Daily Thrifty Tips - January 18, 2008

We have a great tip today about preparing for a power outage.

Do you have any saving on winter heating tips? If you do, please post them here:

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Have a great weekend.

Thanks for reading,

Susan

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Crafting for Fun and Money!

If you are an avid crafter, capable writer and own a digital camera, you are eligible to participate. Submit your craft projects to ThriftyFun and we will pay $15 for any crafts that we publish.

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Craft: Easy Quilt

Here is a very easy way to make a quilt in no time at all. I purchased the lace panels at the Dollar Store.

Directions

Place the sheet down, lay the blanket on top, than add the sheet with the lace panels. Sew on the edge of the panels through all three layers of material and blanket. Trim the edge within two inches. Fold over one time and you will have a one inch edging. (That is the white color around the edge of the quilt.

You will be able to wash the quilt in the washing machine and dry it in the dryer without mishap.

Let it snow!

Sandy M

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Amanda And The Hulk

Amanda and the Hulk in London

By Erika from Tallahassee FL

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Neck Pillow

The neck pillow is sewn from upholstery fabric that I purchased from an estate sale at a very cheap price. I also bought a small piece of fleece for the inside lining at Walmart. Cut 2 pieces for neck pillow, and 2 pieces for lining. I cut my pattern pieces from interfacing, so the pattern would last me for a long time. I think it was a McCall's sewing pattern.

I came across this website which has a similar neck pattern pillow you can make for hospital patients. Or even make one for yourself. This is great to have on a long bus trip.

• comfortpillows.pdf

By MCW from NY

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Princess Daisie (Tabby Cat)

Princess Daisie is a 5 month old Tabby Cat. She is a rescue kitty. She likes to pounce and play and also likes to get waited on hand and foot! We were reluctant to take her in, and now she rules the roost!

We all adore her, even if she is the spoiled princess!!

By Annie from Anoka, MN

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Watch For Small Animals Hiding In Car Engines

With colder temperatures in effect, remember that warm engines attract cats and other small animals who may crawl up under the hood. To avoid injuring any animals, bang on your car's hood to scare them away before starting your engine.

By earth heart from Polk, Ohio

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Preparing For A Winter Power Outage

Our family recently survived a lengthy power outage after a major ice storm. We really did not find it that difficult to do, in part because we were prepared ahead of time. However, some of our neighbors who were not prepared ended up staying at a hotel for several nights, at the tune of $65 per night.

I am passing on some of the ways that we stayed warm for our week without power.

The most important factor is that we prepared. For 3 days the weather forecast warned us of a major ice storm heading our way. We decided then to prepare for the worse case, and it paid off.

We brought up firewood from the barn. We laid out wood in the fireplace and filled the inside firebox. We also filled the wood holders on the front porch with wood, and also stacked it beside the holder.

We stocked up on lamp oil, and brought out the lamps and candles stored in the basement.

We made sure we had plenty of batteries on hand.

We charged our rechargeable lights, lanterns and radios.

I filled several containers with water in the event the water company also lost power. If they did, we would lose water pressure, then lose our water completely.

We all took a shower as the ice storm started. May seem silly, but knowing it may be awhile before we could bathe again, we opted to start out smelling sweet! I also made sure the laundry was all caught up and the house was clean.

I made sure we were stocked up on animal feed. We put extra straw in the rabbit hutches and chicken coup in the event they lost their heat lamps.

We stocked up on foods that we could prepare over the fireplace. This included s'mores, hot dogs, popcorn, hot cereals, soups, and stews. I bought some extra milk and put it in the freezer, and also bought more powered milk.

I washed and re-seasoned the cast iron.

We brought in the hot dog and hamburger holders from the camper, as well as sleeping bags.

We backed our vehicles into the garages and barn. My husband plugged in the tractors and made sure they were fueled.

We brought up the board games from the basement, and restocked ourselves with books from the library.

I made sure our cell phones were well charged.

I bought on clearance a power strip to plug into my cars cigarette lighter. In turn, I could plug an item into it to recharge, such as a lantern or cell phone, or even my laptop.

Then we sat down to wait. The ice started falling around 10 in the morning. It was rather pretty as it coated the trees and fences. By evening, it was very slick to walk on. We still had power when we went to bed at 11 p.m. We did not turn down the thermostat before bed as normal. My rather wise husband said, we needed to keep as much heat in the house as possible, so instead we turned it up. At 3 a.m. I woke up to a chilling house. The inside temp was 65. It had been 70 when we went to bed. My nightlight was not on. The power was off. I woke up my husband and he immediately got a fire going in the fireplace.

