Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-11-27
HINTS ON MAKING
H0USEWORK EASIER
University of Vermont Expert
Gives Members of H o m e
Economics Department of
Athena Club Valuable Sug-
gestiOns in Labor Saving

Members of the home economies de-
partment of the Athena club were Civ sn
some valuable hints Friday afternoon
In a talk given by Miss Alice Blundell
of the University of Vermont on the sub
jcct of making homework easier.
There is one thing to keep alw avs in
mind" said Miss Blundell, "ahd that is
that the mother is the homc maker first
and the housekeeper second. If she has
to he both. She should 20 arrange her
work as to use the minimum of effort on
the mechanical duties of housekeeping. "
Miss Blundell gave many suggestions
as to little things that would servs to
tighten the housework Many house,
keepers keep all of the things they are
to do in a day in their heads and then
because they forget some of them at a
time when they should be done they lose
much time and dc extra work Then.
too. there is the bother of remembering
so many details" To obviate this, Miss
Blundell suggested putting everything
down on a card at the beginning Of the
day and as IL is done, crossing 1t off.
"One very important item which many
housckeepers overlook is the height Of
the working surfaces in the kitchen.
They forget that it is much more firing
to bend over and work than 1t is to
stand erect. The working surface Of a
table is the top, of a sink the bottom
and of wash tub the side.
| Another way to avoid bending over
too much 10 to have handles on all uten-
sils SO that the work will come to you
rather than you going to the work. Also
remember that the straighter the handle
is and the lower down you can reach
! on the handle, the less the effort to be
| expended"
There are three things" said Miss
| Blundel. (which mark woman as a
! good or poor housekeeper. whether or
not her dish towels are clean, whether
or not her stove is clean and whether or
not she keeps her pots and pans clean"
AS little suggestions, Miss Blundell
spoke of using rubber scrapers to take
the batter out of a crock. using wooden
| spoons instead of metal spotns and
using u wheeled table to help in serv-
| ing and after the meal in gathering the
| dishes and getting them to the kitchen
with the least possible effort.
| She also advised her audience to buy
! a light broom instead of heavy one
and before using it to set it in a pail
of hot water and leave it until the water
| becomes cold. This will increase its
| life one-third.
"A bread mixer is a great labor saver"
said Miss Blundell, but often women
complain that most Of them are too big.
There is a cake mixer which also has
an appliance so that it may be used
as bread mixer. This is smaller and
very convenient. Then much can be
said for the fireless cooker both as
saver Of fuel and labor. In buying meat
choppers, buy those that open up, for
they can be cleaned easily. There also
is a copper mop which is better in clean
ing pots and pans than anything else.
If you use spatula buy a good one. as
that Is cheaper in the end.
In cleaning floors. It Is better to use
\ a scrub brush with long handle than
! TO get on your hands and knees, or II
you are hopping use mop wringer. 1t
saves energy and wrings the mop better
! than 1t can be done by hand
| "One Of the best things to remove bad
stains from furniture is mixture Of
| rottenstone and boiled lnseed OIL A
| good thing to use in cleaning mirrors Is
alcohol and whiting mixed to the con-
sistency OF a paste or whiting and water,
with very little water. In cleaning alum
! mum ware boil up something in the dish
! that contains citric or oXallc acid such
as lemon. orange or grapefruit skins, a
! piece Of tomato or rhubarb
| In buying vacuum cleaner notice
| the length of the slot to see how much
| surface you can clean at a time. notice
| the weight the convenience OF oiing
| and the facilities for keeping the slot
close to the rug. Remember that the
| hand cleaners are not labor savers, but
! they are dust savers.
| Learn to standardize everything you
| do When you are making a cake.
! n G all ha oil ,kyil1
and all the ingredients, then mix the
cake You will soon find you save much
time by doing this. In washing dishes
| remember that the less handling Of the
| dishes means less work. Dry only the
silver and glass and let the other things
| drain dry. In washing, separate the
| clothes to be starched from those not to
| be and thus save time and trouble when
| the clothes in the bluing hunting
| for them.
| Also in washing study the materials
| so you will not shorten the length of
your garments by treating them roughly.
| Remember when you put the clothes to
soak that heat expands them grad
| ually increase the temperature of the
water SO the dirt will fall out Remem-
| Der that woolens and silks should not
be washed in waters of different tempera-
I
Every woman has her own individual
problem which she may solve by study
| Ing her own case. She can by going
about it Systematically do her work in
| such way that she may save her
| strength for the higher life and for her
| family. While the preparation and selec-
| ton of food should take serious thought
| II should not take all of woman's
| time"
Miss Blundell suggested that in start
| ing to keep house the young woman
| should buy no utensils which have cracks
and crevices, as they are hard to keep
clean Then she suggested keeping
records of everything, where summer
| clothes are put for the winter. the sizes
| the different members of the family
wear in shoes, gloves. etc, the cost of
each article bought for the house, the
cost of books, their authors etc, the
family medical record. records Of adj
| dresses, etc. She passed out sheets hav-
ing eight different divisions of such
accounts to help in starting a card cata-
! logue. She also gave out sheets on
which were the standard heights for
working surfaces depending on the height
of the worker.
The meeting was in charge of Mrs
M. l.. Cummings