Looking to save time or money? Visit The Dollar Stretcher.com. Send your time and money saving tips to: Dollar Stretcher Tips, 6695 Cortez Road W., Bradenton FL 34210. If we use your tip we'll send you 3 free issues of our monthly newsletter. Copyright 2005 Dollar Stretcher, Inc. Make a Match We recently had lunch at a local restaurant and we paid with our debit card, as we often do. Our bill was for $21.04 and we left a $3 tip, making the total $24.04. When the charge cleared our bank, it cleared as $34.04. We took our receipt to the manager and he found his copy of the receipt. The waitress had added a one beside the three, making it a 13, and changed the 2 to a 3. We also learned that she had been fired earlier in the week for doing the same thing to other customers. Make sure to check your statement when you use your debit or credit card for tipping. Also, if you leave a cash tip and still pay with a credit card, make sure to mark an "X" or a line through the blank space for the tip and fill in the total line with bold numbers. We definitely learned to be more careful. Sarah in Ohio Easy Does It To keep the top of the fridge clean use waxed paper. One strip isn't wide enough, so you'll need two. Now, here is where a few of those gazillion fridge magnets in your collection will come in handy. Anchor the waxed paper with magnets at the corners of the paper. Flat magnets work great. Here's another hint. Use waxed paper on top of your cabinets, too. If they need anchoring, use something that you have that you could display (and could run through the dishwasher when dirty). This provides much easier cleanup than with a bucket and brush. Marcia G. Salon Secret I bought a really expensive conditioner for my long, extremely dry hair. It didn't do much for my hair, but I learned a salon trick that did. The directions on the salon conditioner suggested that I dry my hair with a towel before applying the conditioner. I tried this with my off-the-shelf conditioner and it was very effective. Also, I didn't need as much because my dripping wet hair didn't water it down. Debera J. Non-Toxic Bathroom Scrub I mix Borax, baking soda and a few drops of essential oils (tea tree and lavender are almost always my favorites) to make a cheap, non-toxic bathroom and kitchen scrub. I sprinkle this mixture in the tub, sinks, and toilet just as I would with Comet and then scrub with a wet washcloth. The tub and sink have never been shinier, and it works great on the toilet as well (tea tree and lavender both have antiseptic/antibiotic qualities as well as the great smell). I never have to worry about fumes or chemical sensitivities, and it's so much cheaper than the chemical cleansers you find in the stores. Also, there are no worries about an accidental overdose as I make only what I need to clean that day. Kathi in WA Cold Washing Warning I have read advice on washing in warm or cold water for frugality's sake. I've always done the same thing, but recently I read an article about the importance of washing underclothing in hot water for health purposes. The article mentioned how often e coli is found in washing machines, which caused me some concern since I have small children. Tricia Super Sandbox For coving the sandbox, I'm going to purchase a screen house or screen tent to place over the sandbox. This will keep the cats out (which was my #1 concern) as well as protect from insects and help shade my kids. Chris in Newfoundland Canada Garage Sale Grandma I have 26 grandchildren so I have a lot of fun going around to garage sales and finding things that are useful for the children as well as fun for myself. Garage sales are fun. I limit myself to $10 per week and only go about once or twice a month. Last Saturday, my husband and I went shopping at the mall and we passed a garage sale at a church not far from our home. I did not say anything about it and just could not wait to get home to drop him off and go. I found some wonderful sweaters and jackets for the grandchildren, so I brought them home and washed them. I only paid a quarter each for four of them. It is more fun than Christmas. Anniebug Ending Statement Shock My main credit card is American Express. The bill is due in full at the end of each month and I used to agonize over the high payments that came due because I didn't pay attention to my spending. Now, I deduct each charged purchase from my checking account immediately. At the end of the month, I match my check register to the bill and happily write a check for the total amount. I don't have to deduct that lump sum from the register because the payments have already been deducted throughout the month. This new method has curbed my spending and relieved the payment shock every month. Robin A. Late Night Negotiations If you end up having to get a hotel late at night, negotiate with the front desk worker, and they will often work with you. For example, I checked in at one hotel at 2 AM and began negotiating, telling the manager that all I was looking for was to sleep until 8 AM and go on my way. It took a few minutes, but I negotiated my way down from $79 to $45 for a Saturday night hotel stay. Hank Cheaper "Crumbles" My 6-year-old and I were watching TV the other day when a "Kraft Crumbles" cheese ad came on. This is a product that advertises cheese already crumbled and ready to add to salads, recipes, etc. My daughter pointed out that we've been doing this for years! All you do is buy a harder cheese, like cheddar, freeze it for a couple of days. We buy it up when we can find it on sale. Soft cheese doesn't crumble as easily. When it comes out of the freezer and is defrosted, it is easy for my kids (age 6, 4 and 19 months) to crumble it in their hands and help! LSN in SC Energy Efficient Dishwasher Use Here's another way to save money on heating water for household activities. If you have an automatic dishwasher with a water heating cycle, turn down the water heater to hand washing, shower, and bath temperature. When you run the dishwasher, use the water heating cycle. It is much less expensive to heat just the water needed to wash and sanitize the dishes than to heat water 24 hours a day for one or less loads of dishes per day. Kathy Radical Cost Cutting When we were going through some really rough times, I sat down with my shopping list and did some serious prioritizing. I sorted it into two new lists: Wants and Needs. Ten years ago, when my husband and I married, we made very little money, and I managed to feed both of us for two weeks on $30 to $40. That was all we had, and we made it work. Ten years and one child later, our grocery bill every two weeks was nearing $200. When I sat down and really evaluated my list, I noticed that many things we had once considered "wants" we now considered "needs." I found I cut my shopping list by almost 2/3 when I did that. However, to avoid total shopping shock, I did allow myself a couple of the wants back on the list. That saved time meant more time with the kids (two now) and was worth a few dollars if we had it! Colleen S.    Previous Week 05/18/06: Dollar Stretcher Tips