My friend Mamaku posted a haiku yesterday about her chickens (and their cannibalistic habits, yikes!), so I’ve had eggs on the brain. With all these eggy thoughts, I decided I HAD to tell you a tip my friend Autumn shared with me last week about eggs: how do you tell if an egg is fresh or not (without looking at the expiration date on the carton)?

Submerge your questionable egg in water. If it is fresh, it will lay on the bottom; if it’s a week or so it will lay on the bottom but bob a bit; if it’s a few weeks old, it will balance on it’s end. But if it’s a BAD EGG, it will float!

Why does this work? Well, there is a small air pocket in the large end of an egg. As an egg ages, it looses moisture and carbon dioxide shrinking the eggy insides and increasing the size of the air space. Of course, the more air there is, the more it floats! Pretty neat, eh?

So just remember: never eat a floating egg!

Remember when I had this great secret for storing spices with you last week, but then I needed to take a break to put my head in a vice? Well, it’s your LUCKY day, because I’m going to share that secret with you now that my head is no longer going to explode!

So I had a problem…in the spice cabinet next to the stove, I keep a lot of our sauces: Soy Sauce, Pam, Olive Oil, etc. The problem was that these sauces and spices only fit on the highest shelf, and I had to take some of them out in order to get to the sauces in the rear. I needed a lazy susan, but all the ones I found were $15.00 and up! Yikes! Sooooo I raided my kitchen cabinets and found the bottom of a springform pan. And….TA DA:

It has been great! It works just like the lazy susan would and it was F-R-E-E! Yippee!

Do you have any organization or decoration tips? I’d love to feature them! Send me your tip and if possible at picture at ThisAmericanWife {at} Yahoo {Dot} Com!

I told you a few days ago about the baby shower I went to last weekend. But I DIDN’T tell you about the little top secret device I learned about…

Many of you know that I’m a bit of a cleaning freak, but apparently I have never been let in on the the amazing powers of…the steam mop. Have any of you known about this and not told me?!?  How DARE you!!!  This thing is AWESOME–it’s like a swiffer on steroids!

Luckily, my friend Tess, who hosted the baby shower had one…and she was kind enough to tell me about it, and then even broke it out for me. She’s a regular steam mop saleswoman (seriously…I think she could make millions selling them door to door.)

After you do an initial sweep or dry swiffer,  you fill the mop with water and plug it in to let it heat up:

Then you put a pad on the bottom (these are washable), and when it’s warm you just run it across the floor:

It’s that easy! And it works sooooo well! There was sticky punch all over Tess’s floor and it was cleaned up just like that (picture me snapping here). No chemicals. No fuss. Just steam! (Wouldn’t that be an AWESOME tagline?!? Tess, feel free to use that in your sales pitch.)

It gets Tess’s seal of approval:

Here are a few of the top steam mops on the market: the Haan FS-20, the Bissell 1867-7, and the Shark Steam Mop 53101. Happy cleaning!

And if any steam mop companies out there would like to hire Tess to model YOUR steam mop, you just let me know and I’ll pass the message along to her.

All you ladies out there…how do you store your jewelry? I have tried a number of ways and have ultimately settled on a few organization tubs in my top dresser drawer.  But I’ve tried a number of methods, and the one thing I’ve stuck with through all the various methods is the everyday jewelry dish. Let’s face it, about 1/4 of the time I wear the same jewelry: pearl earrings, the watch my hubby gave me a few years ago, and a silver and pearl bracelet. Because I wear these items so frequently, I set a dish on top of my dresser and store these pieces.  That way, they don’t end up just sitting out! Do you have any fun ways to organize YOUR jewelry?

The thought of a lucious bouquet of roses or peonies or snap dragons, sets my heart aflutter. I just love coming home to a full bouquet sitting on my kitchen table!

But sometimes I want something a little simpler (and cheaper!). And that’s when I go for the cheapest flowers I can find in the grocery store plopped into bud vases or bottles or whatever I can find. Something like this:

(Photo courtesy of Jena D Events)

Or this:

(Photo from Country Living)

Or any of these from Ms. Stewart:

Or this one from Centsational Girl:

Don’t you just love this look?!?  And the best part? You can get away with only buying a small bouquet (there’s usually a $3.99 one a my grocery store!). What do you all think?

Today’s twenty dollar tuesday tip is pretty simple.  First I have a personal question for you: is your box spring currently exposed? If I walked into your bedroom right now would I see that lightly padded box supporting your mattress?  If it is covered, is the thing covering it frumpy or outdated?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, my friend, you’re in need of some help. You need to cover that box spring right up.  The problem is that dust ruffles can get a big pricey. Luckily, I have a cheap solution! Go to your local Target or Wal-Mart. Cruise those endcaps until you find a sheet (the same size as your bed) in a color that will match or coordinate with your current bedding. You can usually find these for under $10.  Go home. Remove your mattress. Place either a fitted sheet or a flat sheet directly on the box spring.  If it’s a flat sheet, pretend it’s a mattress and do those military corners. Replace the mattress. And voilà! Instant box spring cover.

And there you have it, folks, another Twenty Dollar Tuesday!!!!

After my post yesterday about craigslist, I’ve had a few people ask questions about how I find such great things on craigslist. So I’m assembling a list of guidelines I use.

1. Don’t expect to find exactly what you’re looking for the first time you peruse CL. You’ll never find it.  Unless of course on a whim you decide to look on the CL page for another city two hours away, and then you’ll find EXACTLY what you are looking for. Funny how that works. (This actually happened to me…we drove two hours to get the hutch/buffet…the best part? Both pieces didn’t fit in the car. So we had to drive two hours again the next day! True story.)

