Dollar stretcher ideas on controlling fly-away hair, storing Christmas lights, shipping military packages overseas and more.
Fly-away Hair
Add a couple of drops of fabric softener to the rinse water after you wash your hairbrush, then let it dry without further rinsing. It helps control the static electricity in your hair caused by winter dryness.
M
Storing Christmas Lights
I was reading the hint about wrapping the lights around a paper towel cardboard. I have used this idea for a long time, but I go one step further. After wrapping them around the cardboard, slip the whole thing into one of those bags your newspaper comes in on a rainy day. It will keep them from catching on other strings in the storage container.
Harlean
Travel Memories
When I was growing up and camping around the country in a station wagon with my parents on vacation, we always made a scrapbook. I love looking back at them. They are full of postcards, napkins, brochures, etc. from all the places we visited, and they cost very little for such a high entertainment value. Plus, they kept us busy "scrapbooking" in the 50s before that term became popular. As I recall, we even enjoyed spending time looking at the scrapbooks while we were still on the road.
Tanya
Sports Memories
When my sports team won the World Series, instead of rushing out to buy expensive and poorly made t-shirts and sweatshirts, I laminated four front pages of my local paper. The total cost was $8. Years from now, when the clothing souvenirs are a faded distant memory, I bet my homemade souvenir hanging up in the basement will still be a conversation starter.
Greg
Kitty's Placemats
My cat is a messy eater so I used to put a small tray under his dishes. The tray would catch most of the mess but was often a time-consuming pain to clean off, wash, and dry, so I often put it off for way too long. One day I was throwing out one of the many small catalogs that arrives in my mailbox and realized I could just open it to the center and put the cat's dishes on top. The catalog is thin, and when it comes time to clean up, I just rip out the center pages and throw them away. The catalog is then open to the center again, which keeps the pages evenly distributed and the dishes level. I'm so glad I finally found a way to recycle those catalogs and the cat has a new, pretty placemat every few days. The catalogs could also be replaced with old magazines as long as they aren't too thick.
Dorothy
Shipping Military Packages Overseas
I have lived in Germany for the last 6+ years and can tell you by unfortunate experience that if a package is not sent USPS Priority mail, it will take up to two months to get to its destination. Yes, the package is sent to the military mail center stateside, but if it is not priority mail, it will not be sent overseas via the quickest way possible. Space available means just that. When they find room for it, it will get shipped over. Even Priority mail, which usually takes 10 to 14 days during the year, can take 2 to 4 weeks during the busy holiday season. Don't disappoint your loved ones serving overseas by thinking cheap postage is the way to go. Some things just aren't worth saving a couple of pennies (and honestly I have found the difference in postage to vary from a few cents to several dollars).
Stefanie C.
Cleaning Fiberglas Showers
I struggled for years with a textured fiberglass shower floor. Here's the two-step solution that worked for me:
Step 1: Get a box of Mule Team Borax and a plastic dish scrubber (the mesh ball kind). Shake a layer of Borax across the shower floor, sprinkle with enough water to make a paste, and scrub with the dish scrubber. If it's really bad, let the paste sit for 10 minutes first. Once done scrubbing, rinse and repeat as needed.
Step 2: Stop using bar soap! Switch to a liquid and you will never have a soap scum problem again. I didn't believe it until I tried it, and it works!
Jeanna
Check the List
When shopping or figuring out ingredients for a recipe, I would forget what spices and herbs that I had in my cupboard. Many times I would come home from the store with a new purchase, only to find that I already had it.
I now keep a list of each container and add the expiration date. I no longer have to dig through my spice cupboard. I have used my list over and over again.
Donna
Creative Small Container Storage
I sew, and I have a wide assortment of small snaps, buttons, and other notions that were making my sewing space a mess! Resealable bags were flimsy and often split at the sides, spilling their contents in the bottom of the drawer. I considered the hinged-lid containers with adjustable/removable partitions. However, I really needed something I could dump out, and it's hard to chase that last snap or two around the bottom of those containers.
Then I thought about using baby food jars, but we don't know anybody with a baby. Also, the jars came to about 35 cents each, shipped, to buy on eBay. On top of that, they're breakable.
Finally, I found the solution. Urine specimen containers can be bought in cases of 100 for less than 20 cents each, shipped. The cases of 100 are also individually wrapped, sterilized, and labeled. You can also buy them, unsterilized, in cases of 500 for about ten cents each. We are now putting them to use all over the house! They hold shampoo and lotion when we travel. I use them in my sewing room (my husband screwed the lids to the underside of some shelves, so they always get put away where they go). My husband uses them in his workshop to store small nails, screws, washers, and nuts. They can be used to store all sorts of craft supplies, too. Asmino is a good, inexpensive brand with a flat lid, so it can be screwed to a shelf. I found them after about five minutes of searching. You could probably find something even cheaper if you took a little more time to look.
Naomi
Want to live better on the money you already make? Visit TheDollarStretcher.com to find hundreds of articles to help you stretch your day and your dollar! Copyright 2008 Dollar Stretcher, Inc.
