Old-Fashioned Household Tips

Troublesome Ants

A
heavy chalk mark laid a finger's distance from your sugar box and all
around (there must be no space not covered) will surely prevent ants
from troubling.

To Drive Off Fleas

Sprinkle about area a few drops of oil of lavender.

To Keep Flies Off Items

Boil three or four onions in a pint of water and apply with a soft brush, let dry.

To Prevent Lost Children

Label children's hats, scarves, etc., with the name and place of residence so that, if lost, they may be easily restored.

To Soften Hard Water

Hard water becomes nearly soft by boiling.

Household Tips

Coal Ashes For Walking On

Make excellent garden walks with coal ashes. They become very hard by use, and no weeds or grass will grow through them.

To Temper Glass

Lamp
chimneys and glassware for hot water are made less liable to break by
putting in cold water, bringing slowly to boiling point, boiling for an
hour, and allowing to cool before removing from the water.

To Start A Fire In Damp, Still Weather

Light
a few bits of shavings or paper placed upon the top of grate; thus by
the heated air's forcing itself into the chimney and establishing there
an upward current, the room is kept free from the gas and smoke which
is so apt to fill it, and the fire can then be lighted from below with
good success.

To Preserve Old Books

Bindings
may be preserved from mildew by brushing them over with spirits of
wine. A few drops of perfumed oil will secure libraries from the
consuming effects of mold and damp. The Romans used oil of cedar to
preserve valuable manuscripts.

To Hang Pictures

The
cheapest and best material with which to hang pictures is copper wire,
of a size proportioned to the weight of the pictures. When hung the
wire is scarcely visible, and its strength and durability is wonderful.

Household Tips

Finish For Room

A
room with plain white walls is finished beautifully by placing a black
walnut (or the same wood with which the room is finished) molding,
around the room where the border of paper is usually placed, at the
junction of wall and ceiling. The molding, finished in oil, is easily
put up. The upper edge should be rounded, and a space of a quarter inch
left between it and the ceiling.

To hang pictures, buy an "S"
hook, sold at all hardware stores, place one hook over the molding,
hang the picture cord on the other, and slip to the right or left to
the desired position. This saves the wall from injury for picture nails.

Laying Carpets

A
carpet wears better if put down well, and it is better to have it done
by experienced persons when the expense can be afforded and such help
can be had.

Stair Carpets

They
will wear much longer if extra thicknesses of paper are placed over the
edge of each stair, the full width of the carpet, before fastening down.

A Cheap Carpet

Make
a cover for the floor of the cheapest cotton cloth. Tack it down like a
carpet, paper it as you would a wall with paper resembling a carpet in
figures, let it dry, varnish with two coats of varnish, and with
reasonable usage it will last two years.

Household Tips

To Soften Corks

When corks are too large to go into a bottle, throw them into hot water a few moments, and they will soften.

To Keep Cutlery From Rust

Wipe dry, and wrap in coarse brown paper.

To Prevent Iron Rust

Kerosine applied to stoves or farming implements, during summer, will prevent their rusting.

To Destroy Cockroaches

The
following is said to be effectual: These vermin are easily destroyed,
simply by cutting up green cucumbers at night, and placing them about
where roaches commit depredations. What is cut from the cucumbers in
preparing them for the table answers the purpose as well, and three
applications will destroy all the roaches in the house. Remove the
peelings in the morning, and renew them at night.

To Banish Rats Or Mice

Sprinkling cayenne pepper in their holes will banish them.

Household Tips

Everlasting Fence Posts

I
discovered many years ago that wood could be made to last longer than
iron in the ground, but thought the process so simple and inexpensive
that it was not worthwhile making any stir about it.

I would as
soon have poplar, basswood, or quaking ash as any other kind of timber
for fence posts. I have taken out basswood posts after having been set
seven years, which were as sound when taken out as when they were first
put in the ground. Time and weather seemed to have no effect on them.
The posts can be prepared for less than two cents a piece [circa 1860].

