Portobello Mushroom Burger

Check this out a yummy #portobello mushroom burger with all the tasty drippings of a hamburger with a lot less calories. Taste,is what, I was really after but saving a few calories won't hurt me either :) I didn't even miss the meat. Why did I try this, because two big mushroom caps were on sale for a $1.00 yesterday at walmart's vegetable bargain rack. So I brought them home and cleaned off a bit of soggy bad part, do not wash a portobello mushroom because they will end up a black mess in your hand... I found out the hard way. You can wipe them off with a towel, like you do other mushrooms because if you rinse them with water they become tough.Then you scrap out all the black ribs found on the underside of the mushroom. How to Cook : I fried it skin side up in butter in my cast iron frying pan. Then I tossed in the pan, fresh spinach to wilt, s/p. I flipped the big mushroom cap over and melted old cheddar cheese on the top. I had no buns so I toasted bread. Then I piled on mayo, portobello mushroom cap with cheese and topped it with the wilted spinach. Oh man... if you love mushrooms like I do you need to try this :)

Steak and Eggs

Photo by Suzzycue Hi friends :) If you are like me ...this time of year, I play casino games on my laptop. My favorite right now is solitare areana , but I love the slots and poker. I was sitting at home playing on my laptop[ for free of course, it doesn't get any more, good ,#frugal entertainment than... that LOL],and I wondered how to make my home casino experience seem more like the real thing. I did do the Vegas trip and realized it was the food, that was missing. I wasn't going to cook up a big smorgasbord on my budget but realized #steak and #eggs would add a nice touch. I had some AAA Angus, boneless, stewing beef that I bought half off at Walmart and a 2$ dozen eggs in the fridge. So I heated up the cast iron frying pan, dabbed in some olive oil, 2 smashed toes of garlic, 4 mushrooms sliced , and about 5 chunks of the stewing beef. After flipping the stewing beef once, I added some butter and an egg to the bottom of the pan. When the egg was fully cooked sunny side up , I layered my plate, with the beef, mushrooms, egg , and poured all that buttery, garlic oil goodness from the pan over the top with s/p to your taste. YUM :) My home casino now is complete and the breakfast was so good, I will visit again tomorrow morning. Enjoy!

One Pot Chicken Cacciatore Recipe

All Photos by Suzzycue I watch a lot of #RachaelRay shows and I have for many years. The show last week about cooking a spaghetti dinner , by throwing raw spaghetti noodles in the bottom of your roasting pan and coming out good... made me a real skeptic. The rule of thumb, is to boil the noodles, in the biggest pot you own and put in enough salt, in the water, to taste like the ocean. The bigger the pot, the better, then you pour the noodles into a strainer, over a sink to get the water off, saving one cup of the starchy water to bind the sauce to the noodles after you add it all to the pan of sauce on the stove. So my curiosity was up and I had to give it a try. My thoughts were that, all the starch from the noodles, would make the dish one gummy mess :(

I shook my head as I laid the raw spaghetti noodles on the bottom of the roasting pan. On top of the raw noodles I added ,chopped green beans, 4 halved brussel sprouts, 6 garlic toes smashed,a few hot chilly peppers I had in olive oil, and one chopped green pepper, s/p and fresh oregano, thyme, and chives that I grow myself. I put the raw skinless chicken legs ,attached to thighs, right on top of it all and poured the tomato sauce, over the top of everything in the roasting pan. This is my own recipe for this dish. I then put it into a pre-heated 350 degree oven and roasted it for two hours. I was scared to look at what it would become.

Well... I will tell you it was the best #chicken-Cacciatore I have ever made. The noodles didn't even stick to the pan. I guess there was enough juice from the chicken legs and the vegetables to cook them. The starch and the fat from the chicken legs made a rich, thick tomato sauce that really stuck onto the spaghetti noodles. The chicken legs were moist and cooked through perfect which is important. YUM... just the way I love it. Throw everything into the pot and two hours later you have dinner... this is my kind of cooking :) A big thanks to Rachael Ray for this idea.

