Knitting or crochet needle container

Use a round oatmeal, cornmeal or grits box and cover with your choice: Contact paper, pictures cut from catalogs or magazines, wrapping paper covered with white glue, glued on glitter covered with shellac or more glue or yarn wrapped around and around and glued or taped at each end.

Choose the container to suit the needle height. This is especially good for knitting needles with the size on the end because it's easy to find the right size.

Tortilla chip crumbs

Save tortilla chip crumbs from the bottom of the bag until you have enough to make chili pie or to top casseroles. They give an excellent flavor and if you're going to throw them away anyway... they're free. For a chili pie, butter a casserole dish and put a layer of chip crumbs on the bottom, then a layer of chili, a layer of shredded cheese and another layer of chip crumbs. Make as many layers as you want, then top with cheese and another layer of chip crumbs and bake until it's heated through.

Newspaper pots

If you're gardening this year, you might want to start some plants inside. Instead of buying containers of any kind or using plastic which you will have to remove the seedling from, make newspaper pots. You don't need the special tool to do it. Use two containers, one of which will fit into the other. Put the newspaper in the larger container and crunch it in with the smaller one. Tie cotton string around the pot when it's finished to keep it from coming apart when it gets wet. When it's time to plant the seedling, dig a hole and put the pot and all into the ground. It will degrade in time for the plants roots to grow.

Bread crumbs and cubes

Need bread crumbs? First off, don't buy them! They're just what they say: bread crumbs. If you ever have bread in the house, you have bread crumbs. If you need more than what is in the bottom of the bread sack, put a slice or two on a plate and set it on the refrigerator or other out of the way place for a few days, or put them in the oven on very low. Spread them thinly and they'll dry faster. Do you need bread cubes (croutons)? Cut into cubes, season and bake at a low temperature until they're crisp.

Don't forget the bottom line

It's simple. When your income won't cover your outgo, you have two choices. Increase your income or decrease your outgo. Neither one may be easy, but one of the two has to be done, unless you're opting for bankruptcy or homelessness.

Keeping cut flowers

Got a bouquet of flowers? Keep it looking fresh. First, cut the stems at a 45 degree angle, and get them in water as quickly as you can. Remove all leaves that are below the water level. Replace water before it becomes cloudy and recut the flowers every third or fourth day. Add something to it to delay the growth of bacteria: A copper penny, an aspirin or a few drops of vinegar.

Happy almost Thanksgiving!

Now (just before Thanksgiving) is the time to stock up on flour and spices and other baking things. Most stores will be having sales on those as well as good deals on turkey and ham, too. Watch the other things though... you could lose all your savings by paying too much for fruit and nuts.

Make the most of your Thanksgiving turkey

If you're having the traditional turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, you'll be needing ideas for leftovers soon! But don't try to eat it all up right after Thanksgiving. Around February, turkey starts looking good again. Pull the meat off the bone and freeze it until later, then boil the carcass until it falls apart. Take out the bones, strain the broth and pick out the smaller pieces of meat that stuck to the bones. Freeze these small pieces covered with some of the broth and you'll have excellent starter for turkey and noodles or turkey and rice or turkey and vegetable soup.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Over the river and through the woods... maybe not. But surely down the street or over the land in an airplane. Traveling with kids over the holidays can add to the stress. Don't let it; let your kids take along a favorite toy or book for comfort. Don't buy anything new for the occasion, the kids need something familiar and you don't need to add more stress to your budget.

A couple of months???

Wow, has it been that long? How time flies when you're having fun. Or busy. Or not. Old age... anyway. You did save your Halloween pumpkins? Now's the time to bake them, puree them and use the pulp just like you would canned pumpkin. Cheaper. Better. More frugal. :)