This
is the recipe: Take boiled linseed oil and stir it in pulverized
charcoal to the consistency of paint. Put a coat of this over the
timber, and there is not a man that will live to see it rotten.

Honey Uses

Honey is good for sore throat; also good for bee stings.

To Treat Neuralgia

For neuralgia nothing is better than a muslin bag filled with hot salt.

For headache

2 or 3 slices of lemon in a cup of strong tea will cure a nervous headache.

For Bilious Headache

A teaspoon full of lemon juice in a small cup of black coffee will relieve a bilious headache.

Household Tips

To Mend A Crack On Inside Of Kitchen Range

Use
a filling made of equal parts of wood ashes and common salt, made up
into paste with a little water, and plastered over the crack. This will
prove hard and lasting whether the stove, etc., be cold or hot.

To Keep Out Red Ants

A small quantity of green sage placed in a pantry will keep out red ants.

To Cure A Burn

Cut open and scrape a raw potato, bind on burn. Repeat if burning sensation returns.

Cure For Hiccoughs

Sit
erect and inflate the lungs fully. Then, retaining the breath, bend
forward slowly until the chest meets the knees. After slowly rising
again to the erect position, slowly exhale the breath. Repeat this
process a second time, and the nerves will be found to have received an
excess of energy that will enable them to perform their natural
functions.

Flowers May Be Kept Very Fresh Overnight

If
they are excluded from the air. To do this, wet them thoroughly, put in
a damp box, and cover with wet newspaper, then place in a cool spot.

Household Tips

To Clean Hands

Tomato juice will remove stains from and whiten the hands.

To Keep Bar Soap

For
this household tip to work with modern soap, you must first remove the
bars of soap from their wrappers and allow them to dry out. Not only do
the dry bars last longer, but they leave less of a soap residue in the
soap dish. This tip works!

It is a great saving to have bars of soap dry. Dry, hard bars will last longer when used. It should be bought by the quantity.

To Soften Hands

Mutton
tallow is considered excellent to soften the hands. It may be rubbed on
at any time when the hands are perfectly dry. Another good rule is to
rub well in dry oatmeal after every washing, and be particular
regarding the quantity of soap. Cheap soap and hard water are the
unknown enemies of many people, and the cause of rough skin and chapped
hands. Castile soap and rain water will sometimes cure without any
other assistance.

To Soften Hands After Soapsuds

One
can have the hands in soapsuds with soft soap without injury to the
skin if the hands are dipped in vinegar or lemon juice immediately
after. The acids destroy the corrosive effects of the alkali, and make
the hands soft and white.

To Soften Hands Where Roughened

Indian
meal and vinegar or lemon juice used on hands where roughened by cold
or labor will heal and soften them. Rub the hands in this, then wash
off thoroughly.

Household Tips

To Prevent Wooden Bedsteads Creaking

If a bedstead creaks at each movement of the sleeper, remove the slats, and wrap the ends of each in old newspapers.

To Prevent The Cracking Of Bottles And Fruit Jars

If
a bottle or fruit jar that has been more than once used is placed on a
towel thoroughly soaked in hot water, there is little danger of its
being cracked by the introduction of a hot liquid.

To Preserve Oil Cloth

If oil cloth be occasionally rubbed with a mixture of beeswax and turpentine, it will last longer.

Packing Glass Bottles

India-rubber bands slipped over them will prevent breakage.

To Remove Putty

A red-hot iron will soften old putty so that it can be easily removed.

Household Tips

To Make Rag Rugs

Cut
rags and sew hit and miss, or fancy-striped as you choose; use wooden
needles, round, smooth, and pointed at one end, of any convenient
length. The knitting is done back and forth, always taking off the
first stitch. --Anna F. Hisey

To Make A Rustic Picture Frame

A
neat, rustic frame for pictures may be made of cattail rods. Hide the
corners where they are joined with handsome autumn leaves and the
berries of bittersweet.