We kept the fire going, and managed to keep the house at a steady temperature of 65 to 67 degrees. It is much easier to maintain the temperature than it is to warm up the house had we not gotten up to light the fire.

We let light in through the south windows, and blocked off the north ones with curtains, as their was a strong wind coming from the north.

For entertainment, we played games and read. I had my children take a warm bath each day, as we still had hot water as we have a gas hot water heater. This helped keep them warm and they thought it fun to have a bubble bath by candle light. Our children slept in their sleeping bags in the living room by the fireplace. My husband and I stayed in our room, which is just off the living room as we could still get some heat from the fire. In addition, we have a heated water bed, and by keeping the bed made, and sleeping on top of an extra comforter, it held its heat and kept us warm.

Since we still had hot water at this point, we had lots of hot tea and hot cocoa to drink and help keep us warm. I did the dishes by hand after every meal with warm water to help keep me warm in the kitchen. I did it in dishpans, and saved the water. It went into containers in the garage and one of the bathrooms. We kept the water at a very slight trickle to help prevent the pipes from freezing.

We dressed in layers. Sweat pants are much warmer than jeans. We wore 2 pairs of socks and our long johns.

After our water went out, we used the saved soapy dishwater to flush the toilets with as needed. The saved rinse water became water for our rabbits, dog and chickens to drink.

We did not open the freezers or refrigerators except to remove and replace food. By day 3, our refrigerators were no longer at a safe temperature, so we removed food and placed it outside on the back porch, and some in the garage. Our freezers stayed below freezing, as they have more insulation. If need be, my husband would have gone to town to buy a couple blocks of dry ice for the freezers. However, he didn't need to this outage.

As I said earlier, our biggest factor in being able to ride out the power outage was preparation. Had we waited to gather our supplies after the power had gone out, we would have been doing a lot of fumbling around in the dark basement, and opening and closing the doors to the outside a lot. We would have been having to drive on dangerous roads to town for supplies and risking having an accident.

Source: Experience!!

By April from NW Missouri

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Microwave Soups With A Plate Underneath

I am most likely the only one in the entire country who just thought of this, but . . . I find by placing a salad or dinner plate under the bowl of soup or chili I am heating in the microwave oven certainly makes life easier when it's time to remove it. You need the plate for crackers or a sandwich anyway.

By Mitzi from DeLand

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Add Liquid Softener To Orphaned Sock In Dryer

Didn't get the liquid softener into the washer with the clothes? Easy fix is to grab one of those orphaned socks from the pile and squirt a couple drops of liquid softener on it. Throw in the dryer with the load of clothes and voila! I often do this for every load of clothes since I discovered I use much less softener and the bottle lasts a very long time. BTW, if the missing sock shows up, just wash the 'softener sock' and make a pair again.

Source: my own idea

By cmoore from Poulsbo, WA

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Transport Homemade Salad Dressing In Recycled Water Bottle

I like to make my own salad dressings to take to work with me to use on my salads to cut back on calories. My dilemma always comes in what to put it in that is easy and portable. In order to recycle, I rinse out an empty plastic disposable water bottle, use a funnel to put my dressing in the bottle and the put the lid on it and take it to work with me. Not only are you helping the environment by reusing those plastic bottles, but the bottle is good to reshake and stir your dressings in as well.

By Jenifer from Kentucky

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Use Murphy's Oil Soap On Artificial Flower Arrangements

Clean your silk flowers and greenery with diluted Murphy's Oil Soap! I was cleaning some furniture this week with the diluted mixture in a spray bottle and saw a basket of silk greenery that was dusty and needed a good cleaning. I thought it couldn't hurt it to try it. I put it in the bathtub and sprayed the entire arrangement, including the basket. It came out wonderful and SAVES a lot of money not having to buy a cleaner just for silk flowers.

I had a spray bottle bought at the dollar store and just poured in maybe 1/4 cup of the Murphy's Oil soap and filled bottle with water to about 3/4 full.

By Tammie from Moody, AL

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Store Panty Hose In Toilet Paper Tubes

I have an easy way to store panty hose, knee highs or tights. I place them inside an empty TP roll. I can write with a marker on the outside of the tube a description such as "navy tights" or "nude knee highs". It keeps them from getting tangles or runs. I used to use ziplock baggies, but the TP roll tubes are free!

