Laundry Tip

Add equal amounts of white vinegar & laundry detergent in your wash cycle. Clothes and towels come out smelling FRESH.

Penny Pincher Tip - From Mary Eiler

Wrapping paper holder:  Use a ‘Pop’ box (the kind that holds 12 regular size pop cans), open the end of the box, remove the cans,   stand it upright to hold your wrapping paper.  Perfect for standing up in your closet.   You could cover the box with contact paper or paint it to fancy up your ‘new paper roll  holder’

Carrots

To make perfect carrot curls, use a vegetable peeler to cut long strips of carrot. Roll them up, and fit each strip into an ice cube tray compartment. Fill the tray with cold water, and store it in the refrigerator until ready to use, then drain.

Do not store unwrapped carrots in the same storage container as ripe fresh apples. The apples give off ethylene gas that causes a "ripening" process in all fruits and some vegetables. This can result in the carrots acquiring a bitter taste.

Be sure to remove carrot tops before storing them in the refrigerator. The tops drain the carrots of moisture and cause them to become dry and limp.

Corn On The Cob Tips

An ordinary shoe horn is excellent for removing the corn kernels from the cob.

Corn on the cob will be simple to open if you wash them with cold water, place in a plastic bag and freeze for an hour or so before shucking.

Grilling corn on the cob — Soak the corn with husks in a pail of water before placing them on the grill, with husks on. The husks will most likely be charred but the corn itself will not be burnt. The corn will have a pleasing buttery taste without adding anything to it.

To remove corn silk, run a damp paper towel or terry cloth over the shucked ear.

If necessary to store fresh corn, buy it in the husks and store in the refrigerator. This prevents sugar in the corn from turning to starch.

To select fresh corn, look for fresh green husks, dry silks, and even rows of plump kernels.

Place the small end of a cob of corn in the middle of your angel food cake pan. Cut the corn off. The kernels fall neatly into the pan. There is very little spattering of the milk, and you can easily and neatly cut off all the kernels.

To keep sweet corn yellow, add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to the cooking water a minute before you remove it from the stove.

To test freshness of corn, pop a kernel with your fingernail. If the milk is watery, then the corn is immature. If it is thick and starchy, the corn is old.

When cooking corn on the cob, use the tender green leaves from the corn to line the bottom of the pot. It really improves the taste.

Asparagus

To make thick asparagus stalks tender, peel the lower parts up to the tender part with a potato peeler.

Tie fresh asparagus with string before cooking. This way you can remove the spears easily, without breaking them, after they're cooked.

Open a can of asparagus from the bottom so you can pull out the spears without breaking the tips.

If you bend an asparagus stalk, it will snap at the point where it becomes tender.

If you peel stalks with a vegetable peeler before you snap them, you'll have less waste and more of the asparagus spear to eat.

If asparagus becomes wilted, stand it vertically in a pan or jar in about 2 inches of ice water. Cover with a plastic bag and fasten to the jar with a rubber band. Put in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours before cooking.

Penny Pincher Tips

Coffee Pot
Perk one tablespoon powder dishwashing detergent and a full pot of water through the coffeemaker to get it clean without any scrubbing.

Remove stains from a glass pot by rubbing them with a lemon slice.

Copper
Remove tarnish from cooper cookware by mixing equal parts of salad and vinegar or salt and lemon juice. Rub it into the tarnished area with a paper towel. Restore the copper's shine by scrubbing it with a wet steel wool soap pad. (Avoid abrasives on soft tin linings.)

Wipe tarnished cooper with undiluted tomato juice applied with a soft, clean cloth and your pot bottoms and candlesticks will shine! Make sure that you rinse thoroughly.

Crystal
Vinegar is a must when washing crystal. Rinse in 1 part vinegar to 3 parts warm water. Air dry. Crystal will be spotless!

Penny Pincher Tip

Dry cereal on sale?  Have extra dry cereal?  Put it in the freezer.  No more stale cereal or wasting, just freeze it and use it as normal when needed

Potatoes

Salting potatoes before cooking perfects their texture. It removes a lot of their starch and built-in moisture.

