HOUSEHOLD TIPS NOT FOUND IN WOMAN'S WEEKLY

[Stanley]

Following on from the above, I often think of, and repeat out loud at times the German phrase that covers it 'Alles in ordnung', literally 'everything is in order'. Some say this is a sign of OCD but I disagree, it's far simpler than that and is not a meaningless compulsion. In my case it gives me a sense of satisfaction that all is as it should be. I'm sure there is a branch of Zen Buddhism that covers this!

[Stanley]

Don't be greedy when shelving your books. Nothing destroys the spine of a book faster than having them squeezed in tight on the shelf. Most people get a book out by pulling the top out with one finger on the spine. Don't! Instead push the top back and upwards, this will make the bottom move out. Grasp that to pull the book out. Your books will stay in good nick far longer!

[chinatyke]

What a good sensible tip, but can I break the habit of a lifetime?

[Stanley]

With difficulty China, you have to be thinking every time you get a book down and sometimes it's difficult. The enemy is of course too tight on the shelves.
I remember once when visiting a bookshop on the Loop in St Louis while I was staying with Uncle Bob, the irascible owner of the shop noticed I was having difficulty extracting a book I was interested in and came down on me like a ton of bricks and gave me an unnecessary lecture about breaking book spines. I marked his card for him and pointed out that his shelves were stacked too tightly, I needed no lessons from him and he could shove his books where the monkey put the nutshells. When I reported this to Bob he laughed and told me that he had exactly the same problem with the man and did as I did, left the premises!

[Stanley]

The most common damage to old books which have otherwise been cared for well is fading of the spine. If possible keep your valuable books away from direct daylight. Sun is the worst but ordinary daylight is just as damaging in the long run. I think the culprit id the Ultra Violent light.....

[Tizer]

That's right, it's the UV and it was a major problem for us when we were publishing and selling books. Yellow covers are the most affected and will go white in a few years if they see much sun. We pestered the printers to find us colour-fast ink but they wouldn't believe there was a problem until we sent them photos of bleached books and told them we had customers worldwide - imagine books sitting on desks in California, Australia, Malaysia... They then found a suitable ink and all was well (until the time when they forgot and used normal ink). It must be `near UV' that causes the fading because `far UV' would be absorbed by the window glass. The worst time is early and late in the year when the sunlight comes indoors at a low angle.

I predict even greater problems in the future, now that people are fitting low-iron glass in their double glazing. It's used to improve the transmission of solar energy above that of conventional glass, giving a better performance in the visual range and increasing the near-infrared heat uptake through windows. It's iron that gives glass that familiar green tinge, most obvious when you look at it edge on. Aquarium enthusiasts like low-iron glass because it lets you see the fish better. We've now got low-iron glass double glazing and it's great for `looking out' onto the garden or where you have a long view and it brings in more heat. As well as potential fading, another disadvantage is if you like watching the birds in your garden - they can see you more easily through low-iron glass and are therefore more easily spooked!

[Stanley]

How nice to have the endorsement of an expert! OG is wonderful.
Worth mentioning that the same thing applies, even more so, to original paintings (and furniture fabrics!). I hang my original paintings either in the dim light of the hallway or on the same wall as the window in the front room so that they only get reflected light.

[Stanley]

If a modern TV set suffers a catastrophic malfunction, don't attempt to repair a major fault, bin it and get a new one!

[Stanley]

TV watched on a good computer screen is just as good as on a high quality TV screen!

[Stanley]

If you are asked a question you don't know the answer to, don't attempt to re-invent the wheel. Find someone who has been there....

[Stanley]

Some of the most tasty and nutritious parts of animals have fallen out of favour. Trotters, ham hocks, oxtail and most offal is very cheap and cooked properly is a valuable source of high quality food. Go seek them out and laugh at the more squeamish who are losing out big time.

[PanBiker]

If a modern TV set suffers a catastrophic malfunction, don't attempt to repair a major fault, bin it and get a new one!

To late now but preempting the diagnosis of "catastrophic failure" should really be left to a specialist in the field. In probability the set may have popped a few capacitors in the luminance or chrominance processing circuitry. Certainly not automatic bin fodder without investigation. I thought the ethos of the thread was for tips on thrift rather than advice on how to add to the throw away society.

Having said that, if you fancied a change.

[Cathy]

I think most of us are members of the "I want it now" or "It's just too hard" society.
What happened to waste not, want not??
I also think that technology is going forward so fast and offering us so much choice, why not enjoy what is available in the here and now.