One Pot Thanksgiving Dinner Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Photos by Suzzycue Thanksgiving is one of my Favorite Holidays... no presents :) I think we should take the time to enjoy this Holiday and give Thanks for all our Blessings. If we don't celebrate the Holidays, then it gives some people, like ME :) ,nothing to look forward to and that is not good. That is what this #Frugal one pot #Thanksgiving-Dinner is all about. A friend of mine asked me over ,to help clean out her freezer, and gave me a chunk of ham she wasn't going to use. Driving back to Stratford , I decided to stop in at Walmart and see what, was, their, leftover dollar bags of veggies, I could use with this ham. I found about five pounds of potatoes and decided to make scalloped potatoes and ham for Thanksgiving dinner. Then, I thought... since I am older, I have trouble with dairy products( #Lactose intolerance) so, I bought some cream of mushroom soup to use, instead of all that milk, ( would be 2 cups if you used milk and a dab of butter) and found a dollar box of mushrooms to add also.

Here is the One pot Thanksgiving dinner recipe, depending on the size of the baking dish you use: 6 new potatoes sliced as thin as you can, 1 onion sliced thin,slice all the mushrooms thin, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 teaspoon of cornstarch, salt and pepper to your taste. and of course the star of the show, is the chunk of ham thinly sliced. Then you alternate the ingredients, as you stack them, in rows, until the pan is full. Open the can of mushroom soup and pour over the top of everything. While cleaning the mushroom soup can out with 1/2 can of water mix in, the teaspoon of cornstarch, and pour it on top adding salt and pepper. Cover the dish with foil,Bake for 90 minutes and I shared this dish with the lady that give me the ham and her neighbors. The four of us had a great celebration with a great one pot Thankdgiving dish. Please try this at home :)

Cooking Tip for this recipe You can use any kind of cream soup for this recipe. they are all good. If you use cream of chicken ,then put chicken in the dish. If you use cream of celery then add celery to this dish and so on. I added extra mushrooms because I used cream of mushroom soup Delicious :) Here are some more frugal, easy, great recipes you might like to try.

Small Yellow Roasted Potatoes

Photos by Suzzycue This is another Fall Favorite of mine :) These small yellow potatoes can be found in any grocery store in the fall. You can also buy them in white, red, yellow, and multicolored with even purple potatoes in the package. The big yellow potatoes are the best for making latke potatoes or potato pancakes as I call them. There is so much starch in the yellow potatoes that all you need to make potato pancakes is : grated yellow potatoes ,salt/pepper and shallow fry in your cast iron frying pan until brown on both sides... YUM:) The small yellow potatoes ,wash, I cut in half,mix up on the cookie sheet with olive oil,and rosemary. I put the pan directly under the broiler and ten minutes later, turn over potatoes for another five minutes. Plate them up with butter s/p and feel them melt away in your mouth. I love this dish :) SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOD!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Photo by Suzzycue Hi :) Fried green tomatoes are a delicious fall dish. We always have lots of green tomatoes sitting on the window ledges to ripen. I couldn't wait , so , I fried some of them up to eat. The recipe is so easy. You wash and slice the tomato, dip it in flour ( I spiced the flour up with garlic powder and Italian seasonings), dip it in 3 eggs that were beaten, then dip the tomato in bread crumbs.(You can season every dip if you wish) Then, you can use a deep fryer like I did or bake them on a screen, over a cookie sheet, in a 350 degree oven until brown. They are delicious. I have made them both ways. There is less calories if you bake them, is all. Enjoy this simple Fall treat :)

Upcycled Sweat Pant Chair Pads

Photo by Suzzycue When my Grandfather died I couldn't throw away his favorite aqua-blue sweat pants that he wore almost everyday. I loved to go to my Grandparents home. When you walked into their home, you could smell the homemade soup simmering on the back burner of their stove. Poppa always had a meal ready for you to eat whenever you came to visit with a hot cup of tea. While you were warming up, enjoying your soup, on a blistery winter day ,Poppa entertained with some stories of his life. He told the same stories over and over and we would kind of get tired of hearing them. What,wouldn't I give today, for a bowl of his soup, and to hear his laughter, in his voice ,telling his story, as he told it to me, one more time:) I can remember some of them but it is not the same:( I used to wear his sweat shirt and pants for a while after her died. It was comforting. Then I decided to cut the sweat suit up into strips and braided them into long ropes. I laid it out into a circle on the floor and loosely sewed them into a circle (Seen in the photo) I have them on my patio furniture, on my balcony, and think of Poppa everyday that I put them out on the chairs. This keeps his memories and stories alive for me. God Bless You Poppa I will always keep you near me in my heart :)

