Finding Frugal Gifts is in the Planning

Awwww Spring is here, can the wedding shower invitations be far behind? After each holiday, I look for items, such as dish towels, that can be used for gifts, next year. Most sell for 50% to 75% off after the holiday and make excellent gifts for the new brides. She can have a new decorated towel to celebrate New Year's, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, or what ever it might be, in her new marriage and home. Plus you will have saved money!

Another great idea is using a bucket as a container and filling it with small garden hand tools. Starting a new home entails a lot of small expenses. Most we do not think of until the need arises. Giving a 5 pound bag of potting soil, a scoop or hand rake with some clay pots, topped off with a 6 pack of blooming flowers will get any new home owner off to a good start. You can usually find these items, except for the flowers, in the garden department of your local Kmart or Wal-Mart in the fall reduced by 50% to 60%.

Saving money is a matter of timing and thinking ahead. Happy shopping everyone!

Surprising Everyday Pantry Items That Work Elsewhere

Most of the time when little home accidents happen we can find immediate help in our pantries.

[1] Bee stings can be helped with a paste of baking soda and water. Mix three teaspoons of baking soda and one teaspoon of water and rub it on the sting. Always remove the stinger first. Leave it on for fifteen minutes, then rinse off. Repeat if needed.

[2] If someone in your household shows signs of Athlete's foot, make a mixture of one half cup of white vinegar in a gallon of water and let them soak their feet in it for 5-10 minutes, daily. Within a week, they should see a big difference. Household white vinegar contains a natural anti fungal.

[3] With summer coming and children being prone to swimmers ear, this is a great idea to keep in the back of your mind. Grate two cloves of fresh garlic into a small dish and cover with a layer of olive oil. Cover and leave overnight. In the morning strain the garlic and use the oil that remains in the affected ear. Two or three drops, twice a day can help with the pain. Just remember if the pain continues more than three day or if a fever comes up, you may need to take the child to a doctor.

[4] With all the sunscreens on the market you would think no one would become sun burned anymore, but it still happens. When it does and your need quick relief, go looking for milk. Milk has anti-inflammatory enzymes that will soothe your skin. Wet a cloth in cold milk and cover the abused skin for 15 minutes with the cloth. Repeat as often as you need to relieve pain.

Laundry Day Tips

[1] When sorting your dirty laundry, not only sort by colors and whites, but by weight. You will want to keep your like weight, [jeans, towels], [summer tops, shorts], in the same wash load. Not only is it more effective when washing but when drying. Adding light weights and heavies at the same time will damage your light weight item with over drying, thus causing the extra expense of replacing the garment sooner.

[2] Know the size of your machine and fill it full but do not over fill. If you have to weight your laundry basket until you can guess how many clothes it takes to make 20 pounds or what ever size your machine holds, then do so. In the end it will help with water, soap and electricity waste.

[3] Two simple pantry products will help make laundry day easier. Adding 1/2 cup of baking soda to your laundry will boost the cleaning power of your detergent and help with odors. Add 1/4 cup of white vinegar to your rinse cycle and you'll have no need of dryer sheets as it takes the static cling from your clothes.

[4] Washing your clothes in cold water will save money on your water heating bill. Most detergents are made to work in both hot or cold water.

4 Items That Will Make You a Better Cook

Some times the gadgets we use in the kitchen, have a bigger impact on our cooking than the recipes we are serving. Some of these handy tools to keep on hand are:

[1] A Bottle Pour Spout
Attaching a pour spout to your bottle of olive oil or vinegar will give you more control of the amounts you are adding to your cooking, plus an elegant appearance to your counter.

[2] A Kitchen Timer
In spite of our best efforts we sometime come up short on a recipe due to over or under cooking. To keep this from happening always include a kitchen timer in your tool drawer.

[3] A Silpat Mat
You will never burn another baking item if you use this mat. Nothing sticks to it.

[4] A Microplane
You will never want to use another shredder or grater after using this one. It makes the plainest food, look restaurant made.

Unusual Ideas for Usual Items

When it came time for my mother to move in with me and I was sorting through her belongings, I found 5-6 boxes of denture cleaning tablets. All were different brands or flavors she had bought to try and found she didn't like. Not wanting to just waste them by throwing them out, I begin to look for ways to use them. It didn't take long for ideas to pop into my head. These are a few of mine and other's I have picked up along the way.

[1] Drop a denture tablet into a glass containing a cup of warm water. Follow that with your ring or diamond earrings. Let it sit for a few minutes. Remove your jewelry and rinse to reveal the old sparkle and shine.

[2] Cut flowers often leave a ring on your glass vases that seems impossible to remove no matter how hard you scrub. Give this a try. Fill the vase with water and drop in a denture tablet or two, depending on the size of the vase. When the fizzing has stopped, all of the mineral deposits will be gone and your vase is ready for more flowers.

[3] Does your commode have water stains in it, no matter how much you clean it? Here's a way to handle that job, easily. Drop two denture tablets in the commode bowl. Wait about 20 minutes, swish with a brush and flush. Sparkle and shine should be what you see.

[4] If you are like me and have hard water in your household, then you know how fast mineral deposits can build up inside your teakettle. Cleaning it was almost impossible, until I found that if I placed two tablets in the teakettle and fill it up with warm water and letting it sit overnight. In the morning, I could rinse all the gunk down the drain. Remember to rinse it good so all residue has been flushed out.

[5] If your coffee or tea mugs still carry stains. Place then in a sink filled with warm water and drop in 2-3 denture tablets and let them set, up to an hour, then rinse. Most, if not all, will come out sparkling clean ready for the next tea or coffee party.

[6] If you forgot to put last nights casserole dish in the dishwasher and it's now dried and crusty. Put some warm water in your sink and drop in a denture tablet, placing the dish in the water and soak for 20-25 minutes. Then wash and rinse as usual for a clean dish without the hard work.

My Mother passed away a little over a year ago and as I was cleaning my bathroom this morning, I realized her supply of denture tablets was almost gone. Now I have to decide if I want to continue using them by buying my own supply or let this memory go.

Faylee

Feeling Tired?

If you have been feeling tired lately, maybe the cause isn't working to much but the lack of water. The lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue. Statistics show that 75% of us are chronically dehydrated and that 37% of us have our thirst mechanism so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger. Even mild dehydration can slow down your metabolism by as much as three percent. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger trouble with basic math or start fuzzy short term memory problems. You may even have trouble reading as your eyes can not focus without the correct amount of water in your body.

Not only does it make us tired but it can cause weakness of joints, pain and over eating. One 8 oz glass of water can shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of dieters. A recent study done by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle says, drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of breast cancer by 79% and 50% of bladder cancers. Research also states that intake of 8-10 glasses of water daily can significantly ease back and joint pain by as much as 80%.

So, drink up people, help keep yourselves in great shape by inviting water into your bodies.

Faylee

Great Things to Come

We are experiencing a beautiful week end in Northeast Tennessee, wishing the same for you. It's the kind of day you want to be outside in the sunshine and leave all thoughts of what has to be done at home in the kitchen, well hidden.
Yesterday my friend Theresa and I did a cooking demo. Where we gave out lots of tips and ideas to help shorten the time needed in the kitchen, especially in the coming up holiday season. We will repeat this demo with new ideas, recipes and tips on Saturday, November 14. If you would like to be part of this event, please contact one of us at: 423-675-1696 or FayleeJames@yahoo.com for time info, prices and discounts we offer for groups.

Share your smile, it's to beautiful to be kept to yourself and enjoy the sunshine!!

Faylee