Cleaning jewelry with baking soda

I've had "silver polish" on my wish list for years and I'm not surprised I never received it as a gift...it's a rather boring gift. But I just couldn't bring myself to purchase any...I only need a little, and very rarely, and it isn't cheap. So a while back I researched "cleaning silver" online and discovered that many people have used baking soda with success. I then put "clean jewelry with baking soda" on my To Do list.

Months later, I finally gave it a try! I figured it was a good sitting-at-the-table task for my very pregnant self to tackle. I set Teresa up with Playdoh beside me.

Using a baking soda/water paste and several damp and dry cloths, I tackled a handful of necklaces and several pairs of earrings. While the cleaning takes a lot of elbow grease (or should I say "knuckle grease", since it's mostly the fingers working hard?) and the results aren't perfect, the baking soda is pretty effective at removing tarnish. Best of all? It's cheap, plentiful, and completely chemical-free - safe for me and the environment!

I was delighted to discover two favorite pairs of dangling earrings that I had abandoned to the jewelry box a long, long time ago due to their tarnish. Granted, I haven't been wearing much jewelry since Teresa started pulling at it. When I stopped working outside the home I went from wearing earrings daily to wearing them some Sundays.

Maybe this rediscovery and refurbishing of some of my lovely things will inspire me to start wearing them again...at least until the next baby starts pulling at them!

Teresa's handprint plate

This is the plate I painted with Teresa's handprints and thumbprints (made into the little creatures). I couldn't have done it without David's assistance - he brought Teresa in when it was time for her to make her contributions and took her away when she was done so I could paint in peace (and she wouldn't destroy all the precious pottery in the place). I also couldn't have done it without American Express's Small Business Saturday promotion, which offered a $25 credit for any $25+ purchase made at a small business on November 27th (I bought a $25 gift certificate that day and went back later to paint the plate).

This plate would have cost $25+ to make, but I got it all for free and Art Space Studio was still paid. Sweet! My only complaint is that the custom lettering lady did not center the bottom text properly. Oh well.

I'm not big on fru fru wall decor or dust-collecting knickknacks, so I'll probably store the plate in my cupboards and use it to serve food on special occasions as Teresa grows.

I want to remember this...

A few weeks ago we attended a gathering at a friend's home and David noticed a sign she keeps in her kitchen - something to the effect of "Remember the romance of thrift." He asked her about it and she told him it comes from G.K. Chesterton. Well, I found the quote online today (although I do not know what work of his includes it):

"Thrift is the really romantic thing; economy is more romantic than extravagance...thrift is poetic because it is creative; waste is unpoetic because it is waste...."

Customer appreciation II

One month ago I wrote a post about contacting companies whose products you love. Sometimes they will mail you coupons and other stuff just because you asked them to! Here's a list of the companies I've since contacted who have responded positively (with links to their contact webpages):

Jif (Smuckers) - 2 35 cents off coupons
Amy's Kitchen (organic)- brochure and coupons (3 x $1 off, 5 x .75 off, 1 x .50 off)
Eggland's Best - frequently asked questions brochure, Mr. Food cooking booklet and a coupon for a free dozen Eggland's Best eggs
CedarLane (all natural frozen foods) - 2 55 cents off coupons
WestSoy (Hain Celestial Group - they make the only rice milk without soy that I could find) - 3 55 cents off coupons
Born Free Eggs (Radlo Foods) - 1 35 cents off coupon
Thai Kitchen - 1 free Thai Kitchen product coupon, 1 free Simply Asia product coupon, 1 50 cents off Thai Kitchen product coupon, 1 50 cents off Simply Asia product coupon, and a Rice Noodle Recipes and Cooking Tips booklet

General Mills and Kellogg's both denied my requests for coupons via form emails. :( It appears the biggest brands that regularly offer coupons in the newspaper circulars and online do not mail customers coupons directly.

Thanks again, Sarah, for the tips on Amy's and Eggland's Best. Also, Carrie received free product samples when she contacted Lansinoh. Does anyone else have stories to share?

Customer appreciation

One of my missions in my relationship with David has been to challenge the numerous brand loyalties he developed before he met me. The bargain shopper in me is easily frustrated by his preference for certain brands of food, clothing, and personal care items. Sure, I've found things that work well for me, but I'm usually open to trying alternatives if I find great deals. As the primary shopper in our marriage (though David does a fine job when duty calls), I sometimes present David with alternatives for him to try. And he sometimes (but not always!) tries them.

