Daily Thrifty Tips
Volume Three, Number 206, December 8, 2004
http://www.ThriftyFun.com
Hello,
This weekend's TF News will be about making your own toys. If you have any creative tips or recipes for making your own toys, please send them in.
Thanks for reading,
Susan
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Holiday Travel Tips Ebook
Today's newsletter contains:
Today's Tips:
- Cute Peanut Butter Snowman Treats
- Floppy Disk Organization
- Making Your Own Magnets
- Uses for Tuna Cans
- Office Storage Containers
- Fixing Placemats
- Dry Feet Tip
- DONATE A PHONE - Recycling Cell Phones
- Hot Chocolate Mix
- Salt and Flour Finger Paints
- Alternative Uses for Dryer Sheets
- Using it All - Condiments and Salad Dressing
- Glidden Paint Selector
- Fabulous Dollar Section At Target
- Easy Crock Pot Ravioli
- Quick Stove Clean Up
- Add Vinegar to Dishwater
- Bathroom Night Light
- Keeping the Counters Clean When Baking
- Cookie Baking Tips
- Cleaning Copper Cooking Utensils and Pan Bottoms
- Easy Alcohol and Vinegar Disinfectant
- Reusing Empty Insulin Bottles
- RoseMary's Grocery Shopping Tips
- Storing Blocks of Cheese
- Keep Fresh Green Peppers Longer
- Teresa's Kitchen Tip - Handy Garbage Bag
New Requests:
- Problems Making Fudge
- Repairing Slate Steps
- Repairing Resin Chairs
- Natural Alternative For Treatment Of Acid Reflux
- Painting Gold Earrings
- Switzerland Christmas Cookies
- Remove Rust From Inside Antique Tea Kettle
- Problem With Neighbor - My Dog's Life is in Danger!
More Reading:
- Special Treats for the Pampered Pet
- Tree Decorations the Kids Can Make
- How To Limit Holiday Buying Impulse and Recover Lost Money
- 15 Ways to Create Some Extra Holiday Money
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Today's Tips
Today's Family Tradition...
Cute Peanut Butter Snowman Treats
This is so simple but so good. My family expects it every year. Spread peanut butter between two buttery round crackers (I use Ritz) and dip into melted white chocolate or white candy coating. Place on wax paper until set. I put several peanut butter and crackers together first, then start dipping. When finished you can decorate the top to look like a snowman face, using icing for the eyes, nose and mouth. Even better, before the white chocolate starts to set, place chocolate chips for eyes, mini chocolate chips for mouth and a piece of candy corn or M&M for the nose. They are almost too cute to eat!
By Melanie
Thanks for the recipe Melanie! Submit your favorite family tested holiday recipe below. Be sure to say why your family likes it. We hope to publish one a day between now and Christmas so keep them coming. :-)
http://www.thriftyfun.com/contest.ldml
Floppy Disk Organization
If you are still using floppy's like I am, and store them in a floppy box you can't see what's on the floppy unless you take it out of the box. Using a black Sharpie, write on the metal edge, i.e. Thank you graphics, Good morning graphics, Jokes, Labels, etc. Easy to read at a quick glance stored in the box.
By Syd
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Making Your Own Magnets
Make your own magnets with cute sayings or whatever, then laminate them in small laminating machine. It was rather cheap at a craft store on sale. Then use old magnetic business card magnets that we all get. Trace the magnet on the back of your laminated piece and put contact cement on the printed side of magnet and then on the laminated side and stick it together.
Makes a nice gift and looks professional.
By Syd
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Uses for Tuna Cans
Tips for reusing Tuna Cans. Post your ideas.
Reusing Tuna Cans
Tuna fish cans make great craft project containers, push the container onto a piece of Styrofoam and push in to fill. Then decorate with items or flowers. I have used this in nursing home projects. Decorate the label area with ribbon, then make seasonal arrangements.
By Syd
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Office Storage Containers
You can make attractive office storage containers. Trim sturdy boxes to size and cover with a wallpaper border of library books. Makes your office area look neat and tidy and is great storage!
