Have a Cooking Day
The header of this article sounds great and it didnt even mention expense. If it takes an hours worth of electricity to cook a stew, you can cook extra to be frozen using that same electricity. I think one reason people dont prepare food ahead is because they...
Organizing Under the Sink
What I like best about Janets tip is the use of a battery operated light under the sink. Nice!
Baking Soda Laundry Booster
This is a good idea. Ive been doing it for years. It also helps get your clothes cleaner. If you are pre treating an area, a paste of baking soda and detergent rubbed or brushed into the area will work much better than detergent alone.
Thrifty Mouthwash
This is an effective and economical mouth wash. The user should be sure the peroxide label says 3% (which equals 10 volume), not more .
Writing Down What You Need to Remember
You are not alone, Betty. I think this has more to do with being disinterested than it does with age. Surely there must be mental exercises to help with this problem. Im going to check it out.
Storing Baking Powder
Arm and Hammer places the shelf life of their baking soda at 3 years. As a leavening agent, it might not be a good idea to use baking soda older than this. However, as a cleaning agent, I would not have any reservations about using baking soda that had been...
Sterilizing Soil
I dont sterilize my garden soil. That would be impractical. I do sterilize soil for some important potted plants and for all my seedlings I start indoors. I use a microwave oven, also. I use sweet smelling woods dirt and leaf mold. When doing this, my home...
Keeping Coffee Fresh?
There seems to be disagreement as to whether freezing coffee grounds has a positive or negative effect on the brewed coffee flavor. Im no sure which is correct. I am sure about one thing: exposure to air causes a loss of flavor. Every time you open a canister...
Housecleaning Products I Swear By
I dont use Lysol. If I wanted to, its good to know its available in Spring Fresh scent. I detest the scent of original Lysol. It stinks. If it didnt, I still wouldnt like the scent, due to association. Every time I smell it, Im reminded of a time when using...
Sawdust Gutter for Your Workshop
I sink a lot of tubs used for mixing concrete, into the ground. They make excellent small flower beds. A picture shows zinnias growing in these tubs. I do the same with rain gutters. For plants with shallow root systems, these gutters are ideal. Just dig a...
How to Transplant Lilacs
I have not had a great deal of success with transplanting Lilacs. The reason I havent, I think, is found in your tip. I believe I have been waiting too late in the season. You have given us a near exact time as to when to do the transplanting. Thank you
Using Disposable Diapers In The Garden
Excerpt from an earlier post of mine. I read a post here in ThriftyFun suggesting the use of the cleanish ones, indicating the diapers had been previously soiled by the baby (or adult). For reasons of personal safety, please, never use a diaper which has been...
Daughter Shaving Her Sideburns?
Doesnt your daughter know sideburns on women are considered sexy? A lot of models would give their left ovary to have sideburns. And too, I guess your daughter doesnt know how creative she can be with those sideburns and a bottle of Guiche. Spit curls for days...
Beautiful Garden Path
Well, Tracey, I wouldnt give you two cents to walk down your path. The tour should be free. And speaking of money, the path looks like a million dollars. It must make your home feel even more homey. Love it!
Prepping the Garden for Fall
A very informative and helpful article. Thanks, Ellen. I have learned so much this year. For the first time, I have taken pictures and made notes throughout the growing season. My folder just keeps growing. As I preview what Ive already written down, I think...
Elmer's for a Facial
Its time for a reality check, People. If you wash your face twice a day with a terry cloth and apply an amount of pressure suitable for your skin type, you will remove all the dead skin cells that need removing. As for those not removed, they are staying attached...
Plant Markers
This is a marker made of scrap vinyl. It was marked with an industrial Sharpie. It has weathered for 2 years and shows no signs of fading. Need I say more?
Plant Markers
Well, I guess they dont make Venetian bilnds the way they used to. I have many markers that have weathered for five years and show no signs of becoming brittle. If its durability you want, go with the back side of scrap, white vinyl siding. I cut this piece...
Punched Aluminum Ornament
This is so nice. I saved all the lids from cat food that came in aluminum cans back when I had a cat. Now, I know what to do with them. But I wont limit myself to just Christmas designs. This is one very versatile application. Thanks!
Tips from a Reforming Pack Rat
A lot of people would love to do what youre doing. They just cant get started. Your well written and spirited post may be just the incentive they need to get the ball rolling. Thumbs up.
Growing Peruvian Daffodil (Spider...
I live in zone 7 and needed specific information on how to store the bulbs over winter. You provided that information. Thanks for the great post!
Going Back to My Mama's Ways
Your Mama reminds me of my aunts. Im sure she was a wonderful person. The best pinto beans I ever cooked were flavored with a ham bone from Thanksgiving. Im not too far away. Im in the Piedmont region. What time is dinner?
