Household Hints from the 1960s

I love looking through old books full of hints that worked beautifully well in the past (unlike many of the expensive and chemical-full things we have on the market today). Here are several I thought you would enjoy (and laugh with me about the "typewriter" hint!):

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1. If a lamp cord is much too long, you can shorten it by wrapping it tightly around a broom handle and leaving it that way overnight. It will stay spiraled and short.

2. You save yourself a lot of trouble in washing windows if you use vertical strokes on the inside panes, and horizontal on the outside, or vice versa. That way you won't keep running in and out to get the places you missed.

3. A good spoonful of powdered or liquid detergent in the bath water prevents a ring from forming.

4. When you oil your sewing machine, remember to sew through a blotter several times before you sew through your material. The blotter will soak up the excess oil. (Wonder how many people know what a blotter is?)

5. When you have several sizes of beds in the house, it's wise to settle on one particular type of sheet for each; stripes for Junior, pastels for Sis, plain white for Ma and Pa. That way there is no mussing up the linen shelf to find the right one.
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6. As nearly everyone knows, nail polish remover gets adhesive tape marks off with speed and ease.

7. Your bed linen smells good if you keep your supply of toilet soap stuck here and there in the linen closet. This has an additional advantage: you never seem to run out of soap, because another bar is always lurking somewhere if you hunt long enough.

8. If you are pounding a noisy typewriter when someone is trying to sleep in the next room, you'd better put a folded bath towel under it. It makes it quieter.

9. When you're starting to town and notice that your hem has come undone, you can fix it temporarily with cellophane tape. Easier than pins.

10. Put a strip of luminous paint around your flashlight handle, and you'll be able to see it easily in the dark - which is when you usually need it.

Source: From a book published by Fawcett Crest in 1960

By Caseye from Plano, TX