Daily Thrifty Tips - February 14, 2006

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I made this game for my daughter's Valentine's Day party at school.

Materials

• Cardboard (and lots of it) for the back, bottom and strips for under the scores.
• 3 empty icing containers (for the back where the balls land)
• Freezer paper to cover the cardboard.
• 4 Empty paper towel rolls for the legs
• Red Construction paper for the letters, to cover the strips of cardboard, and to cover the legs.
• Red pipe cleaners to cover the rough edges of the strips of cardboard.
• Red paint to outline the edges of the icing containers.
• Red ribbon hot glued onto the back and the bottom so the back stays where you want it to.
• Red lids from the icing containers cut into the shape of hearts for decoration.
• Ribbon for the sides.

Directions

Hot glue everything together.

Duct tape the back and the bottom together.

You could use any balls to play the game. Just make sure they fit into the icing containers.

By luv2craft from Normalville, Pennsylvania

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This is a decoration I made for a Valentine's Day party this year. The vase is made from a drinkable yogurt container. I hot glued on a red ribbon around the middle and hot glued on a bow. I painted the top to give it a little more color.

The flowers are made from 3 squares of tissue paper cut in the shape of hearts. Then put a green pipe cleaner through the bottom of the hearts and fan out the tissue paper so they look like petals of a flower. I bent the top of the pipe cleaner so the tissue paper wouldn't slip off the top. Then I put a piece of tape underneath the petals. You can put a little rock in the vase to weigh it down so it doesn't tip over on your table.

By luv2craft from Normalville, Pennsylvania

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This is Bandit :)

Bandit is almost 9 weeks old. He is a Shitzu/Maltese.

We got Bandit from my sister when he was only 5 weeks old. His mother died when he was 4 1/2 weeks old. She had them eating soft food and they were paper trained by then.

He likes to lick and cuddle with our family. He hops like a bunny and He has us all wrapped!

By Karen from Summerville, SC

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I use return reply envelopes from junk mail to wrap used feminine items that I don't want others to see in the trash.

By Betty from Grimesland, NC

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Sweepstakes are an easy way to live frugally. Numerous sweepstakes sites exist on the web, but if you want to search for the best ones, look online for "limit one per day", "instant win" or "winner will be notified".

By Shawna from Orange County, Ca

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It may be an oldie, but it's a goodie. After writing out my menu, I put a time which I need to start preparing each item in order to serve dinner at a certain time. I then re-write my list according to the time frame so that everything comes out at the proper time.

By Pat

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This is the time of year grocery stores have broken down their beautiful but very expensive cellophane wrapped fruit baskets that didn't sell during the holidays, and you can find great bargains. This past Wednesday, I noticed the local grocer had very shiny Washington State Red Delicious large (#4016) apples on sale as an in-store special for $.59 a lb. I purchased four of them to taste later and they were exquisite.

On Saturday, I went back into the store to see if they had any more and although the stock was greatly diminished, there were 10 that I selected to buy this time which were still in pristine condition. These apples are so big that my husband and I share one, and I would NEVER be able to buy this grade or quality of apple unless it had so appealing a price tag.

By Ronsan from Southwest Missouri

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Snuggling under electric heated throws and electric blankets lets you turn down the thermostat and saves on the high cost of heating your home.

By Sabrita from Carriere, Mississippi

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I've found that a great way to remove dust from my living room drapes is to just place them in the dryer with a dryer sheet and let them spin for five minutes or so. They come out of the dryer dust-free, wrinkle-free and they smell great!

By Wanda from Winnipeg, Manitoba

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The best way to buy clothing is to buy them second-hand. A lot of people will not shop second-hand because they prefer their clothing brand new, but guess what? Once you've worn your new outfit once or twice it is now USED! Since I've come to that realization it's been a lot easier for me to shop at second-hand clothing stores. And the money saved can be phenomenal.

By Wanda from Winnipeg, Manitoba

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Baby wipes, i.e. Pampers, huggies, etc. Make great makeup removers, carpet cleaners and work to take off many type of stains, at about half the cost of other cleansers and cleaners

By HOPE

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Spend lots of time playing with your dog, starting from when it is a puppy. The more time you spend with your dog, the happier it will be and the friendlier it will be with other people.

By Wanda from Winnipeg, Manitoba

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Always put money aside out of your paycheck away in a separate account to save for rainy days. Even the poorest of people can afford 5% especially if they do that from their first paycheck. I recommend 10%, but for someone making $200 a week, $20 is a lot of money. $10 is more doable in those situations.

By Becky from Essex, Md

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I read all the info on how to clean silk flowers but what if you have a 9 foot ficus tree that is very dusty? How to you clean it? I would take days to wipe each leaf. I tried a can of the silk plant cleaner, it did nothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jane from North Georgia

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I have some clothing that was in storage and became damp. So far there isn't any mold just a musty smell. Is there a way to get this smell out?

Debra from Wilmington, NC

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I have a lab/shrp mix 8 yr old female dog, and lately her breath stinks bad. Is there something to help that?

Sasha from Allentown, PA

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How do you clean wax off of microfiber furniture?

Gig from St Catharines

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I need help cleaning my 3 carat diamond ring which is looking smokey due to the fact that I never take it off. I need to find something to clean it up while I am wearing it. Please help me.

Brenda from Anmoore, WV

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I had to wash my dog in something that has high sulfur in it. Now my towels all smell horrible like sulfur (rotten eggs) how do I get this smell out? I have tried everything.

Derek from Georgia

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Stouffers has a frozen meal I absolutly love but it is so expensive. It's called Scalloped chicken. It has noodles, bread crumbs on top, creamy sauce, celery and onions. I made something yesterday, I found a recipe for chicken romanoff, it sort of tastes like it but what I made has cottage cheese.

Does anyone know a recipe for the chicken from stouffers?

Thank you,
Sandy from Baltimore

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The carpet in the doorway to my daughter's room has a big black stain on it. I don't know what it is or where it came from. Does anyone have any ideas to remove this? We rent and our landlord put in the carpet just before we moved in a year ago. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!
jmz2005 from illinois

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I got a purse online from Morocco and it appears it was tanned with animal urine. Does anyone have any ideas on how to remove the smell? I have had it in baking soda and used pet enzyme stuff but it still smells.

Anniepie from PGH PA

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