photo by yvestown
Ever clip or tear recipes from magazines? How about print them from a Web site? The first tip helps you avoid clutter — and grease stains and food splatters on your recipes. I like it better than using an accordion file. It makes a neat gift idea, too. If you like the tip, you might also like TasteBook (www.tastebook.com).

RECIPE BINDER: I put all of my recipe cards into binders with plastic baseball-card sleeves. I put the recipes I cut out from magazine pages into the binder, but use self-stick magnetic pages for them. I have them all organized by categories and can take out the plastic sleeve when I need a recipe. I can write on the plastic sleeve with marker to check things off, and it wipes right off after I’m done. — Sandi H., Indiana

How do you organize your recipes?

SOAP SLIVERS: I have a soap-saver mitt I got from Wal-Mart. They have two kinds. One with a loofah front and one with a cloth scrubby front. It’s great for those small, leftover pieces that no one will use. — Mandi, Florida
Note from Sara: You can place them in a tube sock as a frugal substitute.

BUDGET WEDDING: If you want to have musicians at your ceremony or reception, look into students in your area. I really wanted to have a string quartet, but they’re very expensive, so I found a violin teacher close by. She and five of her students played for my ceremony for half of what I would have paid for a professional quartet. Higher-level kids can be very good. — trinaren, e-mail

Do you have any budget wedding tips?

HOMEMADE ORNAMENT: Instead of buying a “baby’s first” ornament or going without, when you buy/cut down your tree, slice a thin, clean slice off the end. Drill a hole at the top, run ribbon through it, and write baby’s name and first Christmas with a Sharpie. You could get more crafty and glue on bits and bobs, or write with colors to memorialize baby’s first Christmas without spending the outrageous prices many companies charge for an ornament. No need to do any special finishing. This will last many years as is. — Khaski, e-mail

REUSE BREAD BAGS: I put open packages of bacon in bread bags and keep them in the meat drawer. — Traci, Kansas

PREVENT FREEZER BURN: I always had ice cream that would get freezer burn. I started to put plastic wrap on the top and then close the lid. — Marcia, New York

ORGANIZE HAIR TIES: For hair ties, wrap them around empty paper-towel cardboard rolls. Store them in a dresser drawer. If you have dozens of hair accessories, you can buy an over-the-door shoe organizer and organize them all inside the pockets. — Belinda, Ohio
Note from Sara: You can slide them onto a bud vase, or string them onto a towel ring or on a stand-up paper towel holder, too.

How do you organize hair accessories?

REUSE GREETING CARDS: If the inside fronts haven’t been written on, use them to write recipes on. I attach them to my baked goods I give as gifts. — Fran, Florida

How do you reuse greeting cards?

EASY ORNAMENT: Clear-glass salt and pepper shakers filled with candy make great gifts. Just slip a thin satin ribbon through the holes on the top, tie closed, and use the ribbon as the hanger. — Kim, e-mail

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