Stratford On Avon Canada

Photos by Suzzycue I love to go for a walk around the Avon River, after Supper, in my small Hometown, City of Stratford, Ontario ,Canada. Last Thursday, I was carrying my camera to catch photos of the leaves turning colors. Then, I came upon the bridge, on Waterloo St and saw the Canada Geese squawking on the Avon River. They started flapping their wings and I was delighted to catch their flight from the river to their next landing spot for the night :) This was Awesome, sights and sounds that really reflects the Fall season, is here for me. I love the fall with all it's abundance.

Happy Thanksgiving to All Crumpet Egg In the Hole

Photo by Suzzycue Hi... I decided to start my Thanksgiving off with a new kind of treat for me. I cannot eat a lot of eggs at one time so an egg-in-the-hole works for me. I had crumpets in the fridge so decided to take it up a notch. Since the crumpets are so think and dense, I decided to toast in the toaster first. Then I cut out the centre hole, buttered up the bottom of the cast iron frying pan and set the crumpet and the hole peice to fry up. I cracked one egg in the hole and covered the pan with a plate. Since I like my eggs (over easy), after about two minutes, I flipped the crumpet egg- in- the- hole over. What a treat:) It was crispy, the egg was perfect. I used the crunchy middle part to dip the egg. The next one, I made the next day, exactly the same but when I flipped it back over, I melted cheese on the top :) Yummo I will keep this recipe in mind. How do you do your egg-in-the-holes? Thanks for reading and Enjoy your Thanksgiving with family and friends around your table.

Keep on Swimming

Video by Suzzycue

Last year I was delighted to attend the Toronto Aquarium. One of the last fish tanks before leaving was this one and guess what I was thinking... Yes Dory and Nemo keep on swimming. 

I filmed this for a friend of mine that everyday reminded me, to not think, and just keep on swimming. Great advice :) Don't you think😀

DIY Tip for Stripped Screws

Photo by Suzzycue

This is a shelf in my bathroom. I love it but it was a pain to hang because I stripped the screws with my electric screwdriver. Has this ever happened to you? It happens to me a lot :(

Then a neighbor of mine, hearing the commotion, came over to help me and handed me a thick rubber band. 

I laughed and said," What do I do, with this?"

He said to put it on top of the stripped screw before I put the screwdriver to it. I gave it a try and that stripped screw turned right out. I could not believe my eyes and was so grateful for the tip , I wanted to share it with you. 

This really works and will stop a lot of aggravation when building or hanging your favorite things :)

Mushroom Poutine

Photo by Suzzycue

Yesterday I was craving a Poutine but I had not bought the poutine gravy for it at No Frills and was too tired to go to the store.

I was looking in the cupboard and saw mushroom soup in a can and thought... lots of people make gravy with that , so thought I would give it a try.

I had the wedged cut real potatoes on a flat pan mixed with olive oil, garlic and rosemary ,on the top rack, under the broiler in the oven. When they browned up, I put on pieces of mozzarella cheese and scooped the mushroom soup right out of the can to top them with.

 I put the pan again under the broiler , the cheese and mushroom soup melted all over those yummy fries. What a treat and so easy with the mushroom soup. Give this a try. Baking the fries instead of frying them and topping them with mushroom soup is a lot less calories with no loss on flavour 😋

Frugal Living Garden Art

Photo and Wood burning by Suzzycue. 

The top wooden plaque is a hand painted seagull on a slice of cypress wood ,that I bought at flea market, in Florida, for a buck. This could be easily done by tracing a bird from a picture to a piece of wood and then painting in the lines. 

I love to wood burn and my MOM bought me a wood burning set for my hobby. I liked it, but found I had to go over the lines again and again to make them stand out. 

One day while walking down by the river ,I saw a man wood burning a drawing of a house onto a flat piece of plywood, with a magnifying glass and it really intrigued me. 

