Tips from Dollar Stretcher

Thanks Gary from Dollar Stretcher!

Finding Tall & Plus Women's Clothing

I am about 6 feet tall. I have trouble with clothes but have recently found a solution. I have found that certain upscale brands fit my longer limbs and torso. The problem is that they are often pricey. However, all of these stores have 75% off sales several times per year. The best way to determine the sales is to get on their mailing list or email list. They will send you advance notice of the sales. They are usually just before they restock for a new season, such as the first couple of weeks of January and also July. I just paid $10 to $15 each for several pairs of high quality pants. I have been able to repeat this multiple times so it is not just a fluke.
Deborah


Knowing What's Inside

After grocery shopping, I write out a list of all the meals I can make with the groceries I have on hand and post it to the side of the refrigerator. When I make a meal, I cross it off my list. This is a visual reminder to use up what I have on hand. Before I started doing this, I would forget about a lot of the things I had in my pantry and freezer and feel that I had to run to the store and spend more money to make dinner. Now I really try to use up what I have.
Becky M. in Searcy, AR


3 x 5 x 5

Three friends and I get together about every six weeks to cook five meals times five. We cook five different entrees and make five of each of those. Each of us go home with five meals to freeze and we have an additional set of five meals to give away to someone in need or someone who has just had a baby. With bulk shopping at Sam's Club, we are usually able to keep the cost of each entree at about five dollars and we have a fun morning of chatting. One or two of us does the planning and shopping and then everyone else reimburses those people. In the end, it saves on gas a bit too for those not shopping that week.

Most of the entrees are able to be put into freezer bags, which can be frozen flat for those who don't have a separate freezer. We also usually make one meal that doesn't freeze as well and plan to have it the evening we cook. We bring a casserole or other appropriate dish to put that meal into and that saves on one set of freezer bags. It is wonderful to have those meals ready to go. On a busy day, it prevents just picking something up or driving through for fast food.
Lisa


Compare Online

My husband and I recently switched from prepaid cell phones to using a cell phone plan with a major carrier. Before doing so, we went online to compare options and prices among various carriers. We decided what we wanted, found the cheapest plan and then headed to the local store.

We both picked the phones we wanted with rebates, etc. As the salesclerk was tallying up what our monthly bill would be, it was about $15 more than we had calculated. We had told him we wanted the lowest minute plan they had. Evidently, the lowest minute plan in the store had more minutes and cost more money. Fortunately, we caught the issue. Otherwise, we would have ended up paying $15 more a month for extra minutes that we don't need. We were glad we'd done a little legwork ahead of time. We ended up saving about $360 over our two-year contract!
Stacey S. in Muncie, IN


Small Toy Pieces

My nine-year-old boy is really into the small Legos that form Star Wars characters. After dumping three packages on the floor and then trying to sort them out, I got an empty egg carton and took it to him. He sorted the pieces according to what they were, colors, etc. and placed each one in a section of the carton. He got along much better with this method. When he was finished, he asked if I'd save more cartons for him. He said that he could put a cotton ball on top of each section and that would keep them from falling out all over the place. It sounds like a plan to me! It made the frustration of not finding the "needle in the haystack" a lot easier.
Nanc


Options?

I recently had to get glasses and learned that I would need bifocals. I was told that the lenses would start at about $400. I came in a few weeks later and dealt with another clerk. She added everything up and it suddenly came to over $700. I was quite shocked and didn't know what to do. Then I remembered the card with the earlier lower price on it.

Suddenly she was able to give me alternatives and explain that the lenses that she quoted me were the ones with two years of warranty instead of the one-year warranty that I was quoted earlier. Prior to this, she hadn't explained any of the choices to me. Also, the $200 dollar lenses for my sunglasses suddenly had an alternative. I could get clip-on sunglasses for $50.

I realized that it is important to not assume anything. Always ask if there are less expensive options.
BJ


Instead of Dry Cleaning

I was so surprised to see what we used to call the "hillbilly press" go upscale. You don't need an expensive dryer with a "steam" setting or one of those toxic in-dryer "dry cleaning kits." Here's how it works. Take an old towel (one that won't shed lint anymore), moisten it, wring it out, and put it in a warm-to-hot clothes dryer with your wrinkled item. Let the dryer spin for a minute or two (long enough to make steam, but not long enough to shrink susceptible fabrics). Take the item out right away and hang it up. I've found that in addition to getting the wrinkles out, the nap on the towel will remove pet hair, dust, and other light debris. For best results in avoiding lint, use a light towel with light-colored items and a dark towel with dark ones.
Linda M.


Homemade 'Non-Stick' Spray

I bake a lot. Instead of buying expensive cake release or nonstick spray I make my
own. It's just equal parts of flour and shortening plus a little bit of vegetable oil to make it more spreadable. I usually use one cup of flour, one cup of shortening and two tablespoons of oil. I mix it up and store it in an airtight container. Just brush it into your pans. The results are great.
Dana R. in St. Joseph, IL


Save the Box!

If you hold an annual garage sale or sell your kid's toys at a consignment store, try to save the original toy boxes. So many toys are great for a short while, then become a bore for my kids (and just one more thing for me to dust and clean up!), so I flatten and store many of the boxes and keep them. I have found that I can price items four times higher at garage sales, and definitely get a much higher trade price at the consignment store when I present the toy in the original box.
Jennifer in Rio del Mar, California