Tip Contest Results

Threading Beads on Elastic Stretch Cord

I spent about 2 hours frustrated that I could not put 1 to 2 pieces of elastic cord through the center of a seed bead or other beads to make a stretch bracelet. Finally, I had a brilliant idea, I took a piece of beading wire and cut about 2 to 3 inches off and folded it in half. I put the elastic cord in the center of the beading wire like threading a needle, I put the bead on the other end and took my jewelry pliers and held the wire end just below the bead. I held the bead with my other hand as I pulled the elastic cord through the bead with my pliers and thank goodness it worked. I saved myself a lot of time and headache.

By Myra from Savannah, GA

Pick a Chore

Take a bin with their left out stuff in it and add a print out that says this:

UH OH
You left it out
Mom picked it up
She's got your stuff
You're out of luck
To get it back
Must do a chore
Again it is yours
Just like before On the side have a envelope with slips of paper for the chore that needs to be done.

Source:saw it on Facebook

By msprissysmom from USA

Use CDs to Make Driveway Reflectors

I live in an area that does not have street lights and at night it is difficult to "see" my driveway. I checked on red reflectors and they are quite expensive.

I have now placed old computer disks on my mail box post and they reflect great. We arranged them in a "pattern" so they look attractive all the time.

I also placed some in my trees at Christmas and these are really neat with some outdoor lights shining in their direction.

My granddaughter had a party and used some for indoor decorations and everyone liked this idea.

I am sure there are lots more uses for CDs, so start using the old ones sitting on a shelf!

By Betty from FL

Homemade Upside Down Tomato Planter

Reuse your plastic milk container by making an upside down tomato planter. This is great for people with limited space. Not having to grow them on the ground eliminates the need to keep your tomato plants well staked.

Materials:

• cleaned plastic milk jug
• scissors
• tomato plant
• rope, if you do not have a branch or something similar for jug to hang off of
• cloth or duct tape if it's going to be sitting in direct sunlight

Directions:

1. Cut a 1/2 inch hole on the bottom of the milk container, this will be where the stem of the plant will come out.
2. Cut four slits out from the center of the 1/2 inch hole to make it easier to insert the plant into the container.
3. Place tomato plant in through hole and fill the jug the rest of the way with potting soil.
4. If you don't have a branch of something to hang the container from, secure with rope and hang.
5. Water the soil from the top of the milk jug for several minutes. It will need to be moistened all the way through.

In the pictures, one has reflective cloth wrapping because it was in a very sunny area.

Source: My mother showed me how to do this after I showed her a commercial tomato planter I spent $8 on.

By attosa from Los Angeles, CA

Colouring or Makeup Case From Old DVD Case

Use an old CD case as a child's colouring case. Just decorate it and make a little pocket inside with either paper or fabric to hold pencils or markers. You can also turn one into a make-up case to hold liners, lip gloss, and mascara. I know we usually have a lot of these cases laying around. They make great storage for small items. Label the case and store on a book shelf.

By coville123 from Brockville, Ontario

Alert Regarding Malware TrojanHorse: DNS Changer

There is a malware Trojan called "DNS Changer" that has infected millions of computers worldwide and if your computer is infected by it you will no longer be able to access the internet because the FBI plans to pull the plug on DNS servers that are currently providing computers infected with the DNS Changer malware.

It is vitally important that you check your computer now because the definite date for resolution by way of this shutdown in order to stop the spread of this Trojan will be on July 9! Go to this link to check if your computer is infected. If it is not infected you'll see green:

• http://www.dns-ok.us/

If you see red then your computer is infected. Go to this link and read the information of how to get it fixed. You must fix it "before" July 9th because you won't have the internet access to do so on the 9th:

• https://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/trojan-recovery.pdf

For more detailed information about DNS Changer, go to this link:

• http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/november/malware_110911/DNS-changer-malware.pdf

Source: I am a subscriber to FBI updates

By Deeli from Richland, WA

Prove it's Your Child's Bike

We just bought some new bikes for the kids. We put a picture of each child inside the handle bar grips before putting them on. If a bike is stolen and later recovered, you have proof it is your child's bike.

Source: A neighbor.

By coville123 from Brockville, Ontario

Ways To Reuse Plastic Bags

We, as a whole, use way too much plastic. Its life span is hundred of years if put in landfills. So I have tried to find ways of reusing, recycling and looking at it in a different way.

Try not changing your trash bag more often then needed. If you sprinkle baking soda in a new bag, it will stay fresher longer. Why pay extra for scented bags. I take essential drops, put a couple drops on a cloth and wipe inside the bag. The smell lasts a week. Use vanilla, lavender or whatever is your favorite. If you are making dinner using meat containers, onions, garlic or have food that needs to be tossed, try using a grocery bag. Take it out right away instead of wasting a bag that isn't full.