By Syd
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Fixing Placemats
Seasonal plastic coated place mats, over time, have a tendency of curling around the edges. Take two place mats that match and put contact cement on both mats and let cement set up, then stick them together for a sturdy place mat that you would have normally tossed out. There is a trick to assembling them, put a piece of paper on the place mat and press an edge then slowly pull the paper out. Read instructions on the contact cement container.
By Syd
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Dry Feet Tip
Moisturize your feet and put socks on overnight. As you sleep and your pores open you will absorb the moisture and retain it.
The next day your feet will feel very soft.
By Mari
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DONATE A PHONE - Recycling Cell Phones
DONATE A PHONE® program recycles used wireless phones to help the environment and raise funds for a variety of charities. Most phones are resold as economical alternatives to new phones. The rest are safely recycled in accordance with all applicable U.S. environmental regulations. Go to http://www.wirelessfoundation.org to find out more!
By Chell
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Hot Chocolate Mix
Ingredients:
- 1 (8 qt.) box Carnation instant milk
- 1 (16 oz.) can Hershey's chocolate (dry)
- 1 lb. box confectioners sugar
- 1 (8 oz.) jar Cremora
Directions:
Mix all together. Sift all ingredients four times to prevent lumps when mixing. To Use: Add to cup of hot water to preferred taste.
By the way, a recent study by Cornell University said that hot chocolate is full of antioxidants -- more than red wine or tea. The study said that cocoa's antioxidants are almost two times stronger than red wine, two to three times stronger than green tea, and four to five times stronger than black tea, according to Science Daily. Antioxidants -- vitamins C and E and beta carotene -- are widely believed to fight cancer, heart disease, and aging. The key is "hot" chocolate. Apparently heat releases more of the antioxidants into the beverage.
By Chell
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Salt and Flour Finger Paints
Ingredients:
- 2 cups Flour
- 2 tsp. Salt
- 3 cups Cold water
- 2 cups Hot water
- Food colouring
Directions:
Add the salt to the flour in a saucepan. Pour in cold water gradually and beat the mixture with an egg beater until smooth. Add the hot water and boil the mixture until it becomes glossy. Beat it until it is smooth. Mix in food colouring.
By Chell
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Alternative Uses for Dryer Sheets
I always hated throwing away dryer sheets after using them just once - inspiration struck this past weekend as I took a load of clothes out of the dryer.
Noticing the lint trap needed to be cleaned, a light bulb went on - perhaps THIS was the opportunity to multi-task with my dryer sheet! :D
I ran the sheet across the lint trap and voila, it was clean. The textured surface was perfect for catching lint.
Who would have thought? :)
By Ashley
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Using it All - Condiments and Salad Dressing
Stretching the Last Drop of Ranch
Whenever I'm down to the very last drop of Ranch dressing, I find the best way to stretch it the extra mile is to mix in a bit of milk and shake well. As long as you don't overdo it, the consistency and flavor of the dressing remain relatively unchanged.
By Ashley
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Glidden Paint Selector
To help select paint colors for your home, visit
http://www.glidden.com/glbTST_n/NUSGLI/ColorAtHome/cd_whatis.jsp , then select the Color Selector button (just below top image). This will bring up a new page which shows all the Glidden colors and their names. You can add colors to your Color Palette, and thus see them next to one another.
By Darren
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Fabulous Dollar Section At Target
Target stores in my area have just introduced a fabulous dollar section, filled with tons of cute, inexpensive items that would make great stocking stuffers or Secret Santa gifts. For those looking to be especially thrifty this season, this new section is a great bargain. Normally you're hard-pressed to find a dollar section with high-quality merchandise, but Target's goes above and beyond expectations.
By Ashley
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Easy Crock Pot Ravioli
Ingredients:
- Frozen Ravioli
- Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage
- 1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce
Directions:
Cut up sausage into bite size pieces and put 1/2 of the sausage pieces into crock, add 1/2 bag of ravioli and 1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce, repeat above steps then cook on low for 6 -7 hours or high 3-4 hours, enjoy!
