comb, by placing it in the hot sun, or before
the fire, with two or three colanders or sieves, each finer than the
other, under it.
* * * * *