12 Uses For Leftover Coffee Grounds!

by Dian 5 Comments

12 Uses For Leftover Coffee Grounds! If there is one thing in my house I use on a regular basis and can always count on having on hand… it would be leftover coffee grounds!

Every day I have at least 2 cups of coffee, as does Hubby, so we have leftover grounds and we just toss them, but there are so many uses for them!

From facial scrubs to cleaning out the fireplace there are so many things they can be used for it’s unbelievable! I love when I can find other uses for things we use every day or have on hand all the time!

Do you have any ideas for reusing things or using things most of us have on hand all of the time in a different way? I am not an “out of the box” thinker, so I love to hear other people’s ideas who are!

I thought I would research some ways to use them and share them with you!

Next time you make a pot/cup of coffee think about those grounds and check out these great ways to use them:

Place an open container of leftover grounds in your fridge or freezer to neutralize odors! No need to buy boxes of baking powder for that job anymore!

Use a damp cotton swab, dip into leftover grounds and use to minimize the look of scratches and in wood. Be sure to test a hidden spot before you do it to make sure you get the desired color.

Use leftover grounds in the garden to discourage bugs from getting to your plants and destroying them.

Use damp leftover grounds to help keep down the dust when cleaning out the fireplace. Just toss them on the ashes before you remove them.

Place an open container with leftover grounds in a room or car that needs deodorizing.

Use leftover grounds to deter cats from using your garden as a litter box.

Fertilize your garden and potted plants by adding leftover grounds to the soil or to your watering can.

Repel mosquitos by placing dry leftover coffee grounds in an aluminum pie pan, add a couple (do not soak) of drops of lighter fluid, carefully light the grounds and the smoke produced will ward off mosquito!

Add leftover grounds to your facial or body scrub for extra exfoliation.

Leftover grounds make a great abrasive cleanser for cleaning pots and pans.

Use leftover grounds as a hand cleaner to get rid of cooking smells on your hands such as onions.

Put leftover grounds in old hosiery or cheesecloth to make sachets you can place in closets and drawers to absorb odors.

What are your tips for Leftover Coffee Grounds? Share them in the comment section!

Creative & Frugal Christmas Ideas!

by Dian Leave a Comment

Creative & Frugal Christmas Ideas! Emily from 52 Mantels is back! I love it when she is able to contribute crafts for the site! She makes the best stuff, they are adorable and she makes it so easy to do! Her own home is filled with these wonderful things she makes.

I’ll share a secret with you. Emily was my DD’s BFF growing up, and she was one of the teens in our youth group, too. We always knew she had this penchant for crafting, she got it from her mother Susan over at Permanent Posies who shares wonderful recipes with us!

This is a wonderful round-up of past frugal Christmas Crafts she has done – in the coming weeks she will be guest posting with fun Holiday craft tutorials for us to get ready for the holidays!

Let’s get started!

Christmas is my most favorite time of year! And, it’s the perfect time to do a little crafting. Bringing Christmas cheer to your house doesn’t have to cost a lot of money! These Creative & Frugal Christmas Ideas were all made using supplies around the house and a few dollar store purchases. Easy and inexpensive as most of the supplies can be picked up at Dollar Tree!

Creative & Frugal Christmas Ideas!

To make these Wrapping Paper Christmas Topiaries, I simply shopped my house and Christmas supplies!

Cheap ornaments and chalkboard paint created easy and inexpensive DIY Chalkboard Ornaments!

I love decorating every room in my house around Christmas, including my daughter’s room. This Oh, Christmas Tree Wreath was made with extra ornaments and an embroidery hoop and added some fun charm to her sweet nursery!

Striped socks and a dollar store wreath make for one very cute So-Simple Sock Christmas Wreath!

Who doesn’t love easy art? This Wrapping Paper Christmas Tree Art was made using Christmas wrapping paper and a decorative circle punch. I love that this tree can be completely customized to any color scheme!

Jello, yogurt and strawberries come together in this cute and kid-friendly Merry Christmas Parfait. Pair them with FREE PRINTABLE toppers and you’ve got yourself an easy, festive party dish!

Follow the links to get the full tutorial for each of these craft projects!

Happy Christmas Crafting!

Hi! I’m Emily from 52 Mantels, a blog about all things home including weekly mantel makeovers, easy DIY projects, seasonal crafts and simple recipes! I’m blessed to be the stay-at-home mother to one adorable little girl and the lucky wife to an ever-supportive hubby (who puts up with my endless projects!).

10 Kitchen Hacks You’ll Love!

by Dian 16 Comments

Over the years I have run across quite a few “kitchen hacks” that helped me and so I thought I would share them with you! I love finding these – it’s fun for me – so excuse me while i get happy about them!

