One trend that more and more folks seem to be turning towards is taking a cue from previous generations: delving into the tips and tricks that our predecessors used on a regular basis.
Doing so seems to give a fair bit of insight on how to take full advantage of every item purchased, ensuring little goes to waste, and making various household products from scratch.
Looking to the household practices from the Victorian era through to the 1950s provides a wealth of information on frugality, re-using, re-purposing, preserving, and pretty much any other homey topic on earth. Granted, some practices aren't going to be rekindled anytime soon, and some things that were the norm back then would certainly be skipped over today, but there's a lot that can be learned from our grantparents' generation, and even earlier.
Take vinegar, for example.
Toronto's St. Lawrence Sunday Antique Market usually has an assortment of vintage magazines, and in one from the 1940s there were thorough instructions on how to clean house on a budget, including tips on how to polish the mirrors and windows of one's house with vinegar. The article cited excellent results that came from doing so, and praised the wartime home-maker for thriftiness: at less than $1 a bottle, vinegar was a staple in every household of that era, and using it as a cleaning agent has impressive results. Why has this practice fallen by the wayside?
Non-toxic and natural, vinegar is something that most people now associate with cooking, but it's been lauded so heartily in so many cleaning resources, and has been used as such for so long, that its record of success really can't be argued.
Supplies needed for cleaning glass surfaces:
White vinegarWaterCotton ragNewspaper
To clean glass, mix equal parts vinegar and water, sprinkle a bit of this mixture onto the cotton rag (or if you're using a spray bottle, spritz it directly onto the surface), wipe the glass thoroughly, and then dry the area with some crinkled-up newspaper until it's dry and sparkling. This will give gorgeous results with zero negative eco-impact: the rag can be washed, the newspaper recycled, and the vinegar is just fermented, distilled grape juice. If anyone accidentally gets some of this in their mouth, there will be a slight puckering of lips and perhaps a shudder of sorts, but no need to call poison control.
The house may smell a bit like a salad for a short period of time, but that may be a selling point for those who just aren't into http://www.window-cleaning-melbourne.com.au/