SO I thought ,I would give it a try, and the Blue Heron on a piece of knotty pine above is my first attempt at it. It is harder than you think to follow the lines ,with the bright circle light from the magnifying glass, but with a little practice, I got the hang of it :) I think it turned out good.  It was a great way to sit and get a tan. A win win hobby :)

Balcony Garden Hacks

Photos by Suzzycue

My first Morning Glory has finally bloomed. I wait for these delicate beautiful flowers every year to brighten my world on my balcony. I share the seeds with friends and family in the fall. 

Their vines entangle themselves in and out of the balcony railings and I love it :) I get blue,purple, pink and a blue one with a red star in the middle. I also have a small wooden wheelbarrow with a little roof that I plant a spice garden in. I have mint,rosemary, oregano, chives,thyme,and basil. It does very well under the roof because the summer sun could burn the plants off.

The pride and joy of my balcony garden is my topsy turvy. I plant it every year with tomatoes and basil. The basil keeps the bugs off your tomato plants and it seems to work. 

Canada Day 150 Birthday Free Day

Stratford on Avon in Ontario Canada

Photo by Suzzycue

Stratford was a roar of excitement for Canada Day. (My hometown). There was free Shows and Music on the new Patio in the Town Square circling the hundred year old City Hall.

The Parade at 7pm featured many bands and floats for over an hour of fun, squirt guns and candy for the kids :) 

Then at dusk the fireworks exploded the sky for over twenty minutes. There were fireworks in  Queens Park with a huge Canadian Flag featured on the grass of the Shakespearean Theatre near the river.

Some smaller towns didn`t have fireworks but instead gave every household a Canadian Flag to fly proudly on their homes.

All in All a Great Proud Celebration of Canada`s 150 birthday :)

Camping Hacks

Photo by Suzzycue

This long weekend is Canada's 150 Birthday :) A gazebo is a nice way to stay out of the weather on this long weekend :)

We owned and operated a campground in Goderich for 21 Years. Here are a few Camping hacks that I remember !

1. A cotton ball dipped in Vaseline will ignite a fire without fumes from liquid starters.
2.  Wet your marshmallow sticks before using them for roasting hot dogs or marshmallows.
3. If you slice the ends of your hot dogs, into four sections lengthwise on the ends of  the wieners , when you cook them over the fire you will get a spider hot dog and your kids will love it :) Then pull off the legs and dip them in mustard. Yum!
4. Use a cooler with hot water in it to cook your corn. Simply shut the lid and it will cook.
5. Never put salt in the water in a pot not boiled... It will put holes in the pot.
6. Add corn starch to those shake and bake packages for a lot more crunch on your BBQ chicken. Corn starch will also stop itch from poison ivy, a good thing for the first aid box.
7. Meat tenderizer on a bee sting will immediately take the sting from the wound.
8. Vinegar mixed with water in a spray bottle will cool a sunburn on your body.
9. Dish soap and water sprayed on bees will stop them from flying. The soap makes their wings too heavy.
10. Put your dish water from your dish pan on the trees where you camp. This is an excellent fertilizer.
11. Most of all stay safe and enjoy the weekend with friends and family :) Happy Canada's Birthday everyone 

Stop Ants From Ruining Your Picnic

Photo by Suzzycue This is the Stratford Ontario Boathouse Rentals on Lake Victoria.

I saw this on my favorite cooking show the Chew. ( The Chew is on channel 7 week days at 1pm.) They always have some great Life Hacks. The tips for preventing ants getting on your picnic table and ruining the food, is to fill 4 small tuna tins or cats tins with water and then putting the four table legs in the tins. The ants cannot swim the water in the cans to the table legs. :)

Another tip to prevent mosquito's ruining your pool party is to take mothballs and create a single line circle around your pool area and sink them a little bit into the earth. Bugs will not cross the line of mothballs. If you have pets disregard this tip as your pets could eat the mothballs but the smell could keep them away also from the mothballs. I have uused this tip and it works but did not have any pets at the party. 

