photo by sciondriver
We had our gas meter moved from inside the garage to outside, so the service technician checked for leaks. If our meter hadn’t been moved, I probably wouldn’t have thought to have anyone check it. It’s one of those things I take for granted. The service technician told me to keep ice and snow away from the meter, and because I do a lot of gardening, to call them before I dig in my yard. Our meter had always been inside, so I never gave ice and snow much thought. The first reader tip is a great reminder to compare your bills to your meter, check for inconsistencies and call your gas company to see whether they offer preventative/routine maintenance for piping up to the meter and the meter itself. If you’re moving to a new home, call and find out the last time the meter was exchanged for a new one.
METER MAINTENANCE: The gas company came out because we were having a problem with our gas. He asked when I had last called for meter maintenance, and I said never. Our gas meter was old, rusty and nasty-looking. He told me that they will come out, free of charge, every other year to do regular maintenance on the meter. He got the rust off and repainted it. There was a problem with one of the valves, so he fixed that. He also checked for gas leaks. We had one! It was a tiny pinhole leak on the pipe behind the meter. Lesson learned. I will be calling every other summer now to get them out here to check things out. He also told me that if you see a sudden spike in your usage to always call and have them check for leaks. — Sarah, forums
BUY LARGE QUANTITIES: I found this interesting, especially if you want to stockpile some things. Visit Dollar Tree Direct (www.dollartreedirect.com). You can buy things by the case at Dollar Tree prices. If you ship it to the store to pick up, then it’s free shipping. I thought this would be great for teachers, weddings, graduations, parties and for stockpiling cleaners and candles. Just a thought. — Bonnie, Oregon
MAKE YOUR OWN FOAM DISH SOAP: If you look on the back of the Dawn Direct Foam dish-liquid bottle, it says to replace only with more of their soap. Yeah, right! At almost $7 a bottle, there is no way. When my bottle was empty, I took a regular bottle of dish liquid and tried half soap and half water, and the soap still seemed a little thick. Right now, I’m up to one part soap to four or five parts water, and it works great! Great way to stretch a bottle of dish liquid. — hippietreehugger4ever, e-mail
CLEAN FAN BLADES: Take a towel and get it pretty damp, not dripping wet, but very damp. Then hang it on the back of the fan. Then put your blow-dryer on the highest setting and blow the dirt off the blades. It should blow back, and the dust should stick to the damp cloth. I’m sure that you would probably have to do this on both sides. — Sarah, Illinois
BUDGET CONDITIONER: Try this every so often: Mash half a banana with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Apply to dry hair, wrap in cling film or a shower cap and leave for half an hour and wash out. Lovely, soft hair for pennies! — Pooky83, e-mail
MULTIPURPOSE CUTTER: My husband likes spaghetti, but it’s messy for the kids. Cutting it with a knife and fork is tedious. I started using my pizza cutter. It’s much faster. Works great for toast, sandwiches, fudge, cake and pancakes, too. — Sharon, e-mail
REPURPOSE ICE-CUBE TRAYS: I see these often at yard sales, and they are dirt-cheap. They’re great for holding small items in drawers. My daughter had a lot of costume jewelry when she was younger. We lined a drawer in her dresser with them and then stacked more on top to use for jewelry storage for her. It worked great, and she could see all of her things. — heartofmine, Tennessee
Note: Pour leftover gravy, coffee, soup or tomato sauce into the ice tray for later use. Or make a batch of cookie dough: Place dough into each tray cubby and freeze. Pop dough cubes out when ready to use.
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Post from: Frugal Village
Be a meter reader
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译文:
做一个会读仪表的人
我们将汽油表从车库里转移到外面，这样负责维修的技术人员就能为渗漏情况做检查了。如果我们的汽油表没有挪动的话，我大概还不会想到找人来检查。这只是我的假设而已。维修人员告诉我，要将冰雪保持远离油表，而我又是个喜欢园艺的人，如果我要在园子里开挖的话最好先通知他们。由于我们的油表一直都不在室外，所以我从来没想过冰雪覆盖的问题。这个建议倒是很好地让我能记住，好好比较一下自己的钞票与汽油表，时常通知你的汽油公司，不管他们是进行预防性防护还是提供例行检查，为了预防一切的反常现象。而在你搬了一个新家后，检查一下原先油表的最后操作以便于迁入下一个新的油表。
汽油表的维修：汽油公司的派人到来是因为我们的汽油出了问题。维修人员问我上一次进行维修服务是什么时候，我回答他从没叫过。我们的油表很旧了，生着锈，看上去十分糟糕。他对我说他们会进行免费修理的，且在今后的每一年都会进行规律性的维修检查。他为油表除锈并重新上了漆，有一个阀门有点问题，也被他重新固定了。然后他又检查了汽油渗漏状况——被找出来了，我们确实有一个针孔大小的洞在油表后的管子上。又上了一课啊。我打算今后的每个夏天都把他们叫过来检查了。他还告诉我如果再发现什么突发状况一定要即时告诉他们以进行检查。
——莎拉，来自论坛
大量购买：我感觉这样挺有趣的，尤其是当我想大量储存什么东西的时候。在这个网站(http://www.dollartreedirect.com/)上，你可以以这个网站的优惠价格买到想要的东西。如果你需要用船大量运输到存货处，运输也是免费的。我觉得这对教育购买、婚礼、毕业典礼、派对以及大量储存清洁用品和蜡烛是很有用的。这只是我的看法。
——邦妮，欧列根
给你的盘子抹上肥皂：如果你阅读了晨光牌餐具洗涤液后的说明后你会看见，它告诉我们必须寻找除了他们之外的其他洗涤液了。是的没错！差不多7美元一瓶，没别的办法了。当我的瓶子空了的时候，我就会取一个固定的瓶子，试着以一半洗涤液一半水的比例调和，不过那肥皂水看起来还是浓稠了一些。好吧，现在我以1：5的比例加入洗涤剂和水，然后终于成功了！这可是一种节约洗涤液的好办法啊。
——hippietreehugger4ever,，来自e-mail
清洗扇叶：拿一条湿毛巾，不用到滴水的程度，但要保证它足够湿。将它挂在扇叶后面，然后将你的吹风机开到最大档，以此来吹落扇叶上的污垢。那些污垢大概会吹回来，然后它们就会被粘在湿毛巾上。我觉得你一定得两面都这么做。
——莎拉，来自伊力诺依斯
预算控制者：试试这个：将半个香蕉同一勺橄榄油捣成泥，然后将这些紧紧包裹在干枯的头发上，或用浴帽罩着，一个半小时后洗掉。柔软的头发就这样用几便士就弄好了！
——波齐83，来自e-mail
多用途工具：我的丈夫喜欢意大利面，但是这对孩子来说太棘手了。用刀叉来切着实是没意思，于是我开始试着用我的匹萨切割刀。这快多了。对于烤面包、三明治、乳脂软糖、蛋糕和薄煎饼同样非常适用。
——莎朗，来自e-mail
制冰格的其他用途：我常常在庭院买卖会上看见它们，而且还卖得如此地便宜。这对于整理收纳抽屉物品非常有帮助。我女儿以前有很多服饰珠宝，我们她的饰品放在这些制冰格里，放在她的梳妆台中，它们一叠叠地摆放在她的储存空间里。这很不错，她可以很容易地看到她的所有东西。
——heartofmine，来自田纳西州
注意：将剩余的肉汁、咖啡、汤和番茄汁倒到制冰格中可以备用。或者制作一批曲奇饼用的面团放入制冰格中，这样能更好地为下次使用做好准备。