Daily Thrifty Tips July 7, 2004

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We now have over 3,000 tips and articles on our site! Not bad considering that we were only at 2,000 a few months ago. And that doesn't account for all the great information that has been posted in the feedback forum.

Thank you for all your generous contributions!

Susan

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Today's newsletter contains:

Today's Tips:

• Save Money on Insurance
• Removing Nail Polish Stains
• Camping or Driving Safety Blanket
• Rotisserie Chicken Containers as a Lettuce Crisper
• Make Extra Cookie Dough, Freeze it in a Juice Can
• Saving Steel Wool Pads
• Clothes Pin Bib
• Use a Clothespin to Help Light a Match
• Reuse Sheet, Blanket and Comforter Bags
• Basket for Coupons
• Travel Sized Cosmetics
• Film Canisters for Holding Quarters
• Featured Feedback: RE: How Can Kids Make Money?
• Featured Feedback: RE: Cleaning Sap off Car?
• Featured Feedback: Easy Homemade Salsa
• Making Homemade Yogurt

New Requests:

• Natural Cure for Dandruff
• Need Crockpot Recipes for 3 or 4 People
• Looking for Information About Pesto

More Reading:

• 5 Quick Time-Saving Tips
• Gardening With Kids: A Perfect Recipe for Success
• Cool It! Summer's Heat Can Be Deadly for Your Pet

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Today's Tips

Save Money on Insurance

Buy insurance from a local agent because of the personal service. Do not just sign on the line for what ever they sell you. Do research. Ask questions and get an answer to your questions. Did you understand the answer? No? Ask again. By Trigger

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Removing Nail Polish Stains

Well my daughter had spilled red nail polish in her bedroom. She tried to clean it up and smeared it even more. My husband said a wet cloth and an iron would get it up. You take a wet cloth, put it on the stain and it came right up. It took about 1 hour, but it was gone. Repeat washing the rag out, then put the iron on and press firmly. No more stain. By Ali

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Camping or Driving Safety Blanket

Keep in your auto a couple of drape panels with the pleats cut off folded stored in your auto or camping supplies. If on the road, camping or if you have to walk in wet weather open one of the drape panels and place the rubberized side next to you to hold heat in and away to keep wet off. If you do not have any extra at home these drapes are cheap at yard sales or thrift stores.They will help block wind when you bundle up in them. What keeps the heat or cold out of your house at the windows can do the same for your body and are easily and cheaply replaced. By MaryBelle Wright

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Rotisserie Chicken Containers as a Lettuce Crisper

The containers that rotisserie chickens come in work great for a lettuce crisper. If there are air holes on top of the lid, place a piece of plastic wrap on top to the lettuce first. Would be a good hint for campers as well. By M. Fischer-Dixon

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Make Extra Cookie Dough, Freeze it in a Juice Can

To save time, when making cookie dough, make at least one extra batch. Divide the extra batch, and put into clean frozen juice cans, covering the open end with foil, and freeze. When you want to bake cookies, take out one of the cans, open the other end and push out the dough through the can. Slice with a sharp knife, place rounds on cookie sheet, and bake. Fresh home made cookies in a jiffy! By Jen

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Saving Soap Pads

You can store your used soap filled steel wool pads in the freezer to prevent them from rusting. Rinse, then squeeze out excessive water. Place in small leak proof plastic bag. When it's time to use, wet it. It will thaw out in a short amount of time. PS -- Make sure everyone in the house knows it's there, we wouldn't want anyone to get a belly ache! M L Pearson

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The following six tips are from our archive.

Clothes Pin Bib

Keep a few extra with you in a diaper bag and use in place of a bib. Just clip on a napkin with the clothes pins and you have a throwaway bib.

- Connie

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Use a Clothespin to Help Light a Match

If a candle has burned down low in a container, pinch a match with a clothes pin, and carefully strike match. This will give you an extra 5 inches and you'll be able to light the wick without getting burned.

By Flaws5

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Reuse Sheet, Blanket and Comforter Bags

I reuse bags from Blanket, Sheets and Comforters to store items in my garage. They often are clear which allows you to see what's inside them. They also stack pretty well. - Al

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Basket for Coupons

Use a basket on or near the door to collect coupons, outgoing mail, and items needed for errands. Then just grab the basket and go - you won't forget anything again! - Cindys

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Travel Sized Cosmetics

I always save the hand cream and shampoo mini size bottles that hotels give you. And then refill when empty. That way you don't have to buy a travel size hand cream to fit in your purse. - Susan

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Film Canisters for Holding Quarters

I use the film canisters to keep quarters in, usually one in my purse and another in my car. This way, whenever I want to purchase a newspaper or a soft drink out of a machine, I have the correct change with me.

By Nancy S. Hill

Do you have any tips for reusing film canisters?

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Featured Feedback: RE: How Can Kids Make Money?

In response to your request: My kids make extra money by holding a "new school clothes" fund raising car wash. My 11 yr old cares for pets while neighbors are out of town, just about twice a month, for $10 a day! She just made $40 this weekend! They also host a "fund raiser yard sale" where they sale their clothes that they cant wear anymore. Usually we donate old clothes though. Tell them to get creative! What is something they are good at, like soccer. They can host a "soccer camp" in their backyard one week.

By Becky from Alabama

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Featured Feedback: RE: Cleaning Sap off Car?

I've found the best thing for removing any kind of pine sap from your vehicles is WD-40. Just spray it on, let sit about 5 minutes, and then wipe off. We used to have a cabin in the pines and that's the easiest way we found to remove the sap.

By Jackie S.

