Tipster Tuesday - Top 10

A friend of mine sent an email with a few household tips....I thought they were pretty interesting and decided to pass them along. If you know who originally thought of these, let me know in the comments.

1. When you buy bananas, take them apart from each other. They will ripen more slowly. 
2.  Bell Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for fresh eating while peppers with 4 bumps are better for cooking because they are firmer.
3. Make scrambled eggs rich and fluffy by adding a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese or heavy cream before beating them.
4. For light garlic flavor, add at the beginning of your recipe. For stronger flavor, add near the end . 
5. Reheat pizza in a cast iron skillet on top of the stove....it keeps the crust crisp!
6. Easy "Angel" Eggs - put the cooked egg yolks in a ziplock bag, mash them up, add remaining ingredients and mix well. Then snip off the corner with scissors and squeeze the mixture out...much cleaner!
7. Use newspaper for "mulch" in your garden, you can usually get it free and it works better than some of the "gardening plastic" not to mention it's bio-degradable so makes your garden greener!
8. Pick up tiny broken glass shards with a wet cotton-ball. It gets caught in the fibers. 
9. Clean the lint filter on your dryer every month using a brush and warm soap and water. Not only will it make your dryer run more efficiently but you'll cut down on fire hazards and extend the life of your dryer. 
10. When measuring "liquid" items for baking....measure oily items first, it helps the other things like honey come out easier.

Thinking Outside the Box

Over the last few months of my coupon adventures, I have accumulated quite a nice little stockpile of items. Some of those items are things I use all the time and some are things I thought I would try….especially since they were very cheap and many times free.

So what do you do with all those things? Well….there is the usual things. Often times I will donate them to needy families or organizations that could use my extra items. Sometimes I am given a tax receipt so I can write those donations off of my taxes….other times I get the good feelings that come from helping others.

Other items, I have learned to use in different ways. For example, did you know that shampoo works great as body wash? It does! It’s basically the same thing so why not try it. I can get shampoo a lot cheaper than body wash.

How about using hair conditioner as shaving cream? Just smooth it on your legs and shave. The feeling it leaves behind is wonderful and luxurious….even nicer than the real shaving cream!

I use dishwashing liquid as laundry soap….just use a couple of tablespoons per load. You can also use the “grease cutting” type on stains. Shampoo also works well to cut greasy stains on clothing.

We use dishwashing liquid in pump bottles for hand soap as well. Just mix 2 or 3 parts water to 1 part soap and shake it up good….the amount of water depends on the consistency you like. You can also put about the same portions in the foaming pumps after you’ve emptied them.

Ok…here’s the last one and probably the funniest one. I had a stockpile of panty-liners. I had gotten them free so I was thinking of ways to use some of them. Did you know they make great bandages for large wounds? Just use them in place of gauze bandages and use tape to hold in place. They can be trimmed to fit any size you need and that way they won’t look so obvious. There should be a few in every first-aid kit in your home or car!

So, I hope you look at your stockpile in a whole new light and start thinking outside the box as to what uses you may find for the items on hand.

Have a great day!

Mavis D.

Cleaning the Castle

Cleaning house has never been a favorite passion of mine. Oh, I come by it honestly, my mom was not a clean freak either but you do have to do it from time to time. If nothing else, you will need to dig yourself out every so often.

I have a friend over at Squidoo that has put together a wonderful page about making house cleaning fun and how to enlist the help of your kiddos. You know, those who usually help make the bulk of the messes!

Check out her page here and be sure to say "Hi" to Susan. She's a former homeschool mom, mother of soldiers and a work-at-home mom/wife.

Have a great day and happy cleaning!

Mavis D.