10 more great household tips.
Recently I sent you information about 10 household tips you could use to save time and money. They included storing a couple of marshmallows in a bag of brown sugar to keep the sugar from hardening, installing a regular coat rack just above the baseboard near the floor to hang up shoes so that they don’t take up so much space on the floor and deodorizing sponges in your microwave oven.
Saving time and money is an important strategy that patriots can use to help them remain self-sufficient and independent. Some of these activities involve repurposing, which is basically using an item for a purpose that it was not intended, rather than throwing it away and having to spend money on a different item to accomplish the task.
Here are 10 more of these ideas:
• Slicing a bunch of cherry tomatoes can be a time-consuming procedure, but here’s a way to do it quickly. Sandwich them between two plastic lids, holding the top lid down tightly with one hand, and run a long, sharp knife through all of them at once.
• Line your cat litter box with a garbage bag. Not only will it speed up the litter changing process, but it will also save on spillage.
• The smell of food cooking in your kitchen is probably good on most occasions, but other times odors coming from the kitchen aren’t so great. To get rid of unpleasant smells, boil orange peels and cloves.
• One way to prevent grease and dust from settling on top of kitchen cabinets is by placing a layer of wax paper on top of them. Switch out the paper every few months to help keep the cabinet tops clean.
• Don’t you hate it when frosting and other food items splatter while you’re using an electric mixer? One way to avoid that is by attaching a paper plate between the mixer and the whisks, which will catch the splatter.
• Next time you’re cooking stuffed peppers, place them in a large muffin tin. This will help keep the peppers upright.
• Sometimes closets can collect moisture, which is not good for your clothes. Hanging a bundle of chalk there will help absorb excess moisture, which is cheaper than using an electric dehumidifier.
• Hard-boiled eggs taste great, but sometimes the difficulty in peeling off the shells isn’t worth it. But if you add a teaspoon of baking soda to the water when boiling them, the shells will come off very easily.
• If your children or grandchildren have ever written on your walls with a crayon, you know how difficult it is to remove those markings. One agent that does wonders with this – on any surface – is WD40.
• Pulling out every pan in your cupboard to find the right one is a hassle you shouldn’t have to go through. Using a tension rod and shower hooks will enable you to hang them up and easily grab the one you want.
More of these household tips will be coming your way, but if you have any of your own that you’d like to share, please let me know about them.
Boiling eggs for four minutes in a pressure cooker will amaze you how easy they peel.
great
Use outdoor solar lights for indoor lights and flashlights
I’m not a smoker anymore, but having been one in the past, using can attest to the lengths a smoker will go to in search of a smoke! Tobacco seeds are probably a good thing to add to your arsenal. They take up little space, but if you can grow it, you’d have a market. Consider that in some parts of the country, smokers are willing to pay well over $10 a pack and you get the idea.
I have a four-legger Family member.
What type of dog food to hoard & how long will it keep?
Most dry dog foods keep well but pest are attracted to them because of the protein content (especially fire ants). If it fits in your budget, dehydrating chicken, turkey and other low fat meats is a good alternative. Reconstitute the meat and add to cooked grain and or vegetables to round it out. If you have fresh resources available always cook the meats to help protect your “fur family” from parasites and illness. The grain and vegetable portions add vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates. If you hunt or dress out your own meats remember the blood can be cooked down and added to your four legged family members groceries or used in place of meat. Mixing the blood with cornmeal you can cook it into a loaf.
I thought I would add a tip on keeping brown sugar soft.
I have always dumped my brown sugar into an airtight container. To keep it soft I just set a slice of bread on top of it. If I forget to do that and my brown sugar gets hard, I set the slice of bread on top; close the seal and by the next day its soft again. A slice of bread also helps those cookies in the cookie jar stay soft. :)
Why buy brown sugar? If you keep molasses on hand, you can make your own brown sugar by mixing 1 TBSP molasses to 1 cup white sugar. Likewise, make low carb brown sugar with molasses and your sugar substitute (Splenda, Nutrasweet, etc.)
If the US dollar is in trouble and Juky 1, 2014 is when the major problems start, should I take my money out now? Really no time to investigate investments now. Is cash better.to have on have at least?
Theresa, now that we are on the verge of another economic bubble that is sure to devalue the dollar even more, I recommend trading paper for gold. But not just any gold. Now it is available in 1 gram bars which make it tradeable and usable for the average person. You can go to http://www.doublechex.com to learn more.
If things get really ugly, neither cash NOR gold is going to be very useful.
If the entire system collapses, no one will want either one, but barter goods will be in high demand.
Toilet paper, disposable lighters, first aid items, feminine hygiene products, toothpaste, aspirin, etc
Gold MIGHT be a good investment if the system stays more or less intact … or may not — remember the Hunt Brothers disaster with hoarding silver? But if people are starving & cannot go to a store and buy even the basic necessities, those who stocked up on those necessities — and are armed well enough to protect them — will make the rules & determine the prices.
You’ll do WAY better trading a hundred Bic lighters than you’ll do with a couple of grams of gold.
Now that’s tellin the common man or family how on a limited budget to be way ahead of the unprepared!
$5, $10, $20 spent here and there esp at sales.
Or Saturday’s@The Dollar Generalw/receipt coupon $5 off @ checkout for purchase of $25 minimum) or if possible; if able $50-$100 on occasion @ increments of the $25 minimum. That would save $10-$20 for “investments of these needed items.
Rice+beans/tomatosauces, canned milk, coffee+tea, chocolate syrup, honey,some vitamins(D/C+E) canned veggies+fruit+dried, catsup(used alot), soaps, condiments+spices, every oil used, canned meats, canned fish.
And all the above mentioned by -Smokehill- + more ~!
Did you know that DollarGeneral also has a buy-in-bulk-online option? The choices are limited, but have some great prices.
Up here in the mountains of TN where I live if you come looking to trade for food you’ll be told to eat your gold. If you don’t have a usable item or service to trade you’ll be sent packing.
Would like to know the answer to the cash problem. Not interest in stock or bond etc. investments.
Jan