|
|
|
Hello,
I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. We are still working on adding an additional server. We hope to have it in place next week. It should really help the websites performance.
If you have any Gardening or Green Living questions for Ellen Brown (our Gardening and Green Living expert), be sure to submit them before Monday. The answers will be included in next friday's TF News. You can submit a request at the link below:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/add.ldml
The latest Photo and Tip contests end on Thursday of next week. You can enter at the following links.
Tip Contest!
http://www.thriftyfun.com/contest.ldml
Photo Contest!
http://www.thriftyfun.com/photo_contest.ldml
Thanks for reading,
Susan
Frugal solutions to everyday problems: Submit a request...
http://www.thriftyfun.com/add.ldml
Today's newsletter contains:
Today's Photos:
Today's Tips:
New Requests:
Search ThriftyFun Using Google: Click Here
Today's Sponsors
Lots of great art supplies at DickBlick.com
http://www.thriftyfun.com/thriftylinks/tf241337_tfl.html
Today's Photos
Here's are pictures of my cat Shawnee. I believe he's mixed with a tiger kitty as he has stripes in his fur if you look real closely. He is about 2 years old. I adopted him about a year and a half ago from a no-kill cat adoption center. He likes to wrestle with his brother Bailee (an orange and white furball we adopted at the same time) and lay on top of the satellite receiver. At night he waits by the steps for me to go to bed so he can tunnel through my blankets. And during the day, you can always catch him "fishing"!
By JoAnn Washburn
Post Feedback: Click Here
This plant holder is made out of a gourd. I used jute for the hanger and put a few macrame knots in it with some wooden beads. Cut the top out of a gourd(that I grew), and it cracked so I put a leather lace in it to keep it from cracking more. Sprayed with a sealer. The flower is a Mandevilla Red Velvet, and has just started blooming.
By Fran
Post Feedback: Click Here
Sparkly Felt Beaded Pin
By Connie Decker Brown
A colorful beaded pin with felt backing.
Supplies:
Directions:
1. Make or copy a daisy-type flower pattern.
2. Pin to felt or fleece, then cut one of the pattern size, one larger, and one smaller.
3. String beads onto thread, then place the stringed beads around the outside of the large flower, tacking with glue or thread as you go.
4. Repeat step 3 for medium and small flowers.
5. Glue medium flower to top of large flower, and small flower to top of medium flower.
6. Attach pin to the back of the large flower.
7. You now have a sparkly flower pin to wear and brighten up your day!
Post Feedback: Click Here
Teach your dog to serve as a mobile coffee table! Comes in handy!
By Nina Clark
Post Feedback: Click Here
Today's Tips
Ingredients
Directions
Melt chocolate in saucepan over lowest heat possible, stirring constantly. Dip spoons into melted chocolate, coating only the bowl of each spoon (this can be repeated as many times as you'd like.) Sprinkle with decorations. Place on waxed paper until chocolate is set.
Wrap spoons in plastic wrap or cellophane (and if you'd like, tie a little ribbon around the spoon.) These spoons are great to just munch on or stir your hot chocolate.
Take a small plastic or clay pot and add a handfull of these with the handle down.
Makes a great gift
By imaqt1962
Post Feedback: Click Here
Living With Daughters
By Sharon Shearer
It's a real eye opening experience! You have boys and realize there's not a lot that you can relate to as far as "Boy Stuff." And then comes the daughter. Now this is familiar GROUND! I'd like to offer a few tips to mothers about raising daughters and keeping a right mind. As I've said before, I am certainly no expert, but I can almost certainy guarantee that before they are grown and gone most mothers will face these situations.
1. To bring up a responsible young lady and future wife and Mother--PLEASE, for her sake, give a girl homemaking responsibilities. It's all a part of a woman's plot in life and she will eventually have to face it or reject it. I'd love to know how many times I've heard wives and mothers say they wished THEIR mother had made them take on the responsibility of dishwashing and housework. The desire to keep a clean house doesn't just come with age. It is taught and we as moms are the teachers. Your future son-in-law will thank you in years to come.
