Used Parts for Appliances and Cars

This is a post for those of you handy-women or handy-men out there (or those of you married to one).  I'm very blessed to have a husband who does all our car repair work.  He also does most of the fixing around the house too.  I'm a rather handy gal myself but the ways of the car elude me.  Not to mention it's rather difficult to fix the washing machine with a tot and a preschooler climbing on me.

So where do you get that random part needed for the washing machine or car?  Well you could go to the store and buy one. OR you could go to your local junk yard.  Wait wait! Don't run away! I think we all have a picture of a big nasty place piled high with garbage bags when we think of a dump. I'm not talking about that.  I'm talking about the junk yards that hold large appliances and cars.

Did you know, most people will toss BOTH the washer and dryer if only one of them isn't working? (Most not be overly frugal people right? ^_~) Well if you need a part for your washer or dryer you can harvest the parts off the ones in the junk yard for a good price.

We upgraded our seats in our vehicle to leather by buying them from a junk yard.  Now our vehicle has safe head rests for every member of the family, front and back seats.  And yes, we sanitized the seats.  Which is much easier to do with leather than cloth I might add.

Obviously use your common sense with buying parts from the junk yard.

Curtains

I have black out curtains in the children's rooms.  They block out any street lights, cars going by, random neighbor's oversensitive motion sensor flood lights... They also keep the the heat in better thus saving energy.  The best part is, I only bought one panel for two windows.  I cut it half and hemmed it.  One half panel covers the whole window when closed.  Plus, for little ones there isn't a long draping curtain to tug on because it is out of reach!

Sticky Stuff

I love to cook with honey.  It's a good substitute for sugar too.  Use 3/4 cup honey for 1 cup sugar.  But that measuring cup....always gets really sticky with honey.  So I spray the measuring cup with butter first.  The honey comes out easy peasy.  Also works great for other sticky items like molasses.

Cardboard

There are so many great uses for cardboard! Don't just recycle the cardboard but use it!  Here's some ideas:

• garage - my son loves using boxes as a garage for his matchbox cards, you can also use them to build parking structures
• doll house - don't forget the girls, cardboard can make the house and everything in it
• put under those older cars you have (also a money saver!) in case it drips a little to keep your garage looking nice
• paint them! great for crafts
• large boxes can be a play house for the kids to play in, you (adult) can cut out windows for them
• organize - cut slits and put together as a grid to organize a drawer into compartments
• burn it in your fireplace or outside fire pit

And when you are all done doing that, then recycle the cardboard.

Rinse those Dishes

Here's something you can train your family to do to help you out.  Rinse the dishes before you put them by the side of the sink to be washed.  You don't have to use a lot of water to do this, just enough to get that ketchup or syrup off before it becomes one with the dish.  Saves you time in scrubbing them later on and your family will feel good knowing they are making their Frugal Omma a happier person. ^_^

Air Dry

We all have laundry that piles up (didn't I just wash this?) and it takes time, money, and energy to do it.  Here's a tip, air dry as much of your laundry as you can. In fact, I sort my laundry this way (because I also wash everything in cold water it doesn't matter if whites are with darks). Some goes in the dryer (because I only have so much room on my clothes lines) and some gets hung up to dry.  I air dry as much as I can because it saves on electric cost, extra wear on the clothes and thus not having to buy clothes as often, and it gives me satisfaction watching my kids run through the sheets on a summery day (which I'm missing now that it is winter).

Peanut Butter

Ah peanut butter, what a wonderful food. Full of wonderful protein, great for sandwiches...and so hard to get off the container! I use a spatula to ensure all the wonderful peanut buttery goodness makes it out of the container and onto my sandwich.  It also makes cleanup of the container for recycling so much easier.