Showing posts with label moneysavingtip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moneysavingtip. Show all posts

10 April 2014

Thursday's Tricks (10 April 2014)


  • Brown sugar get hard? Toss a couple of the larger sized marshmallows into the bag with the brown sugar and then seal it up.
  • Keep your dishwasher extra clean with white vinegar. Pour ½ cup into the detergent cups and run the empty machine for a complete cycle. 

There's a couple hints for this week that I found. Hope everyone is enjoying the spring-time weather and blooms. 

Take care--
Sharon

07 April 2014

Free Ebook at Amazon

Browsing around some groups I belong to on Facebook, I found this link for Crochet Rag Rugs Basic Pattern Collection in Kindle ebook format. I thought that I would share it with you. The price is right--FREE! It is for Kindle, but there is a free converter called Calibre that is available so you can convert it to another format for other book readers.


03 April 2014

Thursday's Tricks (03 April 2014)

Put Your Dishwasher on Double Duty

You've finally learned how to load it correctly, but are you really taking full advantage of your dishwasher's scour power? A dishwasher can reach 155 degrees Fahrenheit to kill bacteria — just the ticket for sanitizing some of the more unsavory items in your household. Tossing these 10 soiled staples in the dishwasher will save time when hand washing or the washing machine just doesn't hold water.
Rubber boots and flip flops*. Freshen your step from summer's sweaty buildup by placing shoes horizontally in the dishwasher rack (make sure to remove the boot liners before hitting START).  Add a little baking soda to the mix for extra deep cleaning.
Plastic hair brushes. To zap all the dirt, skin and debris that collect in the bristles, first use a comb to remove all the excess hair. Then, toss brushes in the quickest cycle available and finish the job by running the dry cycle.  Note: Do not wash brushes with wooden handles
Stove burner grates. A hassle to clean by hand but a dream to throw in your dishwasher's bottom rack.
Potatoes. Yes, potatoes! Lay them flat in a dish or place them on the top rack and give them a bath in the rinse cycle sans detergent. A lifesaver during the holidays.
Baseball caps*. While caps can lose their shape in the washing machine, they do magnificently well in the dishwasher. The normal cycle is all it takes to tidy up these toppers.
Athletic accessories*. There's nothing like the smell of ripe sports paraphernalia to make the whole family run screaming out the door. Shin guards and knee pads are safe for the top rack. Just skip the dry cycle.
Dish sponges. Often the germiest frenemies in the entire kitchen, dish sponges can be successfully sanitized in the dishwasher with the rest of your dishes through a full wash and dry cycle.
Plastic or metal-handle garden tools. No wooden handles, please.
Refrigerator shelving. Newer models are usually dishwasher safe, but consult your user's manual to be certain. You may have to do some maneuvering to fit the shelves in the bottom rack.
Toothbrushes*. Sterilize brushes in the top rack. Your dentist will thank you.
*Avoid washing with dirty dishes
Tip: items that should NOT be placed in the dishwasher include:
Wood (it warps)
Cast iron (it rusts)
Crystal (it cracks)

The above hints are from Scott Brand. Go to their web site for more helpful hints and coupons too.





Dishwasher Clean/Dirty Magnets




27 March 2014

Thursday's Tricks (27 March 2014)

The following hints for using microfiber cloths come from my husband's favorite newspaper and online columnist--Heloise.
Uses for Microfiber Cloths
Auto
Keep several microfiber cloths underneath the front seat of your vehicle. Use them to dust off the dashboard, radio and steering wheel.

Bathroom, Kitchen
Store a couple of microfiber cloths in these locations because they will clean and shine the chrome, spiff up mirrors and are great for wiping off the sink. When the cloths become dirty, toss them into the washing machine.

Pets
Freshen up your dog by lightly dampening a microfiber cloth with water and wiping over its fur. If your cat or dog needs to get the gunk out of its eyes, a microfiber cloth will do the job nicely. And if your pet, like Cabbie, my miniature schnauzer, gets a dirty beard after eating, the cloth will remove that food crud.

Plants
To take dust off live or artificial leaves, lightly dampen a microfiber cloth and wipe over the leaves. This will also add a bit of moisture to the real plants too.

Visit Heloise's page to read more of her helpful hints.


Microfiber Cloths

20 March 2014

Thursday's Tricks (20 March 2014)


  • Make a zigzag pattern with hot glue on common plastic hangers to keep shirts from slipping off hanger.
  • Use buttons to keep pairs of earrings together for storage and travel.

Today's tricks come from Craft Passions. See this page to read a few more tricks that are up her sleeves..



11 March 2013

Freebies for E Readers



For those of you who enjoy reading romance novels, Harlequin offers a selection of free eBooks. They are in E Pub or pdf format but if your e reader uses a different format, you can download calibre to convert it to whatever your device uses. I'm always out for a good deal so I wanted to share this with you too.

Happy reading!