2. Keep an open mind. If you decide you’re in the market for, let’s say, a queen sized bed frame, don’t go look on the pottery barn web site, and then expect to find the same frame on CL.  It’s not going to happen.

3. Check back regularly. Make looking for your bedframe a part of your daily web routine.  Sooner or later, you’ll find something.

4. Do your research. So you’ve found a queen bed frame you really want.  My first step is usually just to email the poster and ask “is the piece available?”.  You can tell a lot about the seller by how they respond.

• If they respond within an hour, they’re usually pretty eager to sell.
• Take a look at their email address…if it’s partygirl45@yahoo.com, you are probably looking at a young twenty something girl who has moved around a lot.  The bed has probably been taken apart and put back together many times so it may not be in tip top condition.  If you hear back from george_smith@crest.edu, you can probably guess it’s from a more established home, and the piece is likely in better condition than partygirl’s frame.
• Take a look at how long the piece has been on CL.  If they posted four days ago, they are probably willing to negotiate a little. If they posted 5 minutes ago, they probably aren’t going to do much negotiating at this point.
• I also usually ask a few questions: What are the dimensions? Why are you selling? Are there any problems with the piece?, etc.  The more forthcoming the seller is, the better. Every used piece of furniture has a few dings and nicks, so if the seller, says “Perfect condition!” I start to wonder what they’re really hiding.
• Lastly, check out what the other queen bedframes are selling for in your area.  If the listing you’re looking at is posted at $400, and all the other ones are in the $25-$125 range, it’s probably not worth it! Sometimes people on CL are DELUSIONAL about what they think their stuff is worth!

5. Decide whether or not to negotiate.  If you’re really desperate for a piece, offer full price.  I nearly lost out on our guest bedroom suite because I lowballed.  The seller didn’t even write me back after my initial offer, so I wrote her back from another email address and offered her full price (sneaky, I know), and she wrote right back and we had a deal! If you’re willing to let go of the piece though, it’s to your advantage to negotiate!

6. It’s okay to walk away. So you loved the queen bed in the picture, but when you go see it in person, you’re just not impressed.  It’s okay to walk away. Until you give the seller cash, you don’t have a deal.

7. If it’s fiber board, it’s not worth it. A lot of furniture these days, sadly, isn’t made of real wood, it’s made of that fiberboard, laminate junk. Do not pay more than a couple of bucks for this…it won’t hold any value and will probably fall apart in a year or two.  Real wood, on the other hand, you can paint, you can stain, you can break up and use for firewood if you hate it in 10 years. Or you can resell it on craigslist!

8. Look past the facade. You love the shape of the queen bedframe you found, but it’s brown and you really want a bright red one. Don’t be afraid to get your hands a little dirty! Sand it down and paint it!  You’d never do that to the one you bought at Pottery Barn, but since you found this one for $25 on CL, go for it!  Be willing to look at a piece in a picture, work up the courage to buy it, and see what it can become!

9. Shop in nice neighborhoods.  A lot of cities on CL are now divided up into different parts or neighborhoods.  Go scope out the stuff on the nicer neighborhood boards.  You may have to drive a little further, but chances are, they’ll have nicer stuff!

10. Don’t be afraid! It can be kind of weird the first time you make a purchase, negotiating via email, getting a stranger’s address, and handing over money to take their castoffs, but like cake batter, it’s a bit addicting.  Like I said, it’s a hobby of mine now.  Even when I don’t think I need anything, I like to scroll through the postings; you never know when you might find that really unique chair or bookcase or weird sculpture of a dog butler for $10 that becomes your family’s favorite piece!

P.S.: As for dogs…a lot of times families who have to get rid of dogs for one reason or another (moving, allergies, etc.), but can’t find a friend or family member to take in their four-legged friends, will post on craigslist.  They can’t fathom taking Rover to the shelter, and want to see what sort of family he’s going to be given to, so craigslist is a great choice. You also get a chance to ask Rover’s previous family why they’re getting rid of him, what he likes/ doesn’t like, whether he’s good with kids/ other dogs, etc.  It’s really a good deal for everyone! So if you’re in the market for a dog/ cat/ bird/ tortoise, be sure to check it out!!!

I was cleaning some votive candle holders the other day and it took forever!  The worst part?  I had five of them.  So when I stumbled across this “helpful hint” from Martha today, I decided I had to share!

“Place the glass candleholders in the freezer for a few hours. Once frozen, the wax will shrink just enough to pop right out!”

As soon as I read it, I thought to myself “DUH”.  Oh well, that’s why Martha is Martha!

This tip is actually free:  Rearrange your furniture.  Right now! Go! Okay wait.  Read this first.

I have great memories of my mom and I becoming the “Furniture Fairies” and rearranging furniture in our house.  And to this day, I believe it’s a great way to spruce up a room!  Sometimes we get too comfortable with our furniture and become “stuck”.  Try to look at your room objectively, and see what’s not working.  Do you have a chair nobody sits in?  Try it in a different place! Is all your furniture against walls?  Angle it!  Is your room too crowded?  Move a chair or a table to a different room!  Rearranging furniture not only refreshes a new room, but it can also keep the wear and tear more evenly spread out!  Clap if you believe in (furniture) fairies!

Okay, NOW go rearrange!

I saw this Martha Stewart show segment a few years ago where she teaches Marcia Cross how to fold a t-shirt in about 2 seconds, and I instantly became obsessed with folding t-shirts this way.  I know, that sounds crazy, you may ask, “Why do I need fold my t-shirts any differently than I do right now?” If you ask this, you clearly haven’t  watched the video yet! After I saw this, I refolded all the t-shirts in my dresser.  Seriously.  Maybe that says more about me than it does about the video though…

Click the photo to watch the video!