Dollar Stretcher Tips
Dollar Stretcher Tips courtesy
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Email your time or money saving tip to Tips@stretcher.com.
Berry Good
We go to Costco and buy big baskets of blueberries for very
little. Then I wash them, dry them real well, put them on paper
towel lined cookie sheets, and freeze them. After they are frozen,
they go into freezer bags. You can then just grab them by the
handful and use them for pancakes, desserts, smoothies, etc.
This is really great in the winter!
Alix Z.
Reno, NV
Scrub for Less
I like to use those rough green nylon scrubbing pads in my kitchen
for the sink, pots and pans, and tough-to-remove food on dishes.
When the pad starts to get worn, I use it on the tough spots
on my linoleum before throwing it away. However, two small scouring
pads are about $2.50 in the grocery store.
I was thrilled several months ago to find a
package of large green nylon scouring pads in the cleaning section
of a major home improvement warehouse for only $2.50 a pack!
I use a pair of old scissors to cut these large pads into quarters,
and ended up with 32 scrubbing pads at about 8 cents a pad versus
$1.25!
Terri C.
Sugar Sense
Though I wished they liked more hearty meals, my kids love cold
cereals for breakfast. I don't like for my children to have
a lot of sugar, but somehow, they found out about those "high
sugar" cereals (which usually cost much more too). One
day, I decided to put mostly a "low sugar" favorite
(like Cheerios or Kix) in their bowl and then just put a bit
of the "high sugar" cereal on top. They loved it!
The kids liked having two kinds of cereal in their bowls and
being able to have the more popular (high sugar) cereal. I loved
saving money by using less of the more expensive brand and compromising
with my children without giving in and allowing them all the
sugar!
T in Texas
Great Baby Present
My twin great-nieces just turned one. I gave them presents that
everyone loved. Last year, on the day they were born, I put
away two copies of that day's newspaper. I wrapped up the newspapers
in two boxes with cards saying, "The Day You Were Born
Was A Day To Remember." Their mom was thrilled.
Maria M.
Student Instruments
I made the mistake of rent-to-own with one daughter's viola.
It was okay while she was growing and we could exchange it each
year for a larger size. But, once she reached full size, I paid
for three years before I realized I had only made a very small
dent in the total price. I quickly paid it off.
We got our daughter's clarinet at a yard sale
for $25. It had belonged to a girl who decided to stop playing
after high school. It needed a new bell that cost $60 and pads
that cost $20. It served us well over the last 19 years. Three
of our kids have used it in band.
We have also had pretty good luck with instruments
from eBay. We got a nice full sized violin for about $100 with
shipping.
Marianne in Maine
Cheaper Kitchen Cabinets
Quite by accident, we discovered that our local building supply
store sells their scratched, slightly damaged, or discontinued
display kitchen and bath items at a huge markdown. We were redoing
our laundry room at the time and bought the wall and floor cabinets
we needed for less than $100 total! The styles aren't exactly
the same, but by checking often, we were able to buy cabinets
that are the same color and go very well together. We even bought
a couple extra cabinets for storage in the garage. We were also
able to buy a new pedestal sink for the bathroom for practically
nothing because there was a chip at the top of the pedestal,
but the sink completely covers it up!
Ask your local building supply store what they
do with their damaged merchandise, and if they sell them, you
might find exactly what you need for just a few dollars!
BF
Flea Bath
My husband wanted two cats to control our mice infestation.
We got two kittens from different families. Needless to say,
we got an infestation of fleas with the two cats.
We put two pie pans of soapy water just under
the night light in different rooms. The next morning those two
pans were full of dead fleas. There were so many that I couldn't
count them all.
Jane R.
Do We Really Need Storage?
When we moved to take a new job, we opted to rent for a while
until we learned more about the area and various neighborhoods.
We owned a large refrigerator and the apartment we rented had
one already. We asked the apartment complex to move out their
fridge so we could use ours. We saved over a $1000 on storage
fees that year.
Twylabeth
Dinner Time-Saver
We have a large family and are always looking for ways to save
time. When I fry hamburger for a certain recipe or dish, I try
to fry up a minimum of four to five pounds at a time. Most recipes
call for one or two pounds, so I use the amount needed, and
freeze the rest in one-quart freezer bags, trying to keep it
around one pound per bag.
