Daily Thrifty Tips
Volume Three, Number 220, December 22, 2004
http://www.ThriftyFun.com
Hello,
Today's issue has a lot of Christmas tips in it. We worked ahead through the tips in an effort to get as many Christmas tips out before the holiday as possible. There is still time to send in your Christmas traditions. We will publish more than one Christmas tradition the next two days.
Thanks for reading,
Susan
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Holiday Travel Tips Ebook
Today's newsletter contains:
Today's Tips:
- Taking the Little Ones Shopping
- Watering Plants While You are Away
- Potato Candy
- Easy Gingerbread Houses
- All Purpose AMWAY Gift Idea
- Measuring Sticky Syrups
- Label Your Children's New Apparel
- Holiday Dog Collar
- Create Attractive Storage Containers With Popcorn Tins
- Restful Bath Salts - Chamomile Lavender Calendula Salts
- Victorian Rose Salts - Rose Oat Milk Bath Salts
- Citrus Jubilee Salts - Orange Lemongrass Bath Salt
- Sweet Floral Breeze Salts - White Lilac Gardenia Almond Bath Salts
- Gift for Your Cat - Make a Scratching Box
- Saving Money on Wrapping Paper
- Purchasing Christmas Cards, Wrap & Tags for Next Year
- Help Out Your Adult Kids Who Are Parents During The Holiday Season
- Need Pinecones For Decorations? Go To The Park
- "Thank You" Gift For Nursing Home Employees
- Create Wall Decorations With Last Years Christmas Cards
- Crisp Toffee Bars
- Hot Christmas (Or New Years) Wassail
- Use a Timer for Christmas Tree Lighting
- Personalized Ornaments as Gift Tags
- Remember Your Neighbors
- Holiday Travel Tips
- Garage Sale Pricing Tip
- Dishes Made Simple
- Uses for Cardboard Wrapping Paper Rolls
New Requests:
- Removing Soot From Carpet
- Leewards Advent Calendar
- Looking for Soy Milk Advice
- Removing Candle Stain on Wood
- How do you get black gel pen out of white clothes?
- Making Rag Rugs
- Spiced Tea Mix for Gifts
More Reading:
- Eating Out on a Budget
- Lobster Tarragon
- Making Homemade Gizmos For Fun - Inexpensive And Rewarding Project
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Today's Tips
Today's Family Tradition...
Taking the Little Ones Shopping
When my niece was old enough to save money, which was about 4 or 5 years old, I took her and her cousin Christmas shopping the day school dismissed. By the time she was in first grade the number of "guests" had grown to 4. They may have had a total of $2-$3, I would give each of them $5 each.
Even with $8, it was hard to find a gift for their parents. Because of this, we visited the Dollar Stores, Dollar Trees, any where where they could get something big for very little money. When her brother was born we started taking him at about 4 years old.
We really enjoyed all the time spent together. We would go to McDonald's to eat, and then to my house to wrap gifts. What memories we have, as we lost my nephew 3 years ago. My niece has continued this tradition with her daughter, and she buys gifts for both sets of grandparents.
By Martha Pitts
View More Christmas Family Traditions
Share Your Christmas Family Tradition
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Removing Soot From Carpet
We got some soot on the carpet from the woodburning stove. Any suggestions for how to remove it?
Kate
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Leewards Advent Calendar
I too am looking for the Leewards Advent Calendar from the 1970s that is a Christmas tree made from felt on a white background with felt/sequin ornaments that hang on it - there's a candy cane, house with snow, panda bear, clown, rabbit, etc. It was the advent calendar I used as a child - would love to find a duplicate or the kit to remake if anyone has it. It would mean soooooo much to me! Thanks! Erin in NH.
ErinInNH
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Looking for Soy Milk Advice
Hello, we just found out that the majority of our family members have a dairy allergy. I am looking for coupons, offers, information and any suggestions conserning soy or rice milk products. Also, has anyone tried making soy milk? Any success? This is a bit overwhelming on our income, so I thank you very much for your time.
