Trainman News

Your Money's Worth
By MARY SHERIDAN

Been planning to buy a new refrigerator, TV set, radio, or sheets and towels during December?

Delay your buying plans until January, when there will be sales in most parts of the country on appliances, TV and radio sets, furniture, sheets, towels, and blankets.

Under the new Federal Housing Administration's provisions, home owners can borrow up to $2,500 for home improvements and repay the loan over a period of three years and 32 days. The lending agency must see that the dealer who does the work is reliable, qualified, and financially responsible; this FHA ruling should help protect home owners against shoddy work or fraud.

Before proceeding on home repair:

1. Get professional advice about the job to be done. An architect or engineer--whose services can be included in the loan--can give construction guidance and prevent costly mistakes.

2. Use good materials that will provide years of service and easy maintenance.

3. Get several bids on the work. Even if good reasons persuade you against the lowest bidder, the low bid will help you gauge prevailing prices.

4. Check the reputation of the builder and ask to see other work he has done.

5. Check to see if the repair or remodeling work will add to the resale value of your home.

When you're buying toys, choose ones that are true to life--toy engines and dump trucks and animals that look like real ones.

Be sure the toy works. Avoid toys that can be broken easily and gadget novelties that will pall in a day or two.

The nation's food supply for 1955 will be ample, according to the Department of Agriculture forecasts. Food prices are expected to be about the same or a little lower. Recent dips in the prices of coffee, pork, lard, and dairy products have helped the family's food pocketbook, but not enough.

Are those mud-caked garden tools still piled up in a corner of the garage? Replacing them would run into quite a chunk of cash. If left untouched, they will be all the more difficult to clean next spring when you want to put them into use quickly.

Wash off the mud on hoes, trowels and cultivators. A mild case of rust can be removed with steel wool and kerosene; if the rust is thick, use a liquid rust remover (most hardware stores carry it). Sharpen hoe blades and rub a thin coat of oil over the metal. Roughened wood handles can be sanded smooth; linseed oil rubbed in vigorously will help preserve the wood. Then store the tools in a safe and convenient place, ready for next spring.

Notes to remember for the coming holiday party times:

For children's and teen-age parties, use disposable paper plates, cups, and napkins. Put in a good supply.

The morning after a party, use a damp cloth and then a good furniture polish to remove sticky rings and marks from coke and cocktail glasses.

An almond stick will remove most water stains on furniture. If this doesn't work, try pressing a warm (not hot) iron over a clean blotter placed on the stains, but be careful not to overdo it.

An open fire will help pull the cigarette and cigar smoke out of a room. If possible, open the windows wide for half an hour at the end of a party to pull out the smoke odor before it settles into curtains and upholstered furniture. And get rid of cigar butts.