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No Longer Stiff
Regarding the problem of stiff clothes that are line dried, here’s how I solved the same problem when line drying my husband’s blue jeans. After completely drying the clothes on the line, put them in the dryer on the fluff cycle for a few minutes and they will soften up as if they had been dried by machine.
Bonnie B.
Cheap Shelf Liner
Liner paper for cabinets is very expensive. A great liner for cabinets is wallpaper. You can buy rolls cheaply at yard sales for 50 cents or $1, or you can even find it at discount stores. The patterns are really beautiful and can really brighten up your kitchen for a tremendous savings. You can also use them to line drawers.
Joan W.
House Game Rules
It has been reported how kids lack exercise due in part to computer games. Problem solved. My husband instituted a new rule much to my children’s dismay. Before the games are geared up, the kid playing has to do a set number of push-ups. First they could hardly do eight (the starting limit) and now they can do 40! The unexpected benefits that we have seen are increased confidence and more stamina in their favorite sports.
Kathy in Addison, NY
Half Price Kitchen Remodel
To save on our kitchen remodel, instead of purchasing new cabinets, we refaced our old cabinets. The box frames were in excellent condition. The frames were refaced while new doors and hardware were put on. It looks great! It came out to be about half the price of the quotes we received for new cabinets! With the money we saved, we were able to afford nice granite countertops. I’d suggest people look into this option especially if they have no need to rearrange the configuration of their kitchen.
Sue
1, 2, 3 Squirts…Enough!
My family loves to use body wash instead of bar soap in the shower, but the expense can really add up. To solve this problem, we purchased a four bottle shower dispenser that hangs on the wall. Now we can tell the kids to use five pumps of body wash or three pumps of shampoo. Not only do we know they are using the right amount of soap without waste, but also they are saving us money.
Michele in DeKalb, IL
Those Ketchup Packets
Ever wonder what to do with all those condiment packages you get from fast food restaurants? Instead of just keeping them piled in your refrigerator for years on end, take them with you when you go camping or on a picnic. It takes up less space than lugging around big ketchup and mustard bottles, and they store better in your cooler.
Nikki B. (Mother of four)
Off Peak Power
If you haven’t read your electric bill, you may not know that there are peak hour charges in many places. In northern Illinois for instance, it’s cheaper to run utilities from 10PM to 8AM. Since we started running our dehumidifier, seed starting lights, dishwasher and chargers at bedtime, our bill has noticeably decreased.
Mary
One for One
For every one new item of clothing I purchase for my husband or myself, we donate one item that we already have. That way we keep our closet uncluttered and organized, and we wear all the clothes we have. Plus, someone else gets to have a “new” article of clothing from our closet.
Shanty M. in Dallas, TX
‘Special’ Spices
I thought I’d laugh out loud when my husband and I set up house together. He had shelled out money for spice combinations like “Cinnamon and Sugar,” “Montreal Steak Salt,” “Pumpkin Pie Spice,” etc. I encouraged him to read the ingredients on the bottles. Sure enough, he could easily make four homemade bottles of cinnamon and sugar for the same price as the pre-mixed version. The steak salt was little more than coarse salt and pepper with a little garlic powder thrown in. Read the labels on the spice mixtures that you enjoy and see if you can’t buy the ingredients cheaper. You’ll have the extra benefit of having the single spices on hand when a recipe calls for it as well. After all, garlic powder shows up in more recipes than steak salt!
Gina P.
Computer Back-Ups
As a college student, I’m always looking for places to save a little money. My school allows free printing, which is nice. However, our school’s computers don’t have zip drives. This made it inconvenient for me to transfer files from my home computer. Instead of worrying about losing discs and transferring files, I just send an email to myself with the file attached. I can open my email and have all of my files at my fingertips. Nowadays, many email sites have a lot of storage anyway, so why not use all that space? Now I keep back-ups of all necessary files in my email account. Best of all, this doesn’t cost me a thing!The only caution is that you might not want to send any files that have personal or private data on them like your credit card or bank account numbers.
Nikki in Houston, TX