WFMW - Newspaper Window Cleaner

A few years ago when my Aunt asked me to help her wash her windows, I was surprised to see a huge stack of newspaper sitting beside the Windex. I was even more surprised when she started wadding it up and using it, instead of paper towels, to dry the Windex she had sprayed on the glass. Of course I followed suit and was again surprised to find that the newspaper not only worked - it worked BETTER. No streaks, No wet spots, No dirt left behind.

So if you have some newspaper lying around, give it a try! Works for me! For more great tips visit Shannon's Blog.

WFMW - Coupon Organization

I used to use a traditional accordian style coupon organizer, but it was lost when we moved to our new home. I honestly never liked it much anyway because it was hard to tell what coupons I had, and even more of a pain to separate the expired coupons from the usable ones. So last week I racked my brain to come up with a better system and I think I found it!

I purchased a 1" 3-ring binder at Wal-Mart for about $1, two packs of loose leaf paper for 82 cents each, and two sets of page dividers. I organized the divider tabs as follows:

Food

Baby

Home

Bath/Body

Pets

Restaurants/Misc

CVS

Christmas Reciepts (to keep track of the Cha-Ching!)

I then divided out the loose leaf paper between the tabs and taped my coupons onto the paper according to their category. Now my coupons are on display for me when I open my organizer. I can see exactly what I have, and when a whole page expires - I just tear it out.

Of course, carrying this large book into the store is not very practical, so I plan my shopping trip and tear out the coupons that I need to take with me. It may not work for everyone, but it certainly "Works for me"!! For more great tips please head over to Rocks In My Dryer!

Hello Coupons.

How are you today?

WFMW!! Pet Food Storage!

If you have a pet you probably have bags of pet food just sitting around taking up space or looking messy in a corner somewhere of your home (I know we did!). Here's what worked for us: Plastic Trash Cans!

Trash cans with lids make great storage for something like this. This is a very cheap trash can with a hinged lid, but one day I'd like to get something larger and more attractive - but for now it keeps the bags out of the way, the food gets stored, and it doesn't look so cluttered to have it sitting out in the open. Ours is in the corner of our kitchen. Thanks for reading!!

Works For Me Wednesday - Help! My neighbors dogs bark ALL THE TIME!

Behind our home is a thin stretch of woods behind which is an older development. Through the woods you can just barely make out a white house with a dog pen in the back. The dog that lives in this pen is a BARKER! All dogs barks, I know - but do all dogs bark all the time?? This one thinks it needs to defend its home against everything. If we so much as open our back door the dog will bark incessantly. Keep in mind we can't even see the dog from the door - we have to walk down to the property line to actually make him out through the woods. So why does he think we are trying to invade his property when we sit on our back porch!?

I can imagine its possible the owners of the dog are also frustrated. For years they lived with no houses on the other side of their woods (I think this was farm land, either that or more woods) and now they have us to contend with. Maybe the dog thinks we built a house on HIS property?

Sigh...So my Works For Me Wednesday question is - Have you ever faced a similar problem and how on earth did you fix it?

I hope that with time the dog will adjust to having us here. I am an "outside" kind of person and I hate to think that I will not be able to peacefully use my own backyard thanks to this dog!

Thanks everyone for visiting!

Do It yourself cat litter box....?

Ok, here's my silliest sounding frugal post yet, but YES I did make my own cat litter box and YES it is the jam!

If you have a cat and are broke for whatever reason (my reason is having a child but take your pick!) then this cat box is for you!

All you need is a pair of scissors and a large rubbermade storage container with snapping lid. The container should preferable be one you already have (that makes this a free project) and it should also be opaque in color, this is so you can't see the yucky cat poo inside.

Do you have your materials? Great! Now cut a big hole on the right hand side of the lid. The hole can be square or round or whatever. It doesn't have to be perfect, just as long as its big enough for your cat to get in there. I made ours about 9"x9".

The Box: Leroy

The Cat: Georgie
After you cut the hole, you fill the box up with about 3 or 4 inches of litter (we use fresh step as we've found it smells the least disgusting!) and then snap the lid on. Next, find your cat. He or she is probably hiding under the bed or in the bathtub. Put your cat as gently as possible into the box through the hole. This is so they will know where the litter is now kept and how to access it. Now just sit back, relax, and let your cat do the work!

The beauty of this litter box is not only that its cheap but also because of its functionality. That was the original reason for my doing this. Our old cat box had a swinging door that kept getting stuck. Well...when the door was stuck the cat would just pick a new place to go - as in on the carpet!

So this box not only solved that problem, but also keeps the litter in the box. I mean, some of it still gets all over the place because thats just how it goes with cats, but most of stays in. We have much less of a problem with that now. And the cat loves it because its private.

Anyway, that's my Works for me Wednesday post! Check back here for more frugal tips and mommy stories!