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Hello,
I hope everyone in the US has a safe and relaxing Fourth of July. And as always, while we don't publish this newsletter on the weekends, we do publish new requests and articles. Also the TF News is now published on Saturday, so check the website if you get a chance.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend!
Susan
Today's newsletter contains:
Today's Tips:
New Requests:
More Reading:
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Today's Tips
Use a Small Bottle for Cooking Oil
Here is a tip concerning the big bottles of cooking oil. Rinse out a smaller container with some sort of pouring/squirting Spout and fill it with some of the cooking oil from the larger bottle. This way it is much easier to get just a tablespoon or whatever Without spilling and wasting extra. I use an old lemonade concentrate container and it works great! By Cindy
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Use regular rubbing alcohol . Just a couple drops on a cottonball, paper towel or rag will clean any glass squeeky clean with no streaks for less than pennies per use. By Mary Belle Wright
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Store Cleaning Supplies on Each Floor
If you live in a multi-story house, make sure you have the approriate cleaning supplies on each floor, so there's less need to run up and down stairs to grab something you forgot. By fransmission
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Window Cleaner for Sprucing up the Bathroom Faucets and Mirrors
Keep window cleaner and paper towels in each bathroom so you can give the faucets, mirrors, and porcelain a quick wipe whenever the mood strikes you., which may not be often, but at least you'll be prepared! P.S. If you have young children living with you, or as visitors, make sure that all chemicals are way out of reach... better safe than sorry. By fransmission
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Wipe your stainless tea kettle shortly after it has boiled... it's easier to wipe kitchen grease off it while it's still hot. By fransmission Editor's Note: Be careful not to burn yourself!
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If you have a grown child living with you and paying rent, see if he/she will trade off housekeeping duties for all or part of his/her rent. Hey, it might work! By fransmission
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An easy way to remove odor from hands is to NOT USE HOT WATER FIRST as it dialates the pores of the skin and the odor is sucked up into your flesh. Lather well first and start rinsing off above the lather; THEN you can use hot water if you like. To get clean hands and under nails, figure the time of a few bars of "Olde Man Donald Had a Farm" and also drag tips of the nails across the palm of your hands to clean under nails. To rinse start above the lather and rinse down. By MaryBelle Wright
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I use the dividers in glass bottle beer cases (they are used to prevent the bottles from knocking into each other) as sock dividers in my drawers. These dividers work just as well as the commercially sold ones in the organizational stores, but they are free (if someone in your family buys beer). By MaryME
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Reduce Dishwashing Water Use with Three Sinks or Tubs
Dishwashers use from 9 to 16 gallons of (very) hot water. You can wash your dishes using three sinks/ tubs and 3 to 5 gallons of water.
Put a gallon or two of warm to hot water and dishsoap in one sink or dishtub. Let all the non-greasy dishes soak a minute - like glasses and silver. Put another gallon of warm to cool water in another sink or tub and also a third tub.
Wash the first "load" and put aside. Put the next batch of dishes, plates and bowls into soapy water. Rinse the glasses, etc. in the first rinse tub and then the second. Continue to wash the rest of your dishes and pots that way. You can add white vinegar to the first rinse for more cleaning and disinfecting power.
Avoid having super greasy dishes by taking care of your health (Eat less greasy food). Also, if you've washed dirty dishes in warm to hot water, you don't need hot water to rinse. If you towel dry your dishes, you remove any last bits of clinging stuff.
We use our dishwasher as a dish drainer to save counter space. And I simply got rid of many of our extra dishes and glasses so I didn't find a big pile at the sink at the end of the day. Now we quickly rinse and reuse our drinking glass.
This three-sink method is what must be used by commercial enterprises, and it's how I learned to do dishes when I lived in Alaska and didn't have running water. When you haul your water in from the well by hand, you learn to conserve!
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The following three tips are from our archive.
1 bar (3.5 oz.) soap with moisturizing cream
3 cups water
Makes 3 cups
Directions:
Shred bar of soap. Place in large bowl. Add water. Microwave at high 5 to 6 minutes, or until soap is dissolved, stirring every 2 minutes. Let stand until cool. Fill soap dispensers.
Lori
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Less expensive hand soap
Someone else mentioned that you could get a less expensive antibacterial hand soap by buying antibacterial dishwashing liquid. I buy Palmolive antibacterial dishwashing liquid and then add an equal amount of water and gently mix it with a wire whisk. This gives you twice as much for the low cost of the dishwashing liquid and it works very well!
