Economizing Tips – Your Body

Dear TEAMS,

Here is the last installment of practical tips that will help you economize financially by saving you money, mentally (by saving you stress and time), physically (by improving the quality of your life), and/or spiritually (because it will help you with other more important disciplines).

To see the story that inspired this series (Peeing on Your Toothpaste), go here.

1. When buying liquid hand soap, extend it before using by mixing it with water, 2 parts soap to one part water.  It will still get the job done well.
2. If you have static cling, put a thin application lotion on your body under that area and it will stop.  I even do this through the hose/tights (when they’re in style).
3. Hydrogen peroxide is a cheaper tooth whitener and has no artificial sweetners.  Use in a 1:1 water dilution in the morning and at night after you brush.
4. The best antacid is 1/2 tsp. baking soda in a glass of warm water.
5. If you have a poison ivy reaction or bad bug bites, run the area under as hot a water as you can stand.  It will “scratch” the itch for you, bringing relief, and the heat will allow the release of the histamines causing the itch. 
6. For bad breath, put a pinch of baking soda on your tongue with a few specks of ginger and swish around.  Then, put just a few drops of vinegar in your mouth and let it fizz while you swish around. Spit out.  This will deodorize the mouth tissues, but if you ate strong garlic, etc., you might still find you have mouth odor coming from the stomach.
7. Baking soda placed under sweaty armpits will work wonders to keep body odor from forming, if you are unable to get in the shower right away.
8. Exercise at least 5 days per week in a way that gets you out of breath where it's harder to talk for 40 minutes total (can be divided up).  If your normal activities cause this, it counts as exercise.  This is like buying an insurance policy, and every minute you spend on exercise now will be tens-to-hundreds of dollars you don't spend on medicine later in life.  Exercise creates health for all tissues and organ systems of the body, wards of dementia, heart problems, creates stronger muscles, etc..
9. Keep sugar intake limited to natural fruits and vegetables if at all possible.  You gotta live a little and eat your birthday cake, but the damage sugar does in the body is terrible.
10. Eat the way I taught you, having a green salad with supper on top of everything else, even on pizza nights.  Of course, I don't like processed food, but we had mouths to feed and only so much to spend.

In that I’ve noticed my readership has gone up, I am opening comments for other people to contribute helpful hints they’ve adopted.  Please let these comments be related to personal health, hygiene, or anything related to the body.  There are previous posts concerning Overall Concepts, General Household, Laundry, or Kitchen (click any one of those words to be taken to that posting to leave comments about that specific area there).

Economizing Tips – Laundry

Dear TEAMS,

Here is the fourth installment of practical tips that will help you economize financially by saving you money, mentally (by saving you stress and time), physically (by improving the quality of your life), and/or spiritually (because it will help you with other more important disciplines).

To see the story that inspired this series (Peeing on Your Toothpaste), go here.

1. For an article of clothing that gets an odor (musty from storage, perspiration, etc.) that doesn’t come out when laundered, soak it in about 1 gallon of water with ½ C. baking soda dissolved in it for up to 24 hours.  Then, add ½-1 C. vinegar and let sit another 24 hours.  Make sure you 1) have it in a large container, and 2) let the kids add the vinegar when it’s time and watch it.  If you want, hold an empty jar upside-down over the reaction, close but not touching the liquid, and then “pour” the “air” over a candle and watch the flame go out.
2. If a grease-based product is set into clothes when getting them out of the dryer (or if the lip balm got washed and dried with the load of laundry), put dish soap on the spots and let sit overnight.  Work them into the spot in the morning, and run hot tap water through the spot by placing it right under the spigot with the material stretched out.
3. For a white/colorfast item of clothing that has a small spot on it, dip a cotton swab in pure bleach and dab.  As soon as the spot fades, rinse the spot thoroughly with plenty of running water until the fabric no longer smells like bleach.
4. For spots non-colorfast items, a highly diluted bleach batch will fade the item, but also blend in the stain or spot.  If the item will still look okay with the altered color, then it’s better than throwing the item out.
5. For tiny bleach spots on colored items, buy a fine tipped permanent marker and dot the spots to color it in.  Make the spot darker if necessary, to better blend it in.  (Dark spots on dark are less eye catching than light spots on dark.)
6. You don’t need all the laundry detergent called for by the manufacturer.  Usually, there is enough residual detergent after many loads that the water will still foam up if you forget the detergent.  I use half the amount prescribed.
7. Use vinegar instead of fabric softener—works just as well, unless you are addicted to the smell of the bought product, which your sister, E, is!

