Thank you to freelance writer, Julie Kennedy for these great tips!

If your favorite top has a stain on it that your normal wash routine can’t remove, you may feel that you have no option but to buy expensive stain removal products to get your clothes as good as new again. However, you do have another option for many stain types: vinegar.

Vinegar is an all-natural, effective and - best of all - affordable stain treatment that will save your stained clothes from the rubbish bin. Nearly every kitchen pantry has vinegar in it so check your cupboards to see if you can fix up your stained clothes without spending a penny. If you don’t have vinegar at home already, it’s very cheap to buy, long lasting and it’s multipurpose so it is definitely worth the investment if you like to keep a chemical-free or thrifty household. As well as the stain removal tips we’ll share with you here, vinegar can also be used to remove bad smells, clean up bathrooms, loosen a rusty screw and much more!

Vinegar is an effective stain removal against some of the toughest stain; read on to find out how to tackle your problem stain:

Blood
To treat blood stains you need to act quickly. Pour undiluted vinegar onto the mark and leave it to soak for about 15 minutes. Then, rinse the stain with cold water. If the stain is still noticeable, repeat the process. Once the stain has gone, put the item of clothing straight into the washing machine on your usual setting.

Crayon
Use a small brush or an old toothbrush to to rub undiluted vinegar into a crayon stain. Then simply wash the garment as normal.

Vomit
To remove a vomit stain from your garment, rinse it in cool water to remove as much of the vomit as possible. Next soak the stain in undiluted vinegar and put it through the wash. This process may need to be repeated depending on the severity of the stain.

Iron scorches
If you’ve left the iron on a shirt too long and the shirt has scorched, it can be saved! Soak a cotton ball or a rag with undiluted vinegar and dab the scorch. Blot the excess vinegar away with a clean rag and the mark should begin to lift out of the shirt. You may need to repeat the process a few times for the best results.

Ink
Ink can be removed from clothing by first spraying it with hair spray and then using a rag or cotton wool to dab it with undiluted vinegar.

Grass
Soak any grass stained clothes in undiluted vinegar for about 30 minutes and then put them in the washing machine. If the stain is still visible after washing, you can make a paste using vinegar and baking powder and scrub the stain with an old brush. Run the garments through the washing machine again and the stain should be completely lifted.

Sweat
Remove sweat stains by pouring undiluted vinegar onto the affected areas and rubbing salt into the stains. Leave the garment in the sun until completely dry and then run the item through the wash.

Coffee, tea or juice
Coffee, tea or juice stains can be removed by soaking the garment in a mixture of 1 part vinegar and 2 parts water. Leave the garment to completely dry and then wash as normal.

Tomato
Soak tomato stains in undiluted vinegar and run the garment through the washing machine as normal. Simple!

Treating set-in stains
If you have old, set-in stains on clothes you would like to save, try soaking the affected garment in undiluted vinegar and then rubbing the stain with a paste made of vinegar and baking powder. If the stain is persistent, you can leave the garment to soak overnight in a bucket filled with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar before running it through the washing machine.

There you have it, some easy tips for removing stains using vinegar! It wont remove every stain but it is certainly worth a shot. If you have a stubborn stain its worth using a professional dry cleaner such as Master Dry Cleaners to take care of it for you.

Bonus Tips
You can also use vinegar to brighten up faded colored clothes by soaking them in a gallon of water and 1 cup of vinegar. Rinse the garments thoroughly in cool water and your clothes should be much brighter!
You can also use vinegar to remove the build up of hard water around the home. You can read more about it here: How to Remove Hard Water

138th Penny Pinching Party • De-junking

Okay, I'm in the final days before my kids get out of school and I am having mixed emotions. I have suddenly started deep cleaning my house for some reason. I felt the need to completely clean out the downstairs basement rooms, one of which has been home to our rats (my kids have pet rats).

