Daily Thrifty Tips - January 18, 2006

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Wiggles Lory is a 2 year old Lory Parrot. Someone bought him and then decided she didn't want him anymore. So she gave him to us.

He loves to make noise. He loves to talk and he likes going and sitting on the shelf in the shower. He has a truck he rides in and we pull with a string.

He really thinks he is a dog we call the dog and he comes. Also he calls the dog name and asks what you doing when the dog comes. He also meows like a cat. All our animals are scared of him. He can really be bad if we let him he get on the desk and throw all the pencils and ink pens. We just love him so much.

By Ashley from Lafayette, La

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Instead of using those plastic over-the-door shoe organizers for shoes, I use mine to organize our socks! After taking the socks out of the dryer, I just roll them up and place a pair in each pocket of the shoe organizer (I do this with pantyhose and knee-highs too).

No scrambling to match socks on a busy morning! When my son gets older and starts to dress himself, I'll probably do the same for his room so that he has easy access to matching socks.

By Lisa from WI

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Always wear a Hoody to cover your ears, It can get very cold in the U.P.!

By dandyonthelake from Upper Michigan

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When drilling a whole in a piece of wood with a hand drill, use a nail or awl to start a hole where you plan to drill. That will help get the drill started and prevent it from skidding on the wood and leaving unsightly marks. Make sure the piece of wood that you are drilling is firm secured using a vice or a clamp.

By ThriftyFun

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Start an easy advent calendar or winter countdown! Cut out two large white construction paper circles. Have child draw a snowman face on one, while you draw numbers on the body (buttons opt) like countdown style, big enough to be covered by a cotton ball, leaving the 1 all alone at the bottom.

Paste the head on the body (add arms and hat) then every night paste a cotton ball over the number to show how many days left until Christmas or any other special day. Can also use a Tree with ball decorations (color pompoms). My 4 year old loves countdowns, and when we had presents under the tree, he understood not to touch them until ALL the numbers were covered with snow balls! It was a fun bedtime ritual to glue them on.

By Kelly from Willamina, OR

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Uncle Rusty is a wise man. A while back he retired and purchased a modest home near a junior high school. He spent the first few weeks of his retirement in peace and quiet, puttering around his work shop.

That is of course until the school year began. On the first day of school three young boys, full of pent up energy from a full day of school, came down his street. As they walked down the street they beat rhythmically on every trash can they past. Day after day, it was the same thing. Beating, clanging and pounding out a rhythm on the cans as they walked down the street. Poor Uncle Rusty just couldn't take it any more.

The next afternoon, he walked out to meet the young musicians. As they worked their way down the street, pounding out a tune on the cans, Rusty stopped them and said, "You kids sure are having a lot of fun. I like seeing young people like you, express themselves. In fact, I used to do the same thing when I was your age. Will you do me a favor? I'll give you each a dollar if you'll promise to come around every day and do your thing." The kids were elated and continued to do a bang up job on the trash cans.

After two days, Uncle Rusty greeted the kids again, but this time he had a sad expression on his face. "This recession's really putting a big dent in my income," he told them. "From now on, I'll only be able to pay you 50 cents to beat on the cans."

The boys were not pleased, but they did accept his offer and continued their afternoon concert. A couple of days later, Sly Uncle Rusty approached them again as they drummed their way down the street.

With words that would ensure he would have peace and quiet from that day forward he said "Look, my Social Security check just isn't stretching as far with the expenses. So I'm not going to be able to give you more than 25 cents a day. Will that be okay?"

"What?! Just a crummy quarter?" the boys exclaimed. "If you think we're going to waste our time, beating these cans around for a quarter, you're nuts! No way, mister. We quit!"

By GB from FL

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Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a slowdown in the performance of the flower and jewelry applications that had operated flawlessly under the Boyfriend 5.0 system.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.9, and installed undesirable programs such as NFL 7.4, NBA 3.2 and NHL 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 also no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate

Submitted By GB

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My tip is to go right out and buy the Hoover Z Bagless Upright! I just got it and I love it. I has a super long cord so I can go so much further without unplugging. Love the bagless deal! The clear canister that collects the dirt is great so you can really see what you are getting up. Actually makes this busy mother want to keep on vacuuming! Love it!

By Tracy from San Diego CA

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You can reinforce dresser or desk drawers by cutting small rectangular pieces of wood and screwing them into the back corners of the drawers.