In that I’ve noticed my readership has gone up, I am opening comments for other people to contribute helpful hints they’ve adopted.  Please let these comments be related to Laundry Tips.  There are previous posts concerning Overall Concepts, General Household, or Kitchen (click any one of those words to be taken to that posting to leave comments about that specific area there).

Love, 

Economizing Tips – Kitchen

Dear TEAMS,

Here is the third installment of practical tips that will help you economize financially by saving you money, mentally (by saving you stress and time), physically (by improving the quality of your life), and/or spiritually (because it will help you with other more important disciplines).

To see the story that inspired this series (Peeing on Your Toothpaste), go here.

1. Putting a bay leaf in your flour canister keeps weevils out.
2. Putting rice in your salt shaker/storage keeps it from caking in humid conditions.
3. After steeping your teabag, press out the excess tea and allow to dry out in a small bowl .  Re-use with another saved teabag in a cup of hot water.  It will not have the same nutritional value (and definitely not the same amount of caffeine—which is either good or bad, depending on the five years cycle the medical reports issue with this), but I am guessing you aren’t drinking tea for its nutritional value, anyway.
4. If onions make you cry when cutting them, put it in the fridge for an hour before cutting.
5. When you cut an onion, garlic, or anything in the allium family, wet your hands and scrub them all over your chrome faucet to remove the odor.  Rinse and repeat and voila! No smell!
6. Orange peels can be put down the garbage disposal to make it smell good.  Or, place in a small saucepan on the stove to simmer for air freshener.
7. Reuse pickle juice when the initial pickles are gone by putting sliced cucumbers (E adds raw carrots) in the juice.  Replace lid and let soak 30 days for “refrigerator pickles.”
8. Buy in bulk.  You can have 8 weeks of suppers here.*
9. Tomatoes and bananas that are overripe (but not rotting) can be placed in the freezer whole.
10. For casseroles or entrees, turn off the oven 15 minutes before the cooking time is complete.  If you don’t open the oven door, the food will finish cooking fine.  For baked goods, you can turn off the oven 5 minutes early.
11. Cook in cast iron, and you can turn off your burners 15 minutes before completing cooking as well.  From a Nutritionist’s standpoint, an argument can be made that you also supplement your food with additional iron, but I’m really not convinced you uptake that much more, when it all comes down to it.  HOWEVER, I would much rather you have elemental iron in your body than chromium or aluminum.
12. Clean the dishwasher every month by placing ONLY a dime-sized amount of dish soap and a little bleach in it and running a normal cycle.  If you pour more than a dime-sized amount, remove the excess or you will be calling a plumber.
13. Hard boil eggs the day before you need them to make them easier to peel.  Then, before crackling them all over, run them under cold water.

In that I’ve noticed my readership has gone up, I am opening comments for other people to contribute helpful hints they’ve adopted.  Please let these comments be related to the Kitchen.  There are previous posts concerning Overall Concepts, and General Household tips.  Upcoming posts will be on Laundry, or Personal Hygiene/Body.

Love,

Economizing Tips – Household

Dear TEAMS,

Here is the second installment of practical tips that will help you economize financially by saving you money, mentally (by saving you stress and time), physically (by improving the quality of your life), and/or spiritually (because it will help you with other more important disciplines).

To see the story that inspired this series (Peeing on Your Toothpaste), go here.

1. If you live in an area with hard water, putting plain white vinegar in the dishwasher or fabric softener cup in the washer will cut down on lime and calcium deposits, and over time will remove them if already accumulated.
2. Using wet newspaper on stainless steel and windows after washing will keep it from streaking.
3. For especially dusty furniture, use 2 rags: one barely damp and one dry.  Use the dry damp one to clean the item/furniture, then immediately dry with the other.  It’s a great way to clean wood, as long as you dry thoroughly.
4. Pick-a-size paper towels:  Best.  Invention.  Ever.  People who swear by their rags and old T-shirts and get self-righteous about how they’re better for the environment forget that it takes energy to heat the water in the washing machine, soap, their precious time and money to keep the rage hygienic.  Besides, a rag that cleaned up leaky chicken juice in the fridge and then is put in a hamper awaiting cleaning creates a cross-contamination biohazard.  Sure, save old clothes and towels and use them…but only for the places where germs aren’t an issue.  The pick-a-size assures you that you’re not using more than you needed to wipe up the spill.
5. Save the water that you run when trying to get the water hot or leftover from the dinner table and use it to water plants or refill the dog’s water bowl with fresh water.
6. Scrap paper abounds!  Sheets with a blank side can be kept for the printer for draft or unimportant copies.
7. When you have bought a new pair of sneakers, save the old pair for gardening, getting wet, painting, mowing the grass, or walking in pesticides/herbicides.
8. Buy pencils.  A pen (unless free) still creates waste.  A pencils is simply ground down.
9. Buy manual pencil sharpeners instead of electric.  The blades are better and last longer.
10. Have a “thought holding board” in a common area for the things that need to get done but you remember at inopportune times.  Take 15 seconds to write it, then forget it.  Look at the board once per week and do one of the jobs.  Trust me—the really important stuff ends up getting done and the not-so-important stuff reveals itself after 30 days.
11. For a honeysuckle bloom, pull out the long stamen (the thin part poking out of the center) and there will be a drop of sweet nectar on it.  Place on the tip of your tongue and enjoy!
12. In the summer (in Northern climates), put your houseplants on the porch.  You will remember the blue ribbon I got at the Fair one year for my massive, octopus-sized aloe plant, courtesy of this gem of wisdom from our dentist, Rick Knowlton.

