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My Pizza Stone Tastes Funny and How to Wash It

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I absolutely love my baking stone (I have a square pizza stone similar to this one because it is more versatile than a round one.) I use it all the time and for pretty much everything I put in the oven. ( Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience .) Which I learned is a mistake. The food I bake on my pizza stone is starting to taste weird. The stone smells and smokes when I put it in a hot oven. Why? Because baking and pizza stones are porous. That’s how they do their job of creating perfectly baked bread and pizza crusts. But the porous stone can also absorb and trap the fats and oils in the food baked on top of it. Over time, the oil heats and releases into the lovely seasoning you created by baking on the stone and makes your pizza or bread taste awful and/or fill your kitchen with eye watering smoke. Bleach! In other words, I should have used a metal baking sheet to make oven baked French fries and not my baking stone. Oops. Save this tutorial to
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42 Ways to Get Free Stuff (without Stealing)

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I like getting a free pen or tote bag at the state fair just as much as the next person.  I appreciate free hotel toiletries so I don't have to deal with them on airplanes. I am pretty darn lucky we have local events with sponsors that offer us little advertising trinkets we find useful and allow us to learn about new products or businesses. As long it is something you can use and you only take your fair share, I don't think it stealing or being dishonest. 
 

Pin this post for later! 
What I do have a problem with is someone who tells you to save money by taking more than your fair share, ripping other people off, or outright stealing something like enough ketchup packets from a fast food place to refill your empty household ketchup bottle. Seriously?

After reading another article about getting stuff for free that is borderline illegal and made me greatly annoyed, I put together my own list of how to get stuff for free that won't get you arrested and let you sleep with a clear conscious at night.

42 Hacks to Get Things for Free!

 
Most of these tips are new money saving habits (habits are fee!), tips to ask for something you find useful and is often discarded, or how to turn something you already have into something you want or need because I know all of you are in dire need of cheese wax candles, right?

The candle burned OK, not great. At least I now know if we have a 
horde of ninjas camped outside the house, have a bunch of waxed cheese, 
and need light, we can make candles.


2. How to Make Candles out of Cheese Wax
3. How to Warm a Winter Room with Free Heat!
4. How Low Does Your Furnace Go in Winter? 
6. How I Get Free Reusable Shopping Tote Bags
7. 5 Easy Ways to Lower Your Electric Bill
8. How to Search for Air Leaks and Drafts