By Kim Vazquez
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Quick Stove Clean Up
For a quick clean up of the stove handles/knobs, wipe with white distilled vinegar it is a natural degreaser and works great.
By Kim Vazquez
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Add Vinegar to Dishwater
Add a little vinegar to dishwater you will be amazed how effective it can be to help with the grease.
By Kim Vazquez
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Bathroom Night Light
Put a night light in the bathroom and you won't have to turn on the lights if you get up during the night.
By Linda
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Keeping the Counters Clean When Baking
Put a 2 section piece of paper towel on the counter when you start to bake. If you spill anything, it all goes in the trash when you clean up. Mixing spoons and spatulas go on it, too.
By Linda
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Cookie Baking Tips
Tips for making cookies. Post your ideas!
Make Double Batches
Make double batches of cookie dough, and freeze part in balls or slices. Then you can bake fresh cookies any time.
Remove Cookies While They are Warm
Remove cookies from cookie sheets while they are still warm or they may stick.
Cooling Cookies on Paper Towels
I remove cookies from cook sheets and place them on paper towels or waxed paper to cool. Once they are cool I put them in tins, or zip-locs and toss the towels in the trash.
By Linda
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Cleaning Copper Cooking Utensils and Pan Bottoms
For forty years I have used the same homemade mix to clean my copper cooking utensil bottoms. It is an equal mix of flour, salt, and white vinegar. Mix to form a paste and put in a wide mouth jar. In the jar I keep a square cut from a sponge. When I need to clean, I open the jar and take the sponge out that is covered with the mix and wipe those pans. Voila, nice and shiny.
By Aline
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Easy Alcohol and Vinegar Disinfectant
Keep an empty soap pump bottle by the sink full of 1 part vinegar to 1 part alcohol. This is a multi-use pump for disinfecting hands, freshening sponges after using them and cleaning the counter tops and rinsing out the sink when through with dishes.
By Racer
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Reusing Empty Insulin Bottles
My Hubby is a diabetic and takes insulin. I save all the small empty bottles from the test strips and the caps from the needles. I use the bottles for pins, beads anything crafty. I also use the caps from the needles for packing material when mailing packages. Everything can be recycled. The caps work perfect like the popcorn packing and it doesn't weigh a lot. And most of all it is FREE!
By Beverly Youngblood
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RoseMary's Grocery Shopping Tips
To help our grocery money go further I have a running list on the refrigerator for both "running low" items and then one that says "out". The items are then put on notebook paper that I take with me. I get the "out" items first and then if the "running low" items are on sale I get them too.
I also have my coupons with me to help lower the bill as well. I look at the mark down meat and only get the good looking meat.
I try to buy in bulk too. This really helps even though it's only my husband and I now at home most of the time. I got started with the bulk when all the kids were still at home. I could really make things go further.
By RoseMary
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Storing Blocks of Cheese
To store partial blocks of cheese, which were originally purchased in a sealed plastic package: Wrap the remaining cheese, first in old fashioned waxed paper, then in foil. The waxed paper will draw moisture away from the cheese and it will last much longer in your refrigerator. As a side note, to shred very soft cheeses, such as mozzarella, put them in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes first. This will make the cheese firm enough to grate without it melting in your hands.
mrsmutt
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Keep Fresh Green Peppers Longer
This is my tip for storing a partially used green pepper (or even red or yellow): If you use only a half or a quarter, make sure to use the piece that broke away from the seeds. Store the remainder, seeds intact, in the vegetable drawer unwrapped. The seeds that are still attached will attract any moisture, keeping it away from the pepper. No more soft, slimy peppers.
mrsmutt
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Teresa's Kitchen Tip - Handy Garbage Bag
Attach a plastic Walmart (or grocery) bag to the door of the oven. Just slide one side on door. Then put garbage in it while your cooking in kitchen. When I open can of food, dog food etc... I just rinse the cans out and put it in my garbage bag.
