I have a lot of Zinnia's that i have taken off the main stem and taken apart and I don't knoe the easiest way to get the seeds out of the pile because seems like there are seeds and then just a simple dried flower stem along beside them. I have been using tweezers but there has to be an easier...

Brrr!!! It's really cold here in the Northeast. There were flurries in CT during the day, and snow expected over night in MA. They've probably got inches in Maine. And it's October 15th!!! This augers for a long cold winter. I've been getting my wardrobe ready for winter -- spending a...

This is a virtually free tip that will extend the life of your paper shredder and can even bring it back from the dead: Vegetable Oil. Pour some vegetable oil (corn, canola, what have you -- probably not expensive olive oil) down where the paper goes every now and then (say, mabye once a month) and it...

We all have them, the weird things that are in the house that we save and get over run with or we simply toss because we see them as not useful. Well, if you look at things just ever so slightly askew....you might find some great uses for 'useless' stuff. But, before I list and try to explain...

I just read an AP article in my local newspaper about "Transumers" -- people who are transient consumers. They don't purchase and consume things, they rent or lease consumer items that are then passed on to the next transumer. Sounds sort of green and sustainable, right? It was billed as...

One vital key to thinking like a homesteader is not so much 'pack-ratting' (although I stand guilty of that with glass jars), but looking at ways to reuse something that might otherwise be thrown away. Today I want to share a pictorial tutorial of just what I'm talking about: A chewed up...

My cat animal companion, Jerome, loves to play with things on sticks or string. But not anything on a stick or a string. I've tried making tin foil balls and wrapping a piece of string around it -- no dice. His ferocious hunter instinct is only roused by toys with feathery bits or little strips of...

Spring has sprung here in New England and the farmer's markets, farm stands, and greenhouses are displaying their wares. A friend just spent $200 in one day on plants -- all annuals! Yikes! Here are some tips to keep your garden costs low. Plant swaps -- look in the newspaper or at the library or...

I've been making my own personal and household cleaning products for a while now. I've shared some of the personal care items (the famous salty toothpaste, vinegar hair rinse, shampoo and body wash), and thought I would share these household cleaners with the Dollar Stretcher Community. Laundry...

Well, weather you care to learn these tips because you dream of 'Little House on the Prairie Days' or you just want to stretch the dollars you have, a homesteader's mind works a little differently than most. One main thing is to look at any one object and see how many different ways you can...