Karaof4 from Minnesota.
Post Feedback: Click Here
Watering Plants While You are Away
Submerge plastic jugs, bottles, etc. w/a few small pinholes in the bottom between plants or rows of your garden. When you're away, just fill the bottles & the water will disperse slowly over the days & get to the roots of your plants.
Palma
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Potato Candy
This candy has been in our family ever since I was a small child. We all love it and it is easy to make. It is called potato candy. This the recipe 1 small potato - 1 (1lb) box powdered sugar- peanut butter. Peel and boil potato until tender. Mash with powdered sugar. Roll on flat surface and spread with thin coat of peanut butter. Roll like a jelly roll. Chill at least one hour and slice into thin strips.
Carol from Missouri.
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Easy Gingerbread Houses
For easy gingerbread houses just use graham crackers assembled with regular tub frosting. You can make the houses ahead of time and then let the kiddos decorate from there. We just did this for 7 little kids and they thought it was great.
By Melanie
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All Purpose AMWAY Gift Idea
I just wanted to share a great all-purpose gift idea I found years ago that really saves on gas, postage and time. Several years ago, I had a job where I traveled 100% of the time. When Christmas got near, I wanted to get something for my older brother, his wife and my father, who all lived several hundred miles from where I was working. Remembering a gift given to me by a friend long ago, I got the phone book and found an AMWAY dealer.
AMWAY carries what I call "Gift Booklets." You purchase the booklet for a set price and mail it to the recipient. The recipient chooses whichever gift they prefer from the booklet and sends in the postpaid card marked with their choice. Shipping for the gift is included. My family LOVED these - they couldn't WAIT to choose their gifts! I highly recommend these little booklets. AMWAY also makes them in themes - baby shower gifts, wedding gifts, etc. Merry Christmas everyone!
By Glynda Lomax
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Measuring Sticky Syrups
If you're baking for the holidays and the recipe calls for molasses, corn syrup, or another thick, sticky ingredient, spray the measuring cup with cooking spray first and it will slide right out.
By Camilla
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Label Your Children's New Apparel
Be sure to label your child's new Christmas apparel like jackets on the inside with indelible marker. With all the kids having new stuff after the holidays, when they start back to school, even they don't know which jacket or boots are theirs.
By Linda
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Holiday Dog Collar
Use some scrap fabric and sew a tube twice as long as your dogs collar and wide enough to pull the collar thru. Gather as you go, then buckle around the dogs neck scrunched up like a scrunchie. Holiday festive!
My smallest dog sports a ponytail scrunchie from the dollar store in seasonal decor.
By Linda
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Create Attractive Storage Containers With Popcorn Tins
For parents, bath salt makers, and others that need to have a storage space for small like objects: get those empty popcorn tins from Christmas with snow men and other christmas stuff on them. Put them to good use.
Dump out the excess popcorn if any and clean the inside well. Grab some fabric that you have, and wrap it around it. Sheer of the excess edges with your scissors. Tack the fabric down with your glue gun and do the top of the tins lid the same way.
From here you can leave it the way it is or embellish it with ribbon to clean up the edges, use that kids embossing bottle paint to write on top of the lid the future contents, such as "Salt" or "Toys" etc. And fill with what you like! I personally use it for my salt bases for bath salt making. Place a scoop in there and all set! Hope this is helpful for you!
By Xerophyia
View Article: Click Here
Restful Bath Salts - Chamomile Lavender Calendula Salts
Ingredients:
- 2 C Epsom Salts
- 1 C Sea Salts
- 1 C Oat Powder (ground oatmeal)
- 1 C Milk Powder (non-fat dry milk)
- 1/2 handful ground Chamomile Flowers
- handful Calendula Flowers
- 8-10 drops Lavender Essential Oil
Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together first. Sift. Add scent.
Mix well then sift together to incorporate the scent.
Add the calendula flowers after you have sifted everything together.
