while on the subject of washing

taking a brief break from attempting to induce some semblance of order in the guest bedroom
i briefly scanned the weekend newspaper

in an article entitled 'how to save money' or words to that effect
i found the following bit of nonsense
suggesting that a cup of sugar or a cup of salt be added to the wash in order to remove greasy stains
[with the justification that this would be cheaper than stain remover]

firstly salt and sugar are two very different vegetables indeed.

salt is a traditional mordant, best avoided as Australia already has a problem with soil salinity

sugar in the wash will also act as a pre-mordant, but not the way that salt might [ie fixing colours or changing them radically in the case of eucalyptus dyes] in that when you come to iron the item anything on the surface that has sugar in it will darken as the heat caramelises the stuff
[that's why you can wash out a sweet stain only to have it bounce back during the pressing process]

in any case, a cup of either [salt or sugar] would cost a lot more than a teaspoon of your average stain remover [assuming you use the stuff].
a drop of dishwashing detergent rubbed into the stain with a fingertip prior to laundering does the trick anyways.

AND using salt in a washing machine will lead to corrosion [just as it does when used in a pasta machine - nothing like a small diversion]

that's enough pontificating for today, back to rearranging those chairs on the foredeck of the Titanic

The Advertiser, Saturday January 8th, 2011