April 2012 - Frugalbits

These Three Inexpensive Cleaning Products Perform Miracles

April 30, 2012/2 Comments/in Cleaning & Maintenance, Goods & Services, HOME, View All Home Stories /by Editor

What we know for sure is that these three ordinary household cleaning products really can perform miracles.

BUY RIGHT | Supermarkets everywhere contain aisles full complex and sexy (the Method brand comes to mind) home and laundry products all claiming maximum cleaning efficiency. Would that everything their manufacturers said about them were true. Then again, there isn’t much any of these companies could say about their liquids and powders that would sway us away from our arsenal of basic, inexpensive household cleaners. Why make a switch when every one of them is a miracle worker—every time out.—Team Frugalbits Read more

Our Favourite Scarf Tying Tutorials (VIDEOS)

April 27, 2012/2 Comments/in Classics & Trends, FASHION, Fashion & Beauty, HOW-TO KNOW-HOW, Styling Tips, View All Fashion Stories, View All How-To Stories /by Editor

With more than 23 million Google entries for how to tie a scarf, here are the ones we found most useful.

WHAT THE PROS KNOW | If you, like me, have been tying all your scarves with the same two or three knots for years, and you want to add new and different twists and loops to your repertoire (I know I do), then this Frugalbits post is for you. Read more

The Absolute Best Mother’s Day Gift Ever

April 26, 2012/3 Comments/in Fitness & Health, HEALTH, HOLIDAY, Well Being /by Editor

Give her a Mother’s Day gift she’ll remember for the rest of her life.

MONEY WELL SPENT | You could give your sweet mama any number of indulgences for Mother’s Day (It’s May 13 in case you need a reminder), a box of heavenly macaroons, for example, or her favourite expensive perfume, but these sorts of gifts are ephemeral. If you really want to go all out for the woman who grew you up, give her a gift that will do right by her beautiful mind. Read more

Use Outdoor Plants For Indoor Arrangements

April 25, 2012/3 Comments/in D.I.Y., DECOR & DESIGN, DIY, GARDEN, HOME, Home & Garden, HOW-TO KNOW-HOW, View All DIY Stories, View All Garden Stories, View All Home Stories, View All How-To Stories /by Editor

Some outdoor plants look spectacular potted up for the house before they’re turned loose in the garden.

THE CREATIVE SOLUTION | Cut flowers straight from the garden or the corner store are a fine if conventional way to bring spring indoors. But bedding plants, which are becoming more plentiful everywhere as the gardening season takes hold, make equally attractive, arguably more novel and definitely cost-effective arrangements.
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Make Fat-Free Pototo Chips In 3 Minutes

April 24, 2012/2 Comments/in BUY THIS. MAKE THAT., Easy + Quick = Delicious, FOOD, Food & Drink, Tools & Techniques, View All Food Stories /by Editor

Potato chip lovers rejoice—TopChips makes fresh, yummy, fatfree crisps at home.

EASY & DELISH | I’m a complete potato chip queen, though most people who know me don’t know it. I seldom buy this yummy could-there-be-anything-unhealthier-with-more-empty-calories snack because I have a tendency to overindulge. Now, thankfully, with my new TopChips chips maker I never have to think about the quantity of crisps I consume or whether or not they’re good for me because chips made using this inexpensive, inventive microwave tray are 100 percent fat free—really. Read more

Grab These Tory Burch + FEED Bags At Holts

April 23, 2012/2 Comments/in Diffusion Collections, Fashion & Beauty /by Editor

These totes amazing burlap bags designed by Tory Burch are priced to fly off the shelves.

LOOK GOOD/DO GOOD | As someone who considers herself (at least somewhat) socially conscious, fashion forward and value minded, I’m excited for Holt Renfrew’s April 30th launch of limited-edition totes by Tory Burch + FEED. Not only do these casual cross-body bags look good, but buying one of them will do some good too, for the Tory Burch Foundation, which supports the economic empowerment of women, and for FEED, American model Lauren Bush Lauren’s charity dedicated to eliminating world hunger—one child at a time. Read more

Turn Slides Into Digital Versions Effortlessy

April 20, 2012/6 Comments/in Goods & Services, HOW-TO KNOW-HOW, View All How-To Stories /by Editor

These companies will turn your stockpile of old media—colour photos, slides and negatives—into new digital versions, saving you both time and effort.

SAVE TIME & EFFORT | What’s on your bucket list? Exotic travel? Learning how to play an instrument or speak a foreign language? What about creating a digital inventory of the gazillions of snapshots and slides you’ve got stashed in drawers and boxes around your house? That fun (hahaha) undertaking is on my list for posterity (plus iPad) reasons but was buried near the bottom until a recent article in the NYT persuaded me to push it to the top. Written by my tech journalist crush Farhad Manjoo, it outlined the various options for converting all manner of old media—photos, videos, cassette tapes, paper documents—to new digital versions. Yeah! Just what I’d been looking for, a relatively painless not-so-expensive fix. Read more

Little Food Stories That Changed Our Lives

April 16, 2012/0 Comments/in CANADIAN CONTENT /by Editor

DUMB IF YOU DON’T | Of course we stand behind every one of the 500-plus stories we’ve produced for this website since we launched in April 2010—we wouldn’t have done any one of them if we hadn’t thought that the information would be of value to Frugalbits readers. But some of these posts have had more impact on our own lives than others, altering irreversibly which products/brands we buy (or don’t buy) and how we prepare certain foods. The following three little pieces really have changed our lives. —Team Frugalbits Read more

Baby Let Me Take You On A Repo Cruise

April 12, 2012/10 Comments/in TRAVEL, Travel, Travel Advisory, View All Travel Stories /by Editor

How to get from here to Seattle and back on a highly original, supercool mini vacay for a shockingly low price.

TRAVEL ADVISORY | It doesn’t take career counselling to conclude that all work and no play leads to burnout. If you want to take a quick break before this occurs, we’ve got just the ticket, a micro-mini vacay involving glamorous accommodation, all you can eat and multiple modes of transportation. And did I mention the best part? This adventure is priced so shockingly low you might even want to treat your partner or BFF. Read more

Bed Making 101: Fold “Hotel Corners” Right

April 11, 2012/8 Comments/in Home & Garden /by Editor

Contemporary bed making requires a skill practiced by the military and hospital and hotel staff. Here’s how to do it right the right way.

DO IT RIGHT | The wedding cake bed—you know, the ultrafeminine one (pictured here) with a frothy meringue of duvet, pleated bed skirt and rows of European shams racked up against the headboard—may not be passé, but it is not what’s currently hot in bedding. What’s in fashion in bedding right now is a tailored, masculine effect, characterized by lean, clean lines and multiple layers of fitted sheets and flat covers drawn in tight to the bed frame. Read more