By ThriftyFun

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Getting Kids to Eat Veggies

If you have children who turn up their noses at cooked veggies, puree some of the cooked veggies and then add them to your soup, stew, etc. I also chop coarsely cooked peas, carrots, and potatoes and add them to my meat loaf mix. It makes the meat loaf extremely moist and the kids are none the wiser.

This has worked for my daughter for many years and I now I do it for the grandchildren as well.

By Kay Mathias from South Fulton, TN

Blended Vegetables

Will your kids eat stew but pick out the vegetables they don't like? To sneak more healthy vegetables into your picky eaters try blending the vegetables to a pulp with a cup or two of water and then pour this into your soup or stew stock.

Of course, you have to season this stock well so they won't taste the vegetables. Add coloring or Kitchen Bouquet Browning and Seasoning Sauce if necessary to make it look like a brown stock.

By Seagrape

Dipping Sauce

Encourage your children to eat more fruits and veggies by giving them something healthy to dip them into. A yogurt based salad dressing is good for dipping veggies, and fruit yogurt is great for dipping fruit.

By Linda

Vanilla Yogurt Dipping Sauce

I found a great healthy snack that my kids love and it's simple. Slice up an apple and serve with vanilla yogurt to dip them in. My kids eat a lot more apples and yogurt now. It's great with grapes too!

By Mom in LA

Roasting Vegetables

Try roasting your veggies especially brocolli, cauliflower, zuchinni and carrots in the oven. If you toss the veggies in a little bit of olive oil with italian seasoning or other spices and put in oven until tender. The veggies lose their sulfur taste and become sweet - at least to me. Also zuchinni coated with olive oil and parmesan cheese and cooking in oven.

By Creaky

Veggies in the Spaghetti Sauce

One way to make spaghetti sauce go even further is to add frozen mixed veggies. It's one way to get picky children to eat their veggies without them even realising vegetables have been consumed.

By Bev in OZ

Feel free to post feedback below if you have tips on getting kids to eat fruits and vegetables.

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Get little sample/travel sizes of lotion and baby wash. They are great, then refill with your big bottles for diaper bag/travel kit. Walgreen's sells TINY tubs of Vaseline, and they are easy to refill with more. It is nature's best diaper rash prevention (cheaper than Desitin!)

Always buy combination baby wash and shampoo, two in one and great for adults too! Lotion is great for sensitive skin and absorbs better than any "adult" lotion. No need to buy different brands of the same product!

By Kelly from Willamina, OR

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I have discovered a less expensive carpet/room deodorizer. Instead of purchasing the standard carpet deodorizer (kind you sprinkle on and vacuum up), purchased Arm & Hammer Cat Litter Deodorizer. You will find this in the pet section of your local grocery store or at Wal-Mart. (Comes in an orange box; same size as regular carpet deodorizer.) Just sprinkle on the carpet and vacuum up as you would with the leading brand. It is cheaper, smells fantastic, and has a long-lasting fragrance. You can also sprinkle a little in your bathroom waste cans to deodorize the room. By Marn from Cumming, GA

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You'd think that a person who can't speak to ask for Starbucks or Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and who only eats a few ounces of food a day, wouldn't cost much to upkeep.

Boy, would you be wrong!

Here are a few baby-money mistakes we made in 2005 while taking care of our infant daughter, Ruby. Maybe you can learn from them.

• I tried to breastfeed Ruby, but when she didn't catch on I let the nurses at the hospital put her on formula before we even went home. In retrospect, I should have tried harder.

• I didn't start using cloth diapers until Ruby was 10 months old.

• We bought a $100 baby swing that Ruby enjoyed precisely as long as it took her to grow old enough to complain about being in it. About two months. (I was able to sell the swing on eBay for about half what we paid for it.)

• I spent $40 on a specially designed chair called a Bumbo Seat, meant to allow a child to sit up without falling over. About six weeks later Ruby revealed her super-baby strength and sat up on her own at a very early age, negating the need for a Bumbo Seat.

Because she's such an agreeable little thing, too small to complain about much as long as she's dry and fed, Ruby will catch the brunt of many money saving experiments this year!

As soon as the Year of Extreme Frugality was conceived, I started using cloth diapers. Ruby was 10-months-old.

It was far too late to switch to breast milk! But, we did stop the fancy little jars of baby food quite abruptly. Ruby is far happier eating what we eat.