Cheap Microwave Popcorn

BY SUZZYCUE • FRUGAL LIFE HACKS

Photo by Suzzycue

I love microwave popcorn but I don’t want all the trans-fats, extra calories from the butter and all the salt that you eat, with buying it that way.  One of my friends introduced me to this idea and I have been doing it ever since:)

You take a flat bottom, paper bag, cover the bottom with uncooked popcorn (that you buy from the store and is the cheapest way to buy it), roll down the top to close it, put the bag in the microwave and push the same popcorn button that you would use for the store-bought microwave popcorn.

When it stops popping, usually it goes right to the end of when the microwave shuts off … you’ve got awesome popcorn   It is nice and fluffy and you can add whatever you like. My favorite is olive oil , Parmesan cheese, and salt to taste. I love to add Old Bay spice, (when I visited in Florida) but I cannot find it up here. I use my pepper grinder full of spices on my popcorn too. YUMMO

Saving Money Tips:

Photo by Suzzycue

We all know I live a very Frugal Lifestyle. I am not ashamed but proud of it. How many of you cut tubes or bottles of toothpaste, hand lotion etc, in half and scrape them out before throwing them away.

I do.  You would be surprised how much of the product, you are wasting by not doing it. I have saved many dollars doing this…  little frugal trick. Give it a try and save your money 

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Frugal Zip lock Bags

Photo by Suzzycue

Not Enough Zip lock Bags No Problem Try this simple fix 

I always cook a whole package of pasta, even though, it is only me, at home. When I get tired of eating it, I can wrap it up in wax paper pouches, pop it into a re-cycled zip lock bag , and put it into the freezer.  This way saves money by not pitching it out and it gives me, a perfect portion for a quick lunch or to go dinner for work.

If you freeze your left-overs altogether in one lump in a zip lock bag , you have to reheat the whole package again to get it apart.  You can try smashing it on the counter top and dropping it on the floor, even hitting them with a hammer, like I have done in the past, but try portions in wax paper it is a lot easier and I am getting a to old for all that exercise  Thanks for reading.

Potato Peel Fries

BY SUZZYCUE •  QUICK FRUGAL TIPS FOR FOOD

When  I saw this on Thriftyfun.com I just had to share it with you.

These photos and recipe for Potato Peel Crisps are the brilliant ideas of Attosa. She is a Musician from L.A. that loves to cook. Don’t forget to give her a thumbs up for this great frugal tip.

 I am a new member there and it is a fun site, where you can enter and win prizes for recipes or sharing your pet picture ,craft projects and read frugal tips from the writers there. They share tips and ideas for crafting, creative recycling ,gardening, frugal living, recipes, cleaning and more. Membership for Thriftyfun.com is free.

Now lets get back to the recipe. Attosa had the brilliant idea of saving the potato peels after peeling potatoes and roasting them instead of throwing them in the garbage, like I do. I do not compost because I live in an apartment. (Any ideas to help with this let me know…Thanks 

 I thought, I never wasted anything until I saw this. This is the ultimate frugal idea for saving food dollars.  I won’t throw potato peels out anymore, now that I found this delicious recipe.

 I can hardly wait to peel my potatoes, to put in the roasting pan around my turkey for Sunday dinner.  I will put the potato peels right along side my roasting pan to crisp up for my hors d’oeuvres. We will enjoy these crisps while waiting for the dinner. What a great catering idea, Many Thanks to Attosa for sharing 

Free Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

BY SUZZYCUE• QUICK FRUGAL TIPS FOR FOOD

Photos by Suzzycue   This is the view of St James Church outside my third floor apartment window facing North 

I hope all my friends and followers had a very Merry Christmas this year. I certainly did with my family.  We are still snow less in Stratford town but I thought I’d give you a picture so you could remember what it’s like. LOL  Snow really is beautiful and calming, unlike, the holidays which can be very stressful.

I found out that, of the top ten stress reducing foods, Oatmeal is number one. We can all afford oatmeal, I am hoping.  Oatmeal helps get serotonin flowing which is a calm inducing hormone. I now buy steel-cut or old-fashioned oats instead of the instant oatmeal because they are higher in fiber and they take longer to digest, so you stay full longer.

Recipes are really just an outline to follow. You can add other ingredients to this cookie recipe.

