If you've received my newsletter for a while then you know how I love to pass along good little tips and tricks that I pick up while reading. Hopefully, you can put one or two of these tips to good use.
Get baked goods for less at Costco
If you love the cookies sold at Costco, that run about $8 for 22 cookies, did you know that you can buy 120 uncooked cookies for only $22.99? I actually prefer to keep the dough uncooked and just pull a few out after dinner for fresh baked cookies anytime. This can also be handy for kids or adult parties. You can also buy their pizza dough if you like to make pizza at home.
Better Ground Beef
You may or may not know, but the regularly packed ground beef at your store might be a mixture of lower quality meat that is left over after they trim larger sections of meat into roasts. For higher quality ground beef just grab a roast and ask the butcher to grind it up for you while you wait or finish your shopping. Usually, there is some kind of roast on sale so it might even be the same price as regular ground beef but now you have better quality.
Pretreat stubborn grass stains
Now that sports are starting to resume some moms might find this useful. To lift grass stains place 1/2 cup of sugar in a bowl and stir in just enough water to make a paste. Apply the paste to the stains and let sit for 30 minutes prior to laundering. The enzymes in the sugar will break down the chlorophyll pigment in the grass.
Chemical-free weed killer
Many of us are trying to reduce the chemicals we use around our homes so this might be something you want to try outside. Mix 1/4 cup of salt and 4 cups of white vinegar in a spray bottle and spritz on the weeds - make sure not to spray things you want to keep. The salt will kill existing weeds while the vinegar will make the soil less hospitable to prevent new growth. Isn't vinegar an amazing multi-use product?
Chemical free fabric softener
Use 100,001 of vinegar - yes you can use white vinegar as a substitute for liquid fabric softener. I actually switched to this earlier this year and my clothes come out soft and it's way less expensive. In addition, vinegar doesn't build up on fabric as many softeners do. I also have noted that many clothing labels, especially workout gear, tell you not to use softener when washing.
Vitamin E for burns
We've all been there, pulling something out of the oven only to hit the oven grate with your hand or burning your forehead with one of our lovely curling irons or hair straighteners. I have found, from treating numerous burns, that vitamin E is an amazing remedy. You can buy vitamin E oil or you can cut open one of the capsules and rub the oil onto the burn. The oil absorbs quickly and you will not scar unless you go in the sun while you are healing. I keep a bottle in my medicine cabinet just in case. Maybe I need to work on paying attention when I'm around hot items.....hmmm
Olive oil is not just for salad dressing
I've listed this trick before but it's worth repeating. For a really close shave, leaving you nick-free, try swapping out your shaving cream for olive oil. It doesn't wash off in the shower plus it moisturizes your skin at the same time - double win! It's probably less expensive than shaving cream especially because you can buy the cheap stuff and leave the bottle in your shower.
Some tips provided by First Magazine