Growing up in the country, we always had a bucket for the pigs, or maybe your community has a compost bin for gardens. Now I live in the city, so no buckets or pigs but I try to do my part. Living by the ocean, we always see how dolphins, fish and our waste is affecting everyone in some way.

When you get your food, most of us put produce in plastic type bags. Don't throw them away, instead try reusing them. You'll find they can come in handy. If not, maybe just get used to doing it in a different way. Look in the organic produce, my local store has the green bags for free. You can reuse them over and over again.These same bags are sold on TV and help with bananas or bread's life span. I have found by taking my lettuce, cucumbers or other produce out of the packaging or plastic bags, they keep crisper longer. The store keeps these damp to make it look more attractive to the buyer. It may look better but also will wilt your produce 3x as fast. Take out,dry off, put in drawer or container in fridge. Put a sponge in the drawer to absorb any moisture left. It works!

I buy a couple things packaged in really thick, resealable bags. Keep those and reuse them. They are great for taking along a damp cloth for sticky hands, laundry coins, dryer sheets, keeping Kleenex fresh; the list goes on. Using them for food is great! I have seen coffee in these type bags, my chia seeds come in them, cough drops. I have even noticed some chips now come in these type of plastic resealable bags. I find they keep things fresh so long and are not costing me a penny. Just remember, if you put in fridge,freezer or have several, mark what is in them.

Since I was a child, we used grocery bags in bathroom. I turn my so you can't see any writing and turn handles inward so you would never know. When I do have to get bags, I take several rolled up in the bottom of the bathroom container so when I take one out, another is handy.

We can't get away from plastic all together. If you try, be surprised how little you really need. All of it has another use and is saving you money somewhere else. Find a way to reuse them, even dog parks will take them. I have found they make great gloves when I don't want my hands to touch certain things. Great for cleaning out doors, even for painting.

I have found the zip lock bags can be used over 20x. I have a wine rack on my counter. Placing a wooden spoon so the handle sticks out is a great way for them to dry out fast. Just rinse, turn wrong side out, put in soapy water, rinse and dry. Ready for use next time. I have seen a cute clay pot with red beans in it that would be perfect. Stick any wooden spoon, wooden rulers or pencils, then set by sink to help your bags dry out faster. Lunches, snacks, sorting, dividing, freezing items all can be reused. Start your kids out young. Ask them to bring bag home. Let them see you reusing instead of wasting plastic. Tell them "I want your world to be better". They will grow up doing what you taught them and loving you for it.

It isnt about the money to everyone, as it is for me. We all need to look back and see what has happened and start changing it anyway we can. Being thrifty is a way of life for me, plus I love the challenge. Not everyone at the store has my budget. However, I do notice that more and more people are bringing in bags, taking them to thrift stores (when they don't shop there) or using their own bags. I think when I smile at them, we all know how great the little things are. This Earth was a gift, so I pray it brings joy for many, many generations.

By Luana M. from San Diego, CA

Yard Sale Tip

I know with all the yard sales this time of year, many people are buying second hand and giving new life to their finds. When pricing items, many types of pricing elements are hard to remove and leave sticky residue. The best thing I have found for marking your price is painter's tape. It is designed to be easily removed without leaving any tell-tale sign it was placed there. And it's easy to write your price on and easy to tear. So that makes it time efficient not having to use scissors to cut. While preparing for a yard sale is time consuming, this will help make thing go a little bit quicker. I have bought things in the past at sales and some things were damaged just trying to remove all the sticky stuff.

By Tricia from VA

Use Cooler Racks to Organize Jewelry

I was looking for a way of keeping earrings and necklaces un-cluttered when not having an earring stand. I took two metal cooler racks (the kind you use in the kitchen) hung them on the wall with Command Hooks (one in each corner at the top) and hung my earrings on them in staggered rows. To hang necklaces use S hooks and hang along the bottom to hang your necklaces from.

Don't hang too many on each hook so the rack won't come down. If you need to, use a separate rack for necklaces alone and stagger the hooks. If you can't find "s" hooks use large paper clips bent into an S shape. These you can even get in other colors.

By Melody C. from Medford, OR

Updating Plain Necklaces with Homemade Pendants

I have a plain string of turquoise beads I picked up for a song (less than $5!). It was too plain to be stylish so I put on a stone pendant I had made out of a black rock I had found at the seashore (you could use a tumbled stone) which I had wound round with jeweler's wire. I twisted it around the stone (in this case across the center) and then made a loop which I then twisted off around the base to secure the wires. I actually had made the pendant BEFORE I thought of putting it on the string of turquoise, but it looks great together!

By pamphyila from Los Angeles, CA

Donate Prescription Bottles

Pharmacies are not allowed to reuse the bottles. Give them to the ASPCA, your vet or any free clinic in your area.

