Friday, March 27, 2009

I have gotten LOTS OF HINTS about improving things for yourself without spending more or JUST WAYS TO SAVE Money. Here is a sampling...


Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it. (I covered that previously. I just pinch the tip off and peel down to the stalk... Monkey see, Monkey do.)

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store.
If you leave them connected at the stem they ripen faster. (Not tested... but it will stop us from buying the little banana hangers...)

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.
It will stay fresh much longer and not mold! (OK. Deb was right. I was wrong!)


Peppers with three bumps on the bottom are sweeter and for eating. (We must be talking about Bell Peppers... I can't or won't eat them any more...)
Peppers with four bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.


Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. (Tried it. It works. Steam cleaning...)
It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up. (I have always used whole milk, so this should work...)

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.


Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic. (use bigger chucks or whole cloves for less bit and more favor... mincing makes the garlic favor stronger and hotter..)


Leftover Snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummmmm!

Reheat Pizza : Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs : Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash until they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.
This one I am planning to try out this summer... practice makes perfect.

Expanding Frosting When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.


Reheating refrigerated bread To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster. ( I have started to freeze bread when the brand I like goes on sale...but I have found no problem just setting it out the night before... but this might useful tip.)

Newspaper weeds away When you start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers. (Ok. But who is reading a newspaper... oh, wait... I am getting the Panola Watchman three times a week! Great idea for this Spring!)

Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.
(I think that one is mentioned in the 56 Q-tips posting I did this week....)

No More Mosquitoes Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
(I suggest you check the yard and turn over and dump out water collections... there are more breeding spots around the house when you start looking for them.)

Squirrel Away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it. (Does this one work with dogs?)

Flexible vacuum To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings. (Sounds good. My vacuum gave up the ghost recently... got a brand to recommend to me: freddallas@aol.com)

Measuring Cups Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth! (They are cheap at the hobby lobby stores... saw them today!)

Reopening envelope If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.


Conditioner Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2 with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever! (Tried it. It works. Beer in a cup in the garden draws and drowns slugs in the same manner...)

Get Rid of Ants Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed! (I keep hearing this and "self rising flour" baiting... I still use boric acid or diatonaceous earth...)
Indoor Ant Control Supplies: 1 tbsp. boric acid 1 tbsp. mint jelly or peanut butter 1 cracker Small cardboard box Instructions: Mix the boric acid and mint jelly; spread mixture on a cracker. Punch pinholes in a cardboard box; place cracker inside. Place box in an area where ants cause problems, but away from children and pets. Note: The mint jelly (sugar or sweet ants) or peanut butter(fat or grease ants) lures the ants in and the boric acid kills them. Indoor and Outdoor Ant Control Supplies: Diatomaceous earth Instructions: Dust food-grade diatomaceous earth along the ant’s pathways. Note: The white powder will cut through their exoskeleton and they will dehydrate and die. And it is NOT for kids and pets since it does the same thing to lung tissue...

And there was this email note as well... cleaning all your filters with soap and water and a nylon brush is always a good idea.

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes..) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material ... I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh!

It didn't go through it at all! He told us that the dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh; that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free .... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box ... well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!

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