Patio Cooking I recently bought a small size roaster oven for approximately $25 to use on our patio. I’ve cooked chickens, roasts, casserole dishes, baked potatoes, etc. in it with great results and without heating up our kitchen.
Z.

Jewelry Cleaner My husband bought me a beautiful engagement/wedding ring and likes to see it sparkle. Trips to the jeweler were a hassle until a jeweler gave me the recipe for home cleaning. Use equal parts of ammonia, Mr. Clean and boiling water. Soak for 10 to 15 minutes and then rinse. Your jewelry will dazzle you!
Bonnie

Weekend Hotel Deals When traveling on the weekends, look for hotels that depend on business travelers, such as Marriott Courtyard. These hotels sometimes have weekend specials up to half the daily rate. When the business traveler completes the class or sales call, they go home for the weekend, leaving the hotel with a vacant room.
T.

Not Too Bright! To save money on electricity year round, I stumbled across a really simple idea a few years back. I decided that instead of turning on the overhead kitchen light every time I wanted a drink or a snack, I’d use alternative lighting. I went to a discount store and bought nightlights for a $1 each. I bought the kind with a switch. I have one located next to my kitchen sink and one plugged in directly over my waste basket. The nightlights have four watt bulbs that are easily replaceable.
Pam W.

Sunday In the Park As an extended family, we meet regularly every Sunday for afternoon tea in different parks where there are play areas for the children. The mothers love the outing and the children enjoy each others company. We always share a nice cake, too.
Marilyn

Don’t Discard That Cup! Of all the baby items that left my home as my daughter grew older, the one thing that I’m glad I held on to is a good- quality sippy cup. When she has a stomach bug and hangs out on the couch all day, I don’t want her drinking from a real glass in my living room. Instead, I get out the sippy cup and have her drink from that. Even though she’s now 8, she still enjoys her special “sick” cup.
Karen in NH

Cheap Cooling Solutions The number one way to avoid high air conditioning bills (other than appropriate equipment) is to get the air moving in the house and dress appropriately. Overhead fans and room fans, along with sleeveless shirts, make a huge difference. With fans, we can take a temperature of 78, but without them, it takes 76 or less to be comfortable. This can translate to significant savings. We do find we need it slightly cooler to sleep at night.
Kathy in Texas

Grocery Budget Control Use gift cards to help stay within your budget. I do most of my grocery shopping at two stores and they both sell gift cards. I buy the gift cards for myself and load them each with about 40% of my grocery budget (leaving 20% to spend at other stores). When the money is gone, I force myself to eat what I have on hand. (I buy in bulk and then “forget” to use it if I keep buying more stuff.)

If I end the month with money still on the card, I reload the card back up to my monthly budget. For example, if my budget is $100 and there is $20 left on the card at the end of the month, I only put $80 more on the card so that I have $100 for the new month. That way, the extra money from the previous month stays in my bank account.
Wesley B.

Truly Artistic Art Decorating your home doesn’t have to be costly. Kid art is a wonderful way to add color and interest. I had a friend (who had money) that had many original expensive “pieces” of art in her home. The art that hung in her entry was a watercolor that her five-year-old did at school. It was framed by inserting the art between two pieces of plexiglass held together with small binder clips from an office supply store.

My children’s handprints on the glass inside an old picture frame hangs in my bedroom. Dye worn sheets, tear into strips, glue to old or cracked flowerpots or bowls and fill with a rock collection or shells from the beach. Collecting rocks for an art project is a wonderful way to instill pride in your children. They will go back and sort through the collection over and over.
Mischelle S. of Pensacola, FL

Free Grad School I got my graduate degree and was paid to do it. I was employed at a university and took courses for free. I didn’t go to school full-time, but I was able to take two courses per term. Some universities may require you to work a year before tuition remission is granted as a benefit. Check carefully to see if this is an option at the school that you want to attend. The degree will not only be free, but you’ll be earning an income at the same time.
Gail

The Organized Coupon One day while in my “usual” store for shopping, I wrote down all the headings and the aisle numbers throughout the store. I went home and typed them into a Word document on my computer and printed them out on heavy paper. I cut it to fit and then taped it inside the front cover of my coupon organizer (with packaging tape so it doesn’t come off). Then I made the labels for the sections in my coupon organizer to match the aisles on my list inside the cover. Now, when I file and organize my coupons, they are in exact order for my favorite store.
Christine of South Windsor, CT

Yard Sale Plus At our yard sale, I auctioned off three articles. They were really nice items, but we didn’t need them. We sold a lot of small items (typical garage sale stuff) and made $1,200. On the three auction items, we were very successful and made over $800. Auctioning valued items is a good addition to a yard sale.
Gary

Card On the Go Instead of keeping the gift cards we receive in our house, we keep them in our car’s glove compartment. Since we always take our car, we always have the gift cards with us.
Ken L.

Cheap, Easy Kitty Litter With four cats at my house, I save a bundle by buying a bale of wood shavings for the kitty litter. The shavings cost less than $5 and last more than a month in my household and I change my box daily. Shavings can be bought at any place that sells livestock feed. My Siamese cat used to sneeze for a while after using her litter box, but since changing to the shavings, that doesn’t happen anymore. Plus, the shavings will compost into the ground, where the regular litter does not.
Kathleen L.

When Zero Isn’t Zero Debit cards are just as easy to use as credit cards and they are linked to your checking account. But, you still need to be careful with them and keep track of your expenditures. With little fanfare, my credit union recently started the practice of automatically processing all point of sale transactions for debit cards linked to accounts with direct deposit, up to a total of $500 over the amount available in the account, and charging $20 for each transaction if there wasn’t enough money in the account. For someone like me, with a very limited income, that $20 charge was a huge kick in the pants to wake up and pay attention.
Karen B.

Vacuum Seal This! The storage bags that have a hole to put a vacuum hose in to “vacuum seal” cost $12 and up each. My mother does this very same thing with regular garbage bags! We put two very large comforters in a garbage bag, put the vacuum hose in the bag and gathered the bag around the hose. Then we turned the vacuum on and it sucked all of the air out of the bag! We taped the twisted top of the bag with a heavy-duty tape to make sure the bag was sealed! This is a real space and money saver!
Mary in South Carolina

Stopping Squirrels I live near the George Washington National Forest in Amherst County, Virginia. The area is rural, mainly farm land. We have an abundance of wild critters to deal with, namely squirrels, rabbits, ground hogs, raccoons, deer, etc. The best solution is to plant marigolds.

On one side of my garden is my onions and garlic. On the other sides of the garden, as well as all in between, are marigold plants. Since they don’t like the smell of marigolds, they do not venture into the area. They also don’t bother my flowers because there are marigolds everywhere and where there isn’t any I transplant them. If you plant a few plants and dead head them when the blooms begin to fade and let them fall where they may, you will have an abundance of plants the next year without having to buy new plants. Marigolds also act as a deterrent for insects thus eliminating the need to use pesticides.
Karen in Amherst, Virginia

The Dollar Stretcher
gary@stretcher.com
941-761-7805