Tundra Tightwad Tips

Do It Yourself Dish Scrubber

No need to spend money on another dish scrubber when you can make your own. Recycle the plastic mesh bags that onions, potatoes, and oranges come in. Cut any labels off, then fold the mesh bag into a neat little square or rectangle. Loop a piece of fishing line through the loose end and tie it in a tight knot. Voila! It won’t scratch pots and pans, and it can be sanitized and reused by washing in the dishwasher or washing machine.

Make your own brown sugar substitute

As a homemaker, I have been using this little trick for years. Whenever I needed to use "brown sugar" in a recipe, I found that when I went to the cupboard, it was a hard brick. So I stopped buying it. Instead, I make sure to always have molasses and white sugar in the house to make my own "brown sugar" as needed. No more hard brown sugar! You just add a little molasses to your sugar and mix it to the desired darkness, according to your recipe. You can make light brown or dark brown by adding more or less of the molasses. An extra bonus is that molasses is good for you!

Ready Mop Cleaner Refill

1 gallon water
1 cup ammonia
1/2 cup vinegarMix ingredients and use instead of buying commercial cleaner. Use a piece of scrap fleece, scrap flannel or micro-fiber towels (purchased at automotive stores) to replace your Swiffer (tm) or Clorox Ready Mop (tm) disposable pads. Cut several to size to have on hand. When soiled, throw in the wash and launder as usual. Use your empty commercial cleaner bottle and refill by putting the cap of the bottle in very hot water and letting it sit for a minute or two.  It will twist off and you can refill it. Store homemade cleaner in plastic juice bottle or milk jug.  LABEL your homemade products with name and ingredients (recipe). DO NOT MIX BLEACH AND AMMONIA--it creates chloride gas which is deadly, NOTE: DO NOT use ammonia on wood floors. Just use vinegar and water or water and Murphy's Oil Soap.

• All Purpose Window Cleaner

  1/2 cup ammonia
  2 cups rubbing alcohol
  water
  1 tsp. dish washing liquid
  In a one-gallon container (I rinse out a gallon milk jug), mix ammonia and rubbing alcohol. Fill almost to the top with water. Add dish washing liquid and mix. Top off with water.
  Notes: Rated by Consumer Reports Magazine to work much better (*and much cheaper) than most commercial window and kitchen sprays. Alcohol is the secret ingredient; it's what commercial window washers use. This is safe on most, but not all, household surfaces.