By Katina Anderson

This month, Donna Anger is sharing with us some of her helpful and frugal tips!  Hopefully they will save you Two Cents!

1. COTTON BALLS – You know the strip of cotton that’s packed inside many vitamin bottles? When you pull it out, don’t just toss it. Cut the cotton strip into one inch pieces, and you’ve got a few cotton balls! It may not seem like much, but once I cut 18 cotton balls out of a cotton strip from one vitamin bottle. That’s almost 1/5 of a bag of 100 cotton balls! That should save at least two cents!

2. DRYER SHEETS – (this may have been mentioned before, if so, excuse the repeat!) Amy Heinz’s Mom says that half a fabric-softener dryer sheet works just as well as a full sheet! So this makes the box of dryer sheets last twice as long!

3. SLUSH ICE PACK – This makes a great soft ice pack to use for sore muscles, sport injuries, knee/ shoulder surgery recovery, cold compress after tooth extraction, any time you need to “apply ice.” Someone shared this idea with my Mom after her knee replacement surgery a few years ago, and we found it to work well.

Combine: 1 cup rubbing alcohol and 2 1/4 cups water. Pour into a quart-size ziploc freezer bag. Taking air out, seal bag tightly. Place bag, zipper side first, into another quart-size ziploc freezer bag. Zip to seal bag tightly. This makes it double-bagged, with zippers at opposite ends, to prevent leaking. Set the bag on a level area in your freezer until it is completely frozen. It will be a “softer” slushy ice that will conform to your arm, knee, etc., instead of a “stiff” ice that is harder to apply. It’s a good idea to make TWO of these slush ice packs and keep them in your freezer. After you’ve used one and it has begun to thaw, you can put it back into the freezer to refreeze, while you use the other slush ice pack.

4. FRUIT FLY TRAP – With delicious summer fruits ripening on our kitchen counters, we often have annoying fruit flies. Here’s an idea to cut down on their population in your house!

In a small glass, pour a bit of apple cider vinegar. Then add a drop or two of liquid dish soap, such as “Dawn.” Cover the top of the glass tightly with plastic wrap. Using a toothpick, poke several small holes in the taut plastic wrap. Place on your kitchen counter. In a few hours you should see several fruit flies “drowned” in the liquid!

5. HOMEMADE EVAPORATED MILK – to use in cooking and baking. Makes 1 1/2 cups, which equals a 12-ounce can of store-bought evaporated milk:

Process in blender or food processor, or stir well in a cup: 1 cup nonfat powdered dry milk and 1 1/4 water. Simple! And cheaper!

6. HOMEMADE SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK – Equals one 14-ounce can of Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups nonfat powdered dry milk
1 cup sugar
4 1/2 Tbsp. melted butter
1/2 cup boiling water

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor until smooth, about 1 minute on high speed.
* This recipe may also be made without the butter and with half the sugar.