|
|
CTC Readers' Poll:
|
|
"What are your favorite household tools, equipment and services that have saved you much more than they cost? The savings can be in the form of money, time, or even stress and aggravation." |
|
"I
guess if I had to choose my ‘favorite’
household tool that we purchased, it would be my
carpet cleaner. It wasn’t too very
expensive (about $150 at our local 'big name'
retailer), came with a warranty, and I use
it at least every
week. We
live on a small farm with lots of animals around
us. When we bought the house, it came with
carpeting. And 'off white' at that! We
rented a carpet cleaner to do the initial cleaning
before we moved in (about $200 for 3 days, plus
solutions, and transporting to and from). Then I
purchased carpet cleaner sprays and foam in the
‘point & shoot cans’ to try to maintain
the carpets. The foams and the household cleaners
and homemade potions just never cleaned the
carpets. The cost of replacing the carpet is just
too expensive for us right now, but it was
embarrassing for me to have people see our floors
(rain, mud, horses, ducks, dogs, cats, grass,
dirt, dust, kids, gardening, hubby’s a mechanic,
etc). Now I just pour in the water and a squirt or two of the solution, turn it on, run it over the carpets and MAGIC – they are off white again! And I can do this any time, day or night! Spot cleaning, all over cleaning, whatever. One day, I may even teach the hubby how to do it!" ~ Denise "I have a little kitchen appliance called the GT XPress 101 that I first saw on an infomercial in the middle of the night while feeding my son. I finally got one (on eBay, not via the infomercial) and paid about $40 I think. It is small, counter-top, and powerful. The gist of it is that it cooks things in shorter cooking times because it cooks from both the top and bottom. There are many recipes in the book that comes with it, but we primarily use it to create: (1) desserts in 8 minutes, (2) and breads/muffin mixes are ready for dinner in 8 minutes, and hot 'wrap' sandwiches using lots of leftover foods for lunches.
The reason I say it's
a good investment is that I use it at least every
other day, unlike many other small appliances, I
don't have to turn the oven on (use
electricity/heat up the kitchen) and it's
portable. We've taken it on vacations to
create evening treats or breakfast sweets
without buying a $2.50 muffin or a $4 piece of cake
and appealing lunches instead of $8.99
sandwich plates at restaurants.
It wouldn't work very
well for a family of more than 4 because you would
have to make "2 rounds" of everything,
but for 4 or less FABULOUS!" ~ Ann
"My husband and I both live high stress lives. We found that getting a weekly massage made a huge difference in the way we feel. In our area, a massage costs $50 to $60 and the time it takes to go get one ends up being about 2 hours. I found a massage chair called the Ijoy II. A new one costs around $800 but I found a couple of reconditioned ones on ebay for $450 each. I bought one for each of us and we use them everyday while we are winding down in the evening. These chairs are nothing short of a miracle in our lives. I highly recommend them for anyone dealing with back and shoulder stress." ~ Linda (Texas) "Without
a doubt my best investment was a large clothes
drying rack. I've saved electricity both by
not running the dryer but also not running a
humidifier in the winter and not needing the
ac to fight the dryer heat in the summer. It
also saves wear and tear on the clothes and
keeps me from cooking in a stain that I might
not have seen." ~ Christy
"My mixer has been one of my greatest
investments and has saved me many grocery
dollars. It is a Kitchenaid heavy-duty
mixer. At the time I bought it, 8 years ago,
it retailed for around $180.00. I saw
it at a yard sale. The seller wanted
$150.00 for it. I told her that was a
little steep for me, but I would check with
her at the end of the day to see if she had
sold it. She hadn't sold it even
though she had lowered the price to $100.00.
