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Cost-Saving Tip No Longer a Bargain
Jul 03 2008 by Sara Lacey
7/1/08
Great-Grandmother’s Journal Reveals a Best-Forgotten Idea
I recently came across a “money-saving” tip from the 1910s about dry-cleaning clothes with gasoline. Turns out, early dry cleaners often used gasoline and kerosene to clean clothes; it wasn’t until after World War I that they began using less-flammable solvents.
I found the tip in a newspaper clipping in one of my mother-in-law’s many forgotten boxes and bookshelves. She passed away recently, and my husband and I came across the gas tip in a journal that we think belonged to his great-grandmother. Most entries are dated around 1916, and its pages are filled with poetry, schoolwork, recipes and bits of advice cut out from newspapers, which are secured to the journal’s pages using straight pins.
To make the dry-cleaning solution (please don’t try this at home), you need two gallons of gasoline, a few ounces of a gasoline soap and a large dishpan to mix it in. Simply submerge the clothes, swish around and “in a few moments the gasoline evaporates and articles look bright and fresh as new,” according to the newspaper article.
The article said this process could save folks about $5. Seems like a hassle to me, but remember that $5 in the late 1910s was a lot more money than it is today. And consider the things many people are doing to save a few bucks today — does hypermiling ring any bells?
