DEAR SARA: I have a garlic salt question. I found a recipe I’d like to try, and it calls for garlic salt. Ignorant question here, but can I use garlic powder plus salt as a substitute? Or is garlic salt something different? By the way, you don’t want to know how long it took me [...]
Don’t let your apples rot. Make applesauce, apple butter or baked goods, or add to oatmeal or pancakes. If they’re heavily bruised or mushy, use them for a simmering potpourri by putting the apples in a pot of water with cinnamon sticks, and simmer on your stovetop or in your slow cooker. You can even [...]
Winter is on the way. Now is the time to prepare for the cold. Maybe you stock up on wood to burn, prepare your car, bring out the winter bedding, freeze or can food, or put plastic on your windows. But there are additional ways to get ready for winter. How do you prepare? Here [...]
DEAR SARA: Every time I buy a new shower curtain, I buy new shower curtain hooks to match. I have frogs, flowers, and angels that matched some decor in the bathroom in the years past. Besides donating them, is there any fun, creative things I can do with them? — Palooka, Missouri DEAR PALOOKA: It [...]
Kids often get grass stains on their clothes. You can soak the clothing or saturate the stain in a mixture of 1 part vinegar and two parts water to remove the stain, pretreat with an enzyme laundry detergent (Biz or Wisk), or make a paste with water and a digestive enzyme capsule (opened to get [...]
Cardboard tubes usually get tossed once you get to the end of the roll. Do you ever save them for anything useful? Some people are uncomfortable at the thought of saving toilet paper tubes, so I’ll keep this focused on reusing paper towel, wrapping paper, tin foil, plastic wrap or wax paper tubes. Before you [...]
Congratulations to Ashley Tilton. You’ve won the Kraft HOMESTYLE Macaroni & Cheese dinner contest. Thank you to everyone that entered and special thank you to Kraft Foods, Inc.
DEAR SARA: Just wondered if there’s any tips out there on saving soggy celery. I think it’s just passed the cusp of being forever soggy, but I may be able to revive it. I am going to try cutting off the ends and standing it up in ice cold water or soaking it in water [...]
With a little paint and creativity, old spice racks can make unique and decorative organizers. The little bottles can be filled with flowers, or remove the bottles and use the rack to hold samples or trial-sized products or bottles of acrylic craft paints. Or keep the bottles and fill with bath salts. The first reader [...]
Lone sheets take up much-needed storage space. You probably have a sheet or two that you rarely use but haven’t thrown away. You know you might need it for something someday, such as a toga party or quick ghost or mummy costume, right? Instead of hanging onto it with the best of intentions, put it [...]
DEAR SARA: Do you have a recipe for making an outdoor window cleaner? I love using Windex Outdoor Multi-Surface cleaner, which attaches to a hose, but I go through one bottle every time I clean my outside windows, which is very often here in Florida. I have some empty hose-attached bottles. I wondered whether there [...]
Online shopping continues to grow in popularity and the deals that can be found online are also growing in number as well as overall savings. There is more than one way to find a great deal online. I have family and friends that always contact me before making a purchase online because they know I [...]
photo by crystl DEAR SARA: My 10-year-old daughter wants a hotel birthday party. Last year, I had a great frugal birthday party for her. I used a coupon for free pizza, served soda I already had and purchased a cookie cake. I took my daughter and her cousins and friends to the city pool. It [...]
It’s back-to-school time. Kids often come home from school and go directly to the kitchen in search of a snack. Finding an after-school snack that won’t ruin their appetite for dinner can be a challenge. Fresh fruit and raw cut vegetables are healthy, but can become boring. Try including hummus with cut vegetables or dip [...]
photo by iowa spirit walker Paper is often wasted. Maybe you use both sides of a sheet of paper, use the backs of your mail envelopes for grocery lists or reuse newspaper to wrap gifts. All are good ways to waste less paper. Many households put their mail and paper through a shredder to protect [...]
DEAR SARA: Can you clean bamboo flooring with vinegar? I’m sick of using two different things to clean my floors. I use vinegar on the bathrooms and kitchen, which is linoleum and ceramic tile, but Murphy’s Oil Soap on my living room and hallway, which is bamboo. Can you use the vinegar on the bamboo [...]
Surprise! The phone rings and company is dropping by. We’ve all been there. Your home isn’t as tidy as you’d like it to be, and there’s not enough time for it to be “company ready.” You can’t sweep it under the rug and it can be difficult to determine the priority hot spots. Instead of [...]