Edited:  Unfortunately, I discovered that for some reason Calibre will not convert these books. You can read them with Adobe Digital Edition Reader for your PC. There are other programs (not free) that you can use to convert these books so they can be read on Kindles but I know nothing about them. Sorry for misleading you, that wasn't my intention. I thought I found a good deal and wanted to share it.





29 January 2013

Homemade Fabreeze for Us Penny Pinchers



I've been hearing a lot of good stuff about making your own Fabreeze on Facebook and Pinterest. I'm going to give this a try. Here's the instructions if anyone else wants to give it a try. We all need to help each other out with the penny pinching. I need to dig up a spray bottle and give this a try!  If anyone has tried this let me know what you think.


10 January 2013

If You Use a Kindle--



You may like this site. It has loads of free books. Most of them seem to be written by new authors so if you like what you read then it is beneficial to them to write a nice review. If you don't care for them, then you may still write a review or just delete the book and no biggie because it was free anyway. I rarely buy books for my Kindle because there are so many good ones available for free. I think it is important to note, that many books are free for a short time so before you "check out" make sure that it is still free. I have accidentally paid for a couple books because I got click happy when checking out.  I always love a bargain and thought I'd share this one with you. If you don't have a Kindle, Amazon offers free software so that you can read their books on other devices.




Hugs...




16 December 2012

Christmas Music at No Cost!



Here is some Free Christmas Music from Amazon. I don't know how long this will last so check it out soon.I've been playing loads of Christmas music to get into the spirit of things. Enjoy!



08 May 2012

Homemade Window Cleaner


I ran out of window cleaner and decided to make my own. I went to this webpage and tried recipe #2 because it looked simple, made a small batch and I had all the ingredients. It does a so-so job of cleaning. I'm not terribly impressed with it so I'm going to try another recipe later on. Does anyone make their own and if so, are you willing to share your recipe?


From Amazon: The Pantry Cleaner--Kindle and print versions

27 April 2012

Quick Trip to Thrift Store Yesterday

I made a quick trip to the local thrift store yesterday just because I had a few dollars burning a hole in my pocket and also because I hadn't visited there for a while. I bought only 2 things but I'm pretty darned happy with what I got.

The first thing I got was a pretty summer top in new condition. It's an Old Navy brand and was only $3. It should go with most everything because it's white and I think it may look nice belted with a sash to wear with a broomstick skirt--I'll have to check this out though..


And then for $5, I got this serving dish that matches my Pfaltzgraff dishes. I'm always on the look out for odds and ends to match these except I do not need any more plates (I have 70+), saucers or coffee cups. Serving pieces and bowls are what I'm scoping out.


There's a story about these dishes. When dh and I were newlyweds, he brought me back a basic set of these dishes from the Navy Exchange overseas in the Philippines. There were only 4 place settings so I  kept them packed away like a sentimental keepsake or something. I started finding odds and ends of this design at thrift stores and yard sales. I have an aunt who is seemingly able to find anything and she bought me a gazillion pieces too. So for the last 10 years we have been using these dishes. DH doesn't like them because they get very hot in the microwave so I keep a couple odd plates just to reheat things on. I love these dishes and the thoughtfulness of my non-domestic husband surprising me with the original set. Sometimes he amazes me. :)

Only 2 more rows to go on my shawl! I've been bad about keeping up with weaving in the ends when I change colors at the end of every row. Maybe I can "hide the ends" to take a picture in the next day or too so you can see the "finished" project. ;)

Have a great weekend everyone!

31 August 2011

Alternative Store for Groceries

DH hasn't been working regularly since late spring so money has been tight. As you all know, the price of groceries has sky-rocketed and continues to rise. I stopped by a salvage grocery store yesterday to see what kind of deals I could find. I found that you could not do a "regular" grocery shopping trip here but you could stock up on some great bargains. Here's a little look at what I bought.

"Nom-noms" for Opi and Nellie Belle's Sunday dinner. They were 50 cents each.

"Fancy' coffee $2.99 each.

Hubby's favorite-- a special yesterday at 2 for 99 cents

$1.59!

Only 39 cents!

25 cents each for these

Starbucks decaf for only $3.09

Pepsi and Coke products were 20 cents per can

Everything was in date. Some of the packaging was slightly damaged. I checked to make sure that if a can was dented, that the seal wasn't involved. The soda cans needed to be wiped off before I put them in the fridge because there was a little stickiness to them--probably opened cans slopped their contents on the good cans. You can probably tell that we're big coffee drinkers! I'm supposed to drink decaf but I will use the flavored coffee and mix it with my plain decaf. One thing I have learned not to buy at stores like this one is taco shells. I had bought a box that looked pristine--no damage or signs of being overly handled. Unfortunately, most of the shells were broken.

Hope that you have luck looking for bargains too.

Hugs, 
Sharon
















06 August 2011

Remember to Check Out Free Reads for Your Kindle


If you go to this page you can find many free books for your kindle. Just thought I'd post this again for those of you who'd like to find some inexpensive reads. I read the reviews before I download because some of the books aren't very good my cup-of-tea.

