S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G your

• Household: dilute your laundry and dish/hand soaps; make your own cleaning supplies; line dry clothing; heat your house with fires in your fireplace; block off rooms from heat; bring used magazines to your break room or have a magazine swap; Swap baby toys; cut your own hair; arrive at end of garage sale times to bargain for cheaper deals; sell books on Amazon.com; sell household items on eBay; turn your thermostat down during work hours; form a preschool care coop; create logs from your newspapers or use for lasagna gardening; regulate water level to washing load size; keep windows curtains closed during winter months; use door stops at base of house entry doors to prevent cold airflow;

• Cooking: stretch meats with fillers; prepare own beverage mixes; assign the cooking responsibilities for get-togethers; leave the meat out of buffet-have a pasta bar; month in advance freeze cookies or appetizers in baggies; freeze leftover diced onion/pepper in ice cube tray and bag it; make your own baby food; save coupons of food items you know your family will use (swap the rest);

• Decorating: Save fashion designs or room designs you like and duplicate them for a fraction of cost (decorating with a plan in mind)

• Travel: Swap houses with friends in different localities for a vacation in a new town; skip the travel rest daily in a new hot tub; ask those with time shares to rent vacation time; Group vacation together by age, interests, or family; plan more frequent shorter 4 day weekend vacation get-aways;

• Gift giving: wrap in comics, aluminum paper, grocery sacks, large leaves, fabric; use baskets for gift giving (spray them the color you want); white elephant/ pantry/ beauty aid gift exchange; paper shred comics for fillers in baskets; repackage gifts given to you to gifts you give (be sure they do not know the original giver); make your own cards for gifts; collect grocery sacks/colored lunch bags for small gift giving.

• Car: Exchange scrap metal for money to pay for gas; buy car in auto auctions; buy car online; drive under 55 mph to get better gas mileage; use engine oil of low viscosity; buy more fuel efficient cars (a used car may guzzle more gas); double up on errands and garage sales (instead of daily-go out once a week); bike to work

• Car repair: exchange a service you can do (housecleaning or cooking) for car repair or house repair.

• Low cost entertainment: Fly a kite; window shop; free activities sponsored by Chamber of Commerce; movie marathon parties; bike down the Constitution Trail; school/park & rec programs or theatre productions; attend hospital/campus lectures; fish/hunt (provides food too-double benefit); go to Big Screen to see sports events or parades or special concerts (you will think you are there); camp for the day before the concert (tailgate with others)

• Medical: Walgreen generic medical plans (expand to 90 day supply); home delivery of Rx saves gas; whiten your own teeth; WalMart $4 charge for common prescriptions; Ask doctor to select Rx from the WalMart “generic” list; drink with straw to avoid staining teeth; use blanket to keep warm during working hours or watching TV at night.