Thrifty Thursday

Here are my Thrifty Nifties today:

1 - On Sunday, I discovered something amazing...  maybe you already discovered it, and maybe you should have shared that idea with me, say, oh, four years ago?? 

I was picking out Mallary's tights for church, and I found a good pair (meaning no picks, nubbies, fuzzies, you know what I mean...), and then realized they were wrong side out.  The right side, however was filled with all of the above.  So, you guessed it Mallary just wore her tights wrong side out, JUST LIKE NEW! 

Big deal?  You've already been doing that?  Well, I thought it was brilliant, and why hadn't I thought about it before!?!?!  Usually I just toss them or save them to cut up to use to tie up my tomato plants in the summer.  (That's right, TWO thrifty nifties in one!  Use your torn up panty hose and tights to help stake your tomato plants.)

2 - Don't be afraid of Dry Clean only or Hand Wash.  On Monday, I saved at least 25 bucks washing some stuff I had been saving to take to the dry cleaners.  I don't know why I waited so long to wash it myself...  I worked at a dry cleaners as a teenager and learned a few things about labels and dry cleaning.  A company can only put one label on your clothes, so they are going to choose what might be safer for the complete silly person out there that would put wool in the dryer (not intending to make felt mind you), which is by default, dry clean only. 

Hand wash - For example, if a clothing item says this, my sister won't buy it.  Half of my clothes I bought last year are hand wash only, but you won't ever catch me hand washing anything...  Take advantage of your washers hand wash setting! (Usually that item needs to be air dried though)  I've never had a problem.  I know people throw away dirty baby toys.  Who's going to hand wash those? Not me!  Throw them in the washer!

Dry Clean - The trick is to look at the material and use common sense.  Is it mostly cotton?  Wash it in cold - to be safe, just don't dry it (in case it has a lining then the cotton will shrink, but the lining won't, making your item of clothing uneven).  Just don't wash silk.  The only time I've been burned actually, because I didn't look at the tag.  I thought it was some kind of washable taffeta.  Men's ties?  I've washed TONS of these.  Obviously don't wash the pure silk ones, but you have to wash these on delicate, so they don't get beat up in the washer.  Maybe toss them in the dryer for a few minutes, then hang to dry the rest of the way. 

Most likely, half the clothes you dry clean you can wash in your washer. 


Now, maybe with the money you saved on not having to buy new tights and not dry cleaning you can go catch a movie!  Or come visit me!!    :)