Written on 5/29/2008 by Shilpan Patel of Success Soul

I’m a pretty frugal guy. With that said, I like to explore ways that we can use common things in unconventional ways. In some cases, these unconventional approaches actually work better than the solutions we’ve learned to love and most of the time, they cost a lot less. Some will even put useless pieces of clutter to good use so we’re taking otherwise worthless items and repurposing them. Not bad right?

I have to admit that these creative uses are not mine. However, I’ve learned about them from different sources and experimented to prove that they work for their intended use. What kind of weird solutions have you come up with either out of necessity, boredom or ingenuity?

Get a Shine with Banana Peels: If you are not eating bananas, you should be. In addition to the health benefits of the fruit itself, its skin is a built in shoe shine kit. A banana peel can shine your leather furniture and shoes. Just remove the stringy matter from inside and rub the inside of the peel on your shoes.

Treat sunburn with tea bags: Plain and simple, sunburn is terrible. If you forget to add the SPF before your day at the beach, apply a few tea bags on the affected area to escape the pain. If sunburn is widespread, fill the tub with hot water and put some tea bags in the hot water. Then soak your entire body in the tub. It works.

Remove price tag with peanut butter: Have you felt exasperated when you purchased a gift for a friend and before gift-wrapping, you tried to remove the price tag with no avail? Apply some peanut butter on the tag and rub it gently. You’ll be happy to see the price tag and its sticky residue gone.

Deodorize the refrigerator: Is your refrigerator smelly despite the thorough cleaning and defrosting? Dampen a cotton ball with vanilla extract and leave on the shelf. After few hours, you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you open your refrigerator.

Repel ants: Are ants invading your home? Aside from cleaning up, chalk powder has been known to stop ants in their tracks. Spread chalk powder around the house and in the closets. Ants will be repelled by the calcium carbonate in the chalk. If you have a major ant problem, this site has a ton of good anti-ant info.

Control your dandruff with baking soda: Do you feel low self-esteem due to dandruff that scares you every time you are on a date or other social gatherings? Well, create some homemade baking soda shampoo. Use this solution every time you shower and after a dry spell, you’ll find your hair free of flakes and softer.

Slip off the stuck ring: If you have hard time slipping off a ring on your finger, rub the finger with baby oil. Then, swing the ring to apply baby oil under the ring surface. You will be able to slide the ring off smoothly.

Deodorize your garbage disposal: Does your garbage disposal smell yucky? Pour 1/2 cup of salt into the bottom of the disposal and rinse it with warm water. The smell will go away quickly. Add a little lemon if you want to freshen things up even more.

Remove car dents: Before paying a good bit to a body shop to fix the dents on your car, wet a plunger, push it over the dent and pull it out sharply. It may remove the dents at free of charge.

Streak free glass with a newspaper: Before pitching old newspapers into the recycling bin, try cleaning your glass windows with glass cleaner or warm water and a piece of newspaper. You’ll see an absolutely streak-free glass surface as a result.

I have tried these tricks and they work. It’s fun to be creative. You’ll save environment and hard earned money as well.

What have you learned throughout the years?

Share your oddest tip in the comment section below and Jay will send the submitter of the most unique and helpful suggestion a copy of It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff . The winner will be announced in the comment section on June 02, 2008.

-Shilpan