Here’s what we did for our daughter one year.

She would eat every last piece in a matter of hours if left to her own devices.
This is a fun way to ration it out.
Determine the number of days left until Christmas and take that number of pieces of candy from the loot.
Lay out a very long piece of plastic wrap (tulle would be great for this too!) and line those candies up down the center of the piece of plastic wrap, leaving about a 1/2 inch space between each piece of candy. If you were especially successful at Trick or Treating, you can put two pieces of candy together in each space.
Now roll the plastic wrap up, enclosing the candy in the plastic.
Tie short pieces of curling ribbon between each piece of candy.
Hang it up and admire your work. We hung ours over the curtain rod by our sliding glass doors. It’s pretty long at the beginning!
Now let the kiddo cut away one piece of candy each day until Christmas.
We let her have the candy that was left after we made the countdown chain. Kids need to go a little crazy now and then. 😉
Pin It

Have you seen the custom Hershey Kiss stickers? I was thinking today how cute it would be to make these and hand them out to trick-or-treaters.

……….All you need to do is purchase the right stickers (also available at Staples) and the Hershey kisses (maybe the cute Halloween-colored ones!) and make your own custom designs using the template that comes with the labels!

.
Pin It

Print this MaraNatha Nut Butter printable coupon quickly, before it disappears!  These are $4.48 daily at my local Walmart, so just $3.48 after coupon.  Remember, you can print each coupon twice.

1. Facebook Freebie!! FREE Luvs Diapers on Friday!

More info HERE

2. Halloween Candy Deals!!

~~ Winco Wrapped Candy: .98/lb!! Limit 10 pounds!

More info HERE

~~  Amazon  Candy Deals:  50% off plus FSSS!

More info HERE

~~Smiths Hershey’s Deal ($1.25 per bag after manufacturer coupon and checkout coupon!!)

More info HERE:

3. Sell Your Halloween Candy and Support the Troops!

More info HERE

4. Purchase 11 Webkinz for $37 shipped!

More info HERE

5. Sunbeam Cool Mist Humidifiers from $10 shipped!!

More info HERE

6.  Famous Footwear: 30% off ENTIRE purchase printable coupon!!

I think I’ve tried everything. And most things work okay but it takes a LOT of elbow grease for mediocre results. So much in fact, that I tend to sort of ignore this chore.
I happened on a new idea on the good old internet though and I thought it was worth a shot.
Take your nasty old grate…


Slip it into a gallon size ziploc bag. Be careful not to put any holes in the bag.

Pour 2 or 3 Tablespoons ammonia into the bag.

Seal the bag. And let it sit for 12 hours.

I put mine in a glass baking dish, just in case there were any leaks.

I only let mine sit for about 5 hours because I needed the stove to cook dinner. It’s probably best to plan to do this overnight.
Take the grate out of the ziploc bag. I did this in the kitchen sink.
Look at the yucky ammonia left in the bag…

Rinse the grate thoroughly.
At this point I used a green scrubby (technical term, you know what I mean?) and just very lightly wiped all the surfaces off. No actual scrubbing at all really.
And TA-DA!!


IT WORKED!!!
There are still a couple of tiny smudgy spots that probably would have been completely gone if I had let them soak for the full 12 hours.
This is definitely how I will clean them from now on. It was about $1.25 for a half gallon of ammonia. That’s a cheap and EASY clean if you ask me!
Side by side with one of the uncleaned grates.

Now I’m off to put the other 3 grates into soak overnight.
Pin It

Print this Betty Crocker Potatoes .50/2 coupon quickly, before it disappears!  My local Walmart has these for $1.50, so just $1.25 after coupon!  Remember, you can print each coupon twice.