By Xerophyia
View Article: Click Here
Victorian Rose Salts - Rose Oat Milk Bath Salts
Ingredients:
- 2 C Epsom Salts
- 1 C Sea Salts
- 1 C Oat Powder (ground oatmeal)
- 1 C Milk Powder (non-fat dry milk)
- 15 drops of Rose Essential Oil
- handful of ground Rose Petals
Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together first. Sift. Add scent.
Mix well then sift together to incorporate the scent.
Add the rose petals after you have sifted everything together, and mix them in.
By Xerophyia
View Article: Click Here
Citrus Jubilee Salts - Orange Lemongrass Bath Salt
Ingredients:
- 2 C Epsom Salts
- 1 C Sea Salts
- 1 C Oat Powder (ground oatmeal)
- 1 C Milk Powder (non-fat dry milk)
- 8 drops of Orange Essential Oil
- 6 drops of Lemongrass Essential Oil
- handful of Calendula Flowers
Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together first. Sift. Add scent.
Mix well then sift together to incorporate the scent.
Add the calendula flowers after you have sifted everything together. Mix again.
By Xerophyia
View Article: Click Here
Sweet Floral Breeze Salts - White Lilac Gardenia Almond Bath Salts
Ingredients:
- 2 C Epsom Salts
- 1 C Sea Salts
- 1 C Oat Powder (ground oatmeal)
- 1 C Milk Powder (non-fat dry milk)
- 8 drops of White Lilac Essential Oil
- 8 drops of Gardenia Essential Oil
- 5 T of Almond Oil
Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together first. Sift. Add scent.
Mix well then sift together to incorporate the scent.
Add almond oil and mix well until totally incorporated. (If there are clumps sift and push through a sieve until lumps are gone.) Mix once again. Sift once more through a larger sieve.
By Xerophyia
View Article: Click Here
Gift for Your Cat - Make a Scratching Box
If you want to make a gift for your cat, but aren't inclined to bake kitty treats, make him (or her) a scratching box. Take a small, flat box and cut off one of the large sides. Trace the front of the box (one of the skinny sides) on a piece of corrugated cardboard and cut it out. This will be your template. Now cut out corrugated cardboard strips using your template until the box is filled. It should be packed tightly. You could also sprinkle a little catnip underneath the corrugated cardboard as an extra enticement to your kitty (mine doesn't like it). When it's done, put in a place where your cat like to scratch, so they'll scratch their little scratch box instead!
By Camilla
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Saving Money on Wrapping Paper
Tips for saving money on wrapping paper. Post your ideas.
Purchasing Christmas Cards, Wrap & Tags for Next Year
I live on the North Shore in Massachusetts and we have many Building 19's. Right now they are offering 100 ft rolls of Christmas wrapping paper at $1. per roll. What a buy. Markdowns will start soon on the tags & cards so keep your eyes open in the fliers.
By joesgirl
Shredded Paper for Gift Bags
Instead of buying expensive shredded paper or tissue paper to put in your gift bags at Christmas or any other time, try taking the scrap pieces of paper that you have and put them through your paper shredder and you have perfect shredded paper to put in the bags. Works really good at Christmas because then the shredded paper is a mixture of all your Christmas wrapping paper.
By pene
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Help Out Your Adult Kids Who Are Parents During The Holiday Season
Plan to pick the grandkids up after school and take them to your home. Spend time with them playing cards, games, reading or just chatting. Then have dinner together and hop in the car and drive around looking at all the houses decorated so pretty with all the lovely holiday decorations. Then deliver them back to their parents. You've had a good time, the grandkids have had a good time and their parents will love you for the little rest and time you gave them.
By Joesgirl
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Need Pinecones For Decorations? Go To The Park
Go to a local park where the pine cone droppings are yours for free. Bring a basket and fill it up. Bring them home and hot glue them on a wreath or spray them with gold or silver paint. Your choices of what to do with them are endless.