2. If your beautiful young daughter chooses to play ball instead cheerleading don't discourage her by insisting she do "girl things" instead. Playing ball teaches children respect, good sportsmanship and teamwork, all good values which will follow her down through life. Being part of a TEAM teaches a girl that the world doesn't revolve around her alone. And moms really DO tend to overpamper little girls.
3. Let her decide what her hobbies and interests will be, within reasonable limits. Because you think she's beautiful and would someday be a great MODEL, don't push her into the pageant scene unless she has a real desire to do so. I have friends who have literally packed up and moved to further their daughter's careers in modeling. Know what? To this day neither young lady has a desire to go through it again and the expenses inflicted on their family by mom's fantasies are enormous. For her sake, don't try to live out your desires through your daughter. It isn't fair.
4. The years prior to the onset of puberty in a Daughter are hard years to live with a girl. Hormones go crazy and emotions run high. She will cry at the drop of a pin, and in those years you can become the "ENEMY". If you can live with it until she reaches 16, it gets better. Believe it or not! By 18-19 she realizes that Mom wasn't actually her ENEMY after all and you actually become friends. In the stressful years, always keep the doors of communication open. Talk to her about what's going on in her life. If you listen most girls will talk and ask for your advice.
5. No matter how many life experiences and heartbreak stories you share with your daughter, in hopes that they will not make the same mistakes, mothers can't shield their girls forever. Most will listen respectfully, but you can't prevent them from learning on their own. That's just part of becoming a woman. Someday she too will realize what this strange thing called MOTHERHOOD is all about.
By Sharon Shearer
Post Feedback: Click Here
I recently made a bridal gift but it could be used for a Christmas gift. I used a 3 ring binder and plastic page protectors. I put a recipe for each month of the year in the book. Some recipes were my own favorites or some were clipped from magazines.
I used colored paper to mount the recipes on and used small cut out pictures or stickers to decorate each page with something seasonal or special in the month.
I included pages with a holiday poem or inspirational thoughts. Sometimes I added almost whole page illustrations from magazines that went along with the particular month.
I found pages in magazines with common recipe substitutions and even a page of household first aid. I titled it "A year of recipes" on the outside.
By Martha
Post Feedback: Click Here
In Praise of Ammonia: Ammonia is wonderful for cleaning and cutting grease and is very inexpensive to use. Mix half and half with water in a spray bottle, spray, then watch the ammonia do the work, it's amazing how well it cuts grease so quickly. I havent found anything yet that it doesn't work on, just DON'T mix ammonia with bleach... EVER!
You can also put it in a glass bowl in your oven over night and just wipe clean within 24 hours. (Really messy ovens may take longer.)
By Bea
Editor's Note: Ammonia is the active ingredient in many bottled cleaners. Make sure you use it with ventilation. It is great for removing old wax from linoleum floors, too.
Post Feedback: Click Here
Repel or Prevent Pest Infestations Without Killing
It concerns me to see posts about killing insects and animals when it is just as effective and less poisonous to repel or prevent infestation.
Roaches love the glues in the box tops and bottoms. Keep boxed open items like pasta, bisquick, etc. in jars. They also love the glues in shelf paper. Use something else on shelves. Catch them and take them to a warm compost pile outside. You can re-train the whole colony to move outside where they can live completely invisibly to you.
Flies won't keep buzzing into a house that has tansy planted by doors and windows. Bunches of dried tansy work almost as well, but not quite. Keep screens in good working order. Use a butterfly net to catch them and take them outside when they do get in. Keep your trash cans clean so maggots don't appear and turn into more flies.
Bedbugs hate thyme. Sprinkle the bed with it, spread it around the edges of the bedroom; open the windows, close the door and wait until morning. Vacuum and they are gone.
Fleas can be kept away with pennyroyal oil. It's a strong mint and dangerous to pregnant women. A drop behind the pet's neck and under the neck as well as at the base of the tail will keep fleas away. Also add nutritional yeast to their food, a spoon a day, sprinkled on, and a pill of garlc (cut a small pill shape from a slice of garlic clove) will keep ticks and fleas from staying and biting.
