Easy bird feeder
A reader wrote that her son made a bird feeder from a piece of chicken wire. He used an oblong piece about 7 inches wide and just folded it in half, twisted the wire edges together for the sides (the bottom is the fold of the oblong) and then put in a couple of pieces of dried bread and hung it in a tree. So simple. The birds can hang on the wire and pick at the bread, but the squirrels cannot pack it off.
I actually made one of these for myself using a piece of chicken wire about 8 or 9 inches across and about 18 inches long. I put two pieces of dry bread in it and hung it in a tree in the front yard by a doubled piece of yarn. The birds were pretty leery for a few days, but not anymore. The snowstorm we had brought them around in a hurry!
Plastic liner in mittens
Children love to play in the snow, but it doesn’t take long and before gloves or mittens are soaking wet and the child is crying because their hands hurt. A reader wrote that she made her little ones some glove liners from an old shower curtain. She drew around a glove and stitched it up on the sewing machine and put it on the child’s hands to keep them dry and it worked. She did say though that the cheap plastic gloves you can find in the grocery store work just as well and I think she said she got six pairs for a little over a dollar. I have chores every day and I’ve taken to using the glove liners as well. My old hands do not appreciate cold.
Cake decorating for the smallest children
A reader wrote that she is a cake decorator by trade and has come up with a fairly safe way to decorate a cake for a small child that lessens the chance of kiddo choking on the decorations.
She uses colored cereal from the grocery store and spells out the sayings the people want with it. The cereal is a lot softer than hard candy and is easier to chew and swallow. She also said that the cereal will soak up a bit of the moisture in the frosting, making the decorations even softer. Great for the youngsters who are 1 to 4 years old. These seem to be the ones having trouble choking because they don’t chew the hard decorations enough.
A dog house bed
A reader stated that she had looked at the price of a heavy piece of bedding for her dog house and walked away because it was beyond her budget. Instead she was given an old full length coat that was made of fuzzy and heavy materials. She and her husband made a dog bed by sewing some heavy blankets on the back side of the coat and stuffing the inside with wood shavings, cedar shavings—they will keep bugs away—and some Styrofoam pieces too. They said that the dog bed is about 8 inches thick and so far has kept her puppy nice and warm in his big dog house made of heavy plastic.
Free storage boxes
A reader wrote, “I’ve seen in some of the fancy mail order catalogs sell those boxes with compartments in them to store your glass ornaments from one year to the next, but they have a really hefty price tag. My friend runs a liquor store and told me they have all kinds and sizes of boxes with dividers in them that the fancy wines and liquors are shipped in. Off I went to the liquor store. They had loads of boxes holding from 12 to 24 items in separate spaces. I got some, took them home and then covered the outsides of the boxes with sticky-backed contact paper. I made a paper tag for each of the boxes as I packed them and then covered the tag with clear contact paper so I can find what I want, when I want it.
"All of the packed boxes fit in my storage room closet on the top two shelves. Safe from little hands and are sturdy enough to last for many years. Best of all, they were free."
Start saving now
The holidays are over and a lot of folks are still paying on the Christmas bills. A reader writes, “When you use those cents-off coupons at the grocery store, save the money in a pickle jar stashed away somewhere. When the jar is full, start a savings account at the bank for next Christmas."
If you have hints or ideas to share, send them to PennyWise, Box 518, Kadoka, SD 57543; or email them to [email protected]. If you send me your name and address, I’ll send you a free copy of the PennyWise Newsletter. Please mention High Plains Journal when you write.
