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First, the most important thing about a greenhouse is
location. Find the spot in your yard with the most southern
exposure. This is critical for winter growing, as the more
sunlight you can get on the greenhouse, the better. It isn't
necessary to buy a kit for this. You can build a frame with
thin boards or you can use tent poles in a pinch, as long as
it's stable. For the covering, I suggest some of that heavy
plastic that is commonly used for painting drop cloths. You
may need a double, or even a triple layer, depending on your
climate.
Dominique
For more suggestions, please click here
When I have a lot of green pepper or onions and want to freeze them, I chop the peppers or onions and measure into one-cup portions. I put each portion into a sandwich bag, and then put as many sandwich bags as I can into a gallon freezer bag. This way, I can take out a cup as I need it for a recipe.
After years of using a lot of freezer bags, this has proved to
be real money saver. You can do this with any produce that you
will be using throughout the year a little at a time. You can
even reuse the freezer bags.
Dianne H. in Altoona, AL
I recently was going over my cable bill after finding out that we were being charged nearly $11/month for use of a DVR cable box. This DVR service was rarely, if ever, used by us. I figured that while I was at it, I'd go through the rest of my bill and see what else I could cut out.
I was paying $162/month after taxes and fees for digital cable services with "free" HBO package, 7 MB Internet service and unlimited home phone service. The only channels that we really watched were HBO and one or two of our local channels. We cut out our online mmorp-gaming (saving our household a combined $720/year for four of us), so we didn't need that fast speed anymore and the home phone was more for the children. So, I did some poking around on the cable company's website to see what type of bundle packages they had for those people that didn't need all of the "extras."
I dropped our cable down to basic cable for $4 with HBO for an additional $5 and the HD cable box for $9 (it was something that we felt was okay to splurge on since we were dropping all the other costs and because we do have a HDTV). I dropped our Internet down to 768 Kb, which cut that portion of the bill in half to $25. And I had the unlimited usage removed from our home phone so that not only did that portion get cut in half to $25, but also any long-distance calls that need to be made can be made from mine or my husband's cell phones for free. However, if the children absolutely must make a long distance call, it's 5 cents per minute and we will know exactly how long they're on the call and they're responsible for paying for the cost of the call.
Our cable bill for all three services is now $72/mo with all taxes and fees included instead of $162. That's a $90/month savings, equaling to almost $1100 a year!
It definitely pays to sit back and reflect on what services
are really useable and how costs can be cut by doing research
either online at the company's website, or giving the company
a call to see if they have any other bundle packages or
services that they can offer based on your actual usage.
Jennifer B. in Western Mass
Has your showerhead, kitchen faucet, or kitchen sprayer gotten
clogged up with deposits? Here's a quick and easy fix. You
don't have to even take the clogged item apart! Simply take a
plastic resealable bag, partially fill it with white vinegar,
put it over the clogged item (make sure it is covered by the
vinegar), and rubber band it on securely. I do this in the
morning, and when I take it off when I get home at night, all
the deposits are gone and the whole thing is sparkling clean!
ROD
A friend told me her son made a lot of money in college by being paid to be the designated driver. His friends would buy him concert tickets, etc. or pay him to be the designated driver.
He also made money by doing other student's laundry.
Apparently, not everybody's mom teaches him/her how to do it.
Michelle
During the growing season, I shop for birthday gifts for my friends in my backyard. Well, not exactly in my backyard. In addition to my own garden, I belong to a CSA (community supported agriculture) program where I help on a farm one day each week.
Recently, to celebrate a friend's birthday, I created a gift
basket with some freshly roasted coffee, a bottle of red wine,
some candy, and veggies from my garden and the farm. I gave
early potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, pole beans, and purple
carrots. I filled in any "gaps" with bunches of fresh herbs
like dill, oregano, basil, sage, thyme, and curly parsley. I
have also created harvest baskets for friends who invite me to
autumn get-togethers, even Thanksgiving dinner. No one seems
to "regift" these baskets!
Cindy in Rhode Island
I do most of my meals as freezer meals. I usually cook at least one big-batch freezer item each weekend and freeze it in meal-size portions.
One of my favorite freezer things to do is to re-stock my breakfast bin. I use a large plastic freezer container for quick breakfast items. I make blueberry pancakes, muffins, breakfast casserole, homemade granola bars, etc. I put a small piece of wax paper between each pancake and put them in a resealable bag. For the other items, I wrap them individually in plastic wrap. All items get "tossed" into my breakfast bin.
