Daily Thrifty Tips - August 22, 2008

Have a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for reading,

Susan

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Crafting for Fun and Money!

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Craft Project: Thrifty Jean Purse

Purse made from teen blue jeans and belt.

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In Memory of Taffy (Yellow Lab)

This is Taffy. We named her because of the colour of her coat. Taffy lived to be 15 years old. She passed away about 6 years ago. She was a yellow lab.

I was working at a pet food store and a lady brought in a litter of pups for sale. They were only 5 weeks old. Needless to say, one caught my eye and went home with me that night in my coat.

Taffy loved to lie on her back and do the wiggle woggle as I used to call it. She was scratching her back. In the winter time she used to make her own snow angels.

Taffy was the most gentle dog. She was wonderful with children. Very protective. Also she had a great ability to carry things around in her mouth. Once my children had decorated easter eggs and they had left them on the stairs. Taffy picked one up and was walking around with it in her mouth. She was showing off her special find. She never broke the shell or ruined the paint. She was just proud of herself.

We have truly missed her over the years and still hold a special place in our hearts for her.

By Sheila from Ont Canada

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Golden Headed Lion Tamarin

I took this picture at the zoo. This is an "Orange-Faced-Monkey". Not sure what this species of monkey is called. I captured this at the Brevard County Zoo here in Melbourne, FL. As you can see, he is very photogenic. His little baby is sitting right next to him. They don't get dark/orange until they are full grown.

By Shannon from Florida

Editor's Note: We looked up the name and it is a Golden Headed Lion Tamarin. They are from the lowlands of Brazil and are an endangered species. Nice photo Shannon!

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Path Garden Chairs

In the Path Garden I made a place for visitors to stop and rest if they want to. Two green chairs were donated. I painted flowers on the chairs and wrote "Stop and Rest in the Garden Chair" across the top and "Please Do Not Remove" across the bottom.

By the way, the black "handle on the pipe is a diabetic test strip bottle wrapped in electrical tape. The bottom is a creamer container filled with soil and has mint planted in it. I tied the chair to the tree in hopes the kids wouldn't carry it off. I hope they don't disappear before someone gets to use them.

By Great Granny Vi from Moorpark, CA

Editor's Note: Here are several previous posts about Vi's Path Garden.

• Garden Gate and Path

• Pictures of the Path Garden

• Support for the Garden Path

• Spring on the "Path Garden"

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Garden: King Pineapple

I received this kind of pineapple fruit one year ago. On it's every eye, it is growing new plants and on the top of this plant growth, another small pineapple. I don't know what to call for this kind of plant? "KING ON THE TOP" pineapple or "KING OF THE KING" pineapple?

By Eddy from Indonesia

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Address Each Clutter "Problem Spot"

There are several things that I try to do to keep clutter down. When you walk in our door, you are in the kitchen. There's the table which is the first place that catches everything that people walk in the door with whether its mail, school bags, etc. Now, I tell everyone that they need to put it where it belongs. Then they kick their shoes off for someone else to trip over. Now, there's a basket for the shoes/sandals to go into.

Our youngest is in football so we have to keep that all gathered for practice. We keep that ALL in a spare clothes basket. He can take it all with him to the bathroom to get ready. Very handy. We go through the magazines weekly and get rid of the ones we don't want. When we walk in with the mail all the 'junk mail' goes directly to trash can. This all helps immensely with our family.

By Nancy from Troy, OH

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Use Saran Wrap As An Emergency Bandage

Recently while visiting my sister, her daughter showed up in the middle of the night with her beloved Honey, a beautiful pit bull boxer mix. She was named Honey because she was the color of honey. A hunter had mistaken her for a deer we can only assume. She was shot in the hindquarters with a large portion of her hip missing, the girl didn't know what to do and no one was open for a few hours yet.

The wound was fairly clean and I thought best not to disturb the tissue until a vet could see her. I took a roll of saran wrap and wrapped her entire lower body, to keep it clean, and prevent the tissue from being damaged any further. We got her to the vets as soon as they opened and with surgery they were able to save the leg.

The vet said the saran wrap was the best thing we could have done. Thought this would be useful to others in an emergency.