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Featured Feedback: RE: Favorite Summer Cool Recipes

Easy Homemade Salsa

• 2-28 oz. cans of diced, stewed tomatoes (save juice)
• 1 can of mushrooms drained and chopped
• 1 onion diced
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. garlic salt
• 2 tsp. granulated onion
• add cayenne pepper to your taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 bell pepper, diced (optional)
• fresh cilantro, chopped (or put into food processor)

Other items I have added for a more chunky salsa:

• 1 can of drained corn
• 1 can of red kidney beans

By Tawnda

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Today's Recipe: Making Homemade Yogurt
By Crystal Miller

Yogurt takes a little bit of time to make. Not actual "working on it" time but time for it to sit and culture. Yogurt is a cultured product, much like cheese. It is a very easy and economical to make.

Before you begin there are a few things to make sure you have on hand and a few things to know and understand about the process. Most of what you need you will be able to find in the grocery store.

You need to begin with "starter yogurt". Starter yogurt is yogurt that has been made with active live cultures; this is the friendly bacteria that will turn your milk into yogurt. You can buy a small container of yogurt at the grocery to use for this purpose. Make sure that the container says "Made with live cultures" or something of this nature. You want to buy plain yogurt, not flavored. Each time you make yogurt you will need some starter. You can use your own starter, but over time it looses its potency and your yogurt will not turn out. So I always begin with store bought yogurt. You can freeze your starter yogurt in ice cube trays so that it is convenient to have on hand.

As far as tools for making yogurt go, you will need a thermometer. A candy thermometer bought from the grocery store will work just fine. You will need a large pot to heat up your milk and then something to incubate your yogurt for about 12 hours. The temperature of the yogurt must stay between 90 and 110 degrees during this incubation time.

There are a variety of ways of maintaining this temperature. If you have a gas stove, putting your yogurt in the stove and leaving the pilot light on may be enough. Make sure you have a thermometer in the oven so you can keep an eye on the temperatures. If you have a stove that you can set at around 100 degrees, this works also. Another method that works is to use a small styrofoam ice chest. While you are making the yogurt fill up the ice chest with hot tap water. Right before you set the jars in the ice chest empty the water, place filled jars in the ice chest, and fill with 110 degree water up to the bottom edge of the lids. Put the cover on and place a blanket over this. After about 4 hours check to make sure the water is still the right temperature (between 90-110 degrees). If the water is cooling down, dump half of it out and replace with 110 degree water and cover again. Check every 1 &frac; hours or so to make sure the water is staying warm. If the temperature of your yogurt gets to high or to low then it will kill the culture. So it is important that during the incubation period that your temperature stays between 90 and 110 degrees.

Here is my easy and tasty homemade yogurt recipe

Homemade Yogurt
By Crystal Miller

• 8 cups milk, cow or goat (I raise Nubian goats and use my own goat's milk most often, but have made lots of yogurt with cow's milk from the store)
• 1/3 cup powdered milk (this is optional but will make a thicker yogurt)
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, optional for sweetened yogurt
• 1/2 cup starter yogurt

Before you begin wash 2 - quart sized canning jars. If you want to use 4- pint sized jars instead that would be fine too. Have the metal rings and lids ready to cover the jars when you are done.

Pour your milk into a large cooking pot. Heat the milk up to 185 degrees. Allow the milk to cool down to 110 degrees. The cooling can take a long time. If you want to speed the process up fill your sink with cold water and place the pot of hot milk in the water and stir and stir. The temperature drops fairly quickly this way, so make sure to have your thermometer handy to keep checking.

After you reach 110 degrees add the remaining ingredients and stir until everything is dissolved very well. Pour this mixture into your ready and waiting jars. Put the lids on and put them into what ever place you are planning to incubate and culture them. Leave them there for 10 to 12 hours. Try not to disturb the jars to much. When the yogurt is firm it is time to remove them and put them in the refrigerator to get nice and cold. Usually 12 to 24 hours. If you make and incubate the yogurt during the day it can refrigerate overnight and be ready for breakfast the next day.

If you would like flavored yogurt you add fresh cut up fruit or a little bit of flavored jam when you are serving your yogurt. About The Author: Copyright: Crystal Miller, 2004 - Crystal Miller ( rystal@thefamilyhomestead.com ) is a mother of 8 children and enjoys her God given role as wife, homemaker and mother! She has a homemaking and country living web site called The Family Homestead http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com and has a free monthly newsletter called Homestead Happenings. You will find sign up information on her website.

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New Requests:

Natural Cure for Dandruff

I am looking for a natural or inexpensive way to treat dandruff. I have been buying expensive shampoo that helps but doesn't really eliminate the problem and it's pricey (That T-Gel stuff). Love the site, DB in Min.

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Need Crockpot Recipes for 3 or 4 People

I would love some simple crockpot recipes to feed 3 to 4 people thanks, Geri from KY.

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Looking for Information About Pesto

What is pesto? Where would you find it in a grocery store? Can it be made at home? I find this in several recipes and it's totally new to me. Thanks, Betty

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More Reading

5 Quick Time-Saving Tips
By Maria Gracia

A minute saved is a minute earned! Try out these 5 quick and easy time saving tips!

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Gardening With Kids: A Perfect Recipe for Success
By Jackie Perrin

Take one energy-filled youngster. Provide subject with a cup of seeds and a shovel. Infuse with dirt and sprinkle on healthy dollops of fresh air and sunshine. Mix with a shovel. Yield: One happy kid and the beginnings of a summer long project for the domestic unit, otherwise known as THE FAMILY GARDEN.

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Cool It! Summer's Heat Can Be Deadly for Your Pet
By Rebecca Simmons

Americans have a love affair with their cars and their pets. During the summer months, however, the combination can be deadly.

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Thanks

Susan
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