Have you ever miscalculated the amount of corn on the cob you needed? The first tip solves that problem. I like the idea enough to use it on a regular basis for my kids, so there’s less chance of them wasting an entire ear of corn. Plus, food on a stick is just plain fun.
FOOD ON A STICK: We had company and were short three ears of corn. Some of the guests were young kids. I didn’t want to leave them out. Breaking the corn in half didn’t seem to be the best solution because I didn’t want it to look like I didn’t have enough. I did end up breaking them in half, but I used wooden chopsticks that I had in my kitchen drawer to make corn on a stick. It saved the day. It looked as if I planned it all along. Next time, I will plan this, and I could use pop sticks or wooden skewers. — Jean, New York
FRUGAL FUN: Geocaching is a frugal hobby. People hide geocaches, which range in size from a nano (roughly the size of a chapstick tube) to weatherproof ammo boxes, for other geocachers to find. Some caches contain trinkets, but all contain a log. When you find a cache, you exchange trinkets (or not) and sign the log. The only necessary piece of equipment is a portable GPS. Mine cost less than $100, and you can pick up a used one on eBay for even less. Membership at www.geocaching.com is free, although a premium membership, which gives you several neat search tools, costs $30 a year. When we travel, we seek geocaches along the way to break up the long drives. When we’re at home, we run out and hunt a cache just for the chance to get some fresh air. — Tom C., e-mail
CRUSTLESS SANDWICHES: For many years, I have used hamburger buns to make grilled-cheese sandwiches. Butter the white sides, put the cheese (I use two slices) between the brown sides and grill white sides out. Delicious! Kids love the round sandwiches. There is no crust to trim. You can use a pizza cutter to cut them into wedges for little ones. — Joy Pruner, e-mail
FIGHT GERMS: Wash cans of food before opening. The cans get handled by people, breathed on, coughed on and sneezed on. Opening them without washing or wiping down the lids lets in all kinda of germs. Yuck! — Susan S., Indiana
Note from Sara: If you’ve had pantry moths, washing down canned goods is a necessary step when trying to eliminate them.
ORGANIZE MAGAZINES: I have magazines that I don’t want cut up and have them stored in a shirt gift box. I label the box by magazine or subject, and they store easily under a bed or on a shelf. — Lanah, Maryland
SAVE GREASE: I save grease from sausage and bacon for making dog biscuits, and I use small saplings cut from the yard for tomato stakes. — Pemberlyn, Alabama
DISPLAY CARDS: I am notorious for hanging on to cards, but they always got stuffed into a box and never seen again. So now I put aside the ones with pretty pictures on the front, frame them and then copy what was written in them on the back of the frame. Now I have a whole set of holiday pictures (for every holiday) for the cost of yard-sale and thrift-store frames. The best part is that they mean something, since they were all sent to me from people I love. And it’s nice to reread what was said in the cards year after year. — Kaitlan, Colorado
REUSE TISSUE BOXES: I cut the lids off old facial-tissue boxes, decorate them and place cookies in them for bake sales and cookie exchanges. — Melina, Massachusetts
译文:
兼听则明（妙招大家享）
你有没有过错误的估计准备的玉米的数量？下面的第一个小贴士就可以帮你解决这个问题。我非常喜欢这个主意，平时我也会用在自己的孩子的身上，而且他们几乎不会浪费任何一块玉米。此外，在食物上插上小木棍儿也挺有意思的。
插着小木棍儿的食品：一次聚会上我少准备了三根玉米。客人中虽然有几个小孩子，但是我并不想不把他们计算在内。把玉米切成两半好像并不是什么好办法，因为拿回显得我们准备的东西不够。最后我的确把玉米从中间切成两半，但是我用我厨房抽屉里面的筷子插到了玉米上。这虽然花了我一天的时间，但是就好像是我精心设计的一样。下一次，我想我会用串肉串的木签字之类的东西。---简，来自纽约
朴实的乐趣：“寻宝”可能是一个最为节俭的习惯。 人们可以藏起各种各样的“宝物”，从到盒子般大小的音乐播放器，到不受天气影响的弹药箱，供寻宝者搜寻。有的“宝物”可能只是些不值钱的小玩意，但一定会有些东西在里面的。当你找到“宝物”的时候，你可以拿自己的交换或者是在上面写上自己的名字。你所需要的唯一的装备就是便携式的GPS（全球地位系统）。我的GPS还不到100块，你可以到易趣上买个二手的，应该更便宜。你可以到http://www.geocaching.com/上面去免费注册，当然你也可以每年交三十块钱当个高级会员，这样你就可以得到几件不错的小工具。当我们旅行的时候，我们总会在沿途“寻宝”使得长途旅行不再那么乏味；当我们在家的时候，我们也会出去“寻宝”因为这可以让我们有机会出去呼吸一下新鲜的空气。---汤姆，电邮提交。
无硬边三明治：很多年来，我都用小面包来做烤乳酪三明治。 用黄油屠刀白色的那一面，把奶酪（我通常会用两片）放在棕色的那一面和烤好的白色那边的外面。美味妙极！孩子们都喜欢这样的圆形的三明治。 因为没有难切的硬皮。 你可以用披萨铲把三明治切成楔形的小块。---乔伊.普鲁纳，电邮提交。
打到病菌：在打开罐头以前一定要好好的洗洗罐子的外部。好多人摸过它们，或者是冲着它们呼吸、咳嗽甚至是打喷嚏。 如果没有冲洗或者擦拭就打开的话，会让细菌轻而易举的进入。这可太恶心了！---苏珊，来自印第安纳州。
萨拉的提示： 如果你储物室里面有飞蛾，当你要清除它们的时候一定彻底清理那些罐装的食品。
整理杂志： 我有一些不想打乱后放到衬衣盒子里面的杂志。 我根据里面放置的杂志的名字或者话题在盒子上贴上标签，这样放到床下或者是架子上收藏就很容易了。---拉娜，来自马里兰州。
存留油脂： 我会把香肠或是烤肉溢出的油脂收集起来，给我的狗狗做饼干用。我也会将搭建院子篱笆剩下的小木条用来搭西红柿架子。---蓬波利，来自阿拉巴马州。
展示明信片： 一直以来我都因为舍不得扔掉任何一张明信片而臭名昭著。他们塞满了我所有的盒子，却用不得再见天日。最近我把那些图片很漂亮的明信片找了出来，然后给他们配上框子，将明信片上的内容抄写到框子的背面。现在我已经有了一整套假日系列（包含所有的假日哦），这也是我在院子大卖场或者节俭大卖会上的本钱。这些明信片对我来说最重要的是它们意义非凡，它们都是那些爱我的人寄给我的。年复一年，能够读到上面的字句是多么的惬意啊！---凯蒂兰，来自科罗拉多州。
二次使用纸巾盒：将用完的面巾纸的盒顶剪掉，稍微装饰一下。把烤好的小饼干放进去用来售卖或者与人交换。---梅琳娜，来自马萨诸塞州。