But I accepted long ago that David will only eat Jif peanut butter. The king of PB&J sandwiches (he takes one to work with him every time he goes, and we even served them at our wedding reception!) is loathe to cover his slices of bread in anything but Jif. So I stock up on it when I find it on sale or have coupons to use. I recently matched a sale with coupons to get some of the new Natural Jif for us to try (and yes, he tried it!). I found it so good (both texture and taste) that I felt compelled to write to the maker.

So I visited Jif.com and typed a little message to customer service, explaining my husband's loyalty to Jif and my delight in their new product. I took the opportunity to request coupons, too.

Less than a week later, this showed up in my mailbox (click the image to see it larger):


Way cool! The two grocery stores we visit most frequently both double coupons (even when the coupon says "do not double"), so I'll get 70 cents off each jar of peanut butter. Yay!

I encourage you to email companies that make things you purchase regularly and request coupons. This isn't the first time it's worked for me (Newman's Own also rewarded my efforts, which is why I have at least 4 jars of our favorite pineapple salsa in the pantry). If you've already done this, please let me know which companies respond well!

Works for Me: Washing Baggies

For a frugal zealot like myself, washing and reusing plastic baggies is a no-brainer. It saves money. For a stewardship-oriented, "green" lover like myself, it is also a must. Although not using any plastic at all would be ideal, reusing plastic baggies is a better alternative than tossing them out after a single use. I only trash baggies when they have holes or when they have been used to contain raw meat.

But I have yet to meet the frugalite or greenie whose favorite chore is washing said baggies. It's time consuming and requires effort. When I washed dishes at home I always left the baggies for my mom to do. But when I lived on my own, I set my mind to developing a system to get the chore done with as little trouble - and waste - as possible. Here it is:


1. Sanitize the sink. Sometimes I use bleach - I know, it's a terrible chemical, but it brings both David and I peace of mind after we've been rinsing raw meat, etc., in the sink.
2. Fill one side of sink with hot soapy water and the other with just hot water. By "fill" I mean 1-2 inches - that's really all that's needed.
3. From stack of plastic baggies (I always wait to do this until I have a good stack - seems more efficient that way), take 4 or so bags and dunk and swish in the soapy water. Let some soak while you work on each one individually (I usually use a washcloth to wipe the outside and inside of each bag under the soapy water).
4. Shake excess suds off each cleaned bag (over the soapy water) and place in rinsing water. When the 4 or so bags are all on the rinsing side, dunk and swish them, scooping and pouring out the water until the suds are all gone.
5. Hang bags on your long-handled cooking utensils to drip dry. It's important to make sure the bags are held open so they will dry thoroughly inside.


Voila! Clean bags with minimal effort and minimal water used. Rinsing each bag under a running stream uses so much more water - just an inch of rinsing water in the sink will de-suds 20 or more bags. I often wash our water bottles the same way, in the same water, too!

For more insights into best practices for families, check out the weekly Works-For-Me Wednesday post at Rocks in my Dryer.

Works for Me: Refilling our Ink Cartridge

Printer ink cartridges are very expensive. Even the store brand look-alikes are expensive. Getting empty cartridges refilled at Walgreens and similar stores has become reasonable (they offer deals frequently to attract new customers and we've taken advantage of them to refill David's HP cartridge), but my printer happens to be a Canon, one of the brands that they don't refill.

So I looked into home refill kits online and compared prices. After much research, I decided to order a black ink only kit from The Printer Ink Warehouse. It's really simple (heat the end of a paperclip to poke a hole through the cartridge and use a syringe to squeeze new ink through that hole) and has worked splendidly for me for ten or more refills. I recently ordered a new bottle of ink to continue refilling my original cartridge. I haven't refilled my color ink cartridge yet (not sure it's a worthwhile investment), but I'm sure The Printer Ink Warehouse's kit for that works well, too.

If you haven't considered getting the supplies to refill your own ink cartridges, I highly recommend it!

For more insights into best practices for families, check out the weekly Works-For-Me Wednesday post at Rocks in my Dryer.

Freepeats & Baby Clothes

God provides! This week He blessed us with a whole bunch of baby items for an even lower price than last time: FREE!

Freepeats recently opened a forum for Charlotte-area moms to swap "gently-used baby, kid, and maternity items like clothing, high chairs, bouncers, swings, bikes, and toys for free." This online community (with forums for more than 23 cities) provides an organized system for parents to give away their unneeded items and pick up other useful items. I've been looking forward to the opportunity to participate for over a year (ever since I first heard about Freepeats).

