These household tips are more than a century old, but they are still surprisingly useful
When we have to solve a household problem, we have two possibilities: either we rely on the Internet, which, however, does not always give the desired results, or we resort to our dear old grandmother's tips and advice.
By this, we are referring to a series of stratagems and techniques that our generation has inherited from the previous ones.
This knowledge was not written but handed down from parents (or grandparents) to their child.
Remaining on the theme of conventional wisdom, here we offer a series of very old household tips, which date back to the beginning of the 1900s.
As a matter of fact, in 1910, the cigarette manufacturer Gallaher's Cigarettes thought it was a good idea to create a series of cards to be inserted in their cigarette packs that provided useful tips to resolve the small everyday problems of household life.
The helpful advice and tips that came directly from our wise grandmothers are still surprisingly very valuable today, more than a century later.
1. To revive cut flowers, place them in a jug with hot water; then cut the ends of the stems and place them in a vase with cold water.
2. To light, a longer lasting fire in the absence of wood, roll paper up very tightly and it will be consumed very slowly!
3. Stuck glasses? Put cold water in the upper one and immerse the lower one in hot water.
4. A wooden crescent fixed with a screw is the simplest and quickest latch that can be created for a gate or a door.
5. To boil an egg with a small crack, just add vinegar to the water
6. To avoid creaking and noisy leather shoes, immerse them overnight in a dish with oil.
7. To remove water or salt stains from shoes, wipe with a solution of baking soda and milk; then clean them normally.
8. If you have a vase in the hallway or in the living room, fill a third of it with sand. In this way, it will be much more difficult for someone to make it fall over.
9. To remove a tight finger ring, rubbing it with soap is the safest and fastest method.
10. To wrap someone's ankle, place their foot on your knee. Next, proceed to wrap the bandage like a spiral and when finished fasten everything with a safety pin.
11. To turn a watch or clock into a compass, position it so that the hour hand points toward the sun. Then lay a piece of wire or a blade of grass crosswise between the hour hand and the number twelve. The end of the wire between the twelve and the hour hand points due south.
12. In case of an ankle sprain, wrap the ankle in a bandage, and then place one end of the bandage in a jug of cold water, positioned higher up on a table. This will keep the bandages moist and cool.
13. Cutting bread into thin slices is much easier if you first heat the knife with hot boiling water.
14. To control the freshness of a newly-bought lobster, take the tail and stretch it. If it bounces back like a spring, then the lobster is fresh.
15. Candle too big for the candlestick holder? Immerse it in boiling water and after a few minutes put it back in the candlestick holder.
16. To clean a section of an oil painting, gently rub it with the surface of a raw cut potato, and constantly cut off the dirty part of the potato to keep the surface applied to the painting clean, and once all the dirt has been removed, then finish off with a rub of pine linseed oil. N.B. If the painting is very dirty, contact a professional!
17. To identify a gas leak, use shaving foam or soap and water.
18. To lift a jug full of water, use your thumb too --- and the grip will be much safer.
19. Clean your shoes with a lemon cut in half and they will look like new!
20. To prevent eyeglasses from fogging up, wash them with a very small amount of soap.
21. A piece of velvet cloth glued behind the heel will allow you to comfortably wear shoes that are too big for you.