Editor's Note: Garlic should only be given to dogs, it can be harmful to cats.
Mosquitos won't bite someone who takes a B-complex vitamin daily. If you are camping, you may need to take extra. It turns pee yellow, so don't panic! Garlic works too but not garlic pills. They are useless.
Keep weevils out of food by storing flours and such in jars.
Ants can be kept out easily by seeing where they are getting in and using petroleum jelly as a barrier they won't cross. Also, washing their paths with soapy water keeps them from instintcively using it again. You can also try cayenne pepper as a boundary but you might have to refresh it until they are re-trained.
Pennyroyal also keeps termites from eating your house, by treating the possibly infected area with the oil. Use cedar bark for mulch around the house if you don't want to attract more termites. They won't eat the cedar, but will infest other bark mulches.
Keep clutter down and store things in plastic bags, like linens and luggage (if it doesn't seal well).
There are lots of chemical free alternatives to pesticides and traps. We often think "Thou shalt not kill" is a good value, but we rarely remember that doesn't end with "except for bugs and enemies..."
By Allison
Post Feedback: Click Here
Lamps are so expensive now, so reinventing an old lamp with a new look saves a LOT of money.
Personally, I think lamps are so over priced to begin with! I have taken parts from discarded lamps and made new lamps, even drilled holes in a ceramic vase to incorporate into a "new" lamp; new wire and a socket are inexpensive. I have used hanging lamp globes from yard sale finds and made them into table lamps. Use your imagination and save big time!
I had a '70's lamp with a gold globe and this is what I did ...
I bought some eggshell colored wrapping paperthat had a sparkle design on it. I tore the paper into small pieces and decoupaged the torn pieces to the globe. It looks really nice; kind of a lacy look from a distance. This lamp also had a small light in the base that you could turn on or not, separate from the main light. I turned on the base light and it added to the decoupage effect.
Decoupage glue can be purchased at any craft store.
It sure saved a bundle I would have spent for a new lamp where you now have to buy the shades separate now!
For those who may not know what decoupage is...
decoupage
1. paper decoration method: a technique for decorating something in which a design is made of pieces of printed paper cut out and stuck on a flat base, then coated with varnish
2. decoupage picture: a picture or other form of decoration that is made using decoupage
Source: Encarta ® World English Dictionary ©
By Syd
Post Feedback: Click Here
When washing large or heavy loads of laundry, run the washer thru a second spin cycle. Gets out lots more water for faster dry time.
By Linda
Post Feedback: Click Here
Those shelf-sitter statues like angels, cherubs, and frogs can easily be used as bookends for a fun look.
By Patricia
Post Feedback: Click Here
For those of you with strawberry planters, here's a tip on how to water them without having it run out the sides. Drill several holes into a PVC pipe that's a little longer than the height of your planter, then insert it down the middle of the planter. When you water, pour it directly into the pipe opening and the plants will be watered from the inside out.
By Patricia
Post Feedback: Click Here
http://www.thriftyfun.com/board.html
New Contest - More Prizes
We are giving away 16 $25 prizes in a variety of categories.
Tip Contest!
To enter, visit: http://www.thriftyfun.com/contest.ldml
Photo Contest!
To enter, visit: http://www.thriftyfun.com/photo_contest.ldml
Contest ends August 31, 2005
Syndication Spotlight:
Here are some publishers that have chosen to publish our tips this week!
Dear Webby's Humor Letter
Webby publishes our tips daily! A very funny newsletter.
http://webby.com/humor
Do you publish a newsletter? Sign up for our Tip Syndication:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/syndication.html
New Requests
My bedroom isn't messy. It is actually very clean. But my desk is totally junky, and so are my drawers. My drawers don't have clothes in them, but games and notebooks. I really could use some help!
Thank you,
Ally
Post Feedback: Click Here
Good Potting Soil for Vegetables and Flowers
Greetings:
Next Spring, I would like to sell a number of seedlings at a flea mart type setting. What would be a good all-around potting soil mix for vegetables and for floral type plants? I'd like to make it from scratch.