In the future, when I need cooked hamburger,
I just go to the freezer and pull out a bag without having the
mess and time of cooking more. It is convenient, and on those
days when it is hot, I don't need to heat up the kitchen. It
is a great time saver when making pizza burgers. I just pull
out a couple of bags of the frozen cooked hamburger, stir in
some canned spaghetti sauce, spread the mixture on a hamburger
bun half, and add a little cheese to the top.
You can stick them in the microwave for 25-30
seconds, and you have a quick nutritious and hot meal ready
to go without a lot of prep time.
Dee B.
Gering, Nebraska
Travelling Light
My husband and I travel a lot, and I hate to take a lot of luggage
with me. I also hate taking full size toiletries with me, but
the trial sizes are too expensive. To cut costs and the amount
of luggage I have to take, I bought empty small refillable bottles
and trial size products that could be refilled.
When I come back from a trip, I refill all
the bottles and pack them away in my travel case for next time.
I also save trial sizes of products, such as toothpaste or moisturizer,
to pack on trips, and I keep a spare toothbrush, comb, etc.
in my travel case. (The only products I would recommend not
taking out of their original packaging are sterile things, such
as saline solution or eye drops.) This saves money and time
when traveling.
Amy
Yesteryear's Sweaters
Over the years, I have made a lot of gifts by crocheting them.
I have found that by using yarn from my damaged sweaters, I
can make pretty scarves, hats, gloves, and even a purse. I unravel
the yarn, roll it into a ball, and then use it.
When I need some for my project and an old
sweater or blanket isn't available, I buy it from thrift stores
or yard sales.
CS
The 'Bad' Tomato
Recently, I was at my local grocery store and noticed that the
produce manager was throwing away several tomatoes, which looked
perfectly fine to me. I approached her to ask her about it,
and she said that they had spots or had broken a bit. After
talking for awhile, she agreed to save all her "bad"
tomatoes for me. A few days later, I came back and she had a
whole case for me, along with a few peppers, etc. After sorting
through and cleaning them up, I was able to make nearly 20 pints
of salsa and spaghetti sauce! All for free!
Some of the veggies were beyond help, but the
majority were just fine after cutting out spots, etc. The produce
manager explained that it wasn't cost efficient to go through
and "fix" them for sale, so they just tossed them!
It doesn't hurt to ask. This lady was more
than happy to save them for me!
Kat
Iowa
Layout Lessons
Years ago, I learned that the best bargains are almost always
at the back of the store. If you really want to save money,
start shopping from the back of the store and work your way
to the front. The plus-size clothing store I frequent always
has a large clearance section in the back. The racks in the
middle may have a small discount, but the racks in the front
always have the most recent and most expensive merchandise.
I rarely make it to the front before finding several cute items!
Anne
Euclid, OH
Air Loss = Money Lost
I recently bought aluminum insulating tape and taped over the
joints on our furnace ducts. This is not duct tape. Duct tape
dries and cracks. This is found in the heating section at the
hardware store, and just covers the joints and stops air from
leaking out of the ducts.
As soon as we did this, we noticed a marked
improvement in airflow to our upstairs bedrooms. Our daughter's
room never was warm in winter or cool in summer, and now her
room is much more comfortable. We paid special attention to
taping the joints on the ducts that ran to her room.
Our basement is no longer freezing cold with
all that air leaking out through the ducting. Our A/C doesn't
run non-stop anymore either! Paying attention to small details
can make a huge difference.
Joanne
Removing Sweat Stains
Just a quick suggestion for removing sweat stains from clothing.
Soak the fabric in Era or another protein dissolving detergent.
This will help dissolve stains and buildup on t- shirts. If
the shirt isn't colorfast, don't leave the Era on for a long
time before laundering. For colorfast clothes, you can let the
Era sit on the fabric overnight before washing. Usually, you
will see improvement after one treatment, but you may have to
repeat the process a few times to get all of the deposits removed.
This suggestion came from a professor of Textiles and Clothing.
Jill L.
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