Now, during a busy work/school week, morning breakfasts are
fast, healthy and homemade! You just take out whichever item
you want, heat it a minute or so in the microwave, and you are
ready to go! Pancakes are good for in-home breakfasts, but the
other items are perfect when you are in a rush and have to eat
it in the car. And the added bonus is that most of these items
can be made very inexpensively, so you are saving a lot of
money.
Julie in St. Amant, LA
I like to take care of my skin with a soap-free cleanser but
don't like to splash out a lot of money. The solution? Buy
economy-size refills of baby bath soap. The whole family can
use it (even the baby), and as an extra bonus, you have fewer
bottles cluttering up the bathroom!
Jess P.
Recently, I received my credit card bill and noticed that the newspaper charge had risen. When I called the newspaper, I found that they had "added" extra days to my account. I told them that I had not requested this and to put my account back to what I had ordered. The representative then informed me that the change would be made immediately, and since the higher amount had already been charged to the credit card, he would also extend my coverage time.
I guess these companies figure you won't review your
statements and just pay the amount due. It always pays to
review them.
Lorraine
We have a large skylight in our kitchen, which lets in a lot of light and heat in the summer months. A screen to cover it was prohibitively expensive for our retiree budget, so I made a screen using solar UV screening from the home improvement store and tension rods.
I cut the screening about an inch wider than the skylight,
added enough allowance on the ends for a rod pocket, and sewed
the pockets on my sewing machine (hand sewing would have
worked, too). We inserted tension rods on either end, which
held it in place nicely. This gave us a perfectly good screen
for less than $10 in about an hour. The light comes in nicely
while the UV rays and most of the heat are blocked.
Lutie L. in Bentley, KS
I got tired of buying cat litter. To top that, I pay our
garbage company to take my recyclables. I decided to shred all
important papers and also some of the newspapers we recycle
anyway. For awhile, I mixed the shredded paper with the cat
litter to get our cats used to using it. Now, I simply use our
recycled trash (paper) to fill the litter box. I just empty it
daily. It saves money and the environment.
Dawn B.
Since many people end up working on a craft or hobby in the kitchen or dining room, storing supplies near these areas makes sense. I suggest using a hutch with glass doors meant for the kitchen or dining area. You can pick these up second hand for reasonable prices, and a coat of white or black paint often makes them beautiful. Then you can place your supplies in attractive wicker or ceramic containers and hide your supplies in plain sight.
Large items such as a sewing or die-cut machine can fit on
many buffet shelves behind closed doors. Since a buffet and
hutch combination has doors and drawers, these pieces of
furniture can made child resistant with latches and locks
readily available at department or home improvement stores. If
you have a formal dining room and an eat-in kitchen, then this
solution would work wonders as you can take over one table to
work on and still have somewhere to enjoy a sit down meal.
Nadine
A very expensive part, the keypad, went out on our four-year- old dishwasher. The electronic control module was still covered under warranty, but the keypad was not. This part was around $240 to replace. Along with the cost of the repairman, the cost to replace the part came to over $300. That was $40 less than the new purchase price. Ouch.
Someone suggested that I contact GE's customer relations department. It took some doing to find the phone number on GE's website and I waited on hold several minutes while I was transferred to the right department. I had all relevant information gathered before calling, including serial, model and part number, and the name of our appliance repairman (an authorized GE repairman). My jaw dropped when the woman told me to have my repairman fax them the diagnosis and GE would send me the part at no cost to me. I took down the information and took it to our repairman who immediately filled out the paperwork to fax to GE.
For the hour's worth of legwork and the courage to ask for a
replacement part at a discount, we saved $240 plus tax and
shipping costs.
V.
I sign up for free rewards cards at every store I can, including Sephora, Aveda, Ulta, L'Occitane, LUSH, Bucca Di Beppo, Daphne's Greek Cafe, etc. Aside from the nice coupons they send you from time to time, they also give out free samples for your birthday. Last year I had almost no money for birthday goodies or a party, but I rounded up all my cards and printed up any "Free Birthday Stuff" notices I got in my inbox and went round to each store like a trick-or-treater. By the end of the day, not only did I have a bag full of free cosmetics from all the beauty stores, but I also ended up with a free lunch and a free dinner courtesy of two separate restaurants.
Just remember that having a rewards card doesn't mean that you
have to spend a lot of money at that store!
CM
editor's note: Many of us have given up a lot because of the economy. So we're looking for "Little Luxuries" that we can share with everyone. If you have an inexpensive way to make yourself feel good, please send it by gary@stretcher.com. We'll share the best ones in future issues.
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