Trainman News

Your Money's Worth

By MARY SHERIDAN
Trainman News Staff Writer

If the men in the family are in need of shirts, this is one of the best times of the year to watch the newspapers for shirt sales at men's or department stores or to check with your regular store to get advance notice, if possible, of coming sales.

Broadcloth remains the favorite shirting fabric, and it outwears anything except nylon. (Nylon shirts are still expensive and are not recommended purchases except for that rare traveling man who might want to wash a shirt rather than stretch a colored one another day.)

Clerks tell me that there would be fewer exchanges if men as well as their wives would not buy shirts before checking on the proper neck and sleeve size. Before you shop, take a look inside the neckband of your husband's most comfortable shirt; if it says 15-3, he wears a 15-inch neckband and a 30-inch sleeve.

In judging quality, it would be ideal if you could pull out the pins that tie up a shirt so securely, but most of us hesitate to ask busy clerks to do that. There is one thing you must know, whether you can see for yourself or not, so get the clerk's word that the shirt has evenly distributed pleats or gathers across the back yoke, for the fullness that makes motion easy on the wearer and the shirt.

On the front of the shirt, you can judge these important points of quality: Look at the buttonholes; are they firmly and evenly stitched? Are the buttons well-sewed on? Does the collar lie flat, with no tendency of the edges to curl? Notice the stitching here too, for it should be neat and even. Look on the underside of the collar: the best buys are shirts whose collars can be turned, but, alas, many manufacturers have shortened the life of an otherwise good shirt by using a different material here or those nuisance gadgets in back of collar points.

Last but by no means least, rub the shirt fabric between your fingers the way a watchful sheet buyer does; the fabric should feel smooth and firm and of even texture, without the glossy stiffness of too much sizing. Some of the reliable buys in nationally-known shirts at moderate price are: Van Heusén, Arrow, Bond's, Sears' Pilgrim, Penny's, and Manhattan.

When you're cleaning kitchen or basement storage shelves, whether re-arranging flour or spices or canned goods, make an inventory as you go along, both for replacement if you need added supplies for good housekeeping, for your own personal jogging on where you have over-bought and under-bought, and for setting apart goods which have been stored for some time and should be used soon before spoilage danger sets in.

This inventory not only makes for better housekeeping; there is a satisfaction that probably only the clan of housekeepers can understand in replacing a 10-cent can of stale cinnamon with a fresh one, or using up that can of red kidney beans that has been standing on the back of a storage shelf for you-don't-know-how-long. (Incidentally, baking the beans until hot in a moderate oven with a few strips of bacon makes a satisfying and inexpensive lunch or light supper dish; and if you heat a can of Co-op brown bread at the same time, the meal will be even better.)

Among the recently introduced products which may interest or amuse you are:

An easy to apply wool-felt, waterproof weatherstripping tape called "Pro-Seal" can be sealed on with a pressure of the fingers, requiring no nails or tools. A 100-foot roll costs $1.87, and two rolls should be plenty for windows and doors in a small house that now suffers from drafts. If you can't find it in stores, it can be ordered from Coast Paint and Chemical Co., 1507 Grande Vista Ave., Los Angeles 23, Calif.

Looking like a can of beer, "Hero" is a new pressurized fire extinguisher which can be hung in an unobtrusive spot in the kitchen or attic or easily stored in a car or boat for emergency use. In my judgment this is a fine safety device. It costs $1.29 for a 16-oz. can and mounting bracket, at department and hardware stores.

Sleet or frost on the car windshield are turned into slush for the windshield wiper to remove by "Saf-Vue," a fluid packaged in a plastic squeeze bottle. $1.25 from Page & Biddle, Haverford, Pa.

For kitchen drainboards and table tops which take a beating from liquids and assorted messes, a Bakelite coating called "Perma-Dress No. 1" gives a glass-like coating that's impervious to liquids hot and cold (including alcohol) and most stains. $1.75 a quart.