Tips from the magazine Rabotnitsa
The requirements for a Soviet woman were remarkable: she must be a leader in production, and a social activist, and an exemplary mother, and an exemplary hostess, and an athlete, and finally, just a beauty.
Yes, “ahead of the rest of the planet.” Advice on how to manage and combine all this was published in special women’s magazines Rabotnitsa and Krestyanka – a kind of Soviet gloss. First, there were pages devoted to the general line of the party, news from production, political essays and straightforward prose. And then – the most important thing: home economics pages. They wrote a little about everything: sewing, knitting, culinary recipes, a few chaste beauty tips, there was always a selection of short household tips. Let’s see what valuable for ourselves we could learn from those Soviet “life hacks”.
• “If you have an old rooster or a frying pan overgrown with thick soot in your household, do this: cut more soap into a bowl of water and set the pan to ‘boil’ for 15 minutes. Then let it cool in the basin, rub it with a thin metal washcloth or brush. “
• “Stainless steel spoons, forks and knives will be transformed if you hold them or even boil them in the water left after boiling potatoes in their“ uniform ”.
• “If you have something burnt in a saucepan, pour cold water on the bottom and add salt. After a few hours, you can easily remove food debris. “
• “Don’t throw away the lemon peel – if you put it in water for washing, dishes, especially glass, will become shiny.”
(magazine “Worker”, supplement “Home Kaleidoscope”, No. 5, 1988)
• “If the floors in your house are varnished – stick pieces of felt or thick, dense cloth on the legs of the table, chairs, armchairs. Now move them as much as you like – the floor will be saved. “
(magazine “Worker”, supplement “Home Kaleidoscope”, No. 5, 1988)
• “The rice will turn out white and tasty if you add a little vinegar to the water.”
(magazine “Worker”, supplement “Home Kaleidoscope” to No. 4, 1988)
• “Did you find a stain on the wallpaper? Apply to it for 2-3 minutes a piece of soft, thick cloth moistened with clean gasoline and wrung out slightly. The fat dissolved in gasoline will be absorbed into the fabric. “
(magazine “Worker”, supplement “Home Kaleidoscope” to No. 4, 1988)
• “Do not throw away the old oilcloth: wash it cleanly and use it for patterns, they will be more convenient and more durable than paper.”
(magazine “Worker”, supplement “Home Kaleidoscope” to No. 4, 1988)
• “If your umbrella gets dirty, you can easily freshen it up. Dilute a lotus-type powder in warm water, put an umbrella in it half-open for 5-10 minutes. Then gently wipe all the wedges of the umbrella with a brush or sponge, without opening it, so that the entire umbrella is in the water. Then rinse the umbrella with clean water, it is more convenient to do this from the shower.
A heavily soiled umbrella can be cleaned with ammonia (½ cup) diluted in one liter of water. Your umbrella will be like new. “
(magazine “Worker”, supplement “Home Kaleidoscope” to No. 5, 1988)
Taking care of rubber boots
• “Coming from the street, wash your boots with a soft cloth and wipe them dry, put them to dry away from the batteries. If you rub them with vegetable oil or glycerin, they will shine like new! “
(“Rabotnitsa” magazine, “Home Kaleidoscope” supplement to No. 9, 1991)
• “It is recommended to pour distilled or boiled water into an iron with a steam humidifier so that no scale builds up in the tank. But boiled water still gives scale, and distilled water is not always found at hand. Melt some of the ice or snow that forms on the sides of the refrigerator. This is the water that does not give any scale. By defrosting the refrigerator, I am stocking up on this water, and my ironing problem has been solved. “
(from the advice of the reader of the magazine “Rabotnitsa”, No. 12, 1985, supplement “Home Kaleidoscope”, heading “And I do this”)
• “A knitted item soaked in cold water with a little vinegar before washing will hardly fade. When rinsing, glycerin is added to the water (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water). “
(magazine “Worker”, supplement “Home Kaleidoscope” to No. 10, 1987)