Daily Thrifty Tips September 14, 2004

Hello,

I wanted to offer a quick reminder about two relatively new pages on ThriftyFun.com.

- Active Topics Board
This page displays articles sorted by the last date that feedback was posted. This helps track the discussions that are currently taking place.
http://www.thriftyfun.com/board.html

- Lonely Request Board
This page displays requests that have not received an answer and therefor are lonely.
http://www.thriftyfun.com/board_lonely.html

The next two links aren't new but worth pointing out from time to time.

- Brainstorms Archive
An archive of all the past Brainstorms on the site:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/brainstorms/index.html?mode=clear

- Reader's Request Arhive
An archive of all the past Reader's Requests on the site:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/readersrequest/index.html?mode=clear

Thanks for reading,

Susan

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If you are looking for a frugal solution to an everyday problem, submit it here: Click Here

Today's newsletter contains:

Today's Tips:

• Keep the Clutter Down, Don't Let it Overflow
• Cleaning Spatulas and Slotted Spoons
• Fruit Fly Repellant
• Organizing Kids Socks and Underwear
• Keep an Errand Tote By the Door
• Opening Those Hard to Open Jars
• Increase Your Gas Mileage
• For a Nice Wedding Gift, Make a Towel Wedding Cake
• Banana Peel Shoe Shine
• Clean Smelling Garbage Disposal
• Feedback: Keeping Your Home Prepared
• Feedback: Uses for Mesh Onion Bags
• Feedback: Buy Baby Clothes in Neutral Colors
• Feedback: Italian Seasoning Recipe
• Feedback: Plastic Milk Jug Skeleton
• Feedback: Uses for Junk Mail
• Feedback: Removing Odors from Dishwasher
• Feedback: Removing Mold/Mildew from Baby Clothes
• Today's Recipe: Quick Hot Rolls

New Requests:

• Any Tips for Radio Contests?
• Mysterious Pests Brought Home with New Kitten
• Preventing a Rug From Slipping on the Floor
• Scrapbooking With Junk Mail

More Reading:

• Only You Can Prevent Money Problems
• Grocery Shopping for One or Two
• Halloween Party Ideas
• Fall for Outdoor Entertaining This Autumn

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Manage your money simply and quickly.

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Today's Tips

Keep the Clutter Down, Don't Let it Overflow

One way to keep clutter down is to provide dedicated space/containers - baskets, shelf space, plastic tubs, hangers, hooks - for items which tend to accumulate.

Now this doesn't sound new, but the system won't stay uncluttered unless you commit to NEVER LETTING IT OVERFLOW! Art supplies spilling out of the tub? Thin them out. Your daughter has three robes but only two hooks? Donate one. Too many magazines for the basket? Time to take them to the library or used book store. Bought too many cake mixes on sale? Have a tea party and invite all your friends or bake the extras and meet your neighbors with gift in hand.

If you don't exceed the dedicated space for stored items, you won't find yourself in piles of overgrowth. Now, all you need to do is go through the house and sort your belongings, choose the best storage solution for you, and then never let it get bigger than your containers.

By Padma Raga

View Article: Click Here

Cleaning Spatulas and Slotted Spoons

To easily clean stuck food out of the grooves of spatulas and slotted spoons, cut a small U shape piece out of the end of a drinking straw. It is the perfect width to fit the slots, the straight edges will scrape the food and it is flexible.

By Jennifer Dark

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Fruit Fly Repellant

Put a dish with some basil in it next to your fruit bowl or just sprinkle some basil on the fruit. Fruit flies don't like basil.

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Organizing Kids Socks and Underwear

I organize kids socks and underwear so they don't get bunched up together. I use the bottom half of plastic coke bottles or liter bottles of other soda to do this. You can see through them, and they keep the drawer neat. It also can be a sorting game for the young ones when it is time to put clothing away. I draw pictures of socks or underwear on the bottles with permanent pen and then let them sort one or two items. They get a prize of ten cents.

By Racer

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Keep an Errand Tote By the Door

Keep a tote bag somewhere near your door. Put anything in it that needs to be taken out of the house. I keep a file folder in mine for lists and other paper items I don't want to get mussed up. Other things this is useful for are; dishes or other belongings to be returned to someone, library books to be returned, something you want to take to your vehicle such as a new pen or tablet or the new vehicle registration, a small bottle of water to drink on trips or wash your hands with, outgoing mail, coupons to use at various stores, your To Buy List, a magazine, newspaper or internet articles you want to read if you get stuck in traffic or a waiting room, items needing to be returned to a store, dry cleaning, etc. It keeps you organized and is handy to grab on your way out the door.