For example in this cranberry oatmeal cookie recipe, you can change the cranberries to raisins, if you don’t have cranberries. That kind of thing.

My Sister-in-Law Lill added white chocolate chips instead of brown chocolate ones and said the results were great. Her sister loves white chocolate so this was a delicious New Years Dinner Treat.

You should be open minded, when you use a recipe, is to follow the steps especially in baking. Baking is an exact science. The steps are there, so that you actually take your cookie’s flavor to the next level. And I’m going to show you, what I mean, by this cranberry oatmeal cookie recipe that I used to bake, while working, in a Stratford restaurant.

First of all, in one bowl mix the ingredients: 2 cups of white sugar, 2 cups of brown sugar and 1 pound of butter.

Now you’re going to add three eggs,( crack your egg into a coffee mug, because, if you get a blood spot in your egg, all the dry ingredients will be ruined) but you’re only going to add them one at a time and mix the egg completely into the dry ingredients. This simple trick, that you you can use in all your recipes for cookies, in baking will make your cookies… WOW.

Then in another mixing bowl, because, we never mix the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients until we get them altogether, is the second WOW trick.

You will mix together: 3 cups of flour, 3 cups a steel oatmeal, 2 teaspoons of baking soda, 3 cups a cranberries, 3 cups of chocolate chips, and 3 cups of Almond chips. (walnuts would also work good here.) Now mix together with the top wet ingredients.

Then, if you want big cookies, you roll them into 3 1/2 ounce balls. You set them on a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper at least 3 inches apart , because this gives them room to bake without touching each other. This recipe will give you lots of cookies to pass out to your guests.

You bake them in a rewarmed 350° oven for about 12 minutes. You can check the cookies by sticking a toothpick in them and if there is any cookie on the toothpick just add a couple more minutes.  Be careful not to burn them because they are so good. Don’t forget to cool before eating so they don’t fall apart.

WOW… your friends at your New Year’s Eve party, with these cookies on your hors d’oeuvre table in your home.  After the holidays, you can make these cookies smaller, as a healthy treat for your children to take in their lunchboxes. Happy New Year my friends and followers. May 2016 be your best year yet.

Free Online Courses

BY SUZZYCUE • FRUGAL SAVING MONEY TIPS

FREE online study for everyone!

I am taking free courses from  OPEN2STUDY. The courses I am taking are helping me with writing on the web. It is an fun ten videos to watch then answer 10 multiple questions. You must get 60 to pass the course which means you correctly answer six questions with information you learn from the videos.

You are awarded a certificate after you pass that you could use on your Linkedin Profile. I am using mine to enhance my writing resumes.

There are a lot of free courses here you might be interested in. There is everything from Entrepreneurship, health and nutrition, introducing to nursing,financial, and lots more interesting free courses. Check it out and study for free. I did and I love it.

Reuse Recycle Reinvent

BY SUZZYCUE • QUICK FRUGAL TIPS FOR FOOD

Photo by Suzzycue

Did You know you can freeze your beats after cooking them, instead of taking the time to pickle them? This is a much quicker way to do it with less fuss.   They are just as good when you add salt-pepper and balsamic vinegar to them after they have thawed out. This is an example of reinventing to save money and time. Also save the juice after you boil your beets, until tender, to make a batch of beet wine. 

The frugal advice most people give you is to recycle, reuse, which is very easily done after these beets have been eaten.

I am writing this post because one of my readers said when they freeze vegetables they are always full of frost in the freezer.

I can reuse the bags again as long as there has been no meat products in these bags. They can be washed, kept in the fridge and used again to freeze any vegetables until they get a punctured hole in the bag.  Don`t reuse them if you cannot get them really clean. I usually run hot boiling water from the tap to rinse them and then dry them over bottles in the fridge door.

They also have to be dry again before reloading them or black mold can form. The best freezer bags I have used are Zip lock Double Seal. You must use freezer bags and not sandwich bags to freeze with. The bags mentioned about do the best job of keeping the frost out of your food and you know they are completely sealed when the seal turns purple:) They will stay good frozen for three months but they never last that long in my house. 

Keep Cool Tips and Apply Here For Your Electric Bill Rebate

Photos by Suzzycue.

