Green Living begins with being Eco Friendly

Just a small Share I wanted to do

Lately, things that have been rough financially. I have heard from all sort of people telling me about how much their budgets have been cut because of finances. It is so hard to go to the grocery store these days without spending an easy $100.00 and that is being frugal!! So I have been making a few changes of my own to try and help with my own grocery budget. Check out these coupon sites: Grocery Coupons this is another one I like: Grocery-Food-Coupons This link may not help everyone but for those that do have an Ingles Grocery Store in their area: Ingles Weekly Sales

Okay, this was a great find for me it could be great for you too especially if you have an on-line business and want to order business cards AND you can get some for FREE: VistaPrint

This was a very hard lesson for me to learn personally. Sometimes, and I do mean Sometimes it is worth spending a few extra dollars for household items.

I sort of picked up this concept when we were preparing to homestead. If we were going to spend the money on items that we needed, we needed to make sure whatever we got was going to last, hold up and if possible be used for more than one purpose.

So, I started purchasing Stainless Steel items. Yes, I spent a little more for my measuring cups and measuring spoons, but I have been using these items for over five years and they are still in great condition. I started with one piece and I am working myself up to other things for Kitchen as they are needed.

1 - If you don't take your bananas apart when you first get home from the store, they ripen faster. Also by peeling them from the bottom, all of the little string's come off at the same time.

2-If you store your opened cheese in aluminum foil, it will stay fresh much longer and not mold.

3-Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

4-If you add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef; It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

5- To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

I tried this one last night for dinner, I added some sour cream to my eggs I was cooking for breakfast wraps and it was delicious!

6-For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed; melt some Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let brownies set until cooled for a wonderful minty frosting.

Also, if you add a half to a whole teaspoon of coffee to your brownie mix, it enhances the flavor of the chocolate! Have you ever tried adding some orange zest to chocolate? Yummy!

7-Easy Deviled Eggs: Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up, add remainder of ingredients zip lock bag and reseal. Keep mashing up the mixture thoroughly, cut one of the corners of the zip lock bag and squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

I love this one because I love to make deviled eggs but hate cleaning up the mess!

8-Expanding Frosting: When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake and/or cupcakes with the same amount frosting.

9- When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest? Haven't we all squeezed break testing for freshness? Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week; Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday? Each day has a different color twist tie. They are: Monday = Blue, Tuesday = Green, Thursday = Red, Friday = White and Saturday = Yellow.
So if today was Thursday, you would want red twist tie; not white which is Fridays (almost a week old)! The colors go alphabetically by color Blue- Green - Red - White - Yellow; Monday through Saturday.

To remember this fairly easy, make a small diagram and put it into your coupon envelope. That way you will always have it with you. You do use coupons right?

10-Honey remedy for skin blemishes... cover the blemish with a dab of honey and place a Band-Aid over it. Honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile, and speeds healing; this usually works overnight.

Do you know sometimes how you get a tickling feeling in your throat? If you take a teaspoon of honey it will help to take the tickling away. Also, honey has been used to help with sleeping, and for coughs. I personally have used honey for all of these with great results!

1- Newspapers help to keep the weeds away!

I do this all of the time! However, please note I have always been taught to only use the black and white part of the newspaper, do not use the sale flyers and/or papers that have colored ink on them. By laying your newspapers in your flower and vegetable beds, you help to keep weeds out, and add nutrients into your soil. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic, but not the newspaper. I always lay my newspaper down, water it and put plastic and/or mulch over the paper. It has worked for me for a long time.

2-Fungus on toenails or fingernails? Rub a little of Vicks vapor rub around the nail and a little under the nail.

My mother in law heard about this a few years ago, tried it, and guess what, it worked! You can also use a little Tea Tree and Lavender Oil around and under the nail area.

3- To keep Mosquitoes away; place a dryer sheet in your pocket

4 - Flexible vacuum: To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge; add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum hoes. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

I have got to try this one. Who would have thought besides using empty paper rolls for crafts, they could be used for something really useful?

5 -Conditioner: Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

This is a biggie for me! I have very long curly hair, and there are times I want to try new conditioners. With this head of hair, if I am not careful, it frizzes out and dries out like no tomorrow. So with the ALL of the conditioners I have purchased and was not able to use on my hair, perhaps I will try this one.

6 - Say Goodbye Fruit Flies: To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it ½ '' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

7-Get Rid of Ants: Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have to worry about your pets or small children being harmed! (ALSO BLACK PEPPER WILL DO THE JOB....)

And you may remember from some of my other lens, that I speak about the herb Tansy being good to get rid of ants. www.whiteoakartdesigns.com I wonder how effective mixing cornmeal, tansy and pepper would be??


8 -To eliminate ear mites: All it takes is a few drops of Wesson Corn Oil in your cat's or dog's ear... massage it in, then clean with a cotton ball. Repeat daily for 3 days. The oil soothes the cat's skin, smothers the mites, and accelerates healing.

9 -Cure urinary tract infections: Alka-Seltzer can aide urinary tract infections by dissolving two tablets in a glass of water and drink it at the onset of the symptoms. Alka-Seltzer begins eliminating urinary tract infections almost instantly-even though the product was never advertised for this use.

Also drinking cranberry juice or taking cranberry capsule will help with urinary tract infections.

10 -Quaker Oats for fast pain relief; it's not for breakfast anymore! Mix 2 cups of Quaker Oats and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm in the microwave for 1 minute, cool slightly, and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.

Glass Spray:

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon liquid soap
1 3/4 cup water
8 drops of aroma essential oil

I love Lavender-so I use a lot of that, but to take this process even a step further, Lavender is used for purification, cleansing and spirituality as well. So when you use this essential oil you are also incorporating the healing properties of the herb.

I also love to collect rain water. There is something about cleansing your home with water from a thunderstorm. If you do this, make sure that you put your container in an open area so it will not collect dirt. But as I am writing this, I suppose if the water did have a little dirt in it, you could strain it through cheese cloth.

**Another Tip**

Use your old newspapers for cleaning windows and mirrors. It is streak free!