Furniture Make-Overs for Beauty and Budget

"Do you wonder if your house needs to be given a new touch of glamour - do you feel that some of your furniture suddenly has a very tired and old look - or do you have an unused wedding present or a hand-me-down piece which you've relegated to the attic or basement? Don't feel that all is hopeless. On the contrary, no piece of furniture is too old to be salvaged; if you want to modernize, or to remodel yet retain its present period, all you need is a bit of imagination plus a few simple woodworking tools, paint and brush, and needle and thread." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956

How to Make Small Rooms Seem Larger

"There are three ways to tackle the problem of creating a feeling of space in a small room. One has to do with walls and ceilings….A second way to make a crowded room seem to expand its dimensions is to re-arrange the furniture….Finally, you can study the small room to see if you can lessen the total number of confusing patterns it may have in floor coverings, curtains, and upholstery." 

Employee Relations Inc., no date

Something Out of Nothing

"Your house may possess a "treasure box" of many articles which are ready to be turned into good use. This may be an incentive for you to develop a leisure time activity of "household makeovers" which will be not only a pleasure but a most profitable pastime. And you'll receive applause for your originality in creating something out of nothing!" 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956

Wild Flowers on the Roadside

"What is that flower? How often do we ask that familiar question as we speed along the highway, or stop for a picnic, or rest in a shady nook? One does not need to be a botanist, or a flower collector, to answer that question. There are hundreds of wild flowers common to our highways, fields and woods which anyone can identify with just a little prompting. And such fun it is! In fact it can be a family game in which the children can join and it is more interesting and instructive than counting white hourses, red barns or mail boxes." 

Blue Book Company, 1956

Attracting Birds to Your Yard

"The greatest pleasure I derive from birds is found in attracting them to birdhouses around my home. It is even more fun than luring them to feeding stations. As I write this, parent bluebirds are feeding their three young that have just emerged from a birdhouse; tree swallows circle gracefully over another box containing their eggs; and three pairs of wrens find time between chores to serenade me with effervescent song." 

Good Reading Rack Service, no date

Flowers in the Home

"Too many people consider flowers a luxury because they don't know how to use plant material that is free or how they can utilize just a few flowers from the local florist." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956

Reader Request: Inside 99 Wife-Savers

You ask and you shall receive.  Here is 99 Wife-Savers in its entirety!  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Evergreens and Flowering Shrubs

"Shrubs, what a blessing they are and how much beauty they can contribute to a yard or garden, and what a multitude of sins and ugliness they can hide, if wisdom and good taste are used. It is easier said than done, but not difficult for anyone to learn the simple fundamentals." 

Good Reading Rack Service, no date

How to Prune

"Although the subject of pruning is exhaustless, the basic principles are simple. It is important to know when to prune, how to prune and what to prune." 

Employee Relations Inc., 1960

Lawn Tips for Home Gardeners

"Of course you want a better lawn! Nearly everyone does. You can have it, too, if you will take a little sound advice and do the right thing at the right time. Unfortunately, the common lawn has many things in common with the common cold - everyone has a different remedy and few of them really work." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1954

Make It for Your Garden

"The silent guide through your garden and grounds is the walk and, because it must be made useful as well as attractive, careful thought has to be given to its proper design and construction. The first consideration is that a walk should lean one to his destination directly and conveniently. This does not mean that a walk must not curve but rather that it should not follow a circuitous route through your garden unless there is a definite reason, such as leading one by a particularly attractive feature." 

George W. Steward, 1954

Spring Tips for Home Owners

"The clouds are looking fleecy, the days are getting warmer, the trees are starting to bud, and spring is just around the corner! All the earth begins to look alive again, and the lady of the house gets that "Spring Cleaning" gleam in her eye. And for a good reason, too. With the first fresh gusts of spring air, the house suddenly seems musty and dusty, the car squeaks, the garden has all but disappeared and everything cries out for a good airing and freshening up. That mixed blessing, the "lived-in look," really shows up, come spring!" 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1957

Spot & Stain Removal

Employee Relations Inc., no date

How to Remove Stains

"Off with stains! Keep clothes and home fabrics spotlessly clean. It is smart and thrifty to take best care of your clothing and household fabrics so they will look well and last as long as possible. Many stained and spotted articles are needlessly thrown away each year. Many others are needlessly ruined by unsuccessful attempts to remove stains. It is possible to remove practically any stain at home by following a few simple rules. To take proper care of your fabrics, you will find it worth-while to learn enough of the "know-how" skill so that you can do a good job." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956

99 Wife-Savers

"Everyone knows the old story about the housewife who fixed a leaky faucet with a hairpin after it defied the best efforts of a husband and a boxful of expensive tools. This booklet lists 99 other ways for the woman of the house to improvise practical solutions to everyday problems to that she can make her day easier, her home more efficient and her husband more respectful." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1958

NOTE:  The contents of this pamphlet have been shared here!