If making potato pancakes, salt the shredded potatoes and leave them in a colander to drain for 15 to 20 minutes.

If making French fries, add salt to the ice water they soak in before you drain and dry them for frying. Adding salt before cooking also helps give the potatoes a natural saltiness so that you don't have to overdo it when they are done. Sea salt works best and is much better for you than ordinary table salt.

To get a flakier baked potato, prick it with a fork halfway through baking.

Don't pare small, new potatoes. Rub the skin off with a metal pot scrubber.

Potatoes will stay white after you peel them until you are ready to cook them if you cut the pieces into a bowl to which has been added either a teaspoon or so of lemon juice or vinegar, or some salt. Do not let the potatoes soak in the water too long because they can lose a lot of their supply of vitamin C.

Bake potatoes by standing them on end in a muffin tin. That way you can remove them all at once, and they will bake just a little faster that way, also.

For the best French fries, let cut potatoes stand in cold water for one hour before frying. Dry thoroughly before cooking. Fry them just a few minutes and blot off the grease. Fry a second time until golden brown. Put them in a brown paper sack. Sprinkle with a little salt and shake. You will drain and salt in one action.

A leftover baked potato can be re-baked if you dip it in water and bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 20 minutes.

Always start old boiling potatoes in cold water. Cook new potatoes in boiling salted water.

To make mashed potatoes fast, cut raw potatoes with a French fry cutter. They'll cook in just a few minutes.

Save some of the water in which the potatoes were boiled. Add to some powdered milk and use when mashing. This restores some of the nutrients that were lost in the cooking process.

For beautiful brown and crisp baked potatoes, wash skins well, then butter the skin before putting them in the oven.

Try using sour cream instead of milk when mashing.

Add a small amount of vinegar to grease when frying potatoes to eliminate the greasiness.

For baked potatoes that are crispy outside and fluffy inside, cook in a hot oven, about 425 degrees F.

Overcooked potatoes can become soggy when the milk is added. Sprinkle with dry powdered milk for the fluffiest mashed potatoes ever.

Make delicious soup with leftover mashed potatoes. Blend potatoes with a little milk. Place in a pot and add a little more milk, some butter and a sprinkling of parsley and chives.

For crisper-skinned baked potatoes in the microwave, wrap each potato in a paper towel. Moisture is absorbed from all around the potato, so the skin is crisper.

For the best French fries, let cut potatoes stand in cold water for an hour before frying. Dry thoroughly before cooking. Fry them the first time for a few minutes and blot off the grease. Fry the second time until golden brown.

Hurry up baked potatoes by boiling in salted water for 10 minutes, then place in a very hot oven.

For fast baked potatoes, cut potatoes in half and place them face down on a baking sheet in the oven.

If you've peeled too many potatoes, cover them with cold water to which a few drops of vinegar have been added. Keep refrigerated and they will last for 3 or 4 days.

Penny Pincher Tip

Celery

To make celery curls, cut the stalk into 3- or 4-inch pieces. Slice each piece into narrow strips leaving the end uncut to hold them together. Place them in ice water for 30 minutes until they curl.

To give stew great color and flavor, add a few teaspoons of soy sauce.

Store in the refrigerator in paper bags instead of plastic ones. It will keep longer.

Celery will crisp up fast if you place it in a pan of cold water and add a few raw sliced potatoes.

Strip the leaves from celery, wash them and dehydrate them on a cookie sheet in a slow oven. The dried leaves are then crumbled and stored in airtight jars. These flakes make a nutritious addition to soups, stews, and broths of all kinds.

Celery leaves should be dried and saved for soup, stew or salad dressing. Rub the dried leaves through a sieve to powder them.

Penny Pincher Tip

You can wax your shovels to allow the snow to slide off a little easier. I just used some car wax. A friend of mine tried Pam spray also.