 I bet you're not even thinking about putting plastic on your Windows this year because it's been so warm. My plastic is still on some of my windows now and found it also keeps the heat out. 

Another tip to stay cool for those people who don't have an air conditioner, is to put a bucket of ice, in from of your fan and the cooler air will blow on you. You can salt the ice after you have it in your bucket and the ice will last longer.  You can put salt on your ice in your food coolers also to keep it from melting so fast :)

I put my plastic on my windows after Thanksgiving every year.

 Have you ever noticed that you put the two-sided tape on your cement block walls,( if you happen to live in an apartment like I do) and the tape doesn't stick because the walls are too cold. This ends up with your tape all balled up , you get all mad and you quit the job.

I have been there folks. What I do is...  I take a blow dryer and heat up the wall, where I want to put the tape, then the tape goes on really easy, because the walls are warmer. I also make sure, I tape the center post between the two panes of glass because in my case, the wind blows so hard, being I'm on the third floor, it will blow the plastic right off.

Another tip is to trim around the plastic after you have it taped on and then used two inch clear packing tape and go around again on the outside of your plastic onto your wall. This ensures that your plastic will stay on the window until you remove it in the spring. You can now use the blow dryer again to blow the wrinkles out of the plastic but I don't do this because it makes the plastic too tight and the wind will rip it from my windows.

 I like having plastic on the Windows because it not only helps your comfort level, which is what I'm really interested in for winter, but I save $2-$300 a year on my electric heat bill.

 Hope all you low income people with electric heat applied for your hydro rebate. The time is running out. You need to do it by December 31 and then it takes 8 weeks to process. You can apply online here.  As of May 31st this rebate has increased by 50%. This is great news.

Now, if you've ever tried to take a photo threw a plastic window...  you'll get a picture that looks like this. The flash from the camera just reflects off the plastic.  The trick, I learn to do, is to put your camera right on the plastic that is bulging out from the window because the extra cold air coming in and then take the picture.  

You will have a clear picture , like the one below and nobody will know that you shot through plastic. Hope these tips help you to save money through this winter and thanks for reading. Have a good day :)

Now Accepting Guest Bloggers

BY SUZZYCUE •  FRUGAL SAVING MONEY TIPS

Photo by Suzzycue
Stratford is full of this Victorian Architecture 

I am a new blogger who is interested in writing a guest post on similar Frugal Blogs. If you Blog about frugal lifestyles , let me know.

I can send you a couple of blog post ideas and you can choose which one you’d like to publish on your blog. Perhaps you would also be interested in being featured as a guest-blogger on my own blog?

You can have a look at my blog here : https://suzzycuesfrugaltips.blogspot.com/

Have a look and see if it’s something you would be interested in  You can contact me at Suzzycue21@aol.com  Have a nice day!

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Susan Britton

DO It Yourself Cork Craft Reindeer

Photos by Suzzycue :)

 Now that the holidays are over and were thinking about resolutions what can we do to keep our hands busy, instead of eating or drinking?

If you had holiday celebrations, like our family did, I'm sure you have an abundance of wine corks. For some reason, they are precious to us. We do not throw them away. We keep them in drawers, cupboards ,tackle boxes, and even jewelry boxes because that wine cork comes with precious memories. These Cork Reindeer Decorations are easy to make, into something precious, to save and bring out holiday memories for next Christmas.

These reindeer decorations are very simple to make with a glue gun, some felt, small sticks, 9 corks and one champagne cork that we all toasted the New Year with. You can make these with your kids and save them for next Christmas celebrations or you could put hearts on them and give them for Valentine's Day which is coming up next.

I wish all my Friends and Family and Followers a very Prosperous Healthy Happy 2017. Cheers... the more wine you drink the more reindeer you can make :) Make a whole herd of reindeer and decorate them for any occasion.

Frugal Wall Art

Photo by Suzzycue

This is a cool photo, I took of the special full moon, we had a month or two ago. It was special because we had two full moons in one month, which has not happened for thirty years.

These special photos that we love ,you can take to Walmart and they can make poster size pictures from them. Then you bring them home, make a frame from tin cans and hang them on your walls. I guarantee, you have just created a vocal point that will be a great conversation piece :)