Finding a new or easier way to do things in the kitchen make me so happy. I love when you can use something differently or substitute something. I love new solutions and ideas to make things easier in the kitchen. Whether it’s cooking or cleaning or organizing, I am happy to try it out!

I am hoping that y’all have some kitchen hacks to share with me, as well. Any little bit of help to make clean up easier, cooking faster, or life in the kitchen more simple is definitely a plus! Especially if it gets me in and out of the kitchen faster! So, please share any fun tips you have come across in your experiences!

10 Kitchen Hacks You’ll Love!

Ripen an avocado quickly place it in a paper bag with a banana on top of the fridge for a day.

Keep bananas from fresher for 4 – 5 days longer by wrapping the stems in plastic wrap. – tip and image via Life Hacker

Freeze leftover coffee in ice trays to use as ice cubes in Iced Coffee Drinks to keep them from getting watered down

Keep fish from sticking to the grill by grilling on top of lemon slices and give it a great lemon flavor – tip and image via The Mother Huddle

Keep potatoes from budding while being stored by putting an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

Cook burgers evenly by putting a thumbprint in the middle of them before cooking.

Laying a wooden utensil over a boiling pot will keep it from boiling over

Use leftovers to make quick and easy burrito frozen snacks/meals. Leftover taco meat and cheese, spaghetti sauce, chili, even eggs and bacon or almost anything can be portioned out and put in tortillas, rolled up, and frozen individually in plastic wrap or freezer bags. Then just pop them individually in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute and you have a snack or lunch, or even breakfast (my kids LOVED this!)

Brown hashbrowns easily. I could never brown hashbrowns correctly – they stuck, they burned, it was always a disaster. Someone told me once to use a waffle iron and it worked like a charm to brown both sides perfectly! – image via Rachael Ray

Perfect microwave leftovers every time. Put a couple of drops of water on your leftovers and cover them (I use a bowl when heating a plateful of food, making sure to cover all of the food), place them in the microwave for 1 minute on high. When you remove the cover (carefully there will be steam) you’ll have perfectly heated and moist leftovers ready to eat!

What are some of YOUR kitchen hacks?

10 Other Uses For Sugar

by Dian Leave a Comment

As of this writing, I have been totally sugar/fructose free for about 2 weeks now and Hubby has been for over a month. I have to say I feel better, AND everything tastes sweeter. It’s like with the sugar/fructose in your system you can’t really taste the real flavors in anything. Everything tastes so much better.

So, Hubby and I coupon and we stock up when things are on sale for a great deal. Well, just before we decided to go sugar/fructose free, there was a deal on sugar…. so, I now have about 20 5lb bags of sugar and we don’t eat it anymore! lol So, I researched ways to use sugar that don’t include eating it, and I found there are quite a few ways I can use it. Now, I will say most of it will go to family, friends, and the shelter in our area.

10 Other Uses For Sugar! Other than eating of course :).

But, I will definitely try a few of these tips:

Remove Grass or Grease Stains

Make a thick paste of sugar and small amount of water and apply to the stain, let sit for 30 minutes to an hour and then wash normally.

Keep Your Chopper Blades Sharp And Clean

Whatever chopper you use you can use sugar to keep the blades from getting dull while cleaning them, too. Grind 1/2 cup or so of sugar for 4-5 minutes and you’ll have a nice clean smelling chopper with sharp blades! Works for coffee grinders, too.

Keep Wasps and Flies Away From Your Outdoor Fun

Mix any kind of vinegar with sugar to make a sweet and sour scent then mix just a squirt of dish soap and mix well. The sweet and sour scent attracts them and when they consume the liquid the dish soap kills them. You need the sweet and sour scent to mask the dish soap scent.

Stop The Burning From A Burnt Tongue

You can (if you are not sugar/fructose free) use a teaspoon of sugar or a cube of sugar to soothe a burnt tongue. Whether it’s from spicy foods or you actually burned it with a hot liquid, this trick should instantly relieve the pain.

Sugar Body Scrub

You can make a very frugal yet effective body scrub by mashing a very ripe banana and adding 1 tsp of olive oil with 3 TBSP sugar, mix well and use in the shower to exfoliate and moisturize your skin.

Keep Cakes, Cookies, and Even Cheese Fresh

You can add a couple of cubes of sugar to airtight containers with your cookies, cakes, or cheese and extend their freshness by up to a week!

Keep Flowers Fresh

To keep fresh flowers lasting longer add 3 TBSP sugar with 1 tsp vinegar to your water in the vase, mix well to keep your flowers looking great longer. The sugar feeds them and the vinegar fights bacteria in the water.

Greasy Hand Scrub

I have used Lava hand soap for greasy messes after working on a car or bike chain. Yes, I have helped . But, you can use sugar and have a very frugal cleaner and it smells better. Just sprinkle sugar in your hands, add a little soap and scrub the grease right off!

