Frugal Tips

I clean with vinegar because vinegar is cheap. I would pour vinegar in my sinks and in the bathtub to clean up clogs. I also shop at dollar stores and a store called Big Lots to save money. I also shop for furniture at garage sales. One time I bought a dresser for 10.00 and came home and painted it. It looked brand new.

Good morning, cher! Living rurally like a I do, not water systems..and reliant on a well, which is very expensive to run, I put in two storage tanks, one of 10,000 gallons and one of 3500! From all my buildings, I collect the rain into the storage! It took only TWO years to re-cover the cost of outlay...and now, I have a very inexpensive power bill...and when the power goes out..I still have water, as it is gravity feed. When peeling potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, onions, cuttings from celery, I put in a cloth mesh bag..and simmer for a stock! Apple peels, after polishing apple and peeling, I render these, too for pectin when making jellies or jams...just freeze it! Eating oranges, or using lemons or limes, I always grate the peel off first, put the peel in ice-cube trays (approx. 1 TBSP) and use in recipes. I can usually find a way to recycle just about anything...LOL!

Water the lawn in the evening or early morning, as it will need less water. I do the same thing for the garden. Also I use water from my fish tank for my plants really helps lower the water bill.

I've heard that and tried it years ago, but not only didn't it work, but it always worried me of that fresh apple in the sugar...and rotting! But I found this little clay thingy - at Bed Bath and Beyond....it is a clay of some kind...and you soak it in water for about 5 minutes, dry it off, and put it in the jar or bag of brown sugar and it works GREAT!!! I swear by it now! I haven't had hard brown sugar in years! I don't know what it is made of.. I call it clay as that is what it looks like...terra cotta clay and it is in na gingerbread boy shape...made specifically for this use. IT works great. I've been using the same one for years and never fails! Saves me alot on brown sugar!

This is an interesting piece of trivia. I guess I'm a bit more frugal. When our brown sugar clumps up, I just put it in a resealable bag, wrap some towel over it, and use a tenderizing hammer to loosen the hardened sugar.

Oh gosh, I can think of tons! But on your lines of brown sugar . . . I just take the block of hardened brown sugar and pop it in the microwave like 15 seconds at a time til it gets soft! And upon cooling, it will get hard again (if you want to don't need to use it and want to store it away again).