I decided to move the rats to the workroom, clean out all of the junk, and reclaim that room. I tossed a ton of things and sorted other things that I need to sell online, which tends to bring up all sorts of emotions (getting rid of junk tends to do that, especially when a lot of it is clothes my kids have outgrown). When I got everything out of the room I had a lot of rat pee to clean off the walls (rats are great pets, but can be a bit messy). I got out my new Shaklee basic H and wiped the walls down (I am really starting to love this stuff and am finding all sorts of practical uses).
If you want to try a sample of Shaklee Basic H cleaner, hurry and enter my giveaway by Saturday, May 26th (There will be 5 winners).

I also shampooed the carpet and now have a completely empty and clean bedroom. An entire bedroom with nothing in it! Oh, the possibilities! I haven't decided what that room will be yet and am enjoying the empty space. I didn't take a "before" picture because no one wants to see a junky room with rat pee on a wall, but believe me it was not a pretty site.

And the bonus is that I just sold a box of clothes for $75 yesterday!

I have about 5 more boxes of clothes to list and sell so I will not only have less junk taking up space, I will have more money! Gotta love organizing and de-junking!

After I cleaned out the basement bedroom, it felt so good that I cleaned out half of the garage and the entire shed (not an easy task since that is where all of the extra junk went after we moved in a year ago).

De-junking and organizing is one of those things that is really hard to start, but very addicting once you do. Maybe I have been motivated since Summer is quickly approaching and I know that I will be too busy with my kids to get anything done.

What have you been doing to save money?

Shaklee Basic H Cleaner Review and Giveaway

Shaklee Organic Super-Cleaning Concentrate

“If it’s safe in water… it’s safe in Basic H”

• Biodegradable
• Non-polluting
• Phosphate-free
• Not a soap
• Non-toxic
• Non-irritating
• Non-flammable

I first heard about Shaklee on Oprah:

I was very interested in their products, but kept using vinegar to clean my house. The sad thing is that my kids won't clean with vinegar because they don't like the smell, so they use the dangerous commercial cleaning products when they clean. I was so happy when Jennifer from Blissfully Ever After offered to let me try Shaklee for free and do a giveaway.

She sent me the Basic H to try and I am loving it! I really want to buy the other products and make my entire house safe and clean.

Here is my review of Shaklee Basic H:

This 16 oz. bottle makes 48 gallons of safe and effective all purpose cleaner. You just add water to the spray bottles and a couple of drops up to 1 1/2 tsp of cleaner.

One 16 oz. bottle of degreaser costs 17 cents to make.

My favorite use is for the range, hood, and tile backsplash. I always get an insane amount of grime on top of my hood and this stuff wipes it off just as well as a commercial cleaner without the harmful chemicals.

Fridge Before

Fridge After

One 16 oz. bottle of all-purpose cleaner costs 3 cents to make.

My favorite use is for the fridge. I like that I can spray it and spot clean without removing all of the food. I would never spray a commercial cleaner in my fridge while the food is still in it. I also use it on the outside of my fridge and other appliances.

Bathroom mirror before

Bathroom mirror after

One 16 oz. bottle of window cleaner costs less than 1 cent to make.

I love using this stuff on my windows and mirrors! It is safe for my kids to use and there is no smell like when I use vinegar to clean (now my kids have no excuses). Use it with a micofiber cloth for easy cleaning.

Here are some other uses for Basic H (a quick google search will give you instructions on each use):

walls 

woodwork

ceilings

kitchen appliances

furniture

bathroom

fixtures

windows

mirrors

all glass

dishes

pots and pans

floors

dusting

fruit and vegetables

woolens, nylons and all fine fabrics

spot remover

ironing

knives (helps sharpen them)

aquariums

fish odors

boat algae

diapers

wallpaper

frying vats

hands

bathing

gum

painting and dyeing

shoes

eye glasses

car wash

windshield

engine

house plants

humidifiers

paint brushes

skunk odor

leather

vinyl upholstery

and hundreds more...

Jennifer from Blissfully Ever After is giving away 5 samples of Basic H to readers of my blog.

All you have to do is comment HERE at the bottom of this post to be entered to win. You can get extra entries by linking on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest (Just leave separate comments for each).

Contest ends May 26th.