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If you use hair spray or spritz and get build up on you hair you may want to try this. After you shampoo, while your hair is still wet, take a tablespoon of baking soda and work into your hair. it removes the build up so that you don't have to use an expensive hair care product. - Dorothy
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Featured Feedback: RE: So Far in Debt; Can't Seem to Breathe
By Rabbithorns
I'm sorry but having been a single mother with $25,000 debt and an average income of about $9,000 a year, I think getting MORE credit to pay off credit is like handing a bottle rather than a drink to an alcoholic. (No offense Stephanie, I'm not saying you're addicted to spending.)
If you want this thing to be gone and you've exhausted all possibility of paying it off yourself - meaning 1) you can't get low- or no- interest cards while you pay it down, and 2) you can't come up with huge money to help bring it to within reason so you're not drowning, and 3) you don't make enough money to live on (otherwise why would you get yourself in debt for so much money?), or 4) you really can't stop spening more money than you should - I suggest the next best thing to bankruptcy.
If you are saying that you ACTUALLY, REALLY, ABSOLUTELY cannot come up with a lower rate or consolidation or the money to pay your bills, then call each company and ask to make a settlement on your cards. Most call center customer service people will not know what you've asked for. Their supervisors will. You will be asked to call a debt-reduction agency, who will look at your income vs. your debts and determine how much you can pay if anything. Once the report is in, you go back to the credit card company and make an offer on your balance (like "I'll pay you $2000 of the $6000 I owe you and then it's quits"). They will come back with their counteroffer. The offer may be a settlement, or a debt-consolidation and reduction plan for lower interest and lower payments. If you get the settlement, then money you don't pay them is called a forgiven loan and this total has to go on your taxes. You pay income tax on the money you don't pay back. Paying taxes on $10,000 is much easier than paying out $10,000.
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Featured Feedback: RE: Outdoor Craft Ideas for Kids
How about collecting rocks and painting different things on them like animals, flowers, strawberries, etc. Also collecting wildflowers and doing flower pounding to make cards, pictures on t-shirts or to frame.
By longfarm
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Today's Recipe: Cook-Ahead Campouts
By Rachel Paxton
When you're out in the woods spending some quality time with your family, the last thing you want to do is spend a lot of time cooking and washing dishes. I've found that the best way to make the most of your campouts is to cook some of your food ahead of time, and to make the cooking you have to do as easy as possible.
Fish you can wrap in a double layer of aluminum foil and cook in the coals of your campfire. Potatoes and corn on the cob (still in the husks) can also be wrapped in foil and cooked in the coals. Spread the coals around your packets of foil as evenly as possible so the food will cook evenly. Corn will take 10-15 minutes to cook, and potatoes about a half hour. The fish doesn't take long at all--15 minutes or less depending on the thickness of the fish. And, don't forget the hotdogs! We always bring along some hotdogs or sausages to roast over the fire on a stick. Watermelon can be brought along and kept cold in a cool shallow creek.
The following recipes are great to prepare ahead and take with you. The chicken you can eat cold and the shredded roast beef you just warm up in a pan or in foil and serve over hamburger buns. The fruit salad keeps well for a couple of days in a cooler. Yum!
OVEN-FRIED CHICKEN
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash chicken and pat dry. Melt the butter and shortening together in the oven in a 13x9x2-inch baking dish. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together flour, salt, and pepper. Coat chicken pieces in flour and arrange skin side down in the baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Turn chicken pieces over and cook for another 30 minutes.
EASY ROAST BEEF
Cut onion and celery in large pieces. Dump all ingredients in large roast pan. Bake in oven about 6 hours at 300 degrees. Add more liquid if necessary. When beef if done it should pull apart and shred easily with a fork. (It seems like there is a lot of liquid, but when you pull apart the meat it absorbs most of it). Serve on fresh buns that won't fall apart easily.
FRUIT SALAD
Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and refrigerate.
About The Author: Originally published at Suite 101. Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom. Visit her site http://www.organized-mom.com, featuring the Easy Organizer, loaded with tools to help you plan, schedule, remember events, keep in touch, get your family on an organized schedule, prioritize, and more.
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Tip Contest
Submit a thrifty tip and you might win...
Elegantly Frugal Costumes: The Poor Man's Do-It-Yourself Costume Maker's Guide
This wonderfully practical book literally shows you how to make costumes for plays, pageants and musicals at the lowest possible expense! Over 150 detailed illustrations work with the easy-to-follow text to walk you through every step of the process. Just about every basic period is covered: Biblical to Medieval, Renaissance, Angels, the Fabulous Fifties, 1800s to World War I, The Roaring Twenties and more. Many helpful hints on making or buying realistic period theatrical costumes on a shoestring budget from cast-offs, donations, scraps, and other easily-obtained materials. Also included are "special effects" costumes, helpful hints for getting into and out of costumes, and a glossary of costuming terms A book that will pay for itself with its first use.
