Ever find yourself washing dishes two or three times (especially plastic) to remove grease? Try adding some baking soda when you wash it the first time. The baking soda absorbs the grease, so that the dish or pot comes out squeaky clean the first time. This really works great, especially on those plastic storage containers that seem to hold on to grease like a sponge. This sure saves time and money (time spent hand washing and money for extra dish soap)
Nessa W.
Do you end up with excess salad dressing on your plate? Some salad dressing is very expensive too! Instead, try putting a small amount of salad dressing in a little dish "on the side" of your salad. Before each bite of your salad, dip your fork into the dressing and then take your salad. You will not only use less dressing, but also you will be watching your waistline and saving money at the same time!
Julie K.
When I wash baseball caps, I take them out of the washer and put them on an inflated balloon. They dry very well, don't lose their shape, and have the added advantage of amusing my two-year-old granddaughter immensely.
Sandy in Calgary, Canada
I've read comments about finding someone to take over an auto lease. I've seen this a lot in California, and most arrangements are informal and do not change the title of the vehicle. This leaves the original lessee liable for any parking tickets, hit-and-run accidents, or anything else that happens with the car. As part of my job, I've also talked to people who have discovered that the new person has stopped making the payments and is long gone with the car. Please be very careful when looking into having someone take over your lease.
Carlene B.
I admit to buying pre-packaged salad mixes and spinach leaves sometimes when they're on sale. We like the convenience, but we didn't like the way the greens would start wilting and getting soggy after only a few days. We discovered that we could keep them fresh three times longer by simply placing a couple of paper towels in the bag after it was opened. The towels soak up the excess moisture that was causing the greens to deteriorate.
We're able to keep celery crisp a lot longer simply by wrapping a wet paper towel around the bottom when we put it back into its bag. Try it. You'll be amazed at the difference.
Dean
We didn't have a lot of money when our kids were little, so imagination and innovation were everything. Here are some things we did to make their childhood special:
1. Add food coloring to bath water as it is filling. This will not stain the tub (although you might want to test first if you have a plastic tub). It only requires about eight to ten drops of color. You can mix the colors for more variety. My favorite memory was seeing their faces when they came into the bathroom and saw the "colored water" and having my children actually not want to get out because they were trying to turn the color of the water!
2. I invented a special person called the "Clean Fairy." After a week of a clean room, the Clean Fairy would send the kids a note and make them go on a treasure hunt around the house or backyard to find their treat. At the end of the route would be a very, very, very small amount of gold dust and a thank you or hurray for you note and a little treat or trinket that I had purchased at the dime store or dollar store.
3. On Saturday evenings, I gathered some of the socks that never found their mate and a bunch of markers and give them to the kids. They would design their sock puppets and put on a show for the evening. It was so much fun watching them fuss over the puppets and the story line.
Gracemarie
I have a vacuum that just didn't seem to be working right and it was only a year old! I was so fed up with it that I was planning to buy a new one. Before I did though, I went through my owner's manual and found out this particular vacuum had two filters that needed to be washed periodically. I removed them, washed them, reinstalled them and the vac works like new! So, read your owner's manual no matter how trivial you think the appliance is. It saved me almost $400!
Karen in NE Indiana
Have a box near your front door to keep other people's stuff in. If you looked around your house right now, I bet you'd find various items that don't actually belong in your house. There are probably things you have borrowed off friends (CDs, sweaters, books) and things that people have left behind when visiting you.
Today, I had a houseful of kids and I have been left with a pair of socks and a purple shirt. I'm not sure who they belong to, but both garments will be put in my box in the hope that next time I have some of those kids around they may be reunited with their possessions.
DB in England
My shower curtain liner was forever getting mildew on it. So I always took it down and threw it into the washer or threw it away. Today, I decided to try something different. I sprayed the liner with bleach being careful not to get it on anything but the liner. The liner is mildew free and looks like new.
Shirley S.
I have white linoleum that has sustained the damage of a family with three boys. It has dents and some small tears in front of the refrigerator. These places are hard to clean and stand out against the white floor. I have been discouraged with the way the floor looks for sometime and will be unable to replace it anytime soon. After cleaning it on hands and knees, I decided to try using a white paint pen to cover the dark spots. It worked great! Although you can faintly see the white paint, it looks so much better than the dark spots.
I have also found, for me, the best defensive for being satisfied with the things I already have and not wanting to replace them with something new is to use a little elbow grease and keep things nice, clean, and in good repair.
Carol