To Make An Ant Trap

Procure
a large natural sponge, wash it well and press it dry, which will leave
the cells quite open; then sprinkle it with fine white sugar, and place
it near where the ants are troublesome. The ants will soon collect upon
the sponge and take up their abode in its cells. It is then only
necessary to dip the sponge in boiling water, when the ants will be
destroyed, and it may be set over and over again.

To send Messages in Cypher

This household tip is great for keeping kids busy playing spies on a rainy day.

Any
document written in cypher, by which signs are substituted for letters,
or even for words, is liable to be deciphered. The following plans are
free from such objection:

The correspondents select two copies
of the same edition of a book, the word to be used is designated by
figures referring to the page, line, and number of the word in the line.

Or,
the message may be written on a slip of paper wound spirally around a
rod of wood; these can only be deciphered by bringing them into their
original position, by wrapping around a second rod of the same size.

Household Tips

Castor Oil as a Dressing for Leather

Castor
oil, besides being an excellent dressing for leather, renders it
vermin-proof; it should be mixed, say half and half, with tallow or
other oil. Neither rats, roaches, nor other vermin will attack leather
so prepared.

Substitute for a Corkscrew

This old household tip might come in handy sometime when you find yourself without a corkscrew.

A
convenient substitute for a corkscrew, when the latter is not at hand,
may be found in the use of a common wood screw, with an attached string
to pull the cork.

Another: Stick two forks vertically into the
cork on opposite sides, not too near the edge. Run the blade of a knife
through the two, and give a twist.

Another: Fill the hollow at
the bottom of the bottle with a handkerchief or towel; grasp the neck
with one hand, and strike firmly and steadily with the other upon the
handkerchief.

To Keep Up Sash Windows

This
is performed by means of cork, in the simplest manner, and with
scarcely any expense. Bore 3 or 4 holes in the sides of the sash, into
which insert common bottle cork, projecting about the sixteenth part of
an inch. These will press against the window frames along the usual
groove, and by their elasticity support the sash at any height which
may be required.

To Repel Moths

Instead
of moth balls, try using dried lavender blossoms, dried mint leaves, or
cedar shavings (the kind available as pet bedding works well). The
odors of these natural materials are pleasant, yet they repel moths,
and there are no dangers involved as with moth balls.

Moth balls
are poisonous and are considered a pesticide. Avoid inhaling moth ball
fumes and do not use them around young children and pets.

Old-Fashioned White Wash Recipe

7-1/2
lbs unslaked lime, 1-1/2 lbs rock salt, 3/4 lbs cement. Dissolve salt
in 1 gallon of cold water. Pour the salt solution on the lime. Next add
1-1/2 gallons of water to the lime slowly allowing it to slake (it will
get very hot). Finally, sprinkle the cement on a little at a time and
stir mixture thoroughly. Be sure to apply this wash while it is still
hot.

The white wash will take about 2 days to harden, but after
it hardens it will withstand almost any amount of rain or washing.
Warning: Do not spill this mixture on your skin or clothing. It gets
very hot, and lime will burn.

Household Tips

For A Flower Bowl

Cut
a piece of stiff paper the shape and size of the top of an ordinary
bowl. Cut holes in it, as many as desired, for the stems of real or
artificial flowers. Fit paper in bowl and put flower stems through
holes.

To Make Rice Glue

Mix
rice flour smoothly with cold water, and simmer it over a slow fire,
when it will form a delicate and durable cement, not only answering all
the purposes of common paste, but well adapted for joining paper and
card board ornamental work. Rice glue is excellent for use in
scrapbooks.

Economy In Carpets

In
buying a carpet, as in everything else, those of the best quality are
cheapest in the end. As it is extremely desirable that they should look
as clean as possible, avoid buying a carpet that has any white in it.
Even a small portion of white interspersed through the pattern will in
a short time give it a dingy appearance.

If you cannot obtain a
hearth rug that exactly corresponds with the carpet, get one entirely
different, for a decided contrast looks better than a bad match.