Daily Thrifty Tips July 27, 2004

Hello,

- New Topic Site: Thrifty Parties!

We now have a topic site for parties! If you have a party request or tip, be sure to send it in. The goal of the topic site is to have great parties without having to spend a lot of money. To view the new topic site visit: Click Here

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Thanks for reading,

Susan

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Today's newsletter contains:

Today's Tips:

• Avoiding Ironing
• Saw Dust Gutter for Your Workshop
• Debbie's "Secret" Recipes for Bath Salts
• Saving Gas with One Trip
• Freshen Potpourri
• Featured Feedback: RE: Problems with Commercial...
• Featured Feedback: RE: Affordable Wedding Receptions
• Featured Feedback: RE: Cook From Scratch
• Brown Sugar
• Today's Recipes: Cooking With Beans

New Requests:

• Smell From Garbage Disposal
• Make Your Own Quilt Batting
• Removing Stickers from Plastic
• Flying Bugs on My Lawn
• Weed Killers
• Sweat Odor in Room

More Reading:

• Camping and Outdoor Activities
• 10 Ideas to Help You Remember

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Today's Tips

Avoiding Ironing

This tip may not save a lot of money but it definitely saves time. Ever have a dryer full of clothes that you didn't get hung up or folded right away? I keep a small spray bottle of water near my dryer and almost anything that normally needs to be ironed can just be lightly sprayed and hung to dry. No ironing and it works great! I also use it on jean shorts, pocket flaps and hems of shirts that won't lay flat after being dried in the dryer. My clothes look neat without the work of standing over a hot ironing board.

By Shirley M - Iowa

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Saw Dust Gutter for Your Workshop

A good use for old gutters, either wood or metal, is a debris gutter for the side of you work bench. Just attach it to the side of your work bench so that you can sweep debris and saw dust into it. You can have it at an angle so that it drains into a garbage can. Pretty nifty!

By LS

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Debbie's "Secret" Recipes for Bath Salts

My "Secret" recipe for bath salts

2 cups epsom salts
2 drops essential oil
2 drops food coloring

I like my bath salts a pastel color so I don't use much food coloring but that is up to you. I get most of my fragrance oils online. You can also divide this up and layer them with different colors in your container. I would not mix scents though.

Oatmeal Bath Salts

2 cups of Epsom salts
1/2 cup of regular oatmeal (generic is fine)
2 drops of essential oil
2 drops food coloring For this recipe you need a blender or other appliance that will pulverize the oatmeal. You want it to have the consistency of very fine beach sand. Add your fragrance oil and coloring.

Milk Bath Salts

2 cups epsom salts
1/2 cup dry powdered milk
2 drops essential oil
2 drops food coloring

Make sure that you stir well to evenly distribute the color. I also always use a chocolate fragrance oil or rose with this one. My friends say it smells good enough to eat.

By Debbie in Colorado

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Saving Gas with One Trip

I live a distance from the town where I shop, have a part time job, work out, and do other errands. To save time and gas money, I accomplish everything with one trip. Sometimes this means I have to buy my groceries first to fit into my time allotment, so I always carry an ice chest or two in the back of my van or in the trunk of my car. When I know I'm going to go grocery shopping I pack blue ice. Even without the ice, the chest will hold cold food for an hour workout at the Y. If I'm going to be in town all day, I'll also pack water and a sandwich in the ice chest. The ice chest is also good for packing non-food items and keeping them from rolling. Both of my sons are bag boys and carryout at local grocery stores in town and they tell me I am unique with the ice chest idea. Here in Texas in the summer, it would be handy even for those who are close to home. My ice chests stay in my vehicle year-round. Hope this helps! Love this newsletter!

By Paula W

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Freshen Potpourri

To freshen potpourri that I keep in a dish in the bathroom, I just spray it with Fabric Refresher and it keeps the room smelling fresh.

By alice gill

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Featured Feedback: RE: Problems with Commercial Flea Killers & Traditional Flea Bite Treatments

For years I have used no chemicals for fleas. We (pet and family) actually enjoy "fleaing" our cat. We use a good flea comb and 2 containers of water, one big one with a couple of drops of soap in the water, and a clean small one for rinsing. You have to move fast. Just keep the soapy water close to where you are working and plunge the comb in with the flea. Almost all of them will be around the neck and head, with a few around the tail area. Takes minutes. We try to do it twice a day. Even though our cat is always indoors, she still manages to get fleas but we start as soon as we see her scratching. Costs nothing, and works!

By Jeneene

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Featured Feedback: RE: Affordable Wedding Receptions

I attended my friends wedding yesterday: she and her new husband are true tightwads. Nancy looked at 'renting' plates at 40 cents each for the 150 guests, instead she purchased ceramic but mismatched plates at yard sales and thrift stores for 10 cents or less each!

By Julia

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Featured Feedback: RE: Cook From Scratch

Applesauce

Making your own applesauce is very easy and you don't have to worry about all the added "stuff" that the kind contains at the grocery store.

Using 4 good-sized apples, any kind but Red Delicious works well; peel, cut into fourths and core. Cook in microwave with 2 tablespoons water for 8 minutes, until soft but not mushy. Blend until smooth in blender or food processor. Mix processed applesauce with 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Keep in refrigerator. Makes about 3 cups. Freezes well.

Brown Sugar

I have been making my own brown sugar. All it is is 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon molasses. Mix with a fork and store the same way as brown sugar you buy from the supermarket. I have used dark molasses and light molasses; works well either way. I now make a double batch each time. It is cheaper than buying brown sugar, even in bulk.

