What Did You Do Frugal Today??

[OSI]

Joesbaby-

You are certainly getting some good advice on here today. I agree with leasmom, if you are thinking about getting the van, perhaps you should think about getting rid of one of the other cars. My minivan is a 85 Plymouth Caravan, the gas is mega cheap but it's old and not dependable it has around 135,000 miles on it and we only use it as a back up car when I have doctor's appts. or go into areas where I really don't feel safe having my new truck parked. A conversion van on the other hand is much bigger, heavier and I'm sure a gas hog. I don't know about your area of the country but here gas is cheap right now at 1.58 a gallon for regular. Maybe you could also look around a little bit first. As my parents always said "Look before you leap".

Anna

[Songberries]

Ericka - I agree with Jayne about the Kirby not being a good carpet cleaner. You're just pushing soup around on the carpet, and soup attracts dirt. Before my dh put in our wet/dry central vacuum, it cleans carpets too, we would rent a rug doctor and share the rental cost with a family member, then they would use it too. We always used non sudsing amonia instead of the carpet cleaner they sell, it's so much cheaper, and works great! Also with the van, we have a Suburban that we use for family trips, and as a backup vehicle in case my car breaks down. It's not insured, unless we call and reinstate it. We've done it this way for quite a while, and it works great. We do keep it licensed, so the worse thing would be having to wait until a Monday to call the agent to put it back on the insurance. I wonder if you could find a better deal on a minivan, then it wouldn't use so much gas.

Carol

[nagymom]

Carol--I have long wanted a central vac system! I went on a tour of a home once in high school (this was back in the early 70's--I graduated in 1972 ) and the house had one. It was a new concept then. I am putting 2 things on my Christmas wish list this year--the robotic vaccum and/or a central vac. The thing Idespise most about vacuumin is the short cord that Dirt Devel put on this beast and the way it pulls out of the wall causing me to have to re-plug it several times. HATE it.

Jayne

[Songberries]

Jayne - I actually have two central vacuum systems, the first one is an Electrolux dry vacuum and the second one is a Aqua Air Wet/Dry Vacuum. The Aqua Air has two hoses, one for dry vacuuming and one for cleaning carpet and upholstery. With the wet hose, it has a little tube that hooks into the water line, and then it all runs out through the pipes in the wall and into the drain. So the only thing you empty in the vacuum is the mesh bag that picks up things you don't want to go down the drain. The reason I have two is because my dh started out working for Electrolux, then switched to Aqua Air. The reason some people don't like their central vacuum is because they don't have the right type of floor attachment. I'm not sure what it's called, but you need one that has a beater bar that goes around, some of them don't have that.

Carol

[nagymom]

Ooh I didn't know there was a central vac system that cleans the carpets now too. I am DEFINITELY putting this on my wish list now!

Thanks for the info!

Jayne

Help can someone tell me how to store garlic bulbs stright out of the garden

[nagymom]

I don't know if any of you have ever seen/tried this tip but it was new to me. I read a while back (maybe on Dollar Stretcher? Can't recall) that "men's" deodorant costs the same as "womens" but has more in it. I checked next time I bought and it's true! So as the tipster advised I picked up a man's deoporant/anitperspirant with a neutral-clean scent and have used it for ages now. This just never occured to me before.

Jayne

[HappyPuppy]

Karen,

I found this:

http://eat.epicurious.com/tips/index...ips/l/523.html

I store some in the pantry and the rest is stored in the freezer in several different forms. Some is peeled, chopped and sealed in plastic, ready when needed; some is peeled, placed whole in a jar and covered with oil (canola). As needed, I remove some from the freezer jar and keep it for up to a week in oil in the fridge. When the garlic is used up, I use the fridge "garlic oil" to brown meat or sauté veggies.

HTH!

[morelia92]

Hello everyone!

Our family went to Ocean City this weekend. Had a WONDERFUL time. Actually we are learning the island/boardwalk so as NOT to pay their crazy and might I add OUTRAGEOUS prices.

Left Friday night at midnight, and dh drove. Arrived at 4:30 am and while everyone but me napped, I read my Bible. I watched the sunrise and took it in. Although we had to pay the Inlet parking fee, it wasen't too much. I think $3.00. From there we drove to the island and after setting up the camp we reserved for only $20.00 for one night (8 people) we went crabbing! My sister in law and I went in search of bug spray, and tent poles (my darling teens forgot to put them in the tent last time they used it). The nearest store wanted $11.99 EACH pole. We needed 6, so I went to the local Wal-Mart and bought a whole new 4 person tent for $39.95.
After we made dinner (steak and onions) we went to the boardwalk and played a few arcade games, each kiddo was given $10.00 to use as they wanted. Games, souviners, or rides. The kids themselves were frugal enough to do a bit of everything!
Anyway did splurge on a kids discovery boat ride. $87 for 8 people for a 90 minute session. WONDERFUL!

We enjoyed wild ponies, icecream, crabbing, campfire.
Again not sure how frugal, oh yeah and got 2 sweatshirts for $18.99 with another 25% off! I guess I was pretty frugal. Also fed 6 adults/older teens and 2 tweens for $37.00

Be blessed!

[nagymom]

Cathy is this Ocean City, MD? I have friends who have a condo there. Lucky them--they don't have kids and both have fabulous paying jobs.

If it's OC, MD we camped there once too! What a great time we had too. The only downfal was when my dad fell. He was visiting us from Arkansas (we lived in Edgewood, MD at the time) to help us remodel the kitchen. We took a camping break and one evening went to play mini-golf. It had rained earlier and my dad slipped on wet grass when he went to retireve a ball. We didn't know it at the time but he tore his rotator cuff. He continued to help dh with the work on our kitchen and went to the doctor when he got back to Arkansas. (flew thankfully). Poor dad! I couldn't have done what he did in that pain.Anyway, regardless of where you went it sounds like you had a marvelous time.

Jayne