Evening star., 1951-01-14
Readers
Clearing House
Conducted by BETSY CAsWELL
SOAP!
ECONOMY HINTS.

| from Mrs. M. A.. Wnshington.)
/ Mrs. c. r. will find directions
for making soap on the label Of
the I've can. That is the recipe /
use, with the addition Of u cup
Of borax. stirred into the lye solu-
ton before pouring in the fat.
After trying out various instruc-
tions for making soap, have
boiled 1t down to this simple
method. using the four ingredi-
ents. lye, water, borax, and fat,
and find IL very satisfactory. AS
containers for cooling and shap-
ing the soap, I use tin cans and
milk cartons with the top cut of.
That gives me both round and
square cakes.
In using the cans, I remove the
bottoms after the soap has hard
ened, push it through one end,
and then slice it. Be careful of
free liquid that might not have
been absorbed, as sometimes hap
pens This is uncomfortable to
the skin and ruinous to aluminium
pots or pans. I hope you have
coed luck if you try this. It may
seem rather complicated at first
but after two or three patches, you
will find it very simple. Once
more let me say, do be very careful
in handling the lye solution at any
stage in the process.
AS to other economies, you said
you might be interested in, will
list a few, with the risk Of becom-
ing bore to others.
One item that has come to the
top as a result Of this sorry war
situation is newspapers. Junk
dealers are paying high prices for
them and will pick up 500 pounds.
! recently sold Sc worth.
A food item that I have been
using lately is the dried milk.
This is fine for baking, chocolate
milk for the children, milk for
the cat and makes five quarts
for IS cents.
Another dollar stretcher is the
mix your own BISCUIT preparation.
Very simple to mix and can be
used as a base for n different
recipes. While the original direc-
tions call for a certain brand of
shortening, I find that even the
cheapest shortening works just
as well. Along this same line
ready mixed cake preparations sre
also out for me for the time being
I make chiffon cakes occasionally
but only after I have saved enough
whites from other cookery which
only uses yolks. I don't overlook
the reduced for quick sale items
Not long ago I got a large bag Of
mushrooms for 10 cents, every
one good.
| One more suggestion, and thi.
about cleaning preparations.
used to buy all the special anc
attractively advertised bottles anc
boxes and cans. one for this, one
for that. until I had a cluttered -ur
cupboard full of half-empty con-
tainers. Then it came to me that
most of them were all recon-
mended for cleaning the same
things, so now I stick to two or
three favorites and do not need
the others.
Thanks to Mrs.sC. r. for her
suggestions. Our old piano has
a face lifting after being rubbed
down with the polish.
X \ X 4
THANK YOU" NOTE.
(From M. H. R., Wdshington.J
Evidently this page in The Eve
ming Star is widely read. I thank
the many readers very heart
warmly for the generous supplies
sent in answer to my request fol
used greeting and Christmas cards
Where addresses are given I vii
hope to acknowledge by persona,
note.
from Mrs. A. F. G., Washington.
I should like to thank RICH fol
making it possible for me to OBJ
tain not one, but two copies o1
the newspaper wanted. I have
written to the kind man anc
woman who sent me the papers
I think it was so nice of them
to take all that trouble for ar
absolute stranger.