Frugal Safe Roach Killer

We had an infestation of German Roaches for a few years that we could not get rid of, a family member asked us to store a stove in our garage and apparently it was infested an we didn’t know. The exterminators said that German Roaches love electricity because it tastes sweet. That’s why you will see them in electronic resell places and pawn shops. We bombed, we sprayed, we spent over $500 with exterminators and nothing worked! Finally I made a paste with peanut butter, sugar, and baking soda, equal parts. I put a tsp full in baggies, leaving them open I set them around the house in drawers and cabinets and in less than a week they were ALL gone! The baking soda kills them, but the peanut butter and sugar draw them.

Stop Hiccups

I have not tried this one but, I know people who swear by it! Swallow a teaspoon of dry sugar without water, and your hiccups disappear!

So, there you have it 10 Uses For Sugar Other Than Eating. Do you know of any others?

18 Everyday Uses For 20 Mule Team Borax!

by Dian 29 Comments

18 Everyday Uses For 20 Mule Team Borax! Have you ever used 20 Mule Team Borax? I used it when my oldest was a baby. I used it in her cloth diaper pail, yeah, I tried the whole cloth diaper thing… with the first one! The other three wore disposable, for sure!

But, I hadn’t tried it again until recently.

Here are some interesting facts about 20-Mule Team Borax Laundry Booster:

100% Natural Mineral. Once it’s removed from the ground, it’s washed, dried and boxed for purchase!
It is produced by the evaporation of seasonal lakes
There is NOTHING added, no chlorine, no phosphates, no other added chemicals
It naturally softens hard water, which maximizes your detergents cleaning power!
Keeps stains from being re-deposited on the clothes in your wash

Here are the 20 mule team borax ingredients listed on the box:

Sodium Tetraborate (a natural mineral).

You can purchase 20 Mule Team Borax at Walmart and most any place you can purchase laundry detergent.

I also found out years ago that Borax is good for other uses as well. You can use it to clean and freshen things all over your house. One use I found especially helpful and interesting, was years ago we lived “in the country”, and our dogs got fleas and we had a terrible time getting rid of them and keeping them out of the house.

A friend told me that she accidentally found out that 20 Mule Team Borax is great for getting rid of fleas! She had spilled some under her kitchen table and when she was cleaning up she found dead fleas under there! She also tried it with sugar ants and said it worked for those as well! Who knew you could use 20 Mule Team Borax for ants?

Here are 18 other uses:

Restore shine to your china: use a 1/2 cup in your dishwater to restore the shine
Cut down on water spots in the dishwasher: add 1 tablespoon in the detergent cup.
Mix with water to clean your aluminum pots and pans.
Remove stains from carpet: mix into paste, rub into the stain, let dry, vacuum
Liquid carpet stains: mix 1 cup 1/2 and 1/2 with water. pour on stain, blot liquid, repeat until stain disappears
Fresh Smelling carpet: spray mist of water, sprinkle Borax on carpet, when dry, vacuum
You can use 20 Mule Team Borax for roaches & ants: mix with small amount powdered sugar, leave in problem areas insects will eat it and then die from the gas caused by the mixture
Kills fleas: sprinkle Borax on floors, leave for an hour, then remove
Clears drains: mix 1 cup with boiling water, pour down drain. Clogs will disappear
Cat Litter Box odor: mix in with litter when changed
Odors in mattresses and furniture (including urine): wet areas, add Borax, wait until dry, vacuum
Trash can odor: Add small amount to bottom of trash cans to keep them smelling fresh
Soften Hard Water which can make shampoo s and soaps less effective.
Keep Toilet bowl clean & fresh: add 1/2 cup to toilet, let it sit for 1 hour, clean normally
Sprinkle on floors near baseboards to repel mice
Mix 2 tablespoons Borax, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, in 2 cups hot water to remove rust
Put 3 tablespoons in garbage disposal, let stand 1 hour then flush with water to keep it fresh smelling
Sprinkle on weeds to kill them, taking care not to get on wanted plants

Check out 11 MORE 20 Mule Team Borax Uses <— here!

Do you have any other uses or tips for 20 Mule Team Borax?

Share them with us!

Fun, Frugal & Meaningful Gift Ideas! Baby Shower Gift!

by Dian 4 Comments

Fun, Frugal & Meaningful Gift Ideas! Baby Shower Gift!

So, my next fun, frugal, and meaningful gift I want to tell you about is again from my Mom, the ultimate gift-giver! If you missed the first one it was a wedding gift, you can read all about it! My daughter and I have done this soo many times over the years and it is always a big hit!

