I did the same for years
till I read a tutorial by a pshop guru. I never looked back after that.
The bonus is that if you come back to edit it later the original is untouched and all the erasering is there to be undone/changed/feathered/opacity changed etc.
(
Enigmatic ™ Voice No More ©,
Mon 3 May 2004, 3:58,
archived)