Penny Pincher Tip

Place 1 cup of vinegar into your dishwasher and run the rinse cycle.  Repeat if needed

Penny Pincher Tip

Keep your socks together in the wash and dry process. Get some safety pins and keep them by the washing machine for your socks .Pin the toes of the socks together so you save time matching them up after the laundry process.

Penny Pincher Tip

Are your favorite potato chips on sale?    Maybe you over bought chips?  Just stick them in the freezer….yup, if the chips are in an opened bag, just seal the bag tightly and put it in the freezer.  Got new bags of chips, unopened, yup, just put them in the freezer.  They will crispy and taste the same when you take them out.   Just one note, don’t set other items on top of the potato chips…..they will smash

Penny Pincher Tip

To keep your sponge clean & bacteria free all you need to do is purchase at least 2 sponges.  Ten, when you run your dishwasher, throw your sponge in the top rack and wash it along with your dishes.   Then all you do is “rotate” your sponges each day…and you will have nice bacteria free sponges.

Penny Pincher Tip

1 cup hot water
½ cup baking soda
½ cup hydrogen peroxide

Mix ingredients.  After it cools, store in spray bottle.   Saturate stain and soak 2-4 hours before washing

Penny Pincher Tip

Hate it when your Pasta clumps together or sticks to the bottom of your pan?  Just add a Tablespoon of vegetable oil to your pot.  This will stop the clumping and sticking of your pasta.

Penny Pincher Tip

• Next time you make meatballs, try this tip:  roll meat mixture into a log then slice off even sized meatballs.  A great timesaver!
• Perfect tiny meatballs tip:  Use a melon baller, for larger meatballs use a cookie scoop.
• Keep a roll of painters tape handy in the kitchen, it’s great to seal bags and such, re-sticks over and over (even stays sticky in the freezer) You can also write on the tape to label contents.

Penny Pincher Tip

Dry cereal on sale?  Have extra dry cereal?  Put it in the freezer.  No more stale cereal or wasting, just freeze it and use it as normal when needed.

Penny Pincher Tip

Freezing Eggs

• When freezing egg yolks, add 2 tablespoons of sugar or 1 teaspoon of salt to each pint (or a pinch per yolk–this helps prevent the yolk from being too thick once thawed). If you’ll be using the egg yolks in baking, choose sugar. If cooking the yolks in dishes, choose salt (and mark on freezer label which one you added).

Raw eggs prepared as instructed above can be frozen for up to a year.

Penny Pincher Tip

Chopped Onion
Use chopped onions all the time, but tired of chopping every time you need them?

Prepare ahead. Buy that bag of onions and chop all of them to the size you like. Spread out on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer. After they are frozen, put into a zip lock bag and put back in the freezer. Ready to use anytime you need them.

Penny Pincher Tip

Meatballs Made Easy:  Keep your hands wet when making meatballs.  This will help keep the meat from sticking to your hands.

Like Judy burgers?  Add one egg white, stiffly beaten, to each pound of hamburger

Fluffy Eggs:  For fluffy eggs, use water, NOT MILK, when making scrambled eggs or omelettes.  Milk makes the eggs more watery.  Water makes them fluffy.

Penny Pincher Tip

Bicycles...
To identify a bicycle, even though the serial number may have been filed off, roll a file card around a pencil. Remove the bicycle's seat post and drop the card into the bicycle frame. It can easily be removed as proof of ownership.

Measuring...
Have you ever been out shopping and needed to measure something (a frame, a shelf, furniture) but didn't have a ruler? Here are some helpful tips: a dollar bill is 6 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches tall, whereas a standard sheet of paper is 11 inches tall by 8 1/2 inches wide. With either or both of these "tools" you should be able to measure most smaller objects.

Price Tags...
To remove price tag sheets, sponge hot vinegar onto the price sheets liberally. Scrape gently. Continue applying vinegar until the sheet is gone.

Septic Tanks...
To aid your septic tank in doing its job, wash or flush a box of baking soda down the drains every couple weeks. This helps to maintain and restore the pH of a septic tank. A good pH allows bacteria to break down and liquefy, which helps to prevent problems like backing up and clogging.