Starting Clematis From Clippings?
For those of you who couldnt get this link to work (I couldnt), http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/clematis/prop.htm Here is a link to an excellent video with information on starting Clematis from cuttings.Ive tried this method and it works very well. http://www...
Uses for Bacon Grease
I like to season my Black Eye peas with bacon grease and a tiny (match head) amount of rubbed sage. A word of caution about pouring hot grease into a glass jar. Hot grease can break a glass jar, causing a huge mess and the risk of burns. Always temper the jar...
Painting a Ceiling Fan?
If it were mine and I was only concerned about its brightness and shine, I would thoroughly clean it. Then making sure it was thoroughly dry and free of any residue, I would spray paint it with a clear flat lacquer.
Fruit Trees for Cleaner Air, Shade and Fruit
I never knew the Bush Cherry existed Thanks for the information. I will be checking it out.
Is dog poop bad for grass?
Rather than send this suggestion directly to the editors, Im placing it here where everyone can see it. I hope to get agreement from other members. This is an excellent article. If it doesnt put the fear of Fido feces in you, nothing will. (Thank you, Ellen...
Clean Kitchen Tips
Help me out here, Ladies. Im lost. Im hearing a lot of talk about how you clean as you go, but something isnt adding up. My scenario: I find washing pots and pans and utensils as soon as the food is put into serving bowls is much easier because the food doesnt...
The Surprising Facts Behind 10 Gardening...
Excellent article, Ellen. Glad to see Myth #7: Watering during the heat of the day will burn plants. Ive lived too many years and seen too many plants totally wet by a shower only to be baked by the hot Sun minutes later, and never get burned!
Grocery Store Gardening
Thanks for a great article, Ellen. I grow large, healthy, red, yellow orange and green bell peppers. I save the seed from peppers bought at the grocery store.
Keep Your Tank Full Just In Case
Years ago, I ran out of gas. Luckily, a brother-in-law came to my rescue. After helping me, he told me something Ive never forgotten. He said, It doesnt cost a penny more to keep your gas tank full, than it does to keep it near empty.
Perennials For Beginners
valleyrimgirl Not only do some retailers sell plants not hardy to your growing zone, many sell plants that for a number of reasons are not suited for your area. Two that come to mind are strawberries and figs. When you see these plants for sale, be sure to...
Easy Rooting Instructions
Thrifty thinking! I do this with a lot of plants. Right now, I have lots of red, white and pink Begonias started from last years crop. Many are already blooming.
Easy Rooting Instructions
I dont quite agree. If they successfully rooted a piece of the graft, they would have a true clone of that graft. Naturally, if they rooted a piece of the root stock, it would not bear the same fruit as the graft.
Return Junk Mail To Sender
I handle this a little differently. I do not cross out my name and address. I do the exact opposite because I want the sender to know the returned mail is from me. I leave my name and address on the junk mail. There is always a little space for you to add additional...
Clean and Green Bathrooms
Baking soda is my all time favorite cleanser. I use it more than anything else. If applied properly, you can use it on a porcelain kitchen sink for years without dulling the sink. But, I would like to add a word of caution about its use on certain surfaces...
Teriyaki Flavored Beef and Noodles
I have never tasted Steak-umm. Its just that I dont eat meat very often. Since reading your post, I decided to research and find more about the product. I do like teriyaki pork and thought I might like teriyaki beef. Among other things I found was this excerpt...
Making Your Own Brown Sugar
Ive always known brown sugar was just white sugar with molasses added. I guess I was thinking it was some complicated process best left to the refiners. Im excited to know it can be made so easily at home. Thanks Yall!
Tomato Growing Secrets
I think it is agreed that consistent watering is crucial for the development of a good tomato. How much and how often you should water can vary, depending on several factors such as whether they are grown in an open garden or a container (and what type of container...
Drying Bar Soap?
I punch holes in the paper box the soap comes in. Then I store the boxes in my drawers. It adds a nice bath fresh scent to my linens and things. The longer you leave your bar soap stored this way, the longer it will last when you use it. There is a downside...
Covering Ceiling Tiles With Fabric
You didnt say if this was originally your idea. If it was, you should certainly take credit for it. I think its a brilliant idea. I may try it myself. mmm....wonder if I could cut the material large enough and staple the excess to the back of the tile rather...
Frugal And Green Laundry
The part about soapy water for your vines brought back a lot of memories. I had an elderly neighbor who made her own lye soap. She washed her laundry in a cast iron pot with a fire underneath. I remember her splashing wash water on her roses for aphids. She...
Make Rooting Hormone From Willow
I have used willow tea and had good results. I never boiled or simmered the tea and think it might be harmful to the rooting agent. Rather than using whole twigs, I used the bark stripped from tender willow growth to make my tea. It is said that this bark contains...