This one is a Baby Shower gift! We get a diaper pail, I know not many people use an old timey diaper pail anymore, but, I always used them for dirty clothes if not diapers. You could always just use a decorative basket, though, too. The original idea though is a diaper pail.

So, you get your diaper pail, we always did this at the Dollar Store (my daughter and I), and were usually running late, so, I would drive and she would work putting it all together!

So, back to the store, get a diaper pail and some sort of “clothesline” type thing, could be sturdy ribbon, actual clothesline, sturdy string of some sort, and clothespins, then we would get all the little things that no one thinks about. You know, after the shower you have all the big stuff: stroller, car seat, bed, clothes, diapers, wipes and blankets, all the needed items, except… nail clippers, powder, lotion, shampoo, baby wash, nail file, bulb syringe, baby scissors, cotton balls, Q-tips, tissues, travel sized items for the diaper bag. We would grab all those things and attach them to the clothesline with clothespins and put them in the diaper pail with the end of the clothesline attached to the lid of the diaper pail. So, when it is opened, you pull out the clothesline and it stretches across the room with all the items attached!

This is always a great gift, it’s a big hit and it’s things people don’t think about getting and even the Mom-To-Be may not know she needs all these things! This is a very frugal gift, you can find many of these things packaged together at the Dollar Store and then break the packages up to add them individually to the clothesline. We would get baggies to put the things in that didn’t have a way to attach them to the clothesline.

So, there you have a fun, frugal, and meaningful Baby Shower Gift!

Fun, Frugal, And Meaningful Wedding Gift!

by Dian 3 Comments

Fun, Frugal, And Meaningful Wedding Gift!

I have decided to do a series on fun, frugal and meaningful gift ideas. For me it seems this time of year is filled with more gift giving occasions than any other, short of Christmas! There are tons of birthday parties of course, and Graduations, Going Away To College, Weddings, Baby Showers, and more! So, what better time to discuss some great gifts you can give?

I will have to begin by saying almost all of these ideas are shamelessly stolen straight from my Mother! She is the ultimate gift giver and card sender!

I remember as a kid and teen, going to the mall and thinking: “Oh no, please let us walk past the card store…nope, here we go, right into the card store!” She was not going in to buy a card for a particular occasion per say, but, to “look” at the cards. Which really meant reading almost EVERY card in the ENTIRE STORE! She had to pick the perfect card, even if it was going to be stored until an occasion that fit that card was upon her! Anyway, I digress…

Since there are many summer weddings, let’s start there. This particular gift was one I loved so much, she even gave it to me for my wedding. I looked forward to the day I got married and received one.

She would hand pick a goblet, not one from the Bride’s registry, just one she felt was unique and could stand alone.

It could be as unadorned or as elaborate as you like. She would wrap it in tissue paper, in a box alone and enclose a card that read:

Forgiveness Cup

When harsh words have been spoken

And things seem to have gotten out of control

Take this goblet and fill it up

Present it as a forgiveness request

If your your mate drinks from the cup

Then you both will know

All has been forgiven

This is such a great gift, like I said my Mother is a great gift-giver. I placed mine in a curio cabinet with the card standing in front of it.

You can find a great single goblet for not much money almost anywhere. I have seen great ones at T.J. Maxx and even a second hand store or garage sale! Just look around and be creative. Remember, it’s the thought behind the gift that counts! This is what I call a great fun, frugal, meaningful gift! Thanks Mom!

So, I will be doing a few of these fun, frugal and meaningful gift ideas over the coming days. Time for you to share your fun, frugal, and meaningful wedding gift ideas with us!

GSFF

Sharing Tips & Tricks To Live Better On Less.

12 Uses For Leftover Coffee Grounds!

Creative & Frugal Christmas Ideas!

Creative & Frugal Christmas Ideas!

10 Kitchen Hacks You’ll Love!

10 Kitchen Hacks You’ll Love!

10 Other Uses For Sugar

10 Other Uses For Sugar! Other than eating of course :).

Remove Grass or Grease Stains

Keep Your Chopper Blades Sharp And Clean

Keep Wasps and Flies Away From Your Outdoor Fun

Stop The Burning From A Burnt Tongue

Sugar Body Scrub

Keep Cakes, Cookies, and Even Cheese Fresh

Keep Flowers Fresh

Greasy Hand Scrub

Frugal Safe Roach Killer

Stop Hiccups

So, there you have it 10 Uses For Sugar Other Than Eating. Do you know of any others?

18 Everyday Uses For 20 Mule Team Borax!

Fun, Frugal & Meaningful Gift Ideas! Baby Shower Gift!

Fun, Frugal & Meaningful Gift Ideas! Baby Shower Gift!

Fun, Frugal, And Meaningful Wedding Gift!

Fun, Frugal, And Meaningful Wedding Gift!

Forgiveness Cup