If you can't wait to start trying Shaklee, you can click on the photo below and get 15% off:

Household Tips

Here are a few of my most popular household tips:

How to Remove Hard Water

Easy Way to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

Cleaning Your Dishwasher with Kool-Aid

Homemade Furniture Polish

Prevent a Costly Dishwasher Leak

My Love-Hate Relationship with Yard Sales

Saturday I finally had my Yard Sale that I have been planning all Summer long. I am such an organized person that I had to clean every single room in my house from top to bottom and find every unwanted item to sell. I had to price every item and organize it all into sections. This is why it takes me all Summer to prepare for a Yard Sale. If I didn't have to be so organized about the whole thing I could have had the Yard Sale 3 months ago and been done, but I am a planner and have to plan, plan, plan, stress, stress, stress.

I have had a lot of Yard Sales and here is what I have learned:

Make big, bright signs with arrows directing traffic straight to your house. I live in a quiet cul-de-sac, but 2 blocks away is a main road with lots of traffic. With the right signs my Yard Sale gets very busy. I use the same signs every year.

Price everything before the Yard Sale so you don't lose customers or have to think up a price on the spot. Here is a picture of everything in my garage after it is all priced and ready to go.

If there is no one at your yard sale have someone walk around and pretend to be looking. No one wants to be the only one at your Yard Sale being watched by the owners.

If you have a baby or young kids, have Yard Sales frequently. No one will want that high chair or stroller 10 years from now, but you can get good money from it if it's only a couple of years old. I have a 6 year gap between my last 2 kids and I had sold all of my baby stuff when I got pregnant with the last. I was so glad I did because things had changed a lot and I got to enjoy new things. If I were to try to sell those 11 year old strollers and baby items now, no one would want them. If you need them again you can always check craigslist and find them for the same price you sold them. That way you never had to store them and you can even get newer used items than what you had with your older kids. Does that make sense?

Display everything and don't make people look through boxes. I used my ladder to hang baby clothes up. I used my picnic table from the back yard and displayed things on the table and benches. I also used a work bench with a long board on top and sheet covering it all to display items. Even cinder blocks with boards on top can work.

Use craigslist and your local online classifieds to place adds the day before. Use pictures in your ads and list items that you will be selling. I had 5 cars pull up at my house at 7:00 am just from those ads alone. I hadn't even put up my Yard Sale signs yet. These are some of the pictures I used.

And the biggest lesson I have learned from having Yard Sales:

Don't buy so much stuff! By having a Yard Sale I am forced to evaluate everything I have ever purchased in my house. I hate selling stuff that I paid good money for and never used. I remember this lesson every time I am at the store about to buy something. I ask myself, "Will this end up at my Yard Sale next year?" I actually made less money at this years yard sale than I have in years past and that is a good thing. Most of the stuff I sold was clothes my kids had grown out of and baby items my baby had grown out of. Not making a lot of money at a Yard Sale is really a good thing. A couple of years ago I made around $2,000 at my Yard Sale and another $1,000 on craigslist and ebay for the rest of my stuff for a total of $3,000. I don't buy very much these days and made a grand total of $350 this year and will probably make another $200 on ebay and craigslist when I am done.

Making less money is a good thing for me because that means I made smart buying decisions throughout the year. These days I pass up many items on sale or clearance and only buy things that I really LOVE. I would rather pay more for something that I love than something that is a good deal, because if I love it I will use it (or wear it) more. Occasionally I find something that I love on clearance and then I am in heaven. Just remember that when something is on clearance you are not saving $9.99, you are spending $4.99 (or whatever the price is). And always remember that LESS is MORE. Less clothes that you love is much better than a ton of clothes that you kinda like.

10 Things I Hate About Having a Yard Sale

1. Spending 3 months going through my house top to bottom and cleaning out all of the clutter and unused items.

2. Storing the yard sale items in the garage as I collect them. This is a growing pile of stuff that gets bigger and bigger and takes up more and more space in the garage.

3. Having to spend days and weeks pricing every single item. I hate yard sales where things are not marked and I am not the type of person that will ask the price. If I don't know a price I just walk away so I make sure that at my Yard Sales, everything is priced. Lots of work!