Preparing For A Winter Power Outage
Excellent article. Very thorough. If there is anything I would add, it would be to make sure any important medications were on hand.
Use Egg Whites Instead of Egg Substitute
It not only sounds wasteful, it is. If nothing else, give the yolks to your dog, if you have one. Egg yolks are said to help make their coats shiny. Apparently, youve never been very hungry. I once went ten days without food. It caused me to have more appreciation...
How to Organize Your Teen Bedroom
Penny K, Its 2015 and Im just now reading your 2008 feedback to How to Organize Your Teen Bedroom. The article is quite lengthy what with so much feedback having been added over the years. If any one tip in this article would be rated as overall best, I think...
Get The Lead Out: Less Lead In Your Drinking Water
I know it may sound like wastefulness to run your water for several minutes each morning, but if your kids are drinking it or you are making coffee or juice from it, it really makes a difference in taste and lead content. It does sound like wastefulness and...
Make Your Own Bottled Coffee Drinks
Thank you, but I will take my coffee within 10 minutes of being brewed, or not at all. Im surprised you didnt fry, boil, stew, saute, puree, dehydrate, reconstitute and reduce it to a roux while you were at it.
Time for Spring Cleaning
First of all, dont worry about it. Worry will sap even more of your energy. You are not alone. Millions have said My get up and go has got up and gone. If you dont have the drive you had twenty years ago (and who does?), let the house go with a little less...
Make Wiping Squares to Save on TP
I am reminded that our Dear Editor in Chief once told me ThriftyFun was a family orientated website. I am keeping that in mind and hope I am not crossing any boundaries when I say: First, urine is not sterile. This fallacy is proven wrong by clinical science...
Dressing Up a Lattice Fence
This sounds so attractive. Please do post a night time picture if you can.
Ridding My Garden of Clover?
You can kill all or most all weeds in your lawn with a properly applied 2-4-D amine solution. Since clover is not a weed, 2-4-D amine, alone, is not very effective at killing it. You can buy 2-4-D amine which contains Dicamba. This combination is highly effective...
Get Free Hedges and Plants By Propagating Your Own
I am good with plants. I can propogate most anything. One area where I havent been really sucessful is with hedges. I am going to try your method. I have 8 Sky Pencils Id like to turn into 32. Thanks for the nice post.
Winter Your Patio Flowers Indoors
Come Spring, The Halls of ThriftyFun will be awaiting a picture or two of your super nice flower display. Please, do be so kind.
Buy at Garage Sales and Make Money
Janet Seabolt You may be old fashioned. If you are, thats an asset. The word I would use to describe you is ethical.
Buy at Garage Sales and Make Money
All the posts I read here are indeed very good ways to earn extra cash. A word of caution, though. Get acquainted with your city ordinances on this subject. Some cities have laws against buying items from garage/yard sales and reselling them at your own garage...
Save Data on External Hard Drive
For the price of your repair bill, you could have purchased two, good quality, 2 terabyte external hard drives...Probably more storage space than you would ever need. Anyone who stores very important data in digital form should have at least two backups and...
How to Keep Your Potted Mums Looking Fresh
I have been raising Mums for many years and this is an excellent article. I would add though, that some florist Mums are very Winter hardy and will last for years in the garden, particularly in well drained soil. If you have one, do plant it in the garden after...
Use Empty Toilet Paper Rolls as Hair Rollers
I doubt most of you know just how high tech toilet tissue tubes and juice cans actually are. I remember my sisters and their friends cutting strips of brown paper bags and using them to roll their hair.
Container for Laundry Lint
Im getting old(er). Everything is falling apart or either falling apart. Ooops! I just said that....didnt I? I was sitting here in front of the kitchen computer eating some Quiche Lorraine and catching bits of ThriftyFun pictures from the corner of my eye. I...
Make Your Own Storage Pantry for Buying in Bulk
For about $40.00 you can get a five tier, resin shelf unit from Walmart. The shelves are much deeper than those in a book shelf. The unit requires no tools to assemble and it will support 700 pounds of evenly distributed weight. I have four and love them.
Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Cookies
Im glad this was posted, again. Ive been using a chocolate chip cookie packaged mix and the cookies are too sweet and too greasy.
Check With Your Extension Service When Planting Trees
This is excellent advice. Much of the sidewalk on a main thoroughfare where I live is being heaved out of the ground by the roots of young Cercis canadensis (redbud) trees. Now, I see newly planted redbud trees where new roads and sidewalk have been laid. Its...
Straightening Permed Hair?
This is excellent advice (and I have been licensed for over 50 years). I would add that the perm solution when used to relax a perm should not be full strength. It should be diluted with at least 1/4 to 1/2 with water. This will slow down the relaxing process...