By alpenlite

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Today's Recipes: Cooking With Beans
By Crystal Miller

Beans are one of the main food staples of our home. I serve bean based meals to my family 2 to 3 times weekly. Beans are a very high quality, nutritious, budget friendly food for your family. They are a good source of soluble fiber, the kind that helps lower cholesterol. Beans in general, are good sources of things like, folate, potassium, iron, manganese, copper and zinc. They are low in fat and when combined with grains or a little meat they amply supply your diet with its needed protein.

One of the main drawbacks that people complain about is that beans cause gas. If you are not use to beans in your diet, your body has more trouble digesting them. So the good news is that the more you eat beans, the easier it will be for your body to digest them and you will find that gas problems will greatly diminish. If you don't eat a lot of beans at all then I would suggest that you slowly start adding them to your regular menus. Begin by serving them once a week and then more often as time goes on. Basically you need to have them as part of your regular diet in order to build up natural good intestinal flora that enables you to digest them.

If you are new to cooking beans or have had less than satisfactory results in cooking beans then here are a few tips to help. To begin with I never bother with soaking beans. I don't even do the fast soak, the one where you boil the beans for 2 minutes and then turn off heat, cover pan and let them sit for 1 hour. I simply put my beans in a large pot and cover with the appropriate amount of water, add salt and cook. I think that the soaking does help cut down the cooking time, but I have never found that the soaking helps with anything else. The other thing that I "always" do is add salt to my beans right at the beginning. I have read in many places that salt will prevent your beans from cooking. I have never experienced this. When I salt the beans ahead of time I find that the beans are very flavorful and the bean broth is delicious. Another important tip to remember when cooking beans is that foods high in acid such as tomatoes will cause your beans not to cook. Make sure high acid foods are added `after' the beans are cooked and soft.

Basic Bean Cooking Directions

- 1 cup dry beans, any variety
- 4 cups water
- 1 t salt

Put all ingredients into a cooking pot and bring to a boil. Cover and turn heat down to somewhere between medium and low. You want the boil to continue, just not to fast. Simmer beans for about 2 to 3 hours or until soft and completely cooked. Don't let the beans run out of water so check them now and again and add more water if needed. This recipe may be multiplied many times depending on how many beans you need. You can freeze cooked beans in 2 cup portions to use in any recipe that calls for a can of beans. This is very handy to have on hand and much more inexpensive than buying canned beans.

Here is one of my family's favorite budget friendly bean meals.

Sloppy Joes
Crystal Miller
Serves 8 to 10

- 1 lb. hamburger
- 4 to 5 cups cooked beans, we like to use black beans
- 1 sweet onion, chopped
- 1 green or red pepper, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups ketchup, fruit sweetened if possible
- 2 T Worcestershire sauce
- 1 - 6 oz. can tomato paste
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 to 3 T apple cider vinegar, according to taste
- 3 T Sucanat or Brown Sugar
- 1 t dry mustard
- salt and pepper to taste

Brown hamburger with onions and green pepper. Add cooked beans. In a small bowl mix remaining ingredients. Add to hamburger bean mixture and simmer long enough to get everything hot and blend flavors.

Serve on homemade whole wheat French Bread Rolls http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/frenchbreadsandwichrolls.html

About The Author: Crystal Miller, 2004 - Crystal Miller ( crystal@thefamilyhomestead.com ) is a mother of 8 children and enjoys her God given role as wife, homemaker and mother! She has a homemaking and country living web site called The Family Homestead http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com and has a free monthly newsletter called Homestead Happenings. You will find sign up information on her website.

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How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt & Live Prosperously
by Jerrold Mundis

Millions of consumers have become trapped in a spiral of debt, but there is hope. If you wants to free yourself from the shackles of debt, this book is for you--it can help you "get out of debt, stay out of debt, and live prosperously." Jerrold Mundis writes in a friendly, engaging style, urging readers to stop the cycle of spending. Mundis knows what he's talking about--he, too, was once thousands of dollars in debt and didn't know where to turn. Anecdotes from Debtors Anonymous folks, plus multiple examples from the writer's own life and ledgers, make How to Get Out of Debt an encouraging read, not a condescending one. Once you start your program, you may want to periodically reread some chapters for inspiration--and fun. -Amazon.com

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New Requests:

Smell From Garbage Disposal

How do I get rid of the smell from my gargage disposal? Nellie

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Make Your Own Quilt Batting

Can you make your own quilt batting out of clothing or something else recycled? I am teacher and would like to make a quilt with my class from as much recycled material (brought in by them) as possible. Thanks, AJ

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Removing Stickers from Plastic

I desperately need to know how to remove the price tag stickers from plastic. I read a couple of feedbacks in regards to lighter fluid. Is that safe for plastic?

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Flying Bugs on My Lawn

I recently just removed about six friut trees from my back yard, so i would have more lawn and now i have a millions of these lttle flying insects, maybe gnats. How would i get rid of them? Please respond if you have a solution for this nasty little problem Fernando from California

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Weed Killers

I printed all the mixtures to kill weeds and lost them. Could you guys please post them again. Thank you, Vicki.

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Sweat Odor in Room

Can anyone help? My 9 year old son sweats really bad a night while asleep. It leaves an odor in his room. I wash his bedding twice a week and vacuum daily with carpet freshener. Does anyone have any advice for me. Thank you Channon From NY

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More Reading

Camping and Outdoor Activities
By Valerie Giles

Camping mixed with outdoor activity is a great way to get ourselves involved with nature. National Parks can provide an excellent backdrop for some of your outdoor activities. Activities such as hiking, fishing, cycling, horseback riding, white water rafting and kayaking, skiing, rock climbing and mountaineering are just a few of the sports you might want to include on your camping adventure.

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10 Ideas to Help You Remember
By Maria Gracia

You are busy and you have tons of things to do. How can you possibly remember it all?

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Thanks

Susan
http://www.thriftyfun.com