Read more Oily Rag articles by Frank and Muriel Newman Spring has sprung which means its

time to clean out the cupboards, dust the tellie and catch up on those cleaning and repair jobs that have a habit of ending up on the to do list. Well to do no longer here are some cheap and easy tips from readers to make the chore less of a bore. Allie from Nelson says, Instead of buying copper cleaning powder ($29!) I read the label and saw that the main ingredient was citric acids. I mixed a teaspoon of citric acid ($1.15 a packet) with 1 tablespoon of cream cleaner (Jif) in a small glass bowl. It works a treat. Wear rubber gloves as it's hard on the hands. S J, from Dunedin writes a wee squirt goes a long way. Having had the grandchildren over I noticed how much dish washing liquid we went through when they helped with the washing up. So I hung a hand whisk by the dish-rack. They only used a small amount of liquid and had a sink full of bubbles to keep them happy. Since they have gone home I've keep using the whisk and have increased the length between bottles of dish washing liquid. A wee squirt goes a long way once it is whisked into the water. J.H. from Auckland has a low-cost cleaner for paths and exterior surfaces. Simply save a bucket of washing water on wash days. Add a couple of handfuls of baking soda [bought at a bulk bin store] and add a good slurp of bleach. Gently scrub the mixture onto the surface and rinse. The result is great and lasting. Sue from Kaitaia also recommends sugar soap. I use it for cleaning walls, ceilings, floors and to wash the car. It is really good at getting road grime off the car and does not leave waxy marks on the windows. In fact, it has been removing the wax spots that were already there. I also use it in the window washers of the car. It is cheaper than car wash products and does a better job. It is also great in the house and you don't need several different products. It removes mould and grease from walls and ceilings with ease and leaves everything looking nice. Spray and Wipe unusually bleaches the patch where it is sprayed and the walls end up looking blotchy. Sugar Soap is not too expensive and is available at supermarkets. Ross writes, We have many friends with glass fronted wood-burners in their lounges. They use many commercial cleaning preparations to clean the glass - over time this amounts to a significant cost. A simple no-cost solution is to use the ash itself to clean the glass. We have used this for around ten years, and the glass is still like new. Take three pieces of paper towel. Hold one piece under a tap to saturate it with water. Dip this repeatedly in the cold ash and use it to clean the glass. It will come clean within seconds. Use the remaining two pieces to wipe the glass clean and dry. Make sure you have a piece of newspaper spread under the open door to catch the drips as you clean! K.C. from Hastings has a tip for cleaning burnt pots. Put water in the pot with half cup or so of salt. Boil it for about five minutes and leave overnight. The burn stains should come off in the morning. Repeat as necessary. T.B. from Blenheim has a tip to remove unsightly stains around the base of your taps. The stains are caused by calcium deposits in the water. An easy way to get the stain off is to wrap a piece of cloth soaked in vinegar around the tap, after a day or so the

stain will wipe off. Its the acetic acid in the vinegar that does the trick! Do you have an oily rag idea to share? Send your comments and tips by visiting the oily rag website or write to Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag, PO Box 984, Whangarei. The book Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag by Frank & Muriel Newman is available online at www.oilyrag.co.nz. * Frank and Muriel Newman are the authors of Living Off the Smell of an Oily Rag in NZ. Readers can submit their oily rag tips on-line at www.oilyrag.co.nz. The book is available from bookstores and online at www.oilyrag.co.nz.

To everyone born in the 1920's, 30's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's :)
Had a good laugh at this! Hope you do too!! To everyone born in the 1920's, 30's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !! First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks some of us took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a Ute on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Red Rooster. Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death! We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Fruit Tingles and some fire crackers to blow up frogs and lizards with. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because...... WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and cubby houses and played in creek beds with matchbox cars. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no videogames at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape or DVD movies, no surround sound,no mobilephones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. Only girls had pierced ears! We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time.......no really! We were given BB guns and sling shots for our 10th birthdays, We drank milk laced with Strontium 90 from cows that had eaten grass covered in nuclear fallout from the atomic testing at Maralinga in 1956. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet! Footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps and bully'salways ruled the playground at school. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

Our parents got married before they had children and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade'..... This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