23 June 2011

Here's a Good Coupon

For the ladies, here's a coupon for Old Navy. You will get a tank for $2! It is good tomorrow only so check it out.

25 May 2011

Big Picture Money Saving Tip--

Girl Driving Car Cartoon Outline Clip Art

We all need to save money and one thing that will help us is to not allow high school students to drive to school except for extraordinary situations. The price of gas is partially determined by the law of supply and demand. Decrease the use of gas and the price goes down. One of the other things is the value of the dollar and we all know that's not worth much today.  Another way we will save is a decrease of the expense of maintaining parking lots on school campuses. You know, there are school buses that we already pay for to transport these kids to school. Perhaps we can increase the age teens get their drivers licenses to 18?  Bet I'm not making friends here. Have a great day....

03 April 2011

Michael's Coupons


Michael's has several coupons available this week. You can go here and get yours.  Coupons good today until Saturday 09 April.  Have a fun-filled week and Happy Mothers Day to those of you celebrating today.

13 January 2011

Hancock's Coupon Good only 8am - Noon on 17 January.


I will try to be better about remembering to post links for coupons that you may use for crochet supplies or other "domestic arts." Hancock's has a 10% off entire purchase coupon that is good for early birds on Monday, 17 January from 8am to noon. Read the fine print because there are a few items that the coupon may not be used for.

10 December 2010

07 December 2010

A Few Random Thoughts...

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As applicable today as when this poster first premiered (ca 1940s).
Eat them left-overs and save money!

I'm really not in the Christmas spirit. I need to get my rear-in-gear and get to it for the family. I'm a depressed sort of person normally. Lately I've been thinking of some simple fixes to help our government start pulling out of the huge pile of debt they've put us in. and that's not a cheerful subject by any means. Actually, we're demanding people. We want minimal government in our lives but let there be a disaster and look at the media and local politicians jump all over our elected officials in Washington D.C. for not taking action quick enough especially with FEMA dollars. Folks filing taxes getting more money back than they paid in because they have so many dependents/deductions seems like a form of welfare to me. My little family was never in a position for that to happen and now that the kiddies are grown men, we get hit super hard at tax time--doesn't seem fair does it? Get close to retirement age and instead of being able to put some money in the bank it is going to taxes. I am fortunate to be able to use the V.A. for my medical care because I'm a veteran with service connected disabilities. Recently one clinic I go to got beautiful new waiting room furniture. The old was in perfect condition--clean, good repair and stylish too! Rumors (remember I'm saying rumors)  abound that housing that was built for the troops at Ft. Knox just about 5 years ago is to go under the wrecking ball because of the need for a landing strip due to expansion of the base related to base realignment. Does that make sense? Does it make sense that the majority of enlisted family housing units are being demolished and new ones built? That's after many were rehabbed with Pella windows installed! Drive past the old housing units and see crushed furnaces, water heaters, toilets, tubs, etc... that are all items with potential reuse and resale.

On the local level, the city has had to fire layoff employees. You can bet your bottom dollar that next year, like this year, city public works employees will be out planting thousands of dollars worth of annual flowers. I love flowers but I just think that some things need to be done without during financially hard times. You want flowers, call for civics groups to provide and maintain a variety of flower beds and strategically located giant flower pots.

Be conservative with office supplies. Everyone stop buying those "sticky" note pads. Use the back side of "waste" computer paper. Wassa matter with folks throwing out something that still has use and can save the government us money? Stop providing cell phones to workers and allowing them to use as "personal" phones after hours. Collect the darned things at the end of the work day and see how much of a cheaper plan you can order when the phone contract comes up for renewal. I am NOT responsible for providing cell phone service for Mr./Ms. X to call their significant others to say "What's going on Honey."

Now I'm going to make some people mad. I'm sorry but I just have say this--if a family receives assistance for groceries with what is traditionally known as "food stamps" or more recently known as EBT then why do the kids get free lunches at school? Aren't they already receiving money for that meal with the food stamps or EBT? What's the matter with packing a lunch and toting it to school like a large number of us grew up doing? I don't mind helping folks out so they don't go hungry but lets face it, times are tough and double-dipping isn't fair to the folks paying the bills.

Here's another suggestion. Don't cut taxes, make them more fair--filers who CHOOSE to have many dependents should carry their fair load of the tax burden. Let's give a little break here--allow deductions for no more than 5 total family members.

A while back there was a poll on Facebook about instituting a requirement for welfare (not disability) recipients to take random drug screen testing as a requirement to receiving assistance. There was an overwhelming response in support of this idea. Isn't it fair to those paying the bills that illegal drugs aren't paid for with "assistance" money? Military members have to take such drug screens randomly and they put their lives on the line for us so why not ANYONE getting a check from the government???

These are just small things when you look at the big picture. We have to start out small though and let the more knowledge able people we elect look at the bigger things that a woman sitting at her home computer knows nil about.

I'm in a negative mood today can you tell?

I promise to make my next post more upbeat and maybe even FUN. After all this moaning and groaning I've done I hope y'all have a GREAT day!