Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1875 — Small Savings. [ARTICLE]

Small Savings.

Some housekeepers reject small savings as too insignificant to be useful. One rejection might perhaps sometimes do, but where it is repeated half the year the waste is worth calculating. Fbr instance, where pies are made of rhubarb, green currants, gooseberries or sour apples, the acid can be extracted by allowing them to stand in boiling water. This set away in a jug or other stone vessel will make good vinegar, and weekly replenished will supply a small family, beside the saving in sweetening. Then again many biirn their useless rags because they bring only two cents per pound. That is very little, to be sure, less than years ago, when the price of stationery was as cheap as now, but in the course of a year, in a family, this item alone will amount to three or four dollars, and requires no more time or strength than opening a stove and allowing them to consume. Some people enjoy, bf otherwise, the reputation of vanity and extravagance, because they dress so well, when in fact less is expended in this direction than by the accuser. They have the disposition to save and the tact and taste to make the best of everything, and: the result is they always look stylish and well dressed. Then care, by brushing, banging or folding, keeps them freshlooking and tidy. I could not help noticing recently another little saving. A lady was basting strips upon a dress material that would have required a spool of cotton. Instead of getting the whole ready and then stitching she basted one strip at a time, using the thread with which the first was basted, thereby saving a little. Soap may be pieced out by having a leach tub where lye ean be drawn off as needed. It answers better for boiling than soap. Then again hqw much time and how many steps about housework could be saved by a little calculation and forethought? I once watched a model housekeeper clear the dishes from the table. She first removed the knives and forks, washed, wiped dry and put in the knife-box. Doing it thus quickly saved scouring. When she came in with them she took the cups, saucers and plates, washed them, and, if at the evenmg meal, turned one corner of the cloth aside, let them set till all were clean, then spread the table for breakfast—and so on throughout the whole routine of her housework. She found time for fancy work, reading, visiting and writing. People called her very smart and energetic. The latter she was not; but method and planning had become a fixed habit to her, and her work was performed with less fatigue and labor than in most households. In her house was a box with two apartments, one for tacks, one for nails, and over both lay the hammer; near by was the glue cup; next the salve box with cotton and strings or court-plaster. Then there 3tood the shirt-button box, pant-button box, coat-button box, alongside the hook and eyes—all neatly labeled and saving the time of hunting over a quart of buttons to find one. Every spring all the undershirts, drawers and skirts were mended bqfore being packed away, and in the fall the same was done by thesummer clothing. How much can be done by such planning and saving!?— Maine Farmer.