The Frugal Housekeeper:
How to save on cleaning up
from Woman's Day magazine
1. Buy multipurpose cleansers instead of separate ones for each task.
2. Avoid expensive fabric softener sheets. Just lightly dampen an old sock with diluted liquid fabric softner, squeeze it out and toss it in the dryer with each load.
3. Don't use the rinse-hold cycle on your dishwasher, it requires 3 to 7 gallons of hot water each time you run it.
4. Separate dryer loads into heavy and lightweight. Lighter-weight closets take less time to dry.
5. Use less detergent in the dishwasher. Too much can actually damage dishes.
6. Install an aerator to reduce the amount of hot water flow used in your kitchen.
7. Use microfiber cloths instead of paper towels. Their super-absorbent fibers pull dirt into the cloth instead of pushing it around. Buy different colors for different rooms. (I especially love these for cleaning kitchen appliances - no streaks!)
8. Make your own room deodorizers by putting a few drops of essential oil such as peppermint, lavender or eucalyptus on several cotton balls and placing them in a decorative jar with a lid. Just remove the lid when you want to deodorize the room.
9. Remove hard water stains in your bathroom with toothpaste and an old toothbrush.
10. Use newspaper to clean windows and mirrors (make it papers that are at least two days old so the ink doesn't come off on your hands).
11. Remove muddy footprints on the carpet with salt. Sprinkle with a generous amount and rub it in. Vacuum it off after an hour. If some still remains or mud is dried, cover with a solution of 1/4 tsp of dishwashing liquid in a qt of warm water. Vacuum again after it dries.
Summer Fever 
Though the 23-year-old Australian chanteuse has already reached a much higher level of marker saturation than the other artists mentioned in the [Curve] column, her second album is still worth praising, if briefly. The disc's emotional lead-off single, "Where I Stood," might sound familitar, due to its exposure via television shows like Smallville, One Tree Hill and Grey's Anatomy; it's a simple but irresistibly melodic piano ballad that instantly sucks you right in. "100 Round theBends" and "Steer" both pick up the pace and add guitars to the mix, but relinquish neither intensity nor sing-along-ability. Higgins' biggest strength is in the combination of her crystal-clear, passionate vocals and catchy musical and lyrical hooks, and there's no shortage of either on this set's 11 tracks. Personal picks include the slinky "Secret", mandolin-filled "Angela" and rollicking "Peachy". If you enjoyed her debut, The Sound of White, don't hesitate to pick this one up - you won't be disappointed. 
The group enjoys a time-honored Aqua Divas tradition, the "orange slice break".
