A Few Saving Tricks and Tips for your Personal Stuff

Saving Nail Polish:
Put a little smidge of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) around the top of nail polish bottle necks.  They will no longer stick.  Nail polish that has gotten thick can be saved by adding a bit of clear polish.  This does no harm to the color and adds gloss to the color.  Consider combining bottles of polish that’s level is below the brush.  This will keep you from tipping the bottle to apply polish and avoids spills.  Put down a paper towel.  Take the brush out of the bottle after brushing it against the sides to put polish on the brush back into the bottle.  Put the brush on the paper towel.   Do this with all the bottles you wish to combine.  See which colors will benefit from another color.  Which ones will be darkened, which ones will be reddened, etc.  Pour carefully into the new bottle.  Do not fill past 3/4 full.  This will afford you room for the brush and room to shake the colors together.  You can create one of a kind shades that are absolutely beautiful.

Ball Caps stains:
If your ball caps have a salt stain (from sweating) between the brim and the hat, this can be easily cleaned.  Run some warm water in your bathroom sink.  Add 1/2 cup white vinegar and a little hand soap.  Soak the cap for about 20 minutes.  The stain should disappear.  Rinse the cap by draining the soapy water and filling the sink with clear cool water.  Swish the cap a few times.  Hang it with a clothes pin on a wire hanger and put the wire hanger on the shower curtain bar, or if you want to whiten the cap, hang on the clothes line in the sun.  This also works for shoes that have a salt stain.  Use a 70 percent water and 30 percent vinegar solution.  Use a cotton ball to apply.  Use a small section not seen to make sure the color of the shoe does not bleed.  Let the shoe dry, and apply a little polish or Vaseline to the shoe.

New Shoes and Boots:
The first thing I do with a new pair of leather shoes or boots is to give them a coat of leather conditioner.  These shoes or boots may be new to me, but they may have sat on a warehouse shelf for months.  I use LEXOL.  which comes in an 8 ounce bottle for about 5 bucks.  I get it an Amazon.Com.  Another coat every now and them will ensure that the leather will last longer and be softer on your tootsies.

Winter Coat lose a button:
Most winter coats come with extra buttons, but just in case you need to sew the new one on or the one that came off back on, use dental floss as your thread.  Use the unwaxed version for ease of sewing.  The waxed kind will not take color when you are finished.  More about color later.  Get yourself a wooden match stick.  Strike it and clean off the burn end.  I keep one in my sewing basket.  Now, thread the floss onto your needle.  Layer your winter coat, then the match stick, then the button.  Sew the button with the match stick under it.  When you have enough floss sewn for the button to stay, remove the match stick.  Before you knot your floss and cut it off, wind the floss around the space between the button and the coat.  This will give the button enough room to button a thick winter coat.  When all done, color the exposed floss on the button with a Sharpie.  Otherwise, it will just be opaque color.

When in a pinch, you can use a lipstick for your blush.  Put a little moisturizer on your cheeks and stroke your lipstick over your cheek.  Blend gently and you have blush that also matches your lipstick!

Bobby pins can be used for holding fabric in place while you hand sew something.  I use them instead of straight pins.

Contact the Regional office of the USDA Forest Service to find out the cost of a permit that will allow a house hold to collect 10 cords of firewood per season.  Check on State or forest near you.  On site, click on passes and permits.

Tarnished silver jewelry can be cleaned by putting two regular Alka-Seltzer tablets in a cup of water and dropping in your jewels.  Let the tablets completely dissolve before putting in jewelry.  Rinse and dry with a soft cloth.

A sagging cane chair seat can be revived by wetting a sponge and dampening the seat.  Let it dry and do it again if not completely what you want.

Sharpen a knife by turning over any clay flower pot and using the unfinished rough edges on the knife blade.  Angle the blade as it is made and sharpen from handle to tip of blade.

Dented table tennis balls can be repaired by putting them in boiling water.  Roll them around a little till the dent pops out.  Remove from the boiling water carefully and let it cool.  Will be ready for play again.

A baby monitor can be used when you have a family member home sick.  You can go on with your household duties and hear when they need you.

To waterproof matches for camping trips, coat the wooden match with clear fingernail polish down past the color tip.  Let dry and put in a waterproof container.

Spilled nail polish on wooden floor can be cleaned up by immediately pouring cane sugar over the spill.  The sugar will absorb the polish and you can sweep it away.

Remove labels in the back of your clothes with a seam ripper.  Will not harm the seam.

Never use paper towels on your eye glasses.  Use a microfiber cloth.

For a broken lipstick, hold the broken part carefully over a match flame.  When it gets soft, try to attach it to the part still in the tub as best you can.  Smooth with a tissue.  Put in refrigerator for full day.  Should be good.

Store and transport sharp knives to and from camping trips in a Pringles can.

Refrigerate candles for a few hours before using them.  Will be less drips and last longer.

Open the end of a cake of soap to let the soap dry and harden.  It will last longer.  Soft moist soap will dissolve more quickly and have to be replaced sooner.

Changing from a 100 watt bulb to a 60 watt bulb will save you about 40% less to operate.

After holiday dinners, before you begin to clean up dishes, count your silverware.  I almost threw a fork away once by not being careful when garbage was gathered.  Grandmas silver cannot be replaced.

After painting, clean your brushes and rollers.  After you clean them, add a little hair conditioner to them and let them sit for 20 minutes.  Rinse well and your brushes and roller will be good as new for your next painting party.

On snowy days that your kids are bored, mix a container of baking soda and a can of cheap shaving cream.  Put out a sheet cake pan and put the baking soda across the bottom.  Have fun spraying the shaving cream.  Mix the two and you have an exact match to snow, but is moldable.  You can add glitter or food coloring.

If you broke a glass on your tile with gout, use a sticky roller for clothes to pick up little shards.  Use a piece of white bread and CAREFULLY press into gout to remove the remaining shards and little pieces of glass.

Squeaky hardwood floors:

Sprinkle a little flour or baby powder into the cracks.  Do this several times and the squeak will disappear.

A Kindle charger works on most smart phones.  Will allow you to have a charger at work and one at home. 

Greeting cards that have a great border can be used for framing pictures.  Cut the center out and use as a mat for a photo in a frame.

An old trunk that has gone musty, put a layer of multi cat litter (it is stronger than regular) in the bottom and any shelf.  Close the lid for a few days.  Should take the smell right out.  You can do this twice if you need to,

Shower rings can be used to hand purses in closets.   Put a little tissue paper in the purse to keep the shape.

Necklaces that tangle in jewelry boxes can be threaded through drinking straws.  Just cut the length you need and store in jewelry box.  No more tangles.

Finding the end of masking take, packing tape or shipping tape can be easily remedied by using the closures from potatoes or bread.  The plastic ones, not the twisty ties.

Copywriter: Karen B. Cardwell 2012.   Email me at: cradwell.kc@Gmail.Com 

 Tweet me at: Karen Cardwell@blairie12.

 Original Artwork Images by Tom Wilson.