Cheap meat tenderizer

Frugally priced beef and pork is often tough, but you can make it as tender as the most expensive roast or steak by marinating or cooking it with vinegar. That can taste a lot better than it sounds! Barbecue sauce made with vinegar or mustard sauces with vinegar will do the trick, as well as cooking pork with sauerkraut. For a nice roast, though, splash a little plain apple cider vinegar over it before you add spices or salt and pepper. The taste will go away, but the vinegar will nicely tenderize the meat.

Quick floor cloth

Need a quick and cheap way to brighten up a room? Use a floor cloth... or rather, a blanket as a floor cloth. Some blankets are quite pretty and stylize, especially the nonwoven kind. If you don't have any extras handy, thrift stores often have them. Even if you have to buy one new, they're cheaper than buying a floor cloth or area rug.