By joesgirl
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"Thank You" Gift For Nursing Home Employees
My mom is in a nursing home and she receives very good care from the employees. When Christmas comes I like to thank them with an original gift. Seeing that they receive sooo much goodies like candy, pastry, etc. (mostly all high in calories) I bring them a large box of fresh oranges. They are low in calories, every one loves them and they make the nursing station smell so good as the employees are peeling them. And if they are too busy to eat them they can always take one home for a treat later.
By Joesgirl
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Create Wall Decorations With Last Years Christmas Cards
Every year you find the Christmas cards you had received from the year before when going thru your Christmas stuff. You can put those cards to good use by cutting them where the card is folded, so you have the front of the card in one piece and the greeting in the other. I usually cut the first piece with pinking shears to make a cute border cut. I place them on my walls all over the house. It adds a Christmas look on the bedroom doors, kitchen walls, book shelves, etc.
By Barriosjh
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Crisp Toffee Bars
Ingredients:
- 1 c. butter
- 1 c. brown sugar
- 1 t. vanilla
- 2 c. flour (sifted)
- 1 pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 pkg. butter brickle chips
- 1 c. chopped nutmeats
Directions:
Cream butter, brown sugar and vanilla until very fluffy; add the sifted flour and mix well. Stir in remaining ingredients. Press into ungreased jellyroll pan. Bake 20 minutes or until brown at 350 degrees. Cut into bars while warm. Cool before removing from pan. Makes about 5 dozen bars.
By Robin
View Article: Click Here
Hot Christmas (Or New Years) Wassail
Ingredients:
- 2 Quarts Apple Juice
- 2 Cups Orange Juice
- 1 Cup Lemon Juice
- 1 1/2 Cup Pineapple Juice
- Sugar or honey (Start with 1/2 cup sugar)
- Cloves
- Cinnamon sticks
- Orange/Lemon rings
Directions:
Combine juices and sugar to taste. Put in crock pot. Put 2-3 cloves in sides of rings. Add cinnamon sticks. Enjoy!
By Anna
View Article: Click Here
Use a Timer for Christmas Tree Lighting
For many years we would plug in our tree every evening & then before we went to bed we would unplug it. It finally dawned on us that we could eliminate doing that by using a timer connected to that outlet. Now, like clockwork, our tree goes on at 5 pm and off at 11 pm. Try it, you'll like it.
By joesgirl
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Personalized Ornaments as Gift Tags
An ornament personalized with a paint pen makes a great add-on gift when used instead of a gift tag.
By Linda
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Remember Your Neighbors
Remember your elderly or just alone neighbors who might not have family with a few Christmas goodies, or, better yet, an invite to join your family for Christmas morning or dinner.
By Linda
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Holiday Travel Tips
If your Christmas includes travel, allow plenty of time at the airport or on the road. If flying, drink lots of water during the flight to stay hydrated and help combat jet lag.
By Linda
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Garage Sale Pricing Tip
As a general rule of thumb, price items at your Garage Sale about a third of what they would cost new. There are exceptions though. Clothes are generally very poor sellers, unless it's baby/kids clothes. But if you price adult-sized clothes cheap enough, it will sell regardless.
People are reluctant to pay a lot of money for clothes they can't try on, but will gamble if it's only $2 or so. I recommend taking some of your "nicer" clothes to second-hand stores, rather than trying to sell them at a Garage Sale.
By Gino30
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Dishes Made Simple
We don't use the dishwasher that came with our house because it uses 9-16 gallons of water per wash and runs for hours! I can wash dishes by hand in 2-3 gallons of water.
We're giving the dishwasher to a neighbor whose dishwasher had broken. But we use ours as a dish drainer and we don't want to clutter our very limited counter space with drainers. So we've decided to build a dishrack above the sink where we can store AND dry the dishes at the same time. This type of arrangement is very popular in Scandinavian countries where they make cabinets for this purpose.
This will eliminate the need for towel drying, dish drainers cluttering the sink, and we realized we can store more dishes in a row on their sides in a rack than stacked on top of each other. Also with the dishwasher gone, we will have more storage space that we can adapt to our needs.
