RANdOM TiPS

Sorry about the late post. The day really got away from me...what else is new?

I got this in an email a little while ago and thought it was great. I wanted to share it with all of you as it has a lot of helpful hints...enjoy! *I'll leave my own comments in BOLD*

DID YOU KNOW?
Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster. This works. I tried it this week with my green banana's...awesome!

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminium foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold! Haven't tried this yet as cheese never lasts long in our house.

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking. I'm going to be looking for this next time I'm buying peppers.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking. This works. Give it a try.

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. Really need to try this one...even though I prefer leftover pizza cold...

Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving. Tried it this weekend and it worked. I iced 2 cakes with one container of icing.

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster. Done and done- works like a charm.

Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, working the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers. Haven't tried this personally, but I would be interested in trying it...

Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes!
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper.
The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing pantyhose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. I always sprayed mine with Pam first, but this works even better.

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth! Chalkboard erasers are $1 at the Dollar Store.

Reopening envelopes
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily. I wanted to try this, so I licked a plain envelope closed and put it in the freezer, it seriously works...magic!

Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair. Done it and loved it. Who wants to spend $4 on shaving cream when you can use leftover conditioner or the stuff you don't like...?

Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever! One of my friends was asking about this ages ago (during the GTA Garbage Strike)...does this work??

Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed! We don't have an any problem, but if we did, I would be willing to try this.

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS (cool, I did it with ours...it totally works! Even though we rarely use dryer sheets...I can guarentee the people before us did...and it worked like a charm)
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material .. I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ... the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box ... well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best
way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!

OK- that is all I've got for today. My posts this week will probably be pretty lame, so let me apologise in advance. *SORRY* I have a couple papers due and a bunch of other crap that needs to be handed in, so that is where I will be spending most of my 'free' time. I encourage you to give some of these ideas a try and then let me know if they worked for you.

Frugally Yours,
Erin B.