Straightening Permed Hair?
This did not post under Anonymous February 28, 2009, as intended. Just so youll know.
Making Clarified Butter in the Microwave?
The above best answer contains so much information, I think it should be given its on place in a post unto itself. And indeed, I see that it has, elsewhere on ThriftyFun. But being here and being a comment added to my post, I will add my thoughts about the...
Cannellini Soup
I tried these beans for the first time a few months ago. I dont think they taste like a kidney bean at all. And they dont have the hard skin like a kidney bean. To me, they taste somewhere between a pinto and a great northern. They are very good. If youre a...
Eliminating Leftovers and Food Waste
I have never had any of your problems. Sounds is if you reheated your food uncovered, in a blast furnace.
Clean Out Clutter
Excellent tips throughout the article, Diana. But for the sake of political correctness, when considering donations to a churchs resource room, lets also consider the resource rooms of temples, mosques and synagogues.
Save Seeds From Store Bought Tomatoes
Dajavooi Tomato seeds fresh from the tomato are encased in a gelatinous sac. This sac contains properties which prevent the seed from germinating inside the tomato. Those same properties can prevent the tomato from germinating outside the tomato. This sac can...
Growing Peas for Winter
Beth I am just below you in NC. I have snow peas Id like to plant. I was advised that February was the best time. Please tell me what type of pea you are planting in VA this time of year. Whatever they are, Id like to try them in NC.
May Day Baskets
Janet, I remember the same from grade school. We used satin ribbons. We couldnt have afforded the ribbons. Maybe they were donated by a florist. I share your feelings. It WAS a happy time. Thanks for reminding me.
A Drop of Ammonia for Fertilizing Green Plants
This is interesting and Im anxious to try it but need more information. Ammonia is a gas and you cant measure it in drops. Are you speaking of 28% ammonia water, household ammonia, etc.? Thanks
Don't Use Plastic Net Bags for Wild Bird Feed
Excellent advice. Thank you. It reminds me of the time my sister hung fly strips about the porch. A chickadee flew into one and was trapped. The bird was so delicate and fragile, I worked painstakingly for half an hour with a Q tip soaked in mineral oil to...
Rock Border
I dont know how you managed to find so many rocks of uniform size and color. They look great. And dont forget rocks around trees, especially if you have small flower beds at their bases.
Killing Wire Grass But Not Lawn or Flowers?
Its been 8 years since you posted your question. I just now happened to see it. I hope by now you have found an answer, though I doubt you have. I live less than 60 miles from you. I can tell you, you can blame the area you live in for your problems with Bermuda...
Maple Flavored Syrup
Thanks for the recipe, and its interesting to know a tiny amount of vinegar will prevent the syrup from crystallizing.
Choosing Where To Be Frugal
Following trends can cause us to lose perspective of our own values. What you did was to reaffirm one of your own virtues. You found more pleasure in helping others than in sporting fake fingernails. That goodness was in you all the time. It just needed a little...
Ladybug Bowling Ball
My old balls have been hanging around for years. I dont need them anymore and theyre so heavy, no one else wants them. I think I will try your suggestion for them. I just hope mine will look as good as yours
Keep Potatoes from Sprouting
I dont have a solution. I have a question. Whats wrong with sprouting potatoes? They cook and taste the same as those that dont. And if youre so inclined, you can cut off the sprout along with a hunk of the potato and start your own in January. Wouldnt these...
Using Pine Needles and Leaves in Your Garden
Good tips. I make leaf mold and add it to my homemade potting soil and flower beds. If you dont have a holding cage, the leaves will still turn to leaf mold if kept in an out of the way pile. The bottom most layer will be usable, first. Decomposed grass clippings...
Gardening: Paper Pots
Phone book pages are the ideal thing for these paper pots. Without any cutting, you can make several different pot sizes. I make several hundred of these every year. I use these indoors to start seed, so I dont have a problem with squirrels. Mold growing on...
Start Seeds Outdoors With Winter Sowing
Im not even going to try this. I hope those who do, post their results in the Spring.
Has Anyone Purchased Flower Seeds from Dollar Stores?
Jennifer Although the Dollar Store is not the only place I buy seed, I have bought seed there for years. All the vegetable seed did well except for Bell Peppers. Ive had fair luck with their flower seed. I bought Cosmos seed four years straight. Not one seed...
Garden Mailbox
Sherrye from GA Your mailbox is so cute, I took the liberty of Gimping it up a little so the members could see more detail. If thats not OK, Im sure the editors will remove it for you.
Use Microwave as Breadbox
I thought everybody knew where to store bread. In the warming closets, of course. Thats what theyre made for. Right, LG? What is a warming closet?? Those two compartments above your stove! See picture. Seriously, Im thinking of getting a small freezer for bread...
