I am a licensed cosmetologist even though i don't practice anymore but am in contact with several nitpickers which are profession women who get ride of lice for a living.. they come into your home or you go their salon and in 2-4 hours your problem is over. No combing every day for 2 weeks to keep checking for nits etc.. my sisters kids got lice and it was bad..they had all 3 cycles of them growing in their hair..adults, nits, and eggs, and they kept coming back. My sister called my nitpicker friends and they said forget about nix or any of theose treatments because not only are they poison, but they only work for some live bugs..will not kill all of them, and they don't do anything about the nits and eggs. They said to do the cetaphil treatment which is at the following address http://www.ehow.com/how_2123367_treat-head-lice-cetaphil.html.. then sent her over an awesome lice comb and directed her to part the hair section by section starting at the bottom and to go through every hair in each section and that they would be lice free in a few hours and they were. The comb did not miss anything. Then she told her from now on to use the fairytales line of hair products for kids.They also sell the comb used by the nitpickers, and have a product called lice goodbye. The nitpickers have not tried it yet because the cetaphil works so good, but said some schools had started to use it and thought it was excellent. So after my sisters ordeal, i now check my kids once a week because if you can catch it early things will be so much easier. I have a kit in my bathroom which contains cetaphil, the lice comb, and my kids use the fairytales shampoo, conditioner, and leave in sprays daily... it is a little expensive,but gives me peace of mind.. and if you sign up for the newsletter you get a coupon in your email every month for free shipping or 10% off, and then each time you order you accumulate points which takes money off your next order. You can also look for which salons in your area sell it...i swear i have no affiliation in any way with the company..just highly recommend the products Here is a link that might be useful: Fairy Tales

@scootermom, 1) It is electrical. When the motor is activated by pressure or pulling on the drawer, there's a curved fingerlike projection that physically pushes the drawer forward (see image). Closing simply uses the soft-close mechanism of Blumotion slides that many people already have. When you have a power outage or tripped breaker, the drawers work like regular drawers. Servo Drive is a rather complex system to put together but a very simple one in functionality: A 24V DC transformer (big block above outlet) powers up to 10 (I think) Servo Drive motors (small block below outlet with white label), you need a mount for each motor (L-shaped flat piece motor is mounted on), and low voltage wire between the transformer and motor and between motors (they are mounted in series). If you have servo drive motors for multiple drawers in a bank, they have a vertical aluminum rail that all the motors can mount to. 2) I had JUST gotten the song out of my head until you mentioned it... Here goes another 3 months of "Servo Drive, Servo Drive, it's so easy..." @madeyna, we have Nine Star iTouchless trash cans at our office and at the house, and we love them. I hate touching trash cans, and plus they're cheaper than Simple Human's NON-motorized cans, though not quite as pretty. My one complaint is they get VERY grimy in the lid's crevices, and we put off cleaning it because we don't like to, and eventually it gets really gross. I hope our trash pullouts will stay a lot cleaner than our iTouchless cans!

Ok, I'm back with my own name now! I got another e-mail account and changed my name, so I feel more comfortable. I have lurked for a very long time but haven't posted. I have learned so much here and have gotten so many creative ideas and I finally felt I had something to contribute! sheesharee - It is a standard size kitchen trash can, uses 13-gallon bags. oceanna - Thank you! Yes, I built it from scratch. There is a thead on the Conversations side where sheesharee was looking for a litterbox cover and I posted a picture there of one that I made. It has probably scrolled down a couple of pages by now. I love woodworking and have been doing it for many years now. I really enjoy making things that you can't buy - that are made to just fit a specific place or for a rather unusual use, like the litterbox cabinet or trash can cabinet. I've also made hope chests, entertainment centers, coffee and end tables, book cases. That is more information than anyone asked for, but it is something I really enjoy and I am happy to be able to share something that might help someone else. -Dolores-

Technically speaking, it's not legal to change an addressee on a postage affixed envelope. In reality, the post office isn't too picky about it. Technically, you're supposed to take it to the post office and have it replaced. Like I said, I don't think they're too picky, and have done it before. But we are talking about an organization who sued the Boy Scouts for putting their fundraiser brochures on mail boxes! Ob $aver thought: My favorite is paying bills online. Between postage, envelope and check fees, it's realistically 50¢ per bill saved. I'm saving $25/year easily, plus the gas of going to a mail box. Another favorite is my little "pantry". I hate going to the store and people who have to run to the store every day for something are nuts. Worst case, I can always make a can of soup. Plus I have a few groceries in case of a storm. Another phrase I enjoyed came from one of the spouse-swap programs where the minimalist/frugal wife's motto was "Do I need it? Do I love it? Does it make me money?" If not, toss it. Oh, and I was proud of myself... My washer was dumping water all over the floor and I thought I'd have to replace a washer after only 26 years of dependable service. Hey Joyful, shouldn't that have been under warranty??? ;) Being crippled up like I am these days, I can't do too much but I was curious to see if there was a chance of it just being a hose or something, plus I couldn't really wreck it, so, after tearing it open, sure enough, all that happened was two hose clamps lost their tension. A trip to the auto parts store, 2 - 25¢ hose clamps, maybe an hour, well, couple hours of "work" (more play and confidence builder) and I saved the cost of a new machine and disposal of the old. So what would that be? Anywhere from $100-$500 per hour pay, tax free, and I'm washing away again. Maybe I'll get another 26 years out of it? Well maybe not, but I'd expect a couple years of use anyway. Oh, other little things, like making a non-electric humidifier out of an ice cream pail sitting in front of the heat register. Cut holes in the top to keep the cat from playing in there. Plus I had to set it into a dishpan because she got mad and tipped it over! There's so many things, I can't think of them. But I enjoy reading others ideas too. I guess I try to make money spending an investment. For instance the Frugal Gazette books to me are an investment since they give you ideas and motivation. Use the library for movie borrowing & rental. Bought a few dozen popular movies for $1 each and share them with a lot of people. Shop for things on the internet to see what they'll cost, then know if it's a good buy when you go out. I had to buy a new dryer and saved $200 by buying a floor model at the "BB" Store. Researched things I wanted and checked reviews and the like. My $5/mo ISP has paid for itself so many times it's hilarious.