By Cisco's Mom from FL

Saving Newspaper and Package Recipes

Quite simply, I have a big cookie tin from one of those scrumptious Danish cookie sets and have it sitting next to my microwave oven. Every time I find a dessert recipe I want to keep (whether in the newspaper or in the back of a food item), I quickly cut it out and stick it in the tin. When I'm feeling particularly industrious (or procrastinatory!), I take them out and organize them by group separated by envelopes or paper clips; it's a quick, no-brainer way to ensure I save recipes I want to try out someday.

By ahorrasi from Marshall, NC

Nontoxic Vinegar Bug Spray

Sitting at my desk this morning, I heard the buzz of an insect. To my dismay, a very large, wasp-like insect was buzzing between the window and the curtain. Not wanting to spray insecticide where I would be working for the next several hours, I grabbed a spray bottle of 25% vinegar/75% water that I use to spot kill weeds. It killed the critter almost instantly, and no toxins for me to breathe!

By Linda from Vista, CA

Defrosting Freezer

To quickly defrost your freezer.

1. Remove the food and place in a cooler.
2. Turn off or unplug the freezer.
3. Place pans of hot water on each shelf; replace as they grow cool.
4. Place a floor fan in front of the open door. Turn on high setting.
5. As the ice melts use a wet/dry vac to vacuum up the water. This way you don't get water all over the floor.
6. When the ice is all gone, dry the shelves with a towel.
7. Spray with cooking oil spray and wipe off the excess. (This helps the new ice not to stick as much).
8. Turn the freezer back on for 15 minutes.

9. Load the food back into the freezer.

Source: My mother and myself

By Nightsong from Hay Capitol of the World

Hair Cutting Tricks

If you are cutting your own hair and want to get "interest" around the edges, just twirl the side strands together, then cut diagonally along the bottom. (Start long. The trick with cutting your own hair is to start "long" then cut gradually so you can cover any mistakes.) First cut dry, then even out when wet and correct cut when dry again. Follow the design of any old haircut you may have to keep its shape. You just want to make it shorter to deal with the length it has grown in.

Source:an old magazine article

By Pam from Los Angeles, CA

Scanning Food Package Recipes Into Computer

Here is a special tip for "clipping" the recipes on packages. It does require that you have a flat-screen scanner. Just put your box or envelope on the screen, recipe side down, scan it in, and label it appropriately to go into your recipe file. Round cans are a little trickier. You usually will have to remove the label and lay it flat on the scanner screen. Storing my recipes this way saves me hours of scanning through clippings, notebooks, recipe files, or whatever I used in the past.

By Jayni from Richmond, TX

Cleaning an Electric Tooth Brush

To clean the brush head for my electric tooth brush, I put it in a deep (3 inches tall) prescription pill bottle, fill the bottle with hydrogen peroxide covering the brush head. I give it a good shake and let it soak. After soaking, I use a Q-tip to clean the opening that connects the brush to the motor part and then rinse in hot water.

The bottle is deep enough that the peroxide covers the entire brush head, but narrow enough that it does not take a lot to fill it.

By Betty from NC

Saving Money on Dry Cleaning

I have never taken anything to the dry cleaners since they came out with Dryel. It is simple and easy to use and works wonderfully. If you have a stain normally Dawn dish detergent will take it out and then use the Dryel in the dryer as it suggests on the package.
It is cheaper than taking clothes to the dry cleaner and your clothes come out smelling fresh and clean.
We have also used it on wedding attire. Saves you a load of money that you probably can use somewhere else in your budget.

Source:

By Gem from VA

Paint Old Furniture

I was not liking the way my kitchen chairs were looking; they are 20 years old. I didn't want to buy new ones, so I gave them a coat of white paint and bought a new chair pad for them. They look so much better.

By coville123 from Brockville, Ontario

Hanging Pots and Kitchen Utensils

I am organizing my kitchen. I was tired of digging for my pots and utensils I use most. So I bought hooks at the dollar store, screwed them in, and hung my pots, egg flipper, etc. They are so much easier to find.

By coville123 from Brockville, Ontario

Preventing and Getting Rid of Acne

My effective, inexpensive way to prevent and get rid of acne is Ivory soap and Sea Breeze. Wash your face at night before bed with Ivory soap. Dry and then get some Sea Breeze on a Kleenex and apply to face. Ivory soap and Sea Breeze together keep my face clear of acne. Ivory soap is a pure soap; it doesn't have any moisturizers in it that clog pores. Sea Breeze is the medicine that cleans and heals the acne. I've been using this method for over twenty years now and I am glad I have come across the combination. I hope they will help you too.

Source: A friend

By Vickie from Canton, MI

Cushion Pads for Straps That Touch the Skin

Cpap users that have to strap on breathing masks and anyone else using straps that touch the skin might look at the toe bandages (pkg. of three) at Walmart for $2.68, that slip around straps for needed comfort.