By April from NW Missouri

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Storing Bird Seed

We store bird seed in our garage in a plastic garbage can with a lid. This keeps squirrels and rodents out. You can put the bag itself in there with a scoop or empty the bag of bird seed into the container and keep a scoop with it.

By Carolyn from Sioux Falls, SD

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Grow Your Holiday Poinsettias Year Round

I just was given a white poinsettia left over from the church Xmas decorations. Don't throw away those poinsettias after the holidays! Over the years, I have rescued several of them from offices and elsewhere. They are viable plants that will eventually provide nice greenery as a potted plant. Or if you live in a mild enough climate, you can replant them outdoors. They are native to Mexico I understand, and were a holy plant to the Aztecs. So they do well in Southern California, with a similar climate.

By pamphyila from Los Angeles

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Compost Dryer Lint

Since dryer lint is mostly organic material, it is great for the compost pile.

By April from NW Missouri

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Help Getting Documents to Trace Family History

I was reading some requests here and realized we have a fairly diverse group, lots of people from other countries. I am wondering if there is a way to locate someone who can do some leg work for me in regards to family history searches.

I am in the US but my husband's family is all from Scotland (my husband is first US born). We would like to do some searching to trace his family line. I have been able to do some here, but have hit a wall and really need some birth and marriage records in Scotland. Anyone know how to go about doing this?

imama2many from UT

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Does Paint Seal a Concrete Floor?

I'm planning to install rubber-backed carpet squares on a concrete basement floor. The floor was previously painted. 16 years ago I installed berber carpet with no pad, and fastened with carpet mastic. The carpet square company says the floor should be sealed, and I'd rather not take up the adhesive. Can I consider the floor sealed because it was painted (actually two coats), some years before the carpet was installed?

Bill from IL

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Selling Home Baked Goods

How do you sell home baked goods?

Amanda from San Diego, CA

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Making a Scarf for Someone Having Chemo

I am looking for a pattern for a kind of scarf for my boyfriends mom. She will be starting Chemo on Monday. She hates wigs and she has seen these scarves, she said they are a triangle, with a head band and you can tie it if you want. They are made out of material.

Diana from Highland, Michigan

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Dog Loves Cat Food

My Doxie is fixated on the dry cat food, is this bad for him? He'd rather have it than his own dry food!

J E from nearby Portland

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Red and Cream Sweater Bled onto Itself

I have a cream and red snowflake cotton/ramie sweater. Upon its first washing the red dye bled into the cream. Any suggestions for saving it?

Cindy from Watertown, MA

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Using Homemade Bisquick

When you make your own Bisquick how much do you use at a time? And if you are making pancakes how much do you use? Thanks for all who can help.

Jamish from Ransom

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Painting to Accent Black Furniture and Other Dark Colors

I wanted to paint my living/dining room. I have high ceilings, black leather couches, black coffee table, black and glass end tables, red throw pillows and curtains; in addition I have an area rug under the coffee table with browns, reds, purples/burgundy, black, greens, etc. It is geometric and Pergo floors everywhere else.

The dining room has a very large high dark brown table and chairs. The chairs have white padded seats and my ceiling fan is similar to the color of the table (both
cherry wood like). I was thinking of doing the large wall that connects the living/dining room red (an accent wall). But I have no idea if it will look good or not, again the ceilings are high so that's a lot of wall. In addition if I was to do this what color would I paint the rest of the living/dining room? I think it definitely can't stay white.

Katie from MA

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Making Laminate Floor Less Slippery

I have a laminate floor. My dog is constantly slipping on it and I am worried he is going to hurt himself. How can I make it less slippery?

Kathy from Sacramento

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Convention Decorating with Recycled Materials

Our Legal Professional group is having a convention in April, and the theme is about 'going green'. So I am looking for decorating ideas made from recycled materials for the convention banquet, etc.

Jody from Gering, NE

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American Bulldog Puppy is Scared of Everything

My American Bulldog is 5 months old and he terrified of everything. He is scared of boxes, bags, my hands. I try to play with him and he run away with his tail between his legs. I don't know what's wrong but I am worried about him. If I try and ignore him he starts panting and crying. I don't know what to do. Will he grow out of this?

Sophia

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Carpet Shampooer Vs. Carpet Steamer

What cleans better, a Carpet Shampooer or a Carpet Steamer?