In that I’ve noticed my readership has gone up, I am opening comments for other people to contribute helpful hints they’ve adopted.  Please let these comments be related to Household Tips.  There is a previous post concerning OverallConcepts that you can leave tips in that category there.  Upcoming posts will be on Personal Hygiene/Body, Laundry, or Kitchen.

Love, 

Economizing Tips – Overall Concepts

Dear TEAMS,

Here is the first installment of practical tips that will help you economize financially by saving you money, mentally (by saving you stress and time), physically (by improving the quality of your life), and/or spiritually (because it will help you with other more important disciplines).

To see the story that inspired this series (Peeing on Your Toothpaste), go here.

1. Run a small amount of water into what’s left of the contents of soup cans, ketchup bottles, shampoo bottles after they are emptied to give a few extra uses.  I even do this with my cosmetics.
2. Buy brand names for stuff that is critical, but with all else, buy generic or store brand.  Seethis post for what I did.
3. Read The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn.  There are times it seems legalistic and that she is serving the tightwad god and not the other way around, but you will see plenteous good tips.
4. Gadgets meant to squeeze every last speck out of toothpaste tubes or extend the life of something probably pay for themselves over time, but only if you actually use them and you probably only recoup the amount you paid for them.  Use the side of your toothbrush and slide it up the tube while holding it down on the counter.
5. If you get to the end of a plastic tube or any other plastic container, cutting off the straight end  or cutting down to the bottom of the container with a blade will give you access to about 5 more uses.
6. Some of my most favorite items have come from garage/yard/estate sales and auctions.  Don’t judge an item by where it came from, because people might do the same about you!  ;^)
7. Every $100 you pay ahead against the principal of your mortgage is like paying $300 against the total loan.
8. Choose whole foods where possible.  It’s cheaper in the long-term health benefits vs. medical bills and drugs.
9. Birds tell you more about Spring and Autumn’s arrival than the calendar.  This year in January, I was driving along and saw a flock of geese sitting in a field, even though the temperatures were cold.  I knew then and there that we would have a warm, early spring, which we did, and was able to plan to get the garden out earlier, prepare for Spring events ahead of the game, etc.
10. Know the consumable stuff you usually buy, and know the one place that it’s cheapest and just go there to get it.  For instance, we use the Cascade brand dishwasher detergent and for some reason, it is cheaper to buy it at the grocery store over the Kmart.  So I always buy it there, which saves me time running around to comparision shop.  You can do this with food items as well if your town has more than one grocery store.  We know to always buy most food at the Giant, but we know that cheese will always be cheaper at The Country Store, so we have a separate list for Country Store items.
11. If something is a high price item but you regularly buy it, be sure you check to see if it’s on sale when you visit the store and you don’t need it.  For instance, as I was making up these posts, Daddy called.  He was at the grocery store and noticed a certain type of frozen fish was on sale.  It wasn’t the week to buy the fish, but since he knew we’d need it in a week or so (and it is a higher price point item), he went ahead and bought it now.  Then, we’ll just remember we don’t need it the next time we shop and it’s on the list.
12. Always schedule an extra day off after your vacation as a “work day” to catch up on laundry, email, or any other work created by not being home.  It will help you relax during your time off, knowing you have a day to tend to whatever you remember while gone, and it will help the re-entry into normal life after your rest to not be so overwhelming.

In that I’ve noticed my readership has gone up, I am opening comments for other people to contribute helpful hints they’ve adopted.  Please let these comments be related to Overall Economizing Tips.  The next 5 posts will be on General Household, Laundry, Kitchen, and Personal Hygiene/Body.

Love,