Source: cpaptalk.com

By Jim from Tucson, AZ

Keep Cross Stitch Material Clean With an Old Sock

I do a lot of cross stitching and have often found the material at the bottom to be more soiled than I thought it should be. I figured that this was because of my arm rubbing against the material on the scroll bar. I took one of hubby's socks, cut the ribbing off and slipped it on my arm; no more soil!

Source:

By Marti

Organizing Recipes on Your Computer

Here is how I save all of my recipes. I have a folder on my hard drive called Recipes (very original, doncha think? LOL). Under it are sub-folders for categories, like soups, vegan, etc. All recipes are saved here, so if I can just remember that the recipe has tomato in the title, I simply search for tomato and all the ones with tomato in their name instantly pop up.

With an advanced search, you may not even need to know "any" word in the title, because it will review all the words within the recipe and pull out all the ones that contain the word you designate, although in my case that would be too many to help if I searched for tomato. In that case, I might search for rigatoni or some other less commonly-used ingredient I knew was in my desired recipe.

Storing my recipes this way saves me hours of scanning through clippings, notebooks, recipe files, or whatever method I used in the past, and I think I've used them all, including recipe software, which costs money and has to be updated periodically.

Finally, if you're hesitant about taking up space on your hard drive (although files like this don't use much; it's programs that are space hogs), you can look for ways to store your files "in the cloud". If you do that, not only do you save hard drive space, but if you're visiting somewhere and decide to treat everyone to your special recipe of (your favorite here), you can pull that recipe up from any computer. I hope this is helpful to someone.

By Jayni from Richmond, TX

Use Crowdfunding Sites to Help with Medical Bills

Crowdfunding websites (such as GiveForward.com, YouCaring.com and Fundly.com) can be used to solicit donations for urgent needs, such as money for health care! It makes it easier for your loved ones, even strangers to donate, often directly through twitter or Facebook.

Research to see how quickly funds transfer, and whether there's a fee. Your tax filing status or elgibility for public assistance may be affected but it's worth a TRY!

Source: AARP Magazine

By pamphyila from Los Angeles, CA

Saving Money on Toiletries for Kids

Some kids don't know what a normal amount of shampoo, conditioner, or showergel is. They tend to use way too much.
You can just buy a plastic pump bottle for each different product to refill over and over, and tell them that 1 or 2 pushes is enough! This helped me save loads and loads of money.

Source:

By Mir H. from Apeldoorn

Over the Door Shoe Organizer for Dry Food Mixes

I hung one on the inside of a door near the pantry and use its pockets to keep all my large stash of dry mixes such as gravy mixes, dressings, and chili mixes. It's so handy and easy to pick the gravy mix I want, whether it is turkey gravy or beef. It holds a lot of packets.

By Shirley from Mesa, AZ

Storing Plungers in the Bathroom

I took a plastic coffee can and spray painted it to much my bathroom. The plunger now sits neatly in the corner behind my toilet and holds my plunger and all the drips from it. After I use it I wait an hour or so and go back and pour out the water, rinse, and back behind the toilet.

Source:

By Barbara from Wiggins, MS

Cleaning BBQ Grates with Aluminum Foil

Dirty BBQ grates? Burnt on food in a pan? Rims on you tires? To clean the messiest grills, pans, and cars tire rims easily, use that aluminum foil you were just about to wad up and toss into the garbage. It works great instead of those scouring pads you are always buying. Get all your money's worth, instead of just part, out of your foil. Put it to work one more time before tossing into the trash.

By Spacecase from CA

Storing Fresh Herbs

Most fresh herbs are just like rooting plants, they need water. And if you want to you can take a 2 liter bottle cut in half and turn the bottle neck down into the bottom of the bottom half to make it look like a funnel in the bottle. Use some tape if you need to to keep the funnel upright.

Then place water into the bottom part. Next place the fresh herbs into the neck. You now have a herb storage container. If you find your refrigerator is dry, a plastic bag over the herbs helps too. I used this guide to help with other herb storage ideas.

Source: http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetablepatch/a/DryingHerbs.htm

By Teresa from Springfield, OR

Use Empty Microwave Popcorn Bags for Smelly Trash

Wait; don't throw that empty microwave popcorn bag in the trash! After popping the corn, fold the empty bag flat and store them till you need one. Use it instead to put smelly trash items in to keep from stinking up your house. Put the Styrofoam flats and meat pack that are used by grocery stores for steaks, chops, chicken breast, burger meat, etc., in them instead. Give the flats a quick rinse and fold up as small as you get them and them stuff them into the empty microwave popcorn bag, roll top of bag down tightly and throw it in the trash. The microwave popcorn bags are tough enough to contain hot oil and popcorn so keeping the smell out of your home is a snap.

By John from Columbus, GA