Readers Digest - 99 Cent Solutions: Over 1,300 Smart uses for everyday stuff including clothespins to keep hems in place as you sew, wiping down the fridge with tomato...

First printing in paperback 2011

Copyright 2010, 2015 by The Readers Digest Association, Inc.

All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, in any manner, is prohibited.

Readers Digest is a registered trademark of The Readers Digest Association, Inc.

ISBN-13: 978-1-62145-238-6 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-62145-237-9

Project Staff

Executive Editor: Elissa Altman

Writers: Sharon Bowers, Allison McCabe, Susan Randol

Senior Art Director: Edwin Kuo

Photography: Ellen Silverman, Dan Lipow

Illustrations: Adam Raiti

Photo Researcher: Benjamin DeWalt

Copy Editor: Marcia Mangum Cronin

Indexer: Cohen Carruth Indexes

Address any comments about 99-Cent Solutions to:

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Note to Readers

The contributors, editors, and proofreaders who created 99-Cent Solutions have taken all reasonable measures to confirm and verify the accuracy of the information contained in this volume. However, new learnings and research often reveal that historical information long held to be true isnt. We welcome your input on any content within this book for which you have sound evidence that it may be incorrect; mail any such comments and/or evidence to the address above. We will research all queries and make any necessary corrections in subsequent editions.

Photo credits

, Dan Lipow

Ellen Silverman

David Smith, iStockphoto

Replace the oil in baked goods with applesauce, make your copper glow and banish chlorine green hair with ketchup! Heres how to stretch that dollar and make it go much further than your refrigerator and pantry.

Think that whats for sale in the health aisle is only good for what ails you? Guess again! Bandages are for more than cuts and bruises! Use them in your sewing room to replace that missing thimble. Quiet your squeaky floor with baby powder. Thwart thieves with a plastic pocket comb.

From flowerpots to charcoal briquettes, ice scrapers, and camping matches, theres not one thing in this aisle that cant do triple (and often quadruple) duty. Got a headache? Tie on a bandanna. Need to move something heavy? Grab some gardening burlap. Scratches in your countertop? Reach for the car wax!

Window cleaner for windows, and ammonia for the bathroom, right? Wrong! Why buy bug lotion if you can stop the itch with bathroom cleaner? Never mind going to the garden store to kill that moss on your walkwayuse bleach instead! Ants in your kitchen? They hate dishwashing liquid!

Ice cube trays? Bottle openers? Cheesecloth? Youd be amazed at the multipurpose uses these everyday items have, that will save you a bundle! Unclog a stubborn drain with a wire hanger. Detail a car with a coffee filter. Separate eggs with a funnel... and much more!

Baubles and beading bore you to tears? They shouldnt! Notions can do double duty almost anywhere in the house. Fix curling wallpaper with adhesive fabric spray. Quilt your windows with batting to save on heating bills. Keep a pot from boiling over with a handful of buttons.

That white school glue? Its not just for your grandkids anymore! Use a dab to remove a splinter. Keep your plants toasty during the winter with bubble wrap. Remove scuff marks with an eraser. Pick up spilled beads with masking tape. Youll never spend unnecessarily again!

Tools can be used for a lot more than what theyre meant for. Use a bungee cord as a yoga strap! Remove white furniture rings with car wax! Seal waterproof boots with duct tape! Wear a painting mask when you cut onions. Why buy something you dont need to?

Its the icing on your cake... the cherry on your banana split... the chocolate in your egg cream: Its the lunch counter, where every one of us has treated ourselves to real cooking, at its very best. Lip smacking chili? The perfect, classic grilled cheese? Crispy delicious hash browns? Theyre all here, along with some surprising tales of how they came to be our favorite dishes.

WHY BUY PURPOSE-

SPECIFIC ITEMS WHEN

ONE SIMPLE TOOL

CAN ACCOMPLISH

SO MUCH?

Weve all had this experience, from as far back as we can remember, regardless of where we lived, or what the store was called.

We walk into our local five-and-dime (or 99 cent store, Dollar Store, Woolworths, or McCrorys or even our neighborhood general store that seems to sell far more than just nuts and bolts), and we begin to wander the aisles. We mosey up the notions aisle, transfixed by bolts of colorful fabric and buttons, and down the health and beauty aisle, with its jars of cold cream and boxes of analgesics. We stroll through the tool section and maybe visit the school supply or toy aisle, and uncover everything from glue to marbles to pencils. And then, maybe we stop for a grilled cheese sandwich or a cherry Coke to bolster a shopping trip that has turned into a walk through an institution that really hasnt changed since our grandparents day.

In my own family, my grandmother would pick me up at the school bus and togetherrain or shine, sleet or snow or hailwe would walk down a long boulevard until we arrived on a cross street that had not one, but two dime stores on it: McCrorys on the western side of the street, and Woolworths on the eastern. On some days, wed visit McCrorys for a sandwich or a slice of cherry pie, and wed stroll the aisles, looking at odd nicknacks that ran the gamut from the sublime to the positively silly. On other days, wed pop into Woolworths, which was decidedly more serious ; you could buy bicycle tires, little red wagons, thread, Play-Doh, skeins of yarn, tooth powder, buttonhole-makers, yo-yos, jacks, cans of (white) tennis balls, knee socks, tube socks, anklet socks, support hose, peds, nail files, chewing gum in every flavor, plastic guitars, strings for plastic guitars, Flutophones, glassware, Pyrex dishes, Christmas ornaments, holiday greeting cards, baby lotion, Corelle ware, rain boots, Keds, potato chips, baked goods, tools, bicycles, and everything in between. What we didnt know (or took for granted, anyway) was that Woolworths was, at one time, also the largest seller of restaurant food in the world.

Other dime store operators included Samuel Kress, whose Memphis store first opened in 1896, and who eventually built his chain up to 262 branches nationwide, with $168 million in sales. Sebastian Kresge, another mogul, had over 150 stores to his name by the middle of the First World War, and then branched out into self-service discount stores called (youll never guess!) K-Mart! Even Sam Walton launched his first retail business with a Ben Franklin store in Newport, Arkansas, and when he was unable to convince management to open discount stores, he launched... Walmart!

Today, many of these famous stores are gone... but not one of the things that continues to make the survivors famous: That almost everything you can find in a 99 cent store can save you money gobs of money.