By Peggy from Cortland, Oh

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Use "Off" To Remove Permanent Marker

The credit for this tip goes to my 16 year old son, Marc. We gave him a used cell phone and on the face of this cell phone was another person name in "black Permanent Marker" (made it hard to see who was calling.) One day while camping he had applied "OFF" Deep Woods on his arms, and then his cell phone rang, he wipe off the screen to try to see who was calling and OFF came the name! "OFF" Deep Woods removes Permanent Marker. Please test any area first and wash hands after using.

By joycen from Lockbourne, Ohio

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Buy Each Family Member A Different Brand Of Socks

Here is a tip which my husband provided for me. Before my son moved on his own, I was having difficulty matching socks to the correct person. Since they both like crew and ankle socks, my husband made a suggestion. He started buying one brand for himself and another brand for my son. We extended the practice to tee shirts and underwear. No more confusion

By Georgetta from Waterloo, IA

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Ask Friends To Help With Moving

Having just moved about 1 1/2 months ago, I can definitely testify that it is an exhausting process. One thing that helped us out a lot was to ask friends to help us with loading and unloading. We have one of the coolers with a water dispenser. We loaded it with ice and water and had disposable cups for our helpers. When we were all done, we went to Pizza Hut and we paid for their lunch. Because we had about 8 people helping, it was all done in just a few hours.

By crazyliblady from Pittsburg, KS

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Store Ice Cream In Plastic Coffee Cans

The 34 oz. plastic coffee cans that come with the nice plastic lids are great to store the 1.75 qt. round ice cream containers in your freezer and prevent freezer burn or crystallization of the ice cream.

By Lynn from Chico, CA

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Cleaning Your Teeth At Home

Some years back I missed a few dental appointments in a row. When I finally went back, I had plenty of tarter and plaque built up on my bottom teeth.

After the cleaning and examine, I came home and had a good look at my teeth, I noticed the bottom ones now had the plaque and tarter stains in between them, although the girl did a good cleaning and polishing.

I thought about it for a minute then got out some Q tips and baking soda. Wet the Q tip, stuck it in the baking soda and rubbed up and down firmly but gently, you may have to do it over and over again because it doesn't take much for the baking soda to dissolve and break down.

You can't press down too hard and you have to keep dipping the Q tip, but I got rid of every stain.

By Susan from Millwood

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Use Cow Manure For Growing Root Vegetables

For root vegetables like potatoes in new ground, you will sometimes get bugs that eat the root vegetables. Simple solution is cow manure, it kills them dead.

Always works like a charm on any new ground I break.

A few times over the years, I forgot to add the cow manure and I always lost a big percentage of my root vegs to the bugs. Taught me to never forget to add the cow manure first.

By Martha from Nova Scotia

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Top Yogurt With Cereal Crumbs

Save those crumbs from the bottom of the cereal bag! I love topping my yogurt with it to add some crunch! My favorite is from the Frosted Mini-Wheats, YUM!

By Christine from Spanaway, WA

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Finding Cheap Plants for Your Garden Landscape

Without plants, the landscape becomes rather boring. No interesting places for the eye to dwell, nor any soothing scenery, not much for the soul,either. However, plants can be expensive, certainly if you are trying to establish your entire garden in one hit. Cheap plants are readily available all over the place, whether they be very young, or for that matter, very old and passed their sellability.

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Popsicle Stick Lamps

How do you make lamps out of Popsicle sticks?

Ruthie

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Recipe for Vinegar Based, Crock Pot Pulled Pork

I need a recipe for crock pot pulled pork, North Carolina style (vinegar based). Can anyone help me out?

Barb from Mountaindale, NY

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Corn Is Tasseling But Has No Ears

My corn is about 4' high and is tasseling, but no ears of corn. Any suggestions why not?

Hardiness Zone: 8a

Ed from Salem, OR

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Mixing Vinegar With Other Cleaners

So I have been using an eco-friendly dishwasher detergent. I recently started using white distilled vinegar as a rinse aid. Does anyone know if it is okay to mix the two? The dishwasher detergent does not contain chlorine bleach.

