Use a spray bottle for dishes
Ever have a dish or two in the sink that you want to wash? Don't wait for more dishes, keep the faucet running or fill a sink with soap and water. Keep a spray bottle filled with water and add a bit of dish washing liquid next to your sink. Spritz dishes to loosen food and to use less dish soap and water. Works great on counters, too. The first tip has another suggestion for washing glasses.
Dish washing tip: I have two different bottles of dish soap near my sink. One is diluted with water only, and the other diluted with water and ammonia. I use only the ammonia when I'm doing glassware for the antique store or something that is otherwise really badly off.
Two comments regarding this:
1. The ammonia is hard on your septic, if you have one like we do, or I'd use it a lot more.
2. The ammonia makes things slippery, so be sure if you're washing glassware, for example, that you wash one side (like the inside), rinse and then the other, that way you have a nonslippery surface to hold on to.
The ammonia makes old glass and china sparkle like nothing else I've found, so it's worth my time to use it. And, as I said, I'd use it all the time, but it's hard on the septic.
Judi, New Hampshire
Onion storage: When I buy onions, I use old pantyhose to store them. Put an onion in, then tie a knot and repeat until it's full. Then I just hang them up, and when I need a onion, I just cut at the knot from the bottom.
Crystal, e-mail
Static free tip: After a friend told me she uses tennis balls in her dryer rather than dryer sheets, I bought three tennis balls ($1.87) and have been using them for the past year. It works great, fewer wrinkles and no static, not to mention the great price.
Jat, e-mail
Paper towel tubes: They make good plant propagators. Cut then into 2-inch strips, stuff with newspaper, and fill with soil, then put your germinating seed in. When the plant gets bigger, they can be pulled apart easily or planted straight into the ground and will biodegrade.
Adam, United Kingdom
Secondhand shoes: I buy used shoes all the time! Most of them still have the store tags on them, and I use baby wipes to wipe them out and clean off the outside if they don't. I wash them with ammonia if they are washable and let them air dry, then spray with Lysol. I wipe down with ammonia and then spray with Lysol. I have never gotten a fungus from shoes.
Melissa, e-mail
Reuse long socks: We keep a few. When we go to Disney World every year, I put frozen water bottles in the socks (one bottle per sock). That way as they thaw out in our backpack and condensation forms, the sock absorbs it and everything in our backpack doesn't get wet.
Neely,
Ÿ Sara Noel owns Frugal Village (frugalvillage.com), a website that offers practical, money-saving strategies for everyday living. Send tips, comments or questions to Sara Noel, c/o United Media, 200 Madison Ave., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10016, or sara@frugalvillage.com.