Saturday 8 January 2011

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

5 comments:

  1. it's amazing the level of utter crap

    that is about.
    A bit of common sense prevails.

    ReplyDelete
  2. sheeeez newspapers will print anything!..... I suppose thinking about sugary/salty washing is better than contemplating what celebrity is off to rehab....again....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like advice from the 20's when women used carbolic acid
    personally" and also put borax on baby's butt!

    ReplyDelete
  4. washing soda and grated soap works wonders

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi, I am very pleased to have found your blog! I am surprised I havn't earlier as we visit a lot of the same blogs (your sidebar tells me that anyway!)
    My latest 'reinspiration' is natural dyes so finding you is perfect! I will be back:)

    ReplyDelete