Justine from Douglas, MA

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Cleaning a Dishwasher with Interior Stains

What is the best way to clean a stained interior of a dishwasher. We rented a house with one that looks shameful. I read that running lemon Koolaid in an empty washer would do it, but it didn't work.

brflemmons from Glen Allen, VA

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Keeping Dogs from Peeing on the Floor

We have just had to move in with my in-laws, they have 3 inside dogs. I have a 20 month old daughter. These dogs are 10 yrs old and up, so there is no trying to train them to go outside. They pee everywhere and we step in it. The whole house smells awful.

They have a really nice house and very expensive furniture, but it doesn't seem to bother them. My grandmother told me that I could mix ammonia and water and spray it lightly on the carpet, that the dogs won't pee where I spray it! Is this true, if not is there something I could spray without hurting my daughter?

Ashley from Gadsden, AL

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Purell Took Color Out of Leather Sofa

An accidental Purell gel spill has taken the color off my brown leather sofa. I tried mopping the spill up with a damp paper towel, but the stain is still very obvious. It looks like a whitish patch on a dark rust/brown leather sofa. Please help! Is there anything I can do to restore the color?

AK

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Products Used for Decoupage

I would like to know if you have to use Mog Pog or is there a way to decoupage cheaper just for practice?

Marilyn from P.Huron, Mi

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Dave Ramsey's Car Insurance Philosophy

I've seen a lot of people mention Dave Ramsey on this site. Does anyone know Dave Ramsey's philosophy on car insurance? I listen to the radio show a few times a week but I don't have any of his books. One time I thought I heard him say to keep full coverage unless you have enough cash in the bank to pay for another car if you had to get one, like after an accident or something. We are trying to decide if we should have liability or full coverage. Did I hear him right?

Allison from Northeast TN

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Ideas for No-sew Curtains or Roman Shades

Does anyone have any ideas for no-sew curtains and Roman shades?

Deanne from Cumming, GA

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Ionic Cell Cleansing Foot Bath

Have any of you ever done an 'Ionic Cell Cleansing Foot Bath'? A new business just opened up here in the small town I live in. They do Ionic Cell Cleansing, which they say can rid the body of toxins, etc. It costs $30.00 for a 30 minute treatment. Not very thrifty, that is for sure. I was wondering if anyone knew if this is some kind of quackery or scam or if this is some kind of legitimate alternative medical treatment?

SkyeBlue from Arkansas

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Recommendation for Liability Insurance Company for Reunion

I am planning for a small family reunion this summer. We will rent a local meeting hall which requires liability insurance. This is a common practice, I am told. Can someone recommend a good Insurance Company to contact for this coverage? Thanks!

V Bartlett from OR

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Books to Start a School Library

Where could I find books that we could use to start a K-4 library for our school?

Gina from Toledo, Oh

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Blocking Bathtub Overflow Valve

My bathtub overflow valve is set too low in the tub, and I can't fill the tub up past my thighs. I love hot baths, so this is really cramping my style. I remember at one time, Bed Bath & Beyond sold a clear plastic cup-like device that clamped on over the overflow to block it, but I can't find this now. Does anyone know where I can buy one, or know of another solution for my over-zealous overflow?

Kelly from Dallas, TX

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Craft Ideas for Bib Overall Tops

I have several pairs of my husbands old overalls. The legs are worn thin and ripped, but the top bib part is still good fabric. Any ideas what craft I could use these for? I had been saving them to replace the bib clips on a good pair that break, but I have a good supply of those now.

April from NW Missouri

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Help Filling Lotion Pump Bottle

Anyone have any hints on pouring hand/body lotion into ceramic lotion pump jars? Usually the lotion is too thick to just pour in, and I always make a mess. I have some really cute bottles, that I would like to fill with different lotions. I have tried adding baby oil to thin it out, but it didn't work, and eventually separated from the hand lotion.

Rose S. from Malvern, PA

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Surprise 30th Birthday Party

My husband is turning 30 in April and I need ideas as far as celebrating. He does not want a party however I would like to do something that involves some of our close friends and family. He is really into cycling right now. However I'm not sure what to do since he does not want one.

Crystal from Pasadena, CA

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Removing Wood Stain from Hockey Jersey

I got wood stain on my hockey jersey. Is there any way I can get it out?

Jessica from Sandylake, PA

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Crafting for Fun and Money!

If you are an avid crafter, capable writer and own a digital camera, you are eligible to participate. Submit your craft projects to ThriftyFun and we will pay $15 for any crafts that we publish.

More Information:
Click Here: http://www.thriftyfun.com/post_craft.ldml