New Requests:
Wedding Advice for New Jersey or New York
Hi. My fiancee and I are not planning a wedding yet because we have other things we want to fix first and then save enough money to pay for our own wedding. Unfortunetely, no one will be helping us with wedding fees and we have our own apartment and along the bills to pay, we have a car, and I go to school full time, which doesn't allow me to work full time to earn more money. He wants to get married in New York (where his family and friends are), but I want to get married in New Jersey (where we currently live, and I have my family). I fear doing it in NY because I know, or atleast I think that it will be more expensive there rather than in NJ. Can someone please give me some advice on which state it would be more sensible and post any links with lists of places where I can do my reception in either state. Thank you. Erica from New Jersey
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Clunking Noise from Our Water Heater
Looking for suggestions: Our home's water heater has started making a clunking noise occasionally while the water is being used. It doesn't seem to matter whether hot or cold is being used. Could it be something like air in the lines? How can we deal with this other than calling a plumber? Thanks for your help! Becki in Indiana
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Keeping Snakes out of my Garden
Does anyone know how to get rid of snakes and keep them away? Too many snakes in and around my garden. They seem to be living in the crevices of an old stone fireplace. Thanks Ralphed
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Hi. My mom and I just found a ton of CDs that aren't used anymore. We once saw in a magazine, how to make a door curtain out of old CDs. Does anyone know how to make one? Or know a website that could possibly tell me how? I would greatly appreciate it. If you could please email me... SailorGirl07 (at) comcast (dot) net Victoria from Texas.
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Need Gift Ideas for a 21 Year Old in the Hospital
I need ideas for a patient who is 21 and had a head trauma case and is now in rehab and needs things to make his stay better Paula
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A Savings Challenge
By Allison Dey
I really liked Tawra's site Living on a Dime and I really feel challenged. We've been living on a fairly low income for years, but even so we were able to become debt free as well.
Now we have the problem that we can't seem to save much, if anything. For instance, this month we had a boon of about $1000 which I was going to put in savings (extra paycheck in that month, etc.). But high winds tore up part of our driveway awning and our deductible on insurance is $500. And when our totally relaible and honest mechanic was replacing our clutch (which was already budgetted), he found a much more expensive problem as well... So now the savings money is going to be eaten up with unexpected items.
This seems to be the story of our lives. Whatever extra comes through, unexpected necessities eat it up! We don't really eat out or go to movies, etc. We already live simply and have very little financial stress except that we are at our last penny most of the time. We laugh because it's like Irene Dunn in the old movie "I Remember Mama" where she gets the pay from her husband and makes little piles - "This is for the grocier. This is for the butcher. This is for (whatever)." And when she's out of bills and money she says "Now we do not have to go to the bank!" Meaning now they don't have to get into savings (which was imaginary anyway, if you remember).
BUT, I was wondering... if we did still have credit card payments, we simply would find the money to pay it - as well as the unexpected items. I mean, that's what we used to do right?
So here's my challenge: Using Tawra's method as inspiration, I'm going to "pay" our savings a fixed amount per month, treating it like a bill, and see whether or not we can weather the unexpected things and still be saving.
It's too easy to say "pay yourself first" when bills are due. So I am wonder if treating it like another bill will make it stick. If anyone has a better idea - please let me know! Spare change and nickel and diming it doesn't seem to be helping. We don't own much but if we can sell something to pay a bill rather than dip into savings we will. But it just always evens out - never gets better. Any ideas on this method?
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More Reading
Sleepover Party Crafts
By Abigail Beal
Sleepovers are always so much fun because you get to see all of your friends at once. You get to stay up late and play games. But sometimes sleepover parties are a time for kids to cause mischief and they do so because they are simply given a little too much free time. Here are some fun crafts that are great for sleepover parties that involve the fun of working as a group, but also creating something special that you get to take home. The kids will have fun making the projects but also will have fun knowing they have made a special memento. My niece has a message & doodle pillowcase that is now five years old that she absolutely treasures and she's not a "crafter". You may also spark a bit of creativity in someone that night by offering a craft project you never know!
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Perfect Picnics - Frugal Food Safety Tips
By Cyndi Roberts
The Fourth of July is just around the corner and for a lot of us that means heading out to the lake or to the park for a picnic with friends or family.
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Creative Slipcover Fabrics
By Kelley R. Taylor
The trend in recovering flea market finds has soared over the past few years and slipcover manufacturers, pattern makers, and retail stores have taken the market by storm. Loose slipcovers, tailored slipcovers, pillow covers and duvets are all the rage even chic! Its wonderful to know that one can refresh and old outdated chair, footstool or couch with just a few yards of fabric.
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Thanks
Susan
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