Shangas
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 6,116
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
Hi folks,
A discussion on another forum made me think of this subject.
What are some household tips from the old days that you have used effectively to clean something, fix something, get something done more effectively or have otherwise employed around the house? Stuff that you might have learnt from your parents or grandparents, which actually works? It can be cleaning, cooking, washing or just any other random tips...
I've heard of (and in some cases, seen) the following:
CLEANING
- Soaking a shirt in milk (to remove fountain pen ink stains).
- Soaking a shirt in cold water and then rubbing it with rock-salt (again, to remove ink-stains).
- Rubbing two bricks together and mixing the resultant brick-dust with a small amount of olive-oil. This makes the oil an abrasive cleaning agent, good for polishing copper cookware.
- I can't vouch for this one, but my old piano-teacher said that exposing yellowed ivory piano-keys to strong sunlight will bleach them white again.
COOKING
Pasta
- To save on gas (or electricity, if that's what your stove runs on), my mother always advocates filling a pot half-full with water, bringing it to a boil, dunking in the pasta (any amount, but we usually cook 500g, roughly 1lb) and turning off the heat. Leave the pasta to soak in the hot water for EXACTLY 15 minutes (stirring and poking occasionally to prevent clumping). Result: Perfect pasta every time. Any shorter than 15 minutes, pasta's too stiff. Any longer, pasta goes all floppy and breaks apart.
What are your tips and tricks you learnt from your parents or which have been around since dodos were housepets?
A discussion on another forum made me think of this subject.
What are some household tips from the old days that you have used effectively to clean something, fix something, get something done more effectively or have otherwise employed around the house? Stuff that you might have learnt from your parents or grandparents, which actually works? It can be cleaning, cooking, washing or just any other random tips...
I've heard of (and in some cases, seen) the following:
CLEANING
- Soaking a shirt in milk (to remove fountain pen ink stains).
- Soaking a shirt in cold water and then rubbing it with rock-salt (again, to remove ink-stains).
- Rubbing two bricks together and mixing the resultant brick-dust with a small amount of olive-oil. This makes the oil an abrasive cleaning agent, good for polishing copper cookware.
- I can't vouch for this one, but my old piano-teacher said that exposing yellowed ivory piano-keys to strong sunlight will bleach them white again.
COOKING
Pasta
- To save on gas (or electricity, if that's what your stove runs on), my mother always advocates filling a pot half-full with water, bringing it to a boil, dunking in the pasta (any amount, but we usually cook 500g, roughly 1lb) and turning off the heat. Leave the pasta to soak in the hot water for EXACTLY 15 minutes (stirring and poking occasionally to prevent clumping). Result: Perfect pasta every time. Any shorter than 15 minutes, pasta's too stiff. Any longer, pasta goes all floppy and breaks apart.
What are your tips and tricks you learnt from your parents or which have been around since dodos were housepets?
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