Creative Uses for Bounce Dryer Sheets

These tips came from Around The Towner, Barbara- and I thought many of them might be quite useful. Here are just a few of my favorites:

1. To eliminate odors, put Bounce sheets in your vacuum cleaner, closets, under your car seats, in linen cupboards, athletic bags, laundry baskets, shoes and garbage cans.

2. Bounce sheets are great at repelling bugs, bees, ants, mosquitoes and rodents- so put them in a pocket when you are in the great outdoors, or around trouble spots at your home.

3. Rub a bounce sheet on your shower door and it will dissolve the soap scum.

4.  Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The anti-static agent apparently weakens the bond between the food and the pan.

5. Use your Bounce sheet to magnetically attract pet hair.

Beer (Friday) and Wine (Saturday) Tastings at Bev Mo!

Would you like an expert's opinion on the best beers and wines and help customizing labels to your personal tastes? If so, Bev Mo can help you out!  I visited the Oceanside store on Vista Way and they host beer tastings for $1 on Friday evenings between 4 and 7pm.  On Saturdays from 1-4 a sommelier will be on hand to go over wines with you. Beverages will be paired with cheeses, salamis and crackers.

Tide Pools to Explore in San Diego

When is the last time you explored San Diego's tidepools? Here are a few options that are certain to please:

Swami's- located on the Pacific Coast Highway- you'll know you are in the right place when you see the gold domes of the Self-Realization Center.  Go down the  stairway to the beach below.  Often seen at these pools are brittle stars, octopi and sea hares.

Cardiff State Beach- Just north of Lomas Santa Fe Drive and off the Pacific Coast Hwy, there is a tide pool area by the bluffs at the south end of the parking lot.

La Jolla Cove-  Below the Museum of Contemporary Art you will find rocky shores and reefs with tide pools.

Sea Hare- but I don't recommend kissing them!

Claim Your Free Credit Report

By law, you do not have to pay to check your credit report. Federal law gives you the right to review your credit report for free once a year. You can access this FREE report at www.annualcreditreport.com. Your score will not be lowered by checking. Only "hard" inquiries (applying for a loan, etc.) can lower your score.

Opting Out of Credit Card and Insurance Offers

If you are not interested in credit card and insurance offers that clog up your mailbox, take the simple step to opt out by contacting the Consumer Credit Reporting Industry at www.optoutprescreen.com or (888)567-8688.

Paperwork- How Long Should You Keep It?

In most households, paper build-up is a major problem, mostly because we don't know how long we are supposed to keep things. Here is a guideline to help you in your decisions:

Credit card receipts and statements- 45 days

Paycheck stubs, retirement plan and savings statements, credit union or bank records, bills- 1 year

Tax records- 7 years

Statements showing IRA contributions and legal correspondence- Forever!

*Some documents that you would normally keep for no more than a year should be kept longer such as receipts that validate a warrantee or will be used for tax deductions, or bills that might provide evidence of an item's value if it's stolen or destroyed. If in doubt, keep it.

More Information on Scholarships

At Around The Town I like to keep you up on all the scholarship opportunities that I hear of...because it can truly break the bank to send your kids to college these days! Here is a helpful article from North County Times on finding scholarship information and opportunities. If you want to search for other scholarship information that has been posted on Around The Town and is still current, put the word "scholarship" in the "search this blog" box on Around The Town's main page.