Thank you.
Mary McLuckie
Post Feedback: Click Here
Nice Way to Cover a TV in a Bedroom
Does anyone know of an economical, nice-looking way to cover up a 19" TV which is placed on a bedroom dresser? Unfortunately, neither wallmounting the TV or getting a smaller TV is an option; the dresser is the only place we have to put it due to the bedroom being so small. I was thinking of using curtains that could somehow be easily drawn aside when we're watching the TV and easily closed when we're not watching it but don't know where to start. Do they sell curtain rods that curve out from the wall and back?
Lynn from Calif.
Post Feedback: Click Here
American Eskimo Breed Information
I went to my local shelter recently and I found a beautiful dog. He is a white american eskimo. If anybody owns one or knows a bit about this breed please post some advice or comments.
Sabrina
Heres a picture:
Post Feedback: Click Here
I have two rather large trumpet vines. One of them has an abundance of flowers while the other one has never had even one flower on it. The one without "trumpets" on it is also a lot larger. The vine that has the trumpets (flowers) is also the only one that ever has seedpods on it. Is it possible that one is a male plant and the other one is female?
Sue
Post Feedback: Click Here
I am a reformed Stay at home mum thanks to a kind person who posted a tip on here recently recommending Flylady.net. Thank you to whoever that was it has changed my life and my home! Having followed Flylady for just two weeks my home is looking great but there is one thing I need help with:
My sheepskin rug.
It has no specific stains on and is only a year old but it is looking kinda grey and I'm wondering how I am supposed to clean it without damaging it, it's nice and woolly and curly in places so I can't scrub at it. I am amazed at how resourceful and clever you people are, I'm sure someone will know what to do!
Many thanks for reading this and for any help you can give.
Cate from UK.
Post Feedback: Click Here
Someone set down a very hot dish on the arm of my soft black leather sofa and now I'm left with a grey burn mark the size of a dinner plate. Can anyone help? Would shoe polish work? I'm desperate, the suite is only two months old!
scraig1
Post Feedback: Click Here
I recently bought a house, an old one built in like 1930s. It is semidetached. My problem is on the bedroom level, the bathroom and more so the bedroom next to the bathroom has an odor - a bad odor. It smells like rotten wood and backed up sewer.
The bedroom has paneling. It also has a panel door where if you open it, you can see the pipes and stuff and smell the odor. I am assuming these are the toilet pipes? When I walk in the house, it smells like fish of some sort. The half bathroom on the kitchen level also smells, but with a different smell.
How do I get rid of this odor. I spray lysol everyday when I come in. Could the the paneling have something to do with it? It has been there for some time. The whole house had the paneling but I took all of it out so this is the only room left with the paneling.
Do I need to just change the toilets? Would that help? Or do the pipes need to be changed as well? Isn't that expensive? What else should I do? I plan to make that room my baby's room, but I am not sure if that is safe for him/her?
Please help,
Pooh from DC
Post Feedback: Click Here
My baby's diaper leaked on our couch last night and I thought I'd gotten it all, but I found more this morning. Any suggestions for getting it off?
skyla
Post Feedback: Click Here
How Do I Know If My Dog Has Fleas?
How do i know if my dog has fleas, and what is the best remedy to get rid of them?
Carole
Post Feedback: Click Here
Looking for a frugal solution to an everyday problem? Submit your request here: Click Here
Today's Sponsors
Lots of great art supplies at DickBlick.com
http://www.thriftyfun.com/thriftylinks/tf241337_tfl.html
Let others know that you like this Ezine:
Vote For the Daily Thrifty Tips
More Stuff
Coupon Swap!
Swap coupons with other ThriftyFun.com users:
Seed Swap!
Swap seeds with other ThriftyFun.com users:
Tip Contest!
Submit a tip and enter our contest.
Submit a Request
Frugal solutions to everyday problems.
Search ThriftyFun!
Use Google technology to search ThriftyFun.
Like ThriftyFun on Facebook