4. Hearing my husband complain about the Yard Sale because he thinks it is tacky and embarrassing to display all of our stuff for the neighbors to see.

5. Having to do all preparations for the Yard Sale by myself because of husbands disapproval of the whole event.

6. Fighting with my kids over what I am getting rid of even though they haven't played with some of the things for over 2 years (old Sega Genesis with games as an example). Suddenly they become the most important items to them in the world!

7. Getting up at 6:00 am to haul everything outside and listening to my husband grumble about the whole ordeal while he helps me set up the tables and carry things outside.

8. Kids coming to my Yard Sale and playing with things and messing them up and losing parts that I have carefully placed in bags to keep together.

9. I understand how to bargain, but some items I won't bargain on because I know how much I can sell them for on ebay or craigslist. Some people get mad and walk off because I won't go down in price on these items. I go down in price on a lot of things and at the end of the Yard Sale I even give some things away for free. I am just smart about my prices and some people get offended by that.

10. Having to haul a bunch of stuff that didn't sell to DI (like Good Will) and list the rest on ebay and craigslist.

10 Things I Love About Having a Yard Sale

1. Spending 3 months going through my house top to bottom clearing clutter and ending up with before and after photos like this:

2. Having a clean and organized house.

3. Having my kids be at the yard sale and see the money come in from the items they didn't want to sell. Being able to give them the money for their unused toys and see them learn a valuable lesson. They were so excited about having the money to buy things they had been saving up for that they didn't miss the old toys anymore.

4. The money. Even my husband gets excited about this part and agrees that it was a good idea to have a yard sale. He never thinks we are going to get much money for our junk and is always surprised when I pull in 2-3 times as much as he expected. I am good at bargaining and negotiating. I know when people are bluffing and will actually pay full price. Some people just ask for a lower price, but are willing to pay full and I can sense it.

5. Having my mom and grandma come and sell stuff with me and spend the entire Saturday sitting outside and talking with them during the Yard Sale. I love to see the things my grandma brings. This time she brought this patch repair kit that is so old it doesn't have a bar code. She also brought this vintage leather coat from the 60's or 70's. I marked the price up (She was going to sell it for $2) and told her I would list it on ebay if it didn't sell.

6. Getting paid to git rid of stuff I don't need or want.

7. Helping my kids set up a little drink and snack store of their own. We live in a cul-de-sac so Yard Sales are the only times my kids can have a "lemon-ade" stand and they love it.

8. After the Yard Sale and after I take unsold items to DI (like Good Will) and sell the rest on ebay and craigslist, we can finally park both cars in the garage again!

9. All of the money I get is tax free and I can get a tax deduction for the stuff I donate.

10. Spending the money! This year I earned enough to pay for the new trailer hitch on our mini van and the bike rack I am now going to buy to put on it. Now I will be able to take all of our bikes to the canyon for some great family bike riding adventures!

The Hidden Room that No One Sees, Cleaning Clutter

I am about to take you into a room of my home that no one ever sees. I keep this room hidden from guests and am always afraid of someone seeing it. Perhaps this cluttered room relates to me emotionally and represents the cluttered part of my mind that holds resentment, fear, and negativity. The book Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui, by Karen Kingston explains the clutter-mind connection very well and I highly recommend her book.

The room I am referring to is my storage room in the basement and it took me a good day and a half to clean it. When I was finished I had a large pile for trash and a very large pile for my Yard Sale. Yes, I was able to let go of a lot of things. It is a very emotional experience to go through your life and for me this storage room held a lot of my life. I ran across old year books, journals, clothes my kids had outgrown, and many memories. At one point I became so emotional that I broke down in tears. This is why this room doesn't get organized and cleaned out very often and I usually just keep the door closed. In the end I feel energized and like a new woman.

I can finally walk into my storage room without having to leap over stuff. It is easy to find what I need and even thrifty since I won't go out and buy duplicates of things I know I have but cannot find. Whenever I needed an extension cord I would spend tons of time searching and wouldn't find one. I found about 10 hiding out in my storage room! So yes, getting rid of clutter and organizing is very thrifty.

