Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Extremely Frugal tips

One of the blogs in my Google feed reader is Extremely Frugal, where Pat shares frugality tips for everyday life. Here a few recent ideas:

Grow garlic on a windowsill

Garlic will grow happily in a container on your windowsill. Buy fresh garlic from the grocery store and use the largest cloves to plant. Put the unpeeled clove, pointed side up, in light soil with the tip just showing. Keep the soil damp and in a few days you should see a green shoot. You can use this shoot as a mild garlic flavoring (Give it time to grow at least six inches first, then trim only a few inches at a time. If you don't trim this top, it might become quite long and topple over - that's ok. When it turns brown and dries up, dig the clove of garlic you planted and you should have a full bulb. Take a clove from that and start over! (Container grown garlic will make small cloves.)

Keeping a broom

Never stand a broom on its bristles. Hang it upside down on a rack or nails. Clean it when you've used it for real dirt - garage floors or sidewalks. Use a bucket with warm, soapy water, swish the broom in it several times, then rinse with clear water. Hang it to dry.

Freebies

Freebies are frugal! The internet is a fantastic way to sleuth them out. Toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo and coffee samples can help stretch your budget. Don't be wasteful with them just because they're free. Use them carefully and put off the time when you'll have to replace the item.

Be sure to check out more tips on Pat's website.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bethany, you read my mind! I've had 3 garlic cloves on my counter, with a little green tip on them. I've been meaning to look up how to grow them. Thanks!

Pat said...

Thanks for the link. :)