By Jayne

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Opening Those Hard to Open Jars

Having a hard time opening tightly closed jars? Well my husband is gone so that option is gone. I don't have some plastic gadget that will do it for me, and I don't have one of those things you lay on top of it that helps you twist. So what do I do? I take a butter knife and use the handle and bang it against the edge of the seal on the lid. I turn it all the way around making about eight dings in it. Now I use my hand again to turn and VIOLA! it comes lose. This works especially well with jellies and jams. No need to call the husband ladies, don't tell him what you did. Tell him you've been working out. Let him stew on that for a while ;)

By Suzanne S.

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Increase Your Gas Mileage

Drive evenly with a steady foot. Avoid jiggling the accelerator. Cruise control helps maintain a constant speed. Following these instructions will help you increase your gas mileage.

By Lisa Trudeau

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For a Nice Wedding Gift, Make a Towel Wedding Cake

You will need to buy two bath towels, two hand towels and two washcloths. Any color will do, but white works best for the affect of having a wedding cake.

Fold each in thirds or fourths (depending on how wide you want each layer) lengthwise. Starting at one end of the bath towel, start rolling as if rolling up a sleeping bag. Check carefully for folds coming undone and keep it tight! When you are a few inches from the end you can either safety pin the end to the end of the second folded towel, or carefully lay end on end and continue rolling to make one big "cinnamon roll". When you come to the end of the second towel, fold edges under and safety pin closed ensuring it is pinned to rolled towel to hold in place.

Repeat this process with the hand towels and wash rags leaving you with three "cinnamon rolls". Carefully stack the med. sized roll onto the large roll and then stack the small roll onto the medium roll to make a three-tiered wedding cake.

You will need to safety pin discreetly in at least two places on each level to pin the layers together.

You can decorate with silk flowers around the edges to cover up the pins.

I did this for my brother and his wife and they used it as a centerpiece to one of the tables at the reception! I bought two bath scrubbies that I pinned to the top as a cake topper. I bought several packs of trial size lotions, soaps, etc. and those foil packets of face scrub, etc. all perfect to take on the honeymoon and carefully placed around edges of cake and used tape to hold them to the towel. I used the strings of ribbon and silk flowers for the bottom edges of each layer and then used larger silk flowers for the tops of each layer. I did those in the wedding colors.

Everyone was taking pictures of that cake and went on and on about how cute it was. My sister in law didn't want to take it apart until she could show her mother. They drove 18 hours away with it in their car just to show it to her mom!

By Tawnda

View Article: Click Here

Banana Peel Shoe Shine

Imagine this... you are at work and ready to go in for a big meeting with your boss. You notice that your shoes are scruffy looking. What do you do? Make use of that banana peel from your lunch. Shine your shoes by rubbing them with the inside of the banana peel. Then buff them up with a cloth or paper towel

By Katz

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Clean Smelling Garbage Disposal

Got a weird smell in garbage disposal? It's easy to get rid of for little to no money at all. Done with your coffee? Pour the coffee grounds down the drain and start disposal and it will take care of smell. Don't drink coffee? Got an orange? Put the orange ring down the disposal and it will also take care of the smell for good. Good luck and take care of you and yours.

By Suzanne S.

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Feedback: Keeping Your Home Prepared

I also live in Florida and when our power went out for 36 hours the Coleman lanterns were indispensable, though they did heat up the living room so much we had to switch to flashlights until the room cooled down again. We also have a Coleman gas stove burner which again, was a great for heating up all that canned food. One other thing we found was very useful was a large supply of cheap baby wipes (storebrand, unscented) and Clorox wipes. These were helpful because we have a well that only operates when the electricity is on to pump the water to the house.

By MrsKris007

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Feedback: Uses for Mesh Onion Bags

Hi,

In Australia you can buy plastic sponge type handheld scrubbers for non-stick fry-pans (skillets) and saucepans but they can be expensive.

I found myself in a bind once when I wanted to get some gunk of my pan and had nothing to use. I remembered a friend told me that the onion bags scrunched up make good scrubbers. When they wear out just find another. I usually try to keep one or 2 under the sink just in case. Make sure there are no metal clips or tags that might scratch the non-stick surface. It is guaranteed to get off hard to shift burnt offerings without scratching the surface.

Cheers

By Bev in Oz

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Feedback: Buy Baby Clothes in Neutral Colors

Another way to deal with "blow out" stains is to hang the clothing article to dry out in the sun. Especially if you are dealing with stains that came from a nursing baby, the stains will bleach out in the sun in just an hour or two.

By

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Feedback: Italian Seasoning Recipe

This is from "Not Just Beans" by Tawra Jean Kellam. I have made this and it is equal in my opinion. Like you said, I had all the ingredients and they needed to be used up.

1/4 cup dried basil
2 Tbsp. dried marjoram
2 Tbsp. dried oregano
2 Tbsp. dried corriander
2 Tbsp. dried thyme
2 Tbsp. dried rosemary
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. sugar

Combine all ingredients. Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place for up to three months.

