Frugal
&/Or
Green Tips:
Microwave Magic:
Here's a natural yet frugal way to help you clean inside that messy microwave. You can loosen that hardened spilled food horror with this simple yet marvelous mixture: Put 2/3 water and 1/3 plain cheap vinegar in a big measuring cup or microwave safe bowl. Put in microwave on high for five minutes (or longer if necessary.) The steam from the water and the acetic acid from the vinegar will make light work of your mess, making it easy to wipe off with a clean cloth. (If it doesn't work the first time, put the mixture back in there for more minutes til the gunk is loosened.)
Super Soda:
Soda as a cleaner? Yup. Your metal pots and pans with burned up gunk inside them can be cleaned by turning on your stove burner. Pour just enough cola to cover the burned mess into your pot (while it's off the stove.) Put it on the burner, and bring cola to a little boil. As it bubbles up, the cola removes the burn. Stir and scrub a little with a brush. Much better than spending forever scrubbing a burned pan! It can take you as short as about a minute for the mess to be all cleaned up!
Clean & Sanitize Toys:
Did you know you can sanitize most of your toys, from cars to plastic dolls etc., with a bottle of mouthwash? Maybe even from the dollar store to make it even cheaper?
Just pour the mouthwash into a spray bottle. Spray a toy, scrub it with a used toothbrush all over to get rid of both germs like staphyloccocus and dirt & dust, and voila: clean, sanitized toy that is safe for a child to pick up because you didn't use poison to clean it with. (as long as it's not too small for their age level, of course.)
Got Fiber? Fancy Up Your Coffee!
I love fancy mocha coffee like you can get at those coffee
places, but really can't afford it. I also have to take a fiber supplement
daily for my health. I was getting the plain flavored powdered kind so I could
hide it in my juice or something, but one day my husband brought home
orange-flavored fiber supplement by mistake. I opened it without my glasses on
so I couldn't exchange it.
I was sad, but then I got a strange idea. I remembered those chocolate
"orange slice" candies my mom had bought me every Christmas. So I
poured my teaspoon of fiber at the bottom of my coffee cup, added a spoonful of
chocolate drink mix (generic), and then the regular amount of instant coffee,
sugar and creamer; then hot water and stirred vigorously. I was worried it
would taste strange, but it was so delicious!
Now I have a great frugal way to "take my medicine" while waking
up in the morning, and I'll never have to pay $4 or more for a fancy cup of
coffee again! They also have chocolate flavor, I guess, so you could just go
chocolate flavored coffee with your fiber hidden in it too. What a delicious
way to save money and help your digestive health at the same time!
When Life Gives You Lemons:
Did you know that after you use the pulp from a lemon, you can use the rind like a bowl, and freshen your fridge! The rind (and any pulp left on it) will make the
fridge smell lemony-fresh. Just fill up the rind with regular table salt, and the salt will soak up bad odors! Just stick the whole thing in a little bowl at the back of the fridge, and enjoy a fresher fridge.
You can also use Pure Lemon Juice to clean your bathroom shower glass doors. All natural and great smelling!
