Top 10 Thrifty Tips from Brini Maxwell

I finished Brini Maxwell's Guide to Gracious Living in one proverbial gulp. It's light reading with tips we've read before, but the design and photography makes it fresh.

Thrifty Tips for Parties

1. When you throw a party make your own banners with felt, you can give the banner to the guest of honor as a gift

2. Be creative with gift wrap, use second hand and/or vintage wallpaper, color photographs, old posters, etc.

Thrifty Cleaning Tips

3. Use a pipe cleaner to clean grimy can openers instead or replacing them

4. Drop a fizzy denture tablet in your toilet bowl before cleaning it to make the task easier

5. Reuse cigarette ashes, they make excellent silver and gold polish

6. Clean a stained white sink by lining them with paper towels, then saturating the paper towels in bleach before you go to bed. When you wake up, the sink should sparkle like new

7. Reuse small pieces of soap by collecting them in a small mesh bag and hanging them under the sink spigot when you take a bath; thrifty bubble bath for pennies!

Thrifty Painting Tips

8. Rub petroleum jelly on hinges of doors before painting them so paint flecks rub off easily

9. Put a large rubber band vertically around the paint can and wipe the excess paint from your brush on this rather than the paint can rim. Mess is greatly reduced and you save more paint

10. When you need a quick break from painting but don't want to clean up, wrap your paint brushes in plastic wrap and place them in the fridge. When you're ready to paint again they'll still be fresh

More than giving me thrifty tips, the book inspired me with its retro graphic design, clean layout, and pin-up style photography. For cooks, there's a spin on deviled eggs, meatloaf, hamburgers, potato salad, and nearly every other "American Staple". It's a cute little read that inspired me to keep up a tidy and thrifty lifestyle.

Random Winning: My morning gave me a pleasant surprise. I won Bianca’s fun 1 Year Flickr Pro Account Giveaway. Be sure to check out her crafty mail-art blog. It’s full of texture, color, and inspiration: Goodnight Little Spoon. I'll get to work tonight cleaning up and using my now improved Flickr Account.

This book is from my dollar store book haul.