Penny Pincher Tip

Need a rolling pin?……Use a piece of ‘new’ pvc pipe.  1 ½” x 12” long works well but can be whatever size you want.  Wash well in hot water and dish detergent before using.

Need a pizza stone?…..Head to your building supply center or flooring store and buy a 12”, 16” or 18” unglazed terra cotta tile.   Their heat conduction is great and you can add or subtract tiles to make the shape or size you need.  Always put your tiles in a cold oven.

Wash well in hot water and dish detergent before using.  Good for biscuits, to warm breads and to bake pizza, etc.

Penny Pincher Tips

1. Cracked Egg Cleanup: If you’ve ever dropped an egg on the counter or floor, you know what a sloppy, slimy mess it is to clean up! Next time try drizzling salt generously over the egg, wait a few minutes until it’s dry–then the mess sweeps up easily. *ETA: Careful not to leave the salt sitting too long, especially around metal parts.
2. Remove Oven Cleaner Residue: There is often a residue of oven cleaner coating the inside of the oven once it’s been cleaned. It causes an odor and some smoke when baking or cooking dishes it’s burned off. What you can try is once the oven has been cleaned, do a quick wipe with a cloth first soaked in 50/50 vinegar and water. This will remove all traces of the cleaner and voila! No more residue. Just make sure to do a complete wiping job.
3. Refrigerator Cleaning: Try washing the inside of your refrigerator with hot, soapy water and then a rinse wipe with 50/50 solution of vinegar and water to help fight mildew. It also freshens and deodorizes the inside of your fridge. If your refrigerator is cleaned regularly, just the scrub down with vinegar and water will do the trick
4. Refrigerator Dust Bunnies: Don’t forget to pull out your refrigerator regularly to vacuum off the back coils or pull the front kickplate off to get at the coils if they’re at the bottom. The coils are a major dust collector and this means your fridge has to work harder to keep the inside cool (costing you more to run it). Unplug the refrigerator before moving and cleaning it.

Uses for Milk Jugs

Your old milk jugs can make handy containers for storing all of those plastic grocery store bags you keep bringing home. Just cut the top off of the milk jug to leave an opening just large enough to stuff the plastic bags into. Be sure you leave a bit of the plastic bag sticking up so that you can pull one out to use when you need it.

Milk jugs can be made into handy scoops for dog food, cat litter, ice melting salt, or plant fertilizer. Leaving the handle and the cap on just cut out a scoop shape from the bottom of the jug. You can keep the scoop in the bag for handy use.

If you have a clothesline then a milk jug can be a handy clothespin holder that you can leave outside all year round. Just poke some holes in the bottom of the jug to let rainwater out and cut a fist-sized round opening in the side of the jug. Place your clothespins inside and tie the handle onto your clothespin with a piece of rope.

You can make a quick bird feeder out of your old milk jugs and your feathered friends will flock to the yard. Just cut out an opening on the side of the jug and fill up the bottom with birdseed. You can hang the jug up on a tree branch by its handle or just leave it sit on your picnic table.

Make some handy storage trays for your refrigerator! Simply cut the bottoms off of milk jugs and you have containers for vegetables, fruits, eggs, or anything else you can fit in them. The containers will keep leaks from messing up your refrigerator and you will be organized too.

You can conserve energy in your home by putting those old milk jugs to work. Your freezer costs more to operate when it isn’t full of frozen food. Fill up milk jugs with water and add them to your freezer until it is full. It is best to put these on the bottom of the freezer so you won’t have to take them out every time you want a pot roast. However, lifting the frozen jugs out of the freezer can give your arms a good workout.

Can’t find the dustpan? You can make one quickly and easily if you have an empty milk jug. Cut away the bottom of the jug leaving just one side opposite the handle to sweep your dirt up onto.

They make great containers for picking strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries. Just cut a small circle near the top of the milk just and carry it by the handle. The berries won’t leak all over you and they won’t get squished.