Marlene Alexander

Storage and Organizing
When your young man or woman leaves home for the first time, it’s often to pursue a higher education. Dorm rooms, college residences or first apartments are notoriously short on space but, as someone once said, it’s not what you’ve got it’s what you do with what you’ve got.
Here are a few items from Dollarama that will help to make the most of whatever space you have to work with and they only cost $4 or less each.
If you’re short of places to hang towels, either in the...

Every year we worry about finding the perfect Christmas gifts for the people on our list and every year many of us end up straining our budgets. It doesn’t have to be that way. Here are 11 ways to save money on holiday shopping.

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We’re a society of consumers. Often we buy on impulse and we eventually end up with a houseful of stuff we no longer need or want. That means we’ve wasted our money. If you decide you really do need something, what if you could get it for very little or no money? Here are five ways to get what you need or want without shelling out the bucks.

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My husband John and I are selling our home. A lot of things have changed since we bought it nearly 26 years ago. We bought using a Realtor and we are selling using a Realtor. Neither one of us feel qualified to wade through the paperwork involved, nor do we want the hassle of going head-to-head with a buyer when it comes time to strike a deal.

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All of those plain white doors in my home seem to beg for some kind of decorating help. An interior doors near my front entrance seemed like the perfect canvas for a little inspiration. Here's an idea that's easy to copy and can be done with a minimum of time and effort.
Start by taping about four twigs to the top of the door on the left hand side near the corner. You want the twigs to mimic the look of a tree bough. Use two or three pieces of invisible tape to hold each twig in place. Don't ...

We've all seen these boring ceiling fixtures. Maybe in a century from now, they'll be deemed "retro" and be in vogue, but in the here and now, they're just plain blah!
Here's a really easy idea that takes no time to do and will give your fixture a style boost.
I started with a 15-inch silver-coloured metal fruit bowl I found at a dollar store and gave it a coat of white spray paint. In retrospect, I probably would have chosen a different colour for contrast, as the ceiling is also white, but ...

You can make easy artwork using wrapping paper you may have had leftover from last season. It's a great way to make use of it, while adding a wonderful festive touch to your walls on the cheap!
I used an 8 by 10-inch artist's canvas as the base for the art. You could try using larger or smaller canvases as well. Choose a wrapping paper with a simple pattern such as stripes, cut to size and wrap the canvas as you would a present, using tape to secure the paper to the back of the frame.
Cut out...

Often, I'll see something in a store that I know I can make using things from the dollar store. That was the case with these planters. I made three of these at the same time, because I like to display things in threes, but that's just me. Even one of these planters makes a lovely accent piece, or you could make several to give as gifts.
You will need square glass vases, enough potted faux succulents for each vase, mini stones, decorative sand and large stones with inspiration words on them. I...

We all want to look our best, but with so many personal care items on the market, it can be hard to determine what we really need and what we could do without. Naturally, advertisers are out to sell their clients’ wares and they use every trick they know to make us believe we simply can’t live without the latest and greatest or the new and improved. As human beings, we are particularly drawn to what’s new.

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Maybe you think that something is too valuable to throw away but, take it from me, if it’s of no use to you now and isn’t likely to be ever again, it’s time to get rid of it because, at some point whatever it is that you’re holding onto, compounded with other useless gear, will cost you dearly in time and energy.

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Christmas is my favorite time of year and, although my husband and I aren’t regular party-givers or goers, our recent move has given us more room and me the idea of hosting a Christmas party. As I found out, you don’t have to spend a small fortune in order to have a fabulous Christmas party. Elegance and atmosphere can be accomplished quite simply in a few easy steps.

Here’s how to throw a holiday party for less.

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Electricity is one of the major expenses of having a house. It keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer, cooks our meals and washes our clothes. On top of those major accomplishments, most households have a myriad of smaller electronics, computers and personal care products that we plug in every day or leave plugged in constantly.

There are lots of things you can do to save on the cost of this basic necessity. Try these tips:

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When we grocery shop, we toss household cleaning products into the cart without even thinking about it. We need them to keep our homes clean and sanitary, right? Every time we turn on the TV we are inundated with commercials touting one new product or another, but are all of these cleaners really necessary?

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We have so many labor-saving devices these days, it’s no wonder we’re all getting pudgy. But, if we could look at everyday activities as exercises that can help us to reach our fitness goals and avoid paying gym fees, we might embrace them as something more positive than we have in the past.

Not all of us have a plot of land suitable for growing veggies or room for an outside clothesline, but we can still benefit from the money-saving habits of our ancestors. Here’s more of what the past can teach us about saving money in the present.

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