I told her that it was still too steep for
my budget. She offered it for fifty
dollars. I told her I could write her
a check for fifty dollars or pay her thirty
dollars in cash, which I pulled out of my
pocket and showed her. She took the
cash. This has been my best deal as the
mixer was and still is in mint condition. I
use it all the time and it has saved me
countless grocery dollars and helped me
prepare many meals and desserts including
the chocolate cream pie my husband and older
daughter love to have on their birthdays and
any other time they can talk me into making
it." ~ Angie in KY
"I
LOVE my Bocsh kitchen machine. I can do huge
batches of whatever to feed my six children
(five of them boys:) The all-metal gear
system can handle whatever I put through it,
and believe me , I tend to push the
limits." ~ Esther in Nova Scotia,
Canada "Sometimes the simplest tools are the best. When we moved into a home with vaulted ceilings changing a light bulb in a ceiling fixture posed a great problem for me, who stands at all of five foot tall. Rather than climb a ladder or stand on chairs for the lower ones I invested in a extendable light bulb changer. These can be purchased at places like Wal-Mart. They are generally yellow in color. They come with a series of baskets and suction cups that screw on the end. I purchased mine for about $10, I believe they run about $13 now. Since my original purchase for the occasional light bulb change I have found we use this item nearly daily, mainly for it's extension properties. Here's a list of just a few of the ways we use it. 1. One of the baskets is just the perfect size for picking those prize fruits and nuts from the upper tree branches without bruising the tender fruit. 2. We gather eggs from our free ranging birds from under porches with another sized basket on the end of the extension. 3. While our birds free range during the day we coop them at night. Occasionally one naughty bird will go to the trees. The soft suction cup on the end gives a good platform to nudge the bird from the branches with. 4. When a poisonous snake was on the porch rail in an area my husband couldn't get a good shot at it the TOTALLY extended tool was used to move the snake into a better area. Then it was used to dispose of the body. 5. We herd birds with it as an extension of our arms. 6. When we need to move an irate mama goose away from a nest it is a very good way to keep from being flogged without hurting the bird. (we use the soft suction cup on the end to protect the bird) 7. Some of my cabinets go all the way to those tall ceilings. I've used the suction cup or baskets to retrieve things off those tall shelves. 8. A hook of clothes hanger wire duct taped to the end make it a valuable tool for hanging Christmas lights in trees. 9. We've used it to retrieve items from our above the ground pool. 10. Retrieving lost cat toys from under furniture That's the top 10 as you can see there is seldom a day it is not used. This makes my $10 investment of 10 years ago worth thousands of dollars to me." ~ Jan who enjoys your newsletter in OK "Two investments that have paid for themselves many times over:
Our freezer. We have
been able to take advantage by stocking
up on freezer foods when they are super
cheap and the freezer has enabled us to
cut down on the number of trips to the
store.
Our tandem bicycle. The
bicycle is a constant source of
enjoyment. We frequently make trips to
the dentist office or run errands on the
bike so we save on gas. We've also made
a number of friends who bike so cycling
has become part of our social life not
to mention all the health benefits from
cycling five days per week.
If I could add two investments on the
home office side, it would be these:
A good, heavy duty
multi-function printer. We were
going through cheap printers like they
were going out of style. Nothing would
last longer than the warranty period.
Finally we invested in a heavy duty one
(an HP Color LaserJet 2840). We have
saved ourselves so many headaches, trips
to the local copy station and office
supplies store. The cartridges are more
expensive but seem to last forever
compared to the tiny ones in the less
expensive machines. The elimination of
the aggravation factor alone was worth
the investment. We couldn't be happier!
