How To Make A Coiled Basket (courtesy of Howcast.com)

You don’t need a class in basket-weaving to get the hang of creating a handmade basket. Coiled baskets can be made by a novice. You will need:

Dried marsh grass

Raffia

A no. 18 tapestry needle

Step 1: Dampen a pencil-thick bundle of dried marsh grass.

Step 2: Tie raffia to one end of the bundle, and wrap the loose end around the bundle about 10 times as you move up its length. Leave a small gap between each wrap. When you reach the end of the raffia, lay the end of the first raffia along the bundle of grass, and then place the end of the new strand next to the ends of the old strand. Wind the new raffia around the old until the old raffia is covered.

Step 3: Bend the bundle around itself tightly so that it forms a coiled circle, with the wrapped end at the center and the loose end free. When you need to add more grass to the bundle, insert the stem ends of new grasses, a few at a time.
Step 4: Wrap the raffia three times around the uncovered part of the coil, and then use a threaded needle to connect the raffia to the wrapped part with a figure-eight stitch. Pull the stitch tight. Continue sewing figure-eight stitches until the coil is covered and closed.

Step 5: Extend the loop, wrapping the next section of the bundle with raffia and sewing it to the loop underneath with a figure-eight stitch. Continue binding and wrapping at 1-inch intervals as you enlarge the circle. Build the coils up gradually over each other at the desired angle to add height to the basket.

Step 6: Attach the final coil end to the previous one with a figure-eight stitch, and then wrap the raffia around the final two rows and the previous row. Thread the raffia back through the figure-eight stitch, and cut it free.

Did you know? Coiled baskets are used in the Apache Sunrise Ceremony — a rite of passage by which a girl passes from adolescence to womanhood.

How To Train Yourself To Be On Time (courtesy of Howcast.com)

In the immortal words of Benjamin Franklin, Time Is Money – Spend It Wisely! You will need:

An online calendar or day planner, and

A watch.

Step 1 – Schedule only commitments that are important, and learn to say no to others. Use one, main online calendar or day planner. Schedule events after rush hour and other off-peak times, so traffic doesn’t make you wait.

Step 2 – Set email or text reminders that set intervals on your online calendar. Give yourself a reminder 1 hour before, and 15 minutes before an event.

Step 3 – If you have a 2:00 appointment, enter it in your schedule at 1:50. Have extra work on hand to keep busy if you’re early.

Step 4 – Add 25% to the time you think you’ll need to get where you’re going, or to finish a job.

Step 5 – Lay out your clothes, lunch, keys, and anything else you’ll need for the day, the night before. If you wake up late, you’ll probably still be on time.

Step 6 – Keep your gas tank above ¼ full at all times. Always have at least $20 on hand so unplanned expenses don’t hold you up.

Step 7 – Wear a watch, or bring your phone everywhere you go so you’ll always know the time!

Did you know? There are 17 million meetings in America on an average day!

Learn How To Reuse Everyday Items (courtesy of Howcast.com )

Your friends might think you’ve gone totally gonzo for green, but learning to put household items to surprising recycled uses, saves you money and helps the environment. You will need:

A commitment to recycling
An Ability to think outside the box

Step 1 – Don’t automatically discard your morning newspapers. Use it in place of paper towels to clean glass and mirrors. It doesn’t leave streaks. Shred it to make packing material, use it as a fire starter, wrap gifts with it.

Step 2 – Save plastic produce bags to pick up dog poop, use them as trash bags in your car, and wrap your clothes in them when you travel, to protect against dirty shoes and leaking toiletries. A neat way to store plastic produce bags is to stuff them in an empty cardboard tissue box.

Step 3 – Hold on to greeting cards. Even the craft-challenged can cut up old cards to make gift tags and postcards. Or, tear off the cover and use the blank side to write out your to-do list, instead of wasting notepaper.

Step 4 – Don’t throw out old mouse pads. Instead, use them as knee pads when you garden or clean the tub. Put them under hot dishes, or, cut them into pieces and glue under furniture legs to protect wood floors. Prepare file folders for reuse in advance, by putting a piece of clear tape over the tab before you add a label. When it’s time to store something else in the folder, the old label will peel off easily.

Step 5 – Re-use junk mail envelopes for your own mail. Just slap a label over the see-through window or pre-printed address. If the envelope has a bar code at the bottom, run a black marker through it.

Step 6 – Don’t dump the water you use to cook vegetables…water your plants with it! Bonus – it’s filled with nutrients!

Did you know? Between Thanksgiving and New Years’ Day, Americans generate an extra 5 million tons of trash!

It’s time to put up the signs and make a little cash! Yep, it’s yard sale season! But, before you clean out your garage, Nicole has a step-by-step guide to throwing a profitable yard sale, and how to do your part for the environment.

Usually, I’m showing you where to spend your money. But today, I’m gonna show you how to make some money at a garage sale! They can usually be very time consuming, but they can also be profitable. How? I’ll show you!

We’re open for business! Just kidding – they’re fake – and they’re dirty. First things first is to clean all of your items, because obviously they’re going to sell better if they look presentable. And then, after that, you have to price everything. Don’t skip this step, because it’s gonna cut down on negotiation. They make labels right in your regular grocery store that you can just pick up. Or, you can get these kind, at like an office supply. For bigger ticket items, those are nice. You can just tape them right to your items. If you don’t know what to price your garage sale items at, 15% of what you paid retail is usually the standard.

Now, when it comes to sets, there’s 2 ways of thought. These coasters – there’s 4 of them. I don’t want to get stuck with just one, so I’ve tied them up – it’s $.50 for all 4. But, these candle holders are $1.00 each, and if I was stuck with just one, it wouldn’t be that big a deal. So I’ve priced them individually. It would be $2.00 for the pair. And, they’ll probably ask if I’ll take $1.50 and, of course I will – and you should, too!

So, when it’s time to bring your merchandise outside, try to bring your furniture as close to the street as possible. It’s the one thing that drive-by buyers are really looking for, because of the higher retail prices of furniture.

And then, organize your items. These boxes are available at any moving supply store, and they’re perfect for garage sales! We did kids on this side, adults on this side. And everything is hung up, so buyers don’t have to wonder what it is.

The burden of proof that things work is your responsibility, so plan to have some power at your next sale. That way, people can test out items. Also, have some batteries for the hand-held devices. Now, you don’t want people in your home, so don’t offer to let them test anything inside. Just drag out an extension cord. Also, make it very clear where the sale ends, so you have no stragglers back there where they don’t belong.

If you have kids in your family, it’s good to give them a job, so they’re not under your feet. It’s also hard for drivers to drive by a cute little kid selling lemonade! And, if you have kids coming with parents to your garage sale, it’s good to put the wee one’s merchandise at the back of the sale, and low. One, because you want them to get attached to it, and they can’t do that if they can’t see it. And, you want to put it all the way back in the sale, so parents don’t have to worry about their kids in the traffic. Happy parents spend more money!

Alright! Well, garage sales can be a great way to recycle, reuse and reduce. And, it can afford you new funds to go shopping! For BetterTV, I’m Nicole Camarady, wishing you Happy Garage Sale-ing!