By Cindy in AL

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Feedback: Plastic Milk Jug Skeleton

Here is the pattern, I hope!

http://prairiewebs.com/skeleton.html

By msmcmulin

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Feedback: Uses for Junk Mail

I have a little mailbox for my 2 1/2 year old. When junk mail comes in for those kids book clubs or magazines (they often have a sticker or two in them) or anything colorful, I sneak it in her mailbox. She has a blast going to check in her playroom if she has mail, and she has fun looking at the pictures, finding stickers, opening envelopes, etc....

By Val

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Feedback: Removing Odors from Dishwasher

The smell could be coming from the drain pipes shared by the sink and dishwasher. You can help clean out the pipes by putting half a box of baking soda down each side of your sink. Follow it with several cups of vinegar (enough to make the baking soda go down the drain). Wait 5 minutes and run very hot water down each side of your sink. This will also work with a slow-to-drain sink.

By Ann

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Feedback: Removing Mold/Mildew from Baby Clothes

I recently had a similar problem. What I did was soak the fabric in OxyClean according to package for laundry stains.

By truleelee

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Other Active Topics

Be sure to check out our active topics page to follow the discussion.

http://www.thriftyfun.com/board.html

Today's Recipe: Quick Hot Rolls

Ingredients:

- 1 Cup Self Rising Flour
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 1 T. Sugar or Sweetener
- 1 T. Mayonnaise

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Mix well and pour into greased muffin pan. Bake till golden. Makes: 6 rolls.

By Terri H.

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Tip Contest

New Contest! Submit a tip and you could win:

Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month
By Deborah Taylor-Hough

Frozen Assets is small in stature, but jam-packed with meal-planning advice. It contains recipe ideas, plus detailed instructions on how to get the maximum value from your food dollar, while also slashing meal preparation times.

Enter the contest!

New Requests:

Any Tips for Radio Contests?

Does anyone have any good tips for getting through on radio contests. I set my phone up for speed dial, I use my Cell phone at the same time, I hang up quickly and redial. All to no avail. The lines are constantly jammed... HELP

- Terri

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Mysterious Pests Brought Home with New Kitten

We got a new kitten for our addopted kitten to play with, but this month old tyke brought a little annoyance with him. At first they only bugged the kittens, but after flea treatment (which works on more than just fleas) they started biting my family (me especially).

I looked up pictures of fleas, chiggers, chiggoes, mites, & ticks, but what we have doesn't look anything like them; they look just like gnats, but they hop. They attack day and night on the ankles, fingers, knees, wrists, waist, & neck. The bites are only slightly darker than skin color, but turn pink & expand when you scratch them. There's usually only one bite in each spot, occasionally 2. The itching is unbearable and normal lotion is more effective than Hydrocortisone, which just makes them itch MORE. The cats don't seem to even notice them, but they keep us up at night.

Allaiyah,
Lai-Lai, Washington (state, not DC)

View Article: Click Here

Preventing a Rug From Slipping on the Floor

Hi. I have a matching set of throw rugs in my hallway, but one of them is really mean. Although it still has the rubber backing on it, every time I step on it, it slides and THROWS me. Does anyone have ideas for something I could attach to it to keep it from slipping?

From Cindy, slip-slidin' away in PA.

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Scrapbooking With Junk Mail

Can i use the pretty pictures in junk mail to decorate my scrapbooking pages? I can't find an acid tester pen here, so how do I test them for acidity? My son suggested wetting a small portion then use a litmus paper to test acidity, is that ok?

Annie

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Looking for a frugal solution to an everyday problem? Submit your request here: Click Here

More Reading

Only You Can Prevent Money Problems
By Terry Rigg

People experience money problems for a variety of reasons. Maybe you lost your job, used your credit cards too much, have a bunch of medical bills, paid too much for your dream home or any number of other reasons.

View Article: Click Here

Grocery Shopping for One or Two

"Grocery shopping for one or two can be difficult because foods are generally packaged for larger households of four or more. Nobody wants to spend money on foods that are going to go bad or get old before they can be finished. By taking the time to follow some buying and storage techniques, the task of shopping for one or two will become less frustrating and expensive."

View Article: Click Here

Halloween Party Ideas
By Cheryl Levey

Oh, Halloween! The night of ghosts and ghouls! Whether you're having a party for the kids or for the grown-ups - or for both! - here's the place for some excellent ideas. There are so many different ways to do a Halloween party that I couldn't possibly cover it all in one article, so I would encourage you to search the web for more ideas after reading this article.

View Article: Click Here

Fall for Outdoor Entertaining This Autumn
By Debbie Rodgers

Aaaah, autumn! It's the perfect time to entertain outdoors -- most of the bugs are gone, the sun isn't scorching even though it's warm enough to enjoy an afternoon or evening al fresco, and there's a bounty of good things to serve for an outdoor meal.

View Article: Click Here

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Thanks

Susan
http://www.thriftyfun.com