A part time assistant -
We've finally turned over repetitive
tasks to my highly competent sister in
law who now works for us out of her
home. We are able to focus on providing
coaching services and speaking
throughout the country rather than doing
mail-outs, keeping up our data base and
handling billings." ~ Marci
"One of the most worthwhile gadgets I have ever purchased is the Food Saver. I have never calculated, but know that this has saved my husband and I a lot of wasted food which equals dollars. In addition to freezing leftovers for later, I also use it to put up vegetables in the summer. I freeze okra, corn, and tomatoes for cooking and, when you seal them with the Food Saver, you don't have to worry about freezer burn. It is very convenient and less expensive to buy meat in bulk and divide into meal sizes and seal and freezer with the Food Saver. I even use it to reseal bags of salad mix, bread crumbs, flour, and cornmeal, and it sure will keep your brown sugar from hardening. I only paid around $100 for it, but it sure has saved us more than that." ~ Mary Ann "It may not be a household item but the best investment I ever made in a 'thing' was laser eye surgery. Now I wake up in the morning and get a big goofy smile - the world is beautiful and I can see it clearly. No more lost or scratchy contact lenses, no more lost broken or scratched and smudgy glasses to keep track of - just color and definition and immediacy. I have probably spent about the same on the surgery as I would have spent on contacts and glasses over the last 15 years alone and the joy of just being able to see and immediately get on with things is amazing." ~ Di "To save time, money and my knees and back, I got myself an auto mechanic seat on rollers to use when I wash, wax and detail my car. It has a tray under the seat to hold my detailing products and stuff .I also use it in my home to sit on when I clean out bottom cabinets, paint and clean baseboards, and other things . I also use my leaf blower to dry off my car after I wash to save time on towel drying it less water spots." ~ Judy in KY "Although it's not what most people would consider to be an investment, the absolute best money I have ever spent in my life was a nickel I paid for a used Yahtzee game at a church rummage sale. Our family has received more hours of enjoyment from that nickel than I could ever tell you. It brings the family together, helps the younger ones work on their counting, helps us all work on our manual dexterity, besides providing entertainment." ~ Shawn "My dear friend bought a bread machine for herself a few years ago and I was very intrigued–but unwilling to spend upwards of $70 for an appliance I wasn't sure I'd be disciplined enough to use. I went to the thrift store and bought a used one for $6, just to see if I would actually use it. Now I make from-scratch, (mostly) whole-grain bread for pennies a loaf. It took a while for me to get into the routine of baking the bread, but now I've got our favorite recipe memorized and it only takes a few minutes to toss the ingredients in the pan and later shape the loaves. A loaf of natural whole-grain bread (without corn syrup or trans fat) costs more than $3 a loaf at the store–so I've make my $6 investment back about every five days–saving us nearly $1,000 over the 2+ years we've had the machine. Even the $70 would have been a good investment, I know now. I love my bread machine so much that I kept my eyes open for an identical one at yard sales, and did find a brand new one for $4, giving me an extra pan if the first breaks and an extra machine if the first motor gives out." ~ Catherine, Minneapolis "My favorite tool is the metal, heavy duty packaging tape dispenser. I can close every side of any package by holding the 'tape machine' in one spot and rotating the package 360 degrees under it. I have used it for 6 household moves in 10 years, and to send dozens of birthday and Christmas packages to the folks back home. It allows me to purchase the tape itself in large economy rolls. It saves a great amount of time and stress, and seals my packages much more securely than gift wrapping or masking tape. It was the very best $8.95 I ever spent." ~ Nicki "My favorite thing that has paid for itself over time is dryer balls. They cost anywhere from $6-10 dollars and can be found at Bed Bath and Beyond or Wal-mart. They look like giant cat toys and my family all laughed at me when they saw them. You just take both of them and throw them in the dryer with your clothes and they soften and fluff them, even better then fabric softener. I use to pay about 3-4 dollars a month for fabric softener and now I don't need any. Also, they cut the drying time down for each load saving me more money off the electric bill and I can finish the laundry even faster! Now who's laughing?" ~ Jennifer in NC "This question is easy! My clothesline and clothespins have easily saved me hundreds of dollars in electricity charges. I always hang my clothes out to dry , even in winter. As long as the sun is out, they dry beautifully. What I cannot understand is why most people don't hang their laundry. It's an extremely simple way to save money and more importantly, do your part to save reduce the use of fossil fuels. I even enjoy going outside 1st thing in the morning to hang the clothes. I really take the time to enjoy my surroundings, listen to the sounds of nature and feel the sun warm me. It's actually a relaxing, peaceful chore." ~ Anonymous "Hands down, the biggest time (and money) saving item in my house has to be my crock pot. I can make any number of dinners with a minimum of effort, usually I just throw the ingredients together before I leave for work, and come home that evening to a nutritious, home-cooked meal. I can make soups, stews, chicken or roast with no trouble at all. My favorite is when I can make one of those crock pot meals turn into two or even three different meals. One night we may have beef roast, the next day I'll shred some left over meat for sandwiches, and that next evening, I'll take the juices reserved from the crock pot the night before, throw in some whole wheat pasta and frozen vegetables, and have a wholesome, fast soup for dinner!" ~ Michele, Wisconsin
Editor's Note: Thanks to all these readers who took time to write! |