I accidentally missed the rinse aid spot and some of the vinegar got to the bottom of the dishwasher. So the dishwasher detergent that was in the pre-wash spot mixed with it, and made a bubbly sound. Does anyone know what you are not supposed to mix with vinegar (besides bleach and ammonia)?

Whitney

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Trouble With Granite Look Counters

I tried to do the granite look counter tops and put the clear coat down first. Do I have to sand and do it all over again? Can I still put paint on the clear coat?

Tasha from Mt. Sterling

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How Do I Clean My Dryer Vent?

Does anyone know how to clean out your clothes dryer vent?

Leah from North Hollywood, CA

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Making Oil for Diffuser Lamps

I love the reed diffuser and found that you can buy refills. They are very pricey. Has anyone tried to make their own? I would love to try to make them.

Jo from Carthage, NY

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How Do I Soften Hard Table Salt?

I have a box of iodized table salt that has been left in our RV for some time and has drawn moisture to the point it is rock, solid hard. Is there any way to restore it to its original grains and make it usable again? I know this won't be a big loss if I have to toss it, but would like any ideas anyone may have. Thanks so much.

Karen from Gainesville, MO

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Saving Money on Toys

Tips for saving money on toys as suggested by the ThriftyFun community.

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Bell Peppers Developing Brown, Soft Spots

About 1/3 of my bell peppers develop light tan spots ranging in size from Lincoln's head on a penny to 1" wide and longer. The spot is soft to the touch, yielding. They are in full sun exposure and shaded makes no difference to development of the spot. Irrigation is consistently once per day.

The container they are growing in has composted organic medium 50/50 with native soils. It is well drained. I fertilized every two weeks with Miracle Grow general fertilizer via garden hose metering applicator by Miracle Grow. What is this thing? Thanks.

JB Tucson, Arizona

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Protecting Carpet From Food Spills

My sister just moved into an apartment and the breakfast room has carpet on the floor. What type of covering could she use to protect it from spills and stains? A large throw rug would probably be too expensive.

Can she buy a durable plastic to cover the carpet in that room and secure it to the carpet with thumb tack? Or would that look too tacky? She has 2 toddlers and we don't want the carpet ruined. Any help will be appreciated.

Onesummer

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Lighten Your Hair with Lemon Juice

I've hear you can use lemon juice to lighten you hair. Which works better, lemon juice in a bottle, or fresh squeezed? Anything else I should know? Please tell me.

Kiera from Seattle, WA

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Removing Water Marks from Wood Furniture

How do I remove water marks from wooden furniture?

Elizabeth from Sidmouth

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Cutting a Toddlers Hair

If a toddler of 21 months has a severe hair cut, ie all his curls, will his new growth of hair be straight or curly? Is it a good thing for toddlers to have their hair cut regularly in order for the hair to become thicker with each new growth? Thank you.

Merle from Auckland, New Zealand

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Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer

A whole bunch of Crayons melted in my HE Dryer. I tried the soft scrubber Magic Eraser, and it's not working. Also, it melted on my son's jackets. My HE Dryer is just a week old and it looks like a rainbow swirl. If I'm not mistaken, around 8 colors were melted inside. Can anyone help me without using WD-40 or anything flammable? Thanks!

Rhona from Round Lake Park, IL

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Looking for Italian Potato Ball Recipe

I am looking for an Italian recipe that is a mashed potato ball, with things like chopped ham and cheese rolled into it. Then I think, it was fried. I don't know what it's called, but I ate it at an Italian Festival. It was so good!

Ramona from Granby, MA

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Installing Bobbin on Brother Sewing Machine

I have acquired a very nice Brother sewing machine. I've always used a Singer, and I can't even figure out how to install the bobbin. I've gone on line to find a manual but I can't find the model number anywhere on the machine! What am I overlooking? Thank you so much.

Rose

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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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Teaching Children to Manage Money
By Kelly Ann Butterbaugh

The best lessons learned in life come naturally. Try to include children in daily activities not only to be your helpers but also to teach them free lessons about how to manage their lives and their money more efficiently.

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Critical Times To Water Your Vegetables
By Ellen Brown

Like people, plants are composed mainly of water, for some, as much as 95%.

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