Making Summer Dresses Last Longer

My daughter has about 8 adorable, sleeveless summer dresses. Now that the weather is turning cooler, we are packing up summer clothes and bringing out the fall clothing. However, I couldn’t stand to put away all of her cute dresses!

To stretch her dress wardrobe further, I have a simple white turtleneck to put under those sleeveless dresses to keep her warm when the temperature is only in the 60s. When it falls even further, I have a basic pair of leggings to put on her under the dress. By doing this, she will be able to wear her sleeveless dresses into late October. By then she will have probably outgrown them. Works for me!

I shared this post at Works for Me Wednesdays.

A Way to Save Money on Expensive Car Repairs

I have a relative who found a used car from the 1990s that had low mileage because it was owned by an elderly woman. However, the car is still 15+ years old, so it needs some major replacements.

Luckily, while perusing the newspaper one night, she found that the local community college was looking for people to bring in their cars so the automotive students could practice on them. Each month the automotive students study a different part of the car: January—engine mechanical, February—manual/automatic transmissions, etc. My relative just makes an appointment and brings her car in.

This has been a tremendous cost savings to her. For instance, many times when she used the brakes, she heard a loud clunk. During the unit on brakes, she brought the car in. It turned out the brakes were not bad but that some component needed to be tightened. They tightened it and gave the car a full oil change, and she was only charged $25.

Another time she needed several repairs—the water pump bearing was worn, the power steering belt was loose and the hose to the coolant overflow was loose and the clamp holding the hose was worn out. They tightened what needed to be tightened and replaced the pump bearing and clamp for a total cost of $249.59. After calling around to other locations, she found this service would have cost her $500.

Perhaps try checking in your area to see if a similar program is available. The cost savings is well worth it. Just keep in mind that the students who are making the repairs are students, learning, so there may sometimes be errors. But in general, the cost can't be beat. Works for me!

My Favorite Use for an Ice Cream Scoop

A while back, I heard on a cooking show (I wish I could remember which one!) to use an ice cream scoop when putting muffin batter into the muffin tins. It scoops the perfect size for the muffin tin and doesn't make a mess.

It's true! It works perfectly. Now my ice cream scoop gets more use as a muffin batter scoop than an ice cream scoop. (The batter is for the Carrot-Pineapple Muffins I wrote about a few weeks ago.)

Works for me!

I shared this at Works For Me Wednesday.

Recycling Restaurant Containers

While perusing some of the lunch idea sources I mentioned last week, I came across an idea from Easy Lunchboxes—use little round plastic containers with lids to include dip for dipping.

Now, I am lucky in that my son likes most vegetables, and he will gladly eat cucumber slices, broccoli or baby carrots in his lunch, but he likes them much better when he can dip them in ranch dressing. Yet, I didn’t have the little dipping containers, did not know where to buy them and did not want to really spend money on them.

About three days later I ordered Thai takeout for lunch—Cashew Tofu stir fry and egg rolls. And there in the egg roll container was a round little plastic container with the dipping sauce. Now, my son gets to use it for his lunch. Next time you order Chinese or Thai take out, save the little sauce containers for reuse in your kids’ lunch boxes.

I shared this post at Works for Me Wednesdays and Life as Mom.

Check the Ads After a Big Purchase

Last week my computer died, which, while inconvenient, was not totally unexpected. We bought a new one on Friday night at Office Depot. Sunday morning my husband was looking through the ads and found the same computer for $50 less on sale at Office Depot.

Today, I returned to the store with the receipt and was given a $54.75 refund for the difference between what I paid and what the sale price is this week. (The other $4.75 was refunded tax.) The clerk told me that they have a 14 day window where you can receive a refund for the difference if it is advertised as cheaper.

Make sure to check the ads after a major purchase; you may be able to get a refund if it goes on sale shortly thereafter.

Once a Month Cooking and Vacations

We frequently go to visit my mom three hours from home, and a few times a year we stay for an extended period. When we are visiting, we are always very busy seeing relatives and taking the kids out to do fun activities. Without a plan, we can end up spending a lot of money on eating out, especially since my mom doesn't like to cook and doesn't like us to cook because she doesn't like all of the dishes we dirty.

Enter freezer cooking.

Now, when we go to her house for an extended period of time, we pack up several freezer meals in our cooler and eat them throughout the week. We don't have to worry about cooking (and messing up my mom's kitchen), and she gets a nice, home cooked meal every night. It definitely works for us!

To see some of the other ways freezer cooking has benefitted our family, read my guest post at Life as Mom, "How Freezer Cooking Changed Our Life."

If you are interested in trying out once a month cooking, enter my giveaway for Dinner Is Ready Cookbook and software. It will help you plan and execute a freezer cooking day.