By Rabbithorns
View Article: Click Here
Uses for Cardboard Wrapping Paper Rolls
Uses for those cardboard rolls that you get with wrapping paper. Post your ideas.
Storing Garlands and Christmas Lights
One way we've found to put away garland and christmas lights after Christmas is to use the tubes from wrapping paper. Secure one end of lights or garland to the end of the tube with tape, then spiral the lights or garland around and down the tube. Secure other end with tape. Then put in a box or trash bag to store. Next year no untangling!
By Diana McAlister
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Enter the contest!
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New Requests:
Removing Soot From Carpet
We got some soot on the carpet from the woodburning stove. Any suggestions for how to remove it?
Kate
Post Feedback: Click Here
Leewards Advent Calendar
I too am looking for the Leewards Advent Calendar from the 1970s that is a Christmas tree made from felt on a white background with felt/sequin ornaments that hang on it - there's a candy cane, house with snow, panda bear, clown, rabbit, etc. It was the advent calendar I used as a child - would love to find a duplicate or the kit to remake if anyone has it. It would mean soooooo much to me! Thanks! Erin in NH.
ErinInNH
Post Feedback: Click Here
Looking for Soy Milk Advice
Hello, we just found out that the majority of our family members have a dairy allergy. I am looking for coupons, offers, information and any suggestions conserning soy or rice milk products. Also, has anyone tried making soy milk? Any success? This is a bit overwhelming on our income, so I thank you very much for your time.
Karaof4 from Minnesota.
Post Feedback: Click Here
Removing Candle Stain on Wood
I blew a red candle out and the wax went on the wood table beneath it. I was able to remove the wax by gently scraping it off, but the wood is now stained red.
Any ideas on how to get rid of the red stain?
Peter
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How do you get black gel pen out of white clothes?
I was washing my cloths and forgot I left a black gel pen in the pocket. So when I got them out of the dryer the cloths had all these black spots. So then I tried bleach, didn't work. Then I used Oxyclean in hot water over night didn't work. I used 6 scoops. I was wondering if anyone has a solution to my problem.
Thanx and Happy Holidays,
Donnerschlag
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Making Rag Rugs
Does anyone have any suggestions how to make rag rugs?
Thanks!
Lynda
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Spiced Tea Mix for Gifts
I am looking for a recipe for a spiced tea blend. Something made from loose leaf tea to be made by my children and given as a gift in a sealed jar. My husband loves Marketspice tea from Seattle, and we are hoping to find something similar for them to make him. Thank you for any input.
Tammy from Ohio
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Looking for a frugal solution to an everyday problem? Submit
your request here: Click Here
Today's Sponsor
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Eversave.com is your one stop source for online coupons, brand
name savings, free samples and much more.
Eversave.com
More Reading:
Eating Out on a Budget
By Amy Allen Clark
Eating a meal out can be a really expensive event, but it really does not have to be. Ideally, we would all eat our meals at home and save ourselves the expense of having someone else prepare a meal for us, but I admit that there are just those nights where I do not feel like cooking. When you find yourself having one of these nights, keep in mind these tips for saving money on your dinner bill.
View Article: Click Here
Lobster Tarragon
By Charlie Burke
One of our favorite recipes for a special Christmas Eve or
New Year's dinner is lobster in a creamy tomato tarragon
sauce, which I adapted about twenty years ago from a recipe
Julia Child published for chicken breasts in a tarragon
white wine sauce. Because lobster has an affinity for the
anise - like flavor of herbs such as chervil and tarragon, I
thought it might work with fresh lobster meat, and we've
been making it ever since.
View Article: Click Here
Making Homemade Gizmos For Fun - Inexpensive And Rewarding Project
By Alan Detwiler
Making simple, homemade devices is fun for any young person who likes to tinker and build. The build-it-yourself enthusiast will get a great sense of accomplishment from creating self-designed items.
View Article: Click Here
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