Ever since my single-mom days, I've always bought my kids' clothes at thrift stores and garage sales. Especially for babies as small as Ruby, the clothes are in perfect condition. They grow much faster than they can wear out an outfit!

By Shaunta Alburger
http://www.pennywisejournal.com

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With Spring coming, plant silk flowers instead of real flowers. They last longer and are far more inexpensive and less time consuming to take care of. They require no watering or pruning and rabbits don't like to eat them!

By Vickie from Canton, MI

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Do you shop at large warehouse stores like Costco and Sam's Club? Do you have any tips for getting the most out of your warehouse store membership?

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I need to clean mold of my bathroom walls. I need to know the parts of bleach and water to mix so I can spray it on the walls. I need to clean off the mold before I paint.

Rankinfarm from Yuma, AZ

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Does anyone have a recipe for homemade vegetable beef soup? I have used beef shank in the past, but was unable to find any this time. I used a soup bone without meat on it, and read that the bone should be roasted first. Does anyone know why? Any recipes for veg-beef soup, and the type of meat that could be used would really be appreciated. I don't want to use a ready made canned beef broth. I would rather do it from scratch.

Thanks,
P.J. from Delaware

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I have a tablecloth with wax stains. I got the wax off but the red stain is still there. Anyone have any ideas how to get it off?

Thanks,
Grandma from Brooklyn, NY

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Does anyone know how to retouch bleach spots on colored clothing? Have ruined good clothes with bleach stains. Thank you.

Marie from Washington State

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How can I get ink out of my microfiber sofa?

Marjorie from Staten Island, NY

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What can I do about people calling my home phone and trying to get me to donate money to their organization? I tell them no all of the time which makes me feel bad but the money we have we need for ourselves. I have our phone number on the do not call lists and they have been there for a year now, so I don't know how I can get them to stop. We receive calls at many hours of the day and they don't leave messages, they just call. We don't pick up unlisted numbers now so they just keep calling. I have asked them to stop calling and to take me off there list. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jen from Eau Claire, WI

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Does anyone know of a website where I can pull up recipe cards, type the recipe, and then print it out? I have done this before but the website no longer works.

Wilma from Yukon, OK

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I am looking to start a topic for those of us that get food each month from the Angel Food Ministries. I would like to know what you have made from your Angel Food groceries.

Example, I used some of my boneless chicken breast and the frozen peas and carrots to make a yummy homemade Chicken Pot pie. I cooked the breaded Beef Fritters and Field Peas another night and fried potatoes w/them as well.

If someone has an idea as to how they will use this months food as well, I would like to know!

TIA
Cookiepom from Owensboro, KY

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I've entered many competitions recently, where you need to write the answer in "25 words or less". I've yet to win a thing. I was wondering if anyone knew of any websites that offer tips to help you win in competitions. There's a prize being drawn soon that I really want to win.

Cathy from Townsville, Australia

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I need to build a motorized mirror-ball about 20" in diameter for a dance I'm helping with. I am thinking about using the little motors that turn crib mobiles and some sort of light-weight frame to glue light-weight plastic mirror pieces to. Any ideas?

Vicka from Salt Lake City, Utah

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How to get my 19 month old daughter off the pacifier? Any ideas would help!

Thanks,
Misti Breuer from Carthage Tennessee

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I have heard that using electric candlewarmers will really increase your electric bill since it is basically a hot plate. Has anyone noticed this?

Thanks,
P.J. from Delaware

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I am looking for a good recipe for stuffed Mushrooms.

Denise from Smithville MO

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I have tons of CD Jewel cases that I have no use for them as my husband and I use the CD cases in the car. I was wondering if anyone knew of a place where I can ship all of our old CD cases in exchange for cash. Kind of like recycling?

Kimberly from Euclid, OH

Editor's Note: Feel free to post your favorite ways to recycled CD jewel cases as well. There have to be some interesting uses for them.

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I am looking for some basket liners that are discontinued. They are from Homemakers's Idea Co. They are in the 2005 Idea book. They are the Flower Power Fitted Liner. The liners are white with pastel flowers. I really want them for my daughter's room because they match her bedding. I have looked on ebay and had my consultant who did my party check and she can't find them either. Hope you can help!

Jennifer from Milbank, SD

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I have ceramic tile floors, off-white grout and a little boy with bad aim. The grout has become heavily stained and I'm having trouble cleaning it. I have tried plain water, vinegar, oxy clean, and bleach without good results.

Mamarox from Fort Worth, TX

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