Tips in the Kitchen

Whether you are Betty Crocker or Mrs Take Out, kitchen tips can make your life easier. From cooking shortcuts to cleaning dilemmas solved, isn’t it nice to know that help is on its way? If you are cooking anything that contains milk, eggs and flour (such as pancakes or a sauce), rice or pasta, and things get sticky, here is a tip to clean those pans up easily. First soak the pan in cold water. Hot water can set the starch in these foods, making cleanup tougher. The easiest way to make pie dough for a pie crust is by … Continue reading

Kitchen Cleaning Tips

For a clean, bacteria-free kitchen without a lot of work, use the following tips. They will ensure that you have a safe, easy to maintain clean in one of the most important rooms of the house. Get them while you can Clean up little messes as they are made. It doesn’t take much more effort to put dishes into the dishwasher as it does to put dishes in the sink. If something spills, wipe it up right away. This will ensure that you don’t have sticky messes or overwhelming dishes that are much harder to deal with later. Clean in … Continue reading

More Clever Household Tips

Do you know the best way to vacuum or how to keep the roll of plastic wrap from falling out of it’s box? Sometimes it is the clever little tricks that make daily keeping of a home so much easier and more effective. Here are plenty of clever home tips that I bet you didn’t know about. On a roll Did you know that from the very beginning, those boxes that hold plastic wrap and aluminum foil were engineered to prevent the rolls from falling out when you are trying to rip off a piece of wrap or foil? It … Continue reading

Minimizing Allergies from Cleaners and Detergents

If there is any asthma or allergies in your family, then you might want to take a good look at the cleaners and the detergents that you use in and around your home. The same goes for personal care products. Many of these products contain chemicals, perfumes and dyes that can bring on indoor allergies and dangerous asthma symptoms. While you can focus on buying natural products, these can be expensive and some may still cause allergy irritation. Here are some general guidelines about reducing the allergens in your home from cleaners and detergents. Avoid dryer fabric softener sheets. These … Continue reading

Fitting in the Spring Cleaning

With three young children and a work-at-home job, it can be difficult to get the spring cleaning underway. As much as I would love to take a weekend to just complete it all at one time, that is nearly impossible. So I find myself sneaking up on the spring cleaning here and there as I can. Today, I actually started with a bit of the actual cleaning part of the spring cleaning. I have been organizing and de-cluttering along the way in the last two weeks, but outside of normal day to day cleaning, very little deep cleaning has been … Continue reading

75 Things You Can Do to Save Money (2)

We are counting out 75 different things that you can do to be frugal and save money. Which ones are your favorites? If you missed the first part of this topic, click here: 75 Things You Can Do to Save Money. 42. Carpool. 43. Telecommute if you can or find a way to work from home. 44. Practice gas saving driving, such as keeping a steady pace under 55 mph. 45. Get rid of your gym membership and exercise outside or in your home. 46. Pay bills online. 47. Rent equipment with your neighbors and split the cost, such as … Continue reading

New Uses for Washcloths

Do you use wash cloths? If you have a bunch that are just sitting there, why not turn them into something useful? This morning, I decided to do a little spring cleaning of our linen closet. One thing that struck me was the amount of wash cloths that we have. There were probably 20 or more of them. Now, having a lot of washcloths could be a good thing if you use them, since it is recommended that you only use a washcloth once and then launder it. But, the fact remains that we seldom use wash cloths. I can … Continue reading

What to Do with Bread Tabs

A little bit ago, I shared some ideas for reusing odd things around the house that were featured in the Tightwad Gazette. One of those items was the humble little bread tag. You know what I mean? A bread tab is the rectangular piece of plastic that is used to secure commercial loaves of bread in their plastic bags. Bread tabs are plentiful and, of course, they are free with your bread purchase. We already know of two uses for the bread tab. The first is as a stitch counter when knitting or crocheting. The tab has that convenient little … Continue reading

What to Do with a Dead Umbrella

A dead umbrella has no use, right? Of course you know that I am going to say that of course a dead umbrella has a reuse. You know this blog by now, and reusing items that might otherwise wind up in the landfill is a great frugal thing. Our umbrellas seem to be drying left and right on us. We have a virtual umbrella graveyard. Perhaps it is the blustery wind of spring. Perhaps it is the fact that all of our umbrellas are about the same age and have just reached the end of their natural life spans, Or … Continue reading

Frugal Living Week in Review: March 3rd Through March 9th

Do you know why it is so much easier to spend today than it was a few years ago? If not, you’ll want to read through last week’s articles. We have also covered a lot of new ideas, from reusing items to creating frugal meals for your family. March 3rd Whole Turkey Versus Turkey Breasts: Cost Comparison In an article from last week, I talked about the great value of a whole turkey. One question that came up was about buying turkey breasts instead, for a family that won’t eat the dark meat. So, I thought I would do a … Continue reading