[Tripps]

Some of the most tasty and nutritious parts of animals have fallen out of favour. Trotters, ham hocks, oxtail and most offal is very cheap and cooked properly is a valuable source of high quality food. Go seek them out and laugh at the more squeamish who are losing out big time.

I think you're a bit behind the curve here. These cuts are very popular with the Cordon Bleu gang. I would add pig's and ox cheek - slow cooked 'sous vide'. It's all to do with the mark up for the restaurant. Belly pork, or Pork belly as it is now called used to be very cheap, but has had its status raised by the chosen ones. I've tried ox tail but don't buy it now, as it seems to be expensive for what it is - low on meat, and high on bone.

[Stanley]

Apart from high end chefs and dinosaurs like me most people run a mile from cheap cuts. That's why the supermarkets don't stock them.
The verdict on the Sony TV was unanimous. The older of the two men who delivered the new one put it nicely, he said that anything could be repaired but by the time you have spent the money on the repair you still had an old set. I am all for waste not want not but modern charges for labour mean that in the long run some re-cycling by repair is uneconomic....

[Tizer]

What happened to waste not, want not??

Once when we changed jobs and had to move about 50 miles we were without a house. The history teacher colleague at Mrs Tiz's new school insisted that we stayed with her and her husband until we found somewhere. It ran on for many months but she wouldn't let us go until we'd got the house to move to. She and hubbie would be described as `from a privileged background', he had been an officer in the RN on the Russian convoys in WW2 and then with a merchant bank in Hong Kong and on his return to UK became company secretary for a big well-known business here. They were great supporters of the church both here and in Hong Kong, generous with their money and, more importantly, their time and the loveliest people you could know - they considered themselves as having temporarily adopted us. She was a great teacher, liked and respected by the secondary school kids she taught. If she saw them fighting in the street she would wade in and shout orders and even the worst of them would stop and pay attention. Regardless of her background she always followed the dictum `Waste Not, Want Not' and leftovers from meals were kept and used. You'd be in serious trouble if you threw stuff away!

[Stanley]

I agree with that entirely Tiz. Much of what is described as 'waste food' now was 'left-overs' then. A completely different concept. Fried mashed potatoes was a major element in our diet during the war. Stale bread went into bread and butter puddings. This syndrome was well illustrated on the TV programme where a family was made to cook as we did in the 1950s. The lady had to fry some chips. She had a large block of lard/dripping but only used a bit of it to fry the chips instead of deep-frying using the lot. She evidently thought it would be a waste as the fat would be thrown away after the cooking. She would doubtless think that the solid dripping in my deep fat fryer is a health hazard because it has been used once!
The same process applies to thinking about 'best before' dates on packaging. Because modern cooks have lost the art of deciding for themselves on the state of food they blindly adhere to these dates and in consequence throw away thousands of tons of good food every day. You wouldn't believe how old my sacks of dried peas, rice and medium oatmeal are!

[Cathy]

Be extra careful when using your deep chip fryer Stanley, I nearly burnt down a whole kitchen cooking in one of those, have never had one since.

Thank goodness for the frozen chips that I just place onto foil on an oven tray and wait 25 minutes.

[Stanley]

It's thermostatically controlled Cathy but I never leave it when it's on. Remember when I did this with the frying pan? Good job I had an efficient fire extinguisher next to the cooker... I had it refilled and it is still there. So the moral is always have a good extinguisher ready for use in the kitchen!

[Stanley]

Worth mentioning that if you have an extinguisher in the kitchen make sure it is a good size, mine is a 2kg CO2. CO2 is best because it doesn't make a mess and is safe for fat and electricity fires. Don't get suckered into one of the very small ones that are often sold for domestic use, you need some muscle when the house is on fire! By the way, the first action with a fat fire is to drape a damp tea towel over the pan to cut the air off from the fat, a fire blanket is even better, they don't cost much.... Whatever you do don't throw water on a fat fire, it will simply make it explode and shower burning fat over everything!

[Stanley]

If there is some craft or pastime you have always admired or been fascinated by but have decided it is beyond your skills... forget the doubts and have a go. You will surprise yourself. Most of these things are 10% natural aptitude and 90% application and effort. They are bench jobs and it's amazing what you can find out about yourself...

[Stanley]

Never walk past something useful lay on the ground. It will always come in useful for something if you keep it long enough. Look at button boxes....

[LizG]

Never walk past something useful lay on the ground. It will always come in useful for something if you keep it long enough. Look at button boxes....

No no no!! I've just spent hours throwing all those things into a very large skip.

[Moh]

I have a button box which was my mums it brings back happy memories.

[Bodger]

anyone make spinners with button and thread