Frugal Tips from my Awesome Readers

Last Wednesday I had a giveaway and in order to enter for a chance at the prize, readers had to send me their frugal tips. You guys kept me super busy with emails!  I thank you all so much for all your entries and frugal tips!

I hope you find a few tips that are helpful. I may be adding more as I go through all the emails, or maybe I’ll just save them for another post :O)

Be sure you enter the Deals by Darlene Giveaway – Weekend Edition for your last chance to win Hannaford coupons!

Frugal Tips from my Awesome Readers!

1. If you bought too many grapes and they got a little too soft, split in half and apply to your face for a natural cleanser then rinse.
2. Tape together sturdy cardboard boxes to create shelves for your stockpile.
3. If you have a dry basement, screw hooks into the ceiling then hang dry goods or canned goods in bags on the hooks. Gets them out of the way. Mark your bags so you know what’s in each one.
4. Eat from your stockpile.  If you have 10 boxes of pasta, eat pasta.  Don’t buy take out pizza. The next night, eat pasta fixed a different way. That’s how you save money.
5. Use your empty cottage cheese containers, spaghetti sauce jars, etc., to store leftovers in your refrigerator. No need to buy storage containers.
6. If you want your grocery bill to be $50 a week, put $50 in an envelope and use just the money in that envelope when you shop. You will learn to shop smart even if you don’t use coupons.
7. Take things like frozen boxed vegetables and even frozen dinners out of the boxes to leave more room in the freezer.
8. Use only half the seasoning when you make Hamburger Helper then use the rest to season a homemade skillet dinner or soup.
9. Keep an inventory of your stockpile so you always know what you have.
10. Dampen a wash cloth then pour on a tiny bit of liquid fabric softener and work it into the cloth. Toss it in the dryer to use instead of a fabric softener sheet.
11. Fill a spray bottle with one part liquid fabric softener and four parts water and use a anti-static spray. Works great and is much cheaper than Static Guard.
12. Get movies for free at the library. You can usually keep them for a week, sometimes two weeks.
13. Use all those sunday papers to make paper mache projects. Mix flour and water to create a paste then dip strips of newspaper in the goo and cover balloons, boxes, plastic containers, anything, to make paper mache art.
14. Turn off the lights in rooms you aren’t in.
15. Use a drying rack to dry your clothing inside during the winter.  If it’s something that you want a bit softer, fluff in the dryer for a few minutes and finish drying on a rack.  Also hang up all the items to dry that will be hung up in the closet.
16. Use a paper towel to cover items in the microwave when warming them up.  Saves a lot of cleanup, and the paper towel can be reused many times.
17. Use old hot dog buns and mini bagels for garlic bread. Add a little olive oil and garlic salt in the pan and butter the bread, fry until golden brown.
18. Reuse ziploc bags, as long as they don’t have any food particles left in them.
19. Freeze any fruit that’s getting a little ripe and use it for smoothies.
20. Print coupons through Swagbucks.  These are the same coupons you find on coupon.com.  Mark them to know and use them first.  For every coupon used, you automatically get 10 Swagbucks which you can redeem for free stuff or gift cards.
21. Reuse your empty glass jars to store cut up onions in the refrigerator.  The smell does not seep into the glass jars like it does when you use plastic storage containers.
22. Donate your egg cartons to a place that sells fresh eggs.  They are always looking for egg containers, especially the extra large and jumbo ones.
23. Use a dry erase board to keep track of items in your freezer so you’re not buying items you don’t need (and so you know what you can eat!).
24. Cut holes in any empty, washed plastic bottle and decorate to make a bird feeder (great for kids).
25. Keep track of soon to expire coupons so they don’t expire before you use them.
26. Use up all that cereal by making cereal bars (like rice crispies treats only use all flavors).
27. See if you can pick up inserts at the dump.
28. Donate items like sponges to your child’s classroom for arts and crafts.
29. Use the blank back side of printed paper to print your coupons on.
30. See if there is a discount day at your local museum.
31. Always pack your lunch to save tons of money.
32. Drink water from the tap.
33. Don’t let your potatoes get old. Cook them and mash them. Measure 1/2 cup in baggies then freeze for perfect size individual portions.
34. Water down your juice to make double the amount of juice. It’s a much lighter flavor and also has half the calories per serving.
35. Water down your dish soap to make it last longer.
36. Put just a tiny squirt of your favorite hair conditioner in a cup then add warm water. Pour on your wet hair then rinse. One bottle of conditioner will last a long time.
37. Freeze things like hot dogs, cooked meatballs, cooked veggies, etc., on a cookie sheet until solid then bag them. They won’t stick together in the bag that way and you can take out just what you need.
38. Mix two or three different kinds of soup if you don’t have enough of one kind to feed your family. You can mix any kinds of soup and it always tastes great. Try it!
39. Water down whole milk to save money, calories, fat, etc. You can water it down as much as 1/2 milk, 1/2 water and don’t tell anyone. They’ll never notice. Great way to turn one gallon of milk into two gallons.
40. Place a coffee filter between things that you are freezing so they won’t stick together.
41. Keep a bag of a variety of sample size items in your car for emergencies.
42. Teach your kids about coupons when they are young.

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