Removing Dust from Curtains

Here's a tip from my mom! I don't really like taking my curtains down to wash, but it's a good idea to do from time to time! Instead of washing them if they're just dusty and not dirty, try throwing them in the dryer on the 'air fluff' cycle with a damp towel.

My mom says that the towel must be damp for this to work.

This keeps the curtains from getting too worn or faded from washing them too often.

Price Adjustments

I bought two things at Target on Saturday. (A pair of goggles, gift for Father's Day for my hubby, and a plastic storage bin for our son's outgrown clothing.)

On Sunday, I browsed through the Target ad in the paper. I was bummed to see that both things were on SALE this week and I had spent approximately $2.50 over the sale price.

I checked out the price adjustment policy and was able to go back to Target with just the receipt within 14 days and receive a price adjustment (so I don't have to empty out all of my son's clothing and return the whole bin!)

Is $2.50 worth my time? What do you think?

Money Saving Ideas

~Plan your meals ahead for the week. Limit grocery shopping to one or two trips per week.
~Never throw away bread if it gets stale. Freeze it, and then put it in the blender to make breadcrumbs.
~Eat leftovers for lunch. My husband would never DREAM of going out to eat or ordering food into work more than once or twice a month and then only as a treat.
~Let your kids make birthday cards and then send those to your family members.
~Did you know there is an "Oops Paint Section" at Home Depot? They sell the ''Oops" Colors for a discount.

Homemade Bagels

I made bagels for the first time and they turned out really well! Here is the recipe:

4 cups of bread flour
1 T sugar
1 1/2 t salt
1 T oil
2 t yeast
1 1/4-1 1/2 cups warm water

Mix all ingredients together. Knead the dough for 10 minutes or until it isn't sticky. All the flour should be mixed in (add more water if necessary). Cut the dough into 8 pieces.
Let the dough rest for 10-20 minutes. Make each piece of dough into a rope and pinch the ends together to make a bagel shape.

Rest the dough for 20 minutes. In the meantime, boil a large pot of water and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Boil the bagels (as many as will fit in the pot, you don't have to just do one at a time) in the water for 1 minute, then turn them over and boil for another minute. Remove them from the water and onto the baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes on each side, for a total of 20 minutes.

Serve and enjoy! Healthier than store-bought as they have no preservatives. Eat them in a few days or freeze them.

Garbage Picking

We walk through our neighborhood nearly every night from April-October (if it isn't raining). There are several occasions we have seen something we could use in someone's trash pile.

~Computer chair. Perfectly good condition.
~China hutch* (I get SO many compliments on it!)~a tarp. We needed one for our little guy's sandbox. It was enormous and my husband just cleaned it and cut it down into smaller pieces.
~a giant abacus. my husband loves math (engineers!) and so our toddler can learn to count. and learn his colors. I was told this educational toy would normally cost $99.

*The china hutch smelled like smoke. We tried everything to get the scent out (baking soda, vinegar, coffee, Murphy's Oil Soap) and finally had to strip it and refinish it. It looks great, though! And it was completely FREE. I would not have anywhere to keep my grandmother's china if we had not been willing to ask the homeowners if they really intended to throw it away and then lug it home! It is huge so it was a giant task to lug it home. Lucky for me, I found it before the summer I was pregnant so I could not only help my husband drag it home but also use the strong chemicals necessary to strip and refinish it.