Here are the before and after pictures (oh, I am so ashamed of those before pictures):

I was so happy to use my new wide-angle lens that I got in my "chunk of junk"!

This project was a metamorphosis of room and spirit so I am linking up to Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch.

Out With the Old!

Welcome to all of my new Thrifty Friends following my bog and thank you everyone for all of the encouraging comments. As a mom I get very few, "thank you's" and "good job's" from my kids when I clean the house, make dinner, and fix things up, so it is nice to have this blog and all of your great comments. I finally feel appreciated and validated! Speaking of doing things that no one appreciates, here is one of them:

I clean my closet out 2 times a year (spring and fall). I also go through my kid's closets at the same time. This weekend I went through all of my clothes packing away the winter ones and tossing the ones that I haven't worn in a year (If I don't wear something for a year I have a rule that it must go). I even got my DH to go through his clothes with me and between the 2 of us we really cleaned out! It feels so good to have space in my closet.

Winter clothes all packed up (DH's too, I don't have that many clothes).

Clothes that didn't get worn this winter and therefore must go to charity.

Well some of these clothes haven't been worn for 2 years and 9 months. I never did go back down to my pre-pregnancy size again after my 3rd child. He is 2 years old now and I have finally decided to let go of these clothes and get on with my life (Bwaaahaaahaaa). I went out and bought a few new clothes and it feels good to see a closet full of clothes that fit and not be reminded by my skinny clothes of what I used to be. It feels much better to live in the moment and not the past. Now if I ever go back down to my pre-pregnancy size I get to buy new clothes!
I'm thinking about keeping the jeans and making a quilt for picnics and laying out on the lawn, but the rest are history!

Cleaning Your Dishwasher With Kool-Aid

About a year ago I wanted to clean my dishwasher and looked up a few ways on the internet. I learned that you can run the dishwasher with a packet of lemonade Kool-Aid to clean it. I have been using lemonade Kool-Aid (or off brand) in my dishwasher for a year now, and have liked it. It doesn't get it perfectly clean, but it is better off than doing nothing and it is easy to do. Just pour a packet into your detergent dish, close the lid and run your dishwasher. I looked it up on the internet and found an article about it at Real Simple. You have to use the lemonade flavor because it has citric acid in it and it is the citric acid that removes the stains. If you tried any other flavor you could have a real mess on your hands. So stock up on lemonade Kool-Aid while it is on sale this summer!

How to Remove Hard Water

I clean my sink with ajax every day after washing the dishes, but that doesn't prevent this nasty build up. I have very stubborn Utah hard water.

I have tried all of the hard water products out there, saturating my faucets and soaking my fridge tray overnight. All I have gotten from my efforts are deadly fumes from the toxic chemicals in the cleaners. A couple of years ago I learned the cleaning power of VINEGAR. I used it to clean my humidifier because the instructions said to. It took off the hard water like it was nothing! I started using vinegar on my faucets and everything else and it was amazing!!! I now buy vinegar in bulk at Costco and use it for my heavy duty cleaning needs. Vinegar is cheap and non toxic.



Here is how to use cheap plain white vinegar to get rid of hard water:

For the refrigerator in-door dish:
Pop the dish out, pour a little vinegar in it and let it sit for about 20 minutes. I use an old toothbrush and the hard water just wipes off without any scrubbing.

To clean faucets:
Soak some paper towels in vinegar and placed them on the areas with hard water. Fill a spray bottle filled with vinegar and spray the towels every time you walked past. After about 20 minutes take the towels off and scrub off the hard water with an old toothbrush. For areas with thick hard water, put the towels back on, spray with more vinegar and wait another hour keeping the towels soaked with vinegar. You shouldn't have to scrub really hard, the hard water will off easily after soaking in vinegar.
Warning: Do not use vinegar on marble countertops or other stoneware, as it can cause the stone to pit and corrode.

You can also use vinegar on shower heads to unclog all of the holes. One of my shower heads detaches from the base and is easily soaked in a bucket. For the other one I have to tie a bag filled with vinegar to it.

Update:
Since writing this post, I bought a water softener and no longer need to use vinegar to remove hard water. Having a water softener has made cleaning much easier!