What a Housekeeper Knows About Cleaning That You Don't

This unlikely cleaning method went with the usual old-fashioned thrifty idea of not throwing anything away until its last morsel had been exploited. Bread was used extensively in cleaning – and processed white bread, the kind that had -become the cheap but un-nutritious staple of the diet of the poor – worked best of all. Pressing pieces of sliced white bread, screwed into pudgy balls, into the crevices of picture frames or dusty skirting boards picks up deposits of dust that can’t be got at with dusters, fingers or feathers. Bread was also used for cleaning books: pressing a wodge of bread into the spine and cover of a book then wiping over with a very slightly damp cloth was recommended.