Stretch those coat dollars
A lady wrote that her friend buys those knitted cuffs—they come in different lengths and colors and some are fairly long. The lady takes off the old worn-out cuff and stitches in the newer longer cuff and then the kiddo can wear the coat for at least another year. She says don’t worry about matching anything as the cuffs come in all different colors and most of the time, the kids don’t care anyway.
Recycle that old electric blanket
A lady wrote that she buys old electric blankets that no longer work at yard sales, takes them home, cuts the controls off and then cuts the stitching at the end of the blanket so she can pull all the wires out. She then stitches the blanket back up again and uses it. She said you can buy an old blanket for a couple of dollars and by taking off the controls, you basically have a blanket that would cost you $30 at a store. A quick run through the washing machine and dryer and you have a new-to-you blanket.
Hemming idea
Dig out grandma’s old bobby pins and put them in your sewing supplies. When you need to hem up a garment, just use the bobby pins to hold the folded hem in place instead of straight pins that leave holes in the fabric and poke you besides. Works great.
Toddlers’ drawing paper
If your 3-year-old wants to draw and color all the time get a roll of shelf paper. It has a coating on the back so the crayons and paint sticks won’t leak color through. I take my paper and tape it to the wall in the hallway (slick side to the wall as protection) and then he can draw and color to his heart’s content without wrecking the wall paint.
Grease remover for wallpaper
If your little one smears grease across your newly put up wallpaper and leaves a stain try this trick. Make a paste of cornstarch and a little water and spread it over the stain. Let it get completely dry and then you just brush off the dry cornstarch—it absorbs the grease.
Salvage that broken plastic pool from last summer
Those little colored plastic swimming polls that kids love will eventually get a hole in them before summer is over. We fixed ours several times with wide tape just to get us to the end of the heat before we had to buy a new one. We took the old pool and put it in another area of the yard and filled it with sand. Now they have a sand pile to play in and we didn’t have to spend any extra money on something to hold the sand.
Accidental burn relief
If you get splashed with hot grease while frying something messy you can treat the burn with something right from the kitchen cupboard. Just put a paper towel or a small rag in vanilla and hold it on the burn. The pain stops in a short time and stays away. I’ve also discovered that I usually don’t have a scar from the blister either.