Then at the end of the day, tie it up and throw it in large garbage bag or can.
It's always nearby when I need to throw something out.
By Teresa
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New Requests:
Problems Making Fudge
I have made fudge 2 years in a row, and each year I make it I put in the refrigerator like it suggests and it turns out gooey in the pan, not like little squares. Can you help me?
Thank you,
Susan
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Repairing Slate Steps
The slate steps at the front door of my church are breaking off in pieces where the steel hanrails are attached. Short of cutting the stone and pouring cement in its place, is there any way to repair the joints or reattach the railings to the slate?
RC from PA
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Repairing Resin Chairs
I have several resin (plastic) chairs that are cracked. Does anyone know of a method or product to repair them?
RC from PA
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Natural Alternative For Treatment Of Acid Reflux
I have had acid reflux, or Gerd, for five years. I've been taking Nexium that whole time. It is now starting to make me vitamin deficient and cause other problems as well! It's hard to know who to believe on the internet. I was wondering if anyone knows of a natural alternative to Nexium for my problem? I'd love to try different herbs and natural remedies but don't know where to turn! Thanks!
Alica from Mo.
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Painting Gold Earrings
I have lots of old cheap gold earrings. I would like to find a way to paint them. I used gold spray paint but that only lasts for a few days and the jewelry started to have an funny smell, kind of like rusty. Can you advise me on what would be good to use. Also I did not know if I should Use some type of sealant. -Lonnie George
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Switzerland Christmas Cookies
Could someone please help me find this recipe. My mother used to make it for me back in the late 70's early 80s.
It is not the common spitzbuben one, this one had 1 lb of butter in the crust and then it was topped with jam and covered with meringue and chopped pecans?
Please if anyone has a recipe similar to this let me know, thank you very, very much in advance.
dustyrose66
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Remove Rust From Inside Antique Tea Kettle
I purchased an antique metal tea kettle and it is lined with rust and sediment inside. Any ideas of how to remove this? Thank you,
Kirk
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Problem With Neighbor - My Dog's Life is in Danger!
I have never gotten along with the renter next door for one reason or another. But, now, he has taken his cruelty out on something else - my dog! He is purposely leaving chicken bones in his backyard to attract my dog over, hoping that she will choke on one of them! How horrible is that? I have no idea what to do, it's not like it's against the law, so I really can't call the police, but something needs to be done or my dog might choke on one of these bones! But, please keep in mind this guy hates me with a passion and will do anything to hurt me or my dogs! Please help quick! Thank you!
Kelly
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More Reading:
Special Treats for the Pampered Pet
By Cyndi Roberts
This holiday season don't forget one of the most important members of the family! Try these recipes for your special pet.
View Article: Click Here
Tree Decorations the Kids Can Make
By Angela Billings
In so many homes Christmas decorating is taken entirely away from the children. Some parents may set up a small tree hidden away in the childs room or basement and allow the child to decorate it.
View Article: Click Here
How To Limit Holiday Buying Impulse and Recover Lost Money
By Steven Boaze
Regular Buying on Impulse will skyrocket any type of Money management system. If you are one of those shoppers who finds, too often, that items you don't need have just followed you home from the store, then you're one of many millions of people who have the "Impulse Buying Syndrome".
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15 Ways to Create Some Extra Holiday Money
By Skye Thomas
Originally this was going to be a list for my two teenagers but some of these ideas are better suited to adults with a valid driver's license and a bit of know-how. Some of these take a bit of planning and organizing, but most of them could be done on a fairly spur of the moment case by case basis. The great thing about a lot of these ideas is that you're spreading holiday cheer by helping to make someone else's otherwise stressful and overwhelming to-do list a little bit easier. Who wouldn't pay to have someone come do a few of these things for you? Mostly, what's important is that you remember to provide a quality item or service to the buyer with a smile on your face and in your heart. Have fun with these!
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