If you have a particularly dirty job to do like cleaning the outdoor grill, taking down dirty window screens or hosing down the patio furniture before storing away for winter, make yourself a disposable apron: Take a large garbage bag, cut holes for your head and arms and slip it over your clothes.
You may look a little weird, but you’ll protect your clothes and save yourself a lot of time and trouble later! Roy
Most of us launder and or dry jeans and dark-colored t-shirts in the same load. And that’s a disaster just waiting to happen. It’s the zippers.
When metal zippers are left unzipped to flop around in all that tumbling and agitation in the washer and dryer, those little zipper “teeth” are like chainsaws tearing up other items of clothing in the washer and dryer, creating little holes and tiny tears.
The solution is to always remember to zip up jeans and other garments that have metal zippers before laundering them. Francesca
The discount clothing stores seem to frequently have a pretty good selection of high-quality men’s leather belts. The only problem for me is that the name-brand belts they carry are usually in sizes too big for me.
I buy them anyway and take them to a shoe repairman near my home who removes the buckles, cuts off the extra inches and re-attaches the buckles. He charges me $3-$5 a belt.
I spend on average $15 to $20 on a belt that retails in high-end department stores for $50 – $80 or more. Bob
Here’s a clever way to turn old CDs or DVDs into fun drink coasters. Using cotton yarn, crochet two small doilies the size of the CD or DVD. Place the disk between the dollies and sew them together.
Make sets four or eight coasters and give them as gifts. To launder, don’t toss them in the washing machine as the CDs may break. Instead, soak them in soapy water, rinse, then stand on end to dry.
Find patterns for the cute coasters pictured above, here.
Save at least $10 by making your own bracelet buddy. If you open a paper clip, it will act as a third hand to help you put on your bracelet easily.
For those that wear jean skirts, washing the skirt and then hanging it to air dry keeps the skirt looking new and doesn’t wear it out as fast.
The biggest battle is the hem of jean skirts. It always wants to’ turn up’ instead of lying flat.
I’ve found that by pinning the hem with a clothespin in the center, and one midway on each side of the center your hem will dry nice and flat.
No more ‘turned up’ hem!
For those of you who like larger handbags but hate when they don’t have compartments, this is a sure way to organize your stuff without fumbling through a pile of belongings. There are many of these organizers for various prices, but several under $10 on Amazon. The one I use has several compartments on the outside for gum, mints, keys, coupons, etc. The main compartment could be for your wallet or other larger items. And when you switch purses, it’s a breeze! Just take the organizer out of one purse; insert into the next and your contents are organized.
My sons had terrible trouble with backpacks. Even the expensive ones wouldn’t last an entire school season because the boys were so rough on them. Then one day, we went into the Army/Navy surplus store. We found military backpacks (rucksacks) that wore like iron! In fact, they were so durable that the boys carried them for years, even all the way through college! They also really liked how cool they looked. Carole