Happy Friday! Not really anything personally for me to report on frugality this week. I should be working on coupons but I haven't been. I need to start reading coupon savings blogs and get inspired!
It's that time of year that I can start hanging the clothes on the line but I keep forgetting :( I must start doing that to save on the electric bill.
Hubby and I must sit and make out a budget. I had to visit the food bank this week to get us through until next Friday's payday because there was nothing left after bills.....and won't be this week either. (sigh)
But...on to this week's share from the 99 Cent Solutions book. This week it's 8 uses for tea.
1. Keep the fridge fresh. Did you know that tea bags do a better job of keeping odors down better than baking soda? Put 3 or 4 tea bags around the fridge and odors will be readily absorbed. Change them out ever few weeks.
2. Use tea in your smoker. Open a few tea bags and sprinkle the tea leaves over the soaked wood chips. The tea will give your food a distinctive, unique flavor.
3. Help heal pink eye. Make a tea bag compress by wetting the tea bag, squeezing out the excess. Have the child lie still with the tea bag on the eyelid for 10 minutes. The tannin helps the swelling go right down. (One grandchild sent home from school yesterday with pink eye. I'm going to have to tell my daughter to try this.)
4. Brighten dark hair. Pour a quart of warm dark tea through your hair after a mild shampoo and make your hair feel soft again. Summer sun and chlorine makes your hair rough and dry. This will do the trick.
5. Freshen your feet. Each night soak your feet in a basin of strong tea for 20 minutes. After a week or 2 you should notice a real difference in both the sweat and odor output of your feet.
6. Clean delicate oriental rugs. Empty the contents of 6 tea bags in to a bowl and sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of water over this. Sprinkle the barely damp tea leaves on the rug and ten brush them off vigorously with a clean broom. the tea leaves will draw out dust and dirt without leaving any stain or color on the rug.
7. Feed your roses. Rosebushes love the tannins in the tea leaves, so if you are a regular tea drinker, keep your tea leaves in a compost bowl by your kitchen sink. Dump them around the rose bushes once a week.
8. Speed up compost. If your compost pile is not composting, pour a few cups of strong brewed tea on it. The acid in the tea will jump-start the compost, encouraging the acid-loving bacteria that makes the whole thing work. (oh how I wish I had known about this last year--I would have actually had some compost for a garden this year!)
