Making pancakes can be time consuming. To shorten the time, you can bake the batter in muffin tins and cake pans. Visit www.frugalvillage.com/2010/02/21/bake-a-cake-for-breakfast/ for directions. Still prefer to use a griddle or skillet? Reuse a large-size ketchup squeeze bottle to dispense dripless batter and perfect shaped pancakes. The first reader tip offers another solution. MAKE [...]
Mismatched socks can pile up quickly. You hang onto them hoping to find their mates. Sometimes you do, so you might create a home for them made out of a basket, bag or a spare drawer. If you get new socks, you tend to toss out the old pairs, too. Clean but lone or used, [...]
DEAR SARA: What do I do with the juice left in the maraschino cherry jars? I have 2-1/2 jars full of the stuff! And a bacon grease/brown sugar mixture left from a batch of cocktail weenies. I kind of hate to throw the stuff out, although I wouldn’t have hesitated in the past. What would [...]
You can use a vegetable peeler for more than peeling vegetables. It’s handy for shaving chocolate for baking or hot beverages or try it on hard cheeses. Use it to shave rather than peel vegetables such as asparagus to top pizza or shave carrots, zucchini or cucumbers for salad, too. The first reader tip shares [...]
Everyone knows that if you want to get your finances in order and start being smart about your financial future, you need to make a financial plan. And there is lots of terrific advice out there from personal finance experts on what should go into that plan. But knowing how to stick to your plan, [...]
Witch hazel is a cheap product that has multiple uses. Maybe you have a bottle of it in your cabinet collecting dust. Many people use it as an astringent/facial toner a couple of times and then put it away and forget about it. How have you used it? Here are a few suggestions. EYE PUFFINESS: [...]
DEAR SARA: Dough scrapers: metal or plastic? Which do you prefer? I don’t have one yet and want to buy it only once! — Rosie, Canada DEAR ROSIE: I like them both. I use them for different tasks. They were both cheap, too. I like the flexibility of the plastic scraper. It’s rigid but has [...]
This contest is sponsored by Charlie’s Soap (http://www.charliesoap.com/). If you’ve been a member on the forums for a while, you’ve read many members raving about Charlie’s Soap. Here’s one thread you can read: http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/laundry/127595-charlies-soap.html Like Charlie’s Soap on Facebook, too. http://www.facebook.com/charliesoap The products are wonderful and because I like them so much, I thought a [...]
Think you don’t have time for breakfast? The first reader tip shares a quick and easy breakfast tip. It’s a great way to use some small amounts of leftovers and can be made using Egg Beaters, too. There are many possible mix-n-match combinations. SCRAMBLED EGGS IN A MUG: Use a big microwave-proof mug. Grease the [...]
The Christmas decorations are packed away. You miss the festive flair for a while afterward. You want your home to have that same cozy feeling throughout the year. Maybe your budget hasn’t recovered from holiday splurging. Warming up your home decor is as simple as adding personal touches that appeal to the senses. Often, you [...]
DEAR SARA: I’m thinking about buying new floor mats for my car, but I do not want to throw out the old ones. Do you have any ideas? — Melissa, e-mail DEAR MELISSA: I’d use them in the garage, either for under your car to catch any leaking fluids or as door mats to store [...]
Ever have a dish or two in the sink that you want to wash? Don’t wait for more dirty dishes before you hand wash or keep the faucet running or fill a sink with soap and water for a couple of dishes. Keep a spray bottle filled with water and add a bit of dish [...]
photo by Liane In previous columns, I’ve mentioned organizing recipes and coupons, creating a price book to track product prices, a garden journal and menu planning. A frugal notebook is a place to organize all these useful tools. It’s easy to put together and cheap, too. All you need is a binder, page protectors, dividers, [...]
Fixing school lunches can be a challenge. You want to avoid packing snacks that end up traded or in the cafeteria trash. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, but you don’t always have to rely on prepackaged snacks. Here are a few homemade snack recipes for when you start to feel like you’re [...]
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 [...]
photo by Mavis DEAR SARA: I have a question about dry beans. Do they ever expire? My parents have sealed buckets of them that they stocked up on during the Y2K scare. Are they still safe to cook? They’re trying to pass some to me. They say they are still good because of how they [...]
Homemade mixes are popular gifts. Many are given in decorated mason jars. But you can use various containers such as bowls, mugs, reusable plastic or glass containers, boxes (such as Chinese takeout food boxes), tins, cellophane or fabric bags, or ask to buy coffee bags wherever whole-bean coffee is sold. Some containers will simply need [...]