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Comments
Please read and add your own comments about this article below. Login first to have them recorded against your profile. by Sofi 11th November 2008 All absolutely true... I read this article with a smile on my face... Enjoyed very much... Cheers Sofi by Bowie 11th November 2008 We were so lucky to grow up and have all these 'normal experiences' - a pity our children aren't so free and happy. by MRHOBO 9th September 2010 I totally agree with it all. Have a read of my article "Remember When" All the best, MR HOBO.

by MARKY MARK 15th September 2010 YES They were the days. I thank you for the smile you have put on my face the sad thing is, children today will never experience those care free days that us over 50 will never forget. Be safe and thank you again Marky Mark by Dene 27th September 2010 How well I remember those days. Good friends, Good times, Great Parents. Fond memories. by BigT 29th September 2010 Oh how I remember them day, BUGGER they realy where the good old days, todays kids realy havent got a clue have they, by Leezme 1st November 2010 I love the article , I also love progress , but at what cost , .... Ain't it a curse ... :-) , that when " P C (Political Correctness ) " was introduced and enforced " P ( Practicality ) C (Common Sense ) went out the window . Society maybe the shallower for it sadly .. By Leezme by UNTAC 7th December 2010 So very true. I really miss those days by trainmad 11th December 2010 Oh yes they where the days . sorry todays childern are all softies thanks to the nuts in parliament whom wont to save money by cold mountain 15th December 2010 Oh for the old days????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????// by Remarkables 26th December 2010 I agree with you totally and how we miss those days. Thank you for enlightening the younger generation. by honda1 31st December 2010 absolutly agerr with this post.where did it all go wrong? by topaz 21st January those days were certainly the best, iam glad i grew up in that area, nows is all drugs, booze violence, and we had respect for our elders, which is lacking today, that article put smile on my face by majorminor 26th February Leezme & Honda - Until western society returns to teaching children in the home, such that they reach their teens equipped with Self Responsibility, an understanding of honesty and a Moral Compass, then no amount of laws enacted by politicians are going to improve things. Putting teens, with the vaguest understanding of physics, no appreciation of doing unto others, etc., into fast cars and then wondering why we see so much carnage on our roads, while at the same time pontificating about how bad these young ones are, will fix nothing. i agree there is far to much emphasis on PC (Pontification Crap) witness this Bicycle Helmet, School Sunhat carryon. Having done well over 10,000km on nth island roads without a helmet, i cannot fathom how wearing one those will substitute for learning and care, just as with sunhats; how will young ones learn to cover up once they have reached their limit, based on skin and conditions. My bet is that all on this forum spent their entire school life without a sun hat on. by terry1 9th March I was injured in abombed cinema , my house was bombed & my father killed, & i was machinegunned by aplane on my way home frome school all of course during the last big war but I never received any counseling, I feel very hard done by terry shorter. by celticlass 15th April How absolutley wonderful. I remember those days with many happy memories. Thanks. by raydx 31st May Great memories of great days by ange024 6th June i just loved this story .reminded me of when i was a child. miss the good old days. by grah025 18th June Thanks for the memories!!! by dean008 21st June Ahhh the good old days!!!! Had soooo much fun back then.....thanks for that :) by nibbln 27th June

by Square Wheeler 30th June They were good days and I had a wonderful and fortunate childhood. but I also remember a friend who got Polio and died and another who was more than 12 months in hospital, recovered but now in his 70s has one leg shorter than the other and painful spine problems because of the polio, so there were some not-sogood things. by Flash Gordon 6th July How true it is!!! by jenn094 19th August Got to agree with everything, too much political correctness, namby pamby, soft soaping now, but in saying that, hasn't every generation thought the young of today has it easy! I wouldn't want to be a kid today for anything, loved my childhood even though we didn't have a lot of material things, always knew mum and dad would be there for us and they still are, I salute my mum and dad by gone fishing 22nd August Totally agree and more so. Strange though, that these are the same generations that have created the current soft, PC environment. by henr003 12:34pm 9th Sep 2011 I Totally agree, we could experiment with all sorts of things and ventures. Never had to look over your shoulder or have some PC crap saying you cant do that. by skoob 10:00am 17th Sep 2011 We had it so good,Was born in U.K. went to cinemas by ourselves at an early age my nana worked there so that was ok. Came to N.Z. in 1962 .Kids today got all the bells and whistle but not the freedom we had.Parents today work to pay bills and take kids to out of school activites,maybe the kids would rather have quality time with mum and dad.Who knows ask the kids maybe!!!! Log in to post comments

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