Other frugal blogs

You can learn a lot just by reading other people's ideas. No matter how frugal we think we are, there always seems to be something to learn - or inspiration to gain.

I don't have the usual "blog roll" here, but I've linked to a few frugal blogs that I think are the best:

A different kind of blog roll

Enjoy.

Washing dishes

There was a study not long ago that claimed that it took less water to wash dishes in a dishwasher than by hand. I protest. Here's how to do it by hand and use much, much less than in the study (they estimated 12 gallons by hand!)

How to Save Water Washing Dishes By Hand

Freebies

Freebies are frugal! The internet is a fantastic way to sleuth them out. Toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo and coffee samples can help stretch your budget. Don't be wasteful with them just because they're free. Use them carefully and put off the time when you'll have to replace the item.

Keeping a broom

Never stand a broom on its bristles. Hang it upside down on a rack or nails. Clean it when you've used it for real dirt - garage floors or sidewalks. Use a bucket with warm, soapy water, swish the broom in it several times, then rinse with clear water. Hang it to dry.

Save flour

When you knead bread dough or roll out pie crust or biscuit dough, use the flat side of a butter knife to scrape the flour from the board or table into a flour sifter, held over your flour container. The sifter will clean out any chunks and your flour board will be easier to clean up, too.

Grow garlic on a windowsill

Garlic will grow happily in a container on your windowsill. Buy fresh garlic from the grocery store and use the largest cloves to plant. Put the unpeeled clove, pointed side up, in light soil with the tip just showing. Keep the soil damp and in a few days you should see a green shoot. You can use this shoot as a mild garlic flavoring (Give it time to grow at least six inches first, then trim only a few inches at a time. If you don't trim this top, it might become quite long and topple over - that's ok. When it turns brown and dries up, dig the clove of garlic you planted and you should have a full bulb. Take a clove from that and start over! (Container grown garlic will make small cloves.)

Watering houseplants

Put a bowl under the kitchen tap to catch water that's run to warm up or cool down and use that to water houseplants or container plants outside. You'll be surprised how much water goes down the drain unused.

Sandwich meat

You can buy luncheon meat, but why would you? Instead, buy a package of chicken breasts, cook and slice them. You'll be surprised at how many sandwiches a pound of chicken breast makes. If you buy it in the large packages, you'll save quite a bit and you can freeze what you don't use within a few days. Other meats to slice at home: Turkey, ham, roasts (beef, pork).

Frugal foot care

With spring and summer comes sandals and bare feet. If your feet are still winter dry, give them a spring treatment! Before you go to bed or sit down to relax for awhile, generously rub vegetable oil or shortening into your feet (lard or tallow can be used, too), then put old socks on, then slip plastic bread sacks on over that. After a couple of hours, you can wash it off with warm water and mild soap. The price sure beats the commercial foot lotion.

Double duty for baking soda

Make a box of baking soda do double duty by using it first to deodorize the refrigerator, under sink or wherever you need it, then use it to clean and polish.