Everyday Cheapskate: No need to worry about clever tips from readers

Once a week I worry that, after all these years, my faithful readers will simply run out of ideas. New and clever tips, tricks and hints will fade into extinction. But every week I put my worries to rest. Just look at all the great tips that recently showed up in my mailbox.

I’m so tickled with all these new tips, and as my way of saying thank you, I’m sending each contributor a copy of my booklet “Great Reader Tips, Vol. 1.” If you’d like a copy, send $5 to Debt-Proof Living, Dept. EC, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723.

Pie protectors: If you ever need to transport a pie but don’t have a box, use plastic holders for paper plates. You probably have some at home, but, if not, hit the dollar stores. These fit a 9-inch pie tin perfectly. Place one on the top of your tin. You can even stack them up for easy transport.

— Diane P./Illinois

Slice the cheese, please: I wait for a good sale on cheddar cheese in the 2-pound block, get my coupon and head to the store. I then go to the meat department or the deli department and ask them to slice it for me. They usually do it free of charge. They just need to leave the UPC code attached to the packaging so it will scan properly.

— Mandy D./Washington

Window solution: Add 1 teaspoon of Cascade Complete automatic-dishwasher liquid or powder to a bucket of water for washing windows. You’ll avoid all those streaks!

— Rima M./New Hampshire

Spun dressing: I have found that using my salad spinner to distribute dressing evenly all over my salad means that I use less dressing. It works great.

— Selma D./Ohio

Movie minder: My mother carries a list in her wallet of all the movies she’d like to see. It sure saves her a bunch of time when she’s making a quick stop at the video store and doesn’t have time to browse the shelves.

— Jennifer W./California

Softens cuticles, too: Sometimes, when my cuticles are looking rough and I don’t have any cuticle cream handy, I just rub on a bit of ChapStick lip balm. It works great to lubricate the skin. 

— Leslie P./ Indiana

Coffee-stain magic: To clean my glass coffeepot, I add a few drops of automatic-dishwasher liquid and fill up the pot with hot water. After soaking for a few minutes, I just give the inside a quick swish with a cloth or sponge, and all the stains are gone. No scrubbing necessary.

— Loretta S./Tennessee

Small is better: Purchasing the smallest contact-lens holder means I save money on the solution because I naturally use less. I use the free contact-lens holders that come with my solution to hold and clean earrings, but I use the smallest lens holder I can find for my contacts.

— Melanie O./e-mail

Bleach: friend or foe?

DEAR MARY: I just read an article on keeping your whites their whitest. The article says that chlorine bleach and detergent, when used together in the same wash cycle, cancel each other out. This article recommended a separate bleach cycle followed with a detergent cycle. Of course, this means twice the water and electricity usage. Please tell me this isn’t true.

— Virginia M./e-mail

DEAR VIRGINIA: I can find nothing that backs up what you read. I can tell you that both The Clorox Co., manufacturers of Clorox liquid chlorine bleach, and Arm & Hammer, which produces a reliable line of laundry products, recommend using liquid chlorine bleach together with the proper amount of detergent in the wash cycle for whites. As a word of caution, both warn against using too much detergent to wash laundry, as that can be the culprit when it comes to your white clothes and linens turning a dingy gray.

The information you read (I read it, too) was attributed to The Laundress, an online source for laundry products (TheLaundress.com). I have contacted the owners, asking for more information on this curious caution. I will be sure to pass along anything that I learn. By the way, I’m not sure what The Laundress puts in its laundry products, but it must be pure gold. One 32-ounce bottle of The Laundress detergent costs $19.

Bursting at the seams

Have you ever noticed that no matter the size of your apartment, condominium, house, garage, drawers, closets, hard drive, handbag or briefcase, it mysteriously fills to capacity?

Our first apartment was 300 square feet. We were newlyweds and still in that “cozy” stage, so it wasn’t a problem. Three years later, we were packed to the gills and longed for a little breathing room, so we moved into a 1,200-square-foot house. Wow, so much extra space. In what seemed like the time it took to unpack, the place filled to capacity.

A year later, we moved into a 1,800-square-foot house that had a big family-room addition and a double-car garage. Again, soon we were full to the rafters.

Twelve years later, we moved into a house twice the size, where we still reside, and — you guessed it — we’re full. Paring down, cleaning out and simplifying has become an unrelenting challenge.

I did a lot of that paring down and cleaning out last weekend. Today, I have mixed emotions.

On the one hand, I have that wonderful “clean” feeling because I just got back control of several closets and rooms. Still, I’m hanging my head in shame. How on earth did we accumulate so much stuff?

I went through boxes that have not been opened since the day we moved into this house. If what’s in this box is not a valuable antique or a critical part of my family’s history, it’s outta here.

It wasn’t only unopened boxes I dealt with: It was just loads of stuff. And it was not pleasant. I gave away and threw away more stuff than I could believe and not without pain. Oh, how I struggled!

But after a couple of trips to the charitable-collection center and, sadly, the city dump, I’m a new woman. I love this “cleaned-out” feeling.

I’ve renewed my determination to ask myself these questions before I bring anything of significance into this house:

-- Can I afford it?

-- Do I really need it?

-- Do I need it now?

-- Do I have something like it already?

-- Can I find a cheaper substitute?

-- Is this the best deal?

Then I’m going to go home and sleep on it for 24 hours. If I decide to go back and buy it in the morning, I’ll know without a doubt that, whatever it is, it can come into this house. I never want to spend another precious weekend the way I spent this one.

By the way, I will take a deduction for the fair-market value of the items I donated to charity as allowed by the IRS. I use the valuation system It’s Deductible (Intuit) because the values for more than 850 specific household and clothing items comply with IRS guidelines. Go to this Web site:

www.itsdeductible.com

Or you can check the Salvation Army’s Valuation Guide for a simplified list:

www.satruck.com/ValueGuide.asp

A note on the Harvey Wallbanger Cake in last week’s column: I’ve learned that the Duncan Hines Orange Supreme cake mix called for in last week’s recipe is not readily available in most supermarkets. While it’s not exactly the same, I believe you’ll find the Lemon Supreme mix, which is more readily available, to be a reasonable substitute.

- - -

Mary Hunt is the author of 14 books. Everyday Cheapskate readers will find her recently revised book, “Debt-Proof Living,” available at a discount at www.debtproofliving.com/um.