Make Your Housework Easier

"Each job has three parts. Industry calls these get ready, do and clean up. Usually the do is the interesting part of the job, or at any rate, the part that accomplishes something, so in planning our time we are apt to forget to allow for the get ready and the clean up. Some jobs take a long time on the get ready, others on the clean up. Keeping this in mind, you can plan your work intelligently." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1955

Only People Pay Taxes

"Most Americans do a certain amount of squawking about taxes. They would probably yell even louder if they realized that (1) the only source of taxes is people, and (2) the individual taxpayer is really paying much more for government than he thinks he is. Like an iceberg, a big chunk of the taxes people pay is below the surface, out of sight. But this hidden tax can be hauled into view with a little hard work." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956

Let's Get Out of the Rut

"Almost everyone is concerned about taxes. Recently much attention has been given to the problems of unemployment and social welfare. There are problems in state institutions - the penitentiary, the mental institutions, and public schools. There is, obviously, no lack of current, specific and urgent problems." 

Employee Relations Inc., no date

Taxes - A Fourth of All We Earn

"Taxes are one of man's most ancient companions and persistant problems. A subject of intense debate today, they were also an issue 4,000 years ago, for approximately the same reasons as today." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1957

How to Cut Your Income Tax

Good Reading Rack Service, 1953

Income Tax Information for Employees

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956

You Bet They Check Your Income Tax

"The vast majority of all Americans are honest. Yet Uncle Sam's investigators found arithmetical mistakes totaling nearly $100,000,000 when they checked last year's income tax returns. Altogether, the government recovered more than $1,500,000,000 as a result of checks, audits and prosecutions. So it pays the Internal Revenue Service to take a close look at most income tax returns. Here is the story of what will happen to your return after you address it and mail it before April 15." 

1957

Your Benefits from the New Tax Law

"The new law cuts no tax rates. But does it provide tax cuts by allowing you to deduct more of your expenses and to exclude from taxable income some of the money you previously had t opay tax on. Most of the provisions are effective as of January 1, 1954. That means you'll be able to take full advantage of them on the tax return you file in the spring of 1955, covering the year 1954." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1954

Your Church Can Help You

"The basic purpose of a church, of course, is to inspire us to live the law of God. But the early Christians also drew great earthly comfort and courage from one another as a group, and from their church as an institution, as they were pursued and tortured for their faith. We no longer need our fellow church members to warn us of physical danger (except possibly in totalitarian countries) but our lives in other respects have not changed entirely."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956

The Art of Knitting

"A beginner should use medium weight yarn such as sock and sweater yarn and #4 or #5 needles for practice work, making the various stitches in small swatches until a satisfactory degree of proficiency is reached. It is also wise to work a sample swatch of each new stitch used in a garment before starting to knit it. This serves two purposes. It will familiarize you with the stitch before you start to knit and to shape a garment. Also it will serve as a stitch gauge to compare with the measurements in which the original model was made." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956

Color Photography for Everyone

"Today it's easy and inexpensive for you to take good color photographs that you'll enjoy and be proud of for years to come. You probably can remember when this wasn't so. Color pictures once took a lot of money and really professional skill. What's happened to change all that? It's simple. We now have better film and improved lenses through which the film can receive a clearer image. These new films and lenses are so common that their cost to buy, and the cost of using them to make color photographs, are down to entirely reasonable levels." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956

How to Take Better Pictures

"After you've acquired a reasonable degree of skill in handling your camera, and learned to avoid most of the common mistakes, an exciting new world unfolds before you-the world of pictures." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1959

Popular Music and You

"As a parent or brother or sister of a teen-ager-or simply as a thinking American-you've probably wondered what this rock and roll thing is all about-the leather jackets, the studded peack-caps, the long side-burns, the hot rods and motorcycles, the riots. Is rock and roll really "immoral"? Does it lead to juvenile delinquency? Is it going to break down your family? Will it wreck the home-church-school foundations of American life?"

Good Reading Rack Service, 1957 

Treasure Hunting in Your Local Museum

"If you have a hobby or do-it-yourself project, or if you have children, or if you are just plain curious about past civilizations and the influence of other cultures and want to stretch your mind and soul, you will find a many-sided adventure awaiting you as you gradually become acquainted with the treasures in your local museums. Far from being a dusty warehouse of faded relics from a dead past, the museum of today serves as a source of inspiration for people of all ages and in all walks of life, and as a living testimony of man's greatest achievements and highest aspirations." 

Employee Relations Inc, no date

Have a Hobby for Pleasure and Profit

"Did you know that an evening's leisure, well spent, can leave you as relaxed as a visit to a desert island? Your islands of leisure can become a relaxing escape from high-pressure living…can pay a double dividend in happiness and satisfaction, via the healthy self-expression of a creative hobby."

Employee Relations Inc., no date

Have a Hobby for Fun and Health!

"Due largely to the greater amount of leisure time which we all have today, hobbies have become an important factor in our lives. Doctors even prescribe them to relieve the strain of modern living and to open new paths to pleasure and relaxation. The number and variety of hobbies are limited only by man's tastes and ingenuity. Basically, however, hobbies can be divided into two major categories, the collecting of things and the creating of things with one's hands."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1953