Less than two weeks after the Charlotte forum opened, someone in my neighborhood posted an offering of baby girl clothes, blankets, and products. I let her know I was interested and we made arrangements for me to pick them up. This morning, on our way to an OB appointment (all is well with baby!) we got what I gratefully refer to as "a gift." Here's a picture:

20 girl onesies and 4 gender neutral onesies (all sized 0-3 months) and baby wash and lotion on three beautiful girl blankets

While we have very little and are mostly in receiving mode right now, I hope to be able to share our blessings with someone else on Freepeats in the future.

PS If you're a Charlotte mom who hasn't yet joined Freepeats, I encourage you to do so now. Free membership until 9/16!

Super Savings Saturday: Baby Clothes

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't have dropped my "no buying baby things" rule so soon...

A day or two ago I had a vague thought that I might visit the Assistance League Thrift Store this morning to see if they had any maternity clothes and, perhaps, to glance at their baby things. Well, David and I ended up driving to the 9 AM Mass in separate cars (he went to swim first), so I took the opportunity to stop at the store afterwards. I was somewhat surprised to see women lining up at the door (it opened at 10 AM, so I had just a few minutes to wait). But a sign on the inside door explained the crowd: "End of Season Sale: 90% off all clothes." Jackpot!

Do you think it was the Holy Spirit prompting me to go to the thrift store today?

Alas, their maternity clothes rack was bare, and the women's clothes were slim pickings. So I made a bee-line for the still moderately stocked baby clothes racks and started piling clothes into my basket. My criteria: cute, clean, no tears, no stains. The girls' outfits were especially nice looking and abundant, but I tried to get a fair number of boy things, too. With the prices so low, I reasoned I could "shop ahead" and chose items up through size 2T.

The wait in line was long, but oh-so-worth-it. A nice fellow shopper even helped me pull all my items off their hangers. In the end, I had claimed 60 items, most of which rang up for 10, 15, or 20 cents. The most expensive item, a Laura Ashley dress set (3-6 mo), was 40 cents. Grand total: $9.97.

With such an abundance, I'm eager to share with my sister or anyone else in need. I can't wait for baby to come and wear these clothes!!

My only regret: I got so overwhelmed by the clothes that I forgot to look for socks and shoes, which were also on sale. Bummer!

Free Haircuts!

For David and I, anyways . . . I don't know if anyone else would be brave enough to face the scissors in our hands!

Since our marriage, I have been cutting David's hair. We bought a new set of clippers that came with a DVD tutorial. I watched, I listened, I tried. I've had mixed success. Three out of the four times, it looked mighty fine overall (only David and I noticed the little mistakes around the ears, etc.). This last time I must have gotten over-confident and rushed, and the job came out a little sloppy. But time heals all wounds, especially when it comes to hair.

Before

After

Tonight, for the first time, David cut my hair. I've always been cheap when it comes to my hair - once a year or so I visited a chain hair cutter and got about six inches chopped off (and whenever I could, I used a coupon!). Curly hair is very forgiving. But I didn't always appreciate the conversation in those places, and even the "cheap" haircut was too much for my frugal soul. So I asked David to give it a try. He watched the DVD tutorial, and then improvised. He aimed for four inches, just in case. I am pleased with the results!

Before

After

Super Savings Saturday: CVS dirt

I've been CVSing for a few months now, with guidance from MoneySavingMom and her commentors. This week I met with some success, so I thought I'd take a moment to share. I nabbed:

• 1 blood glucose monitor (to donate)
• 2 Colgate toothpastes (to donate - I already have 10 or so stockpiled)
• 2 Benefiber chewables (to donate)
• 2 Arm & Hammer Sensitive laundry detergent (a favorite of mine)
• 1 Johnson's Buddies soap (to throw in the baby box - for shower gifts, donations, or, perhaps, a future baby of our own)
• 6 cute gift bags (to give as a gift or to contain gifts I give)
• 1 bag of organic potting soil (for me to try to growing something on our apartment balcony - it doesn't hurt to try!)

Total: $55
Total after coupons: $35
ECBs used: $27
Cash paid: $8
ECBs back: $35


All that stuff and I "broke even." Now I just need to find a way to use large ECBs (1 $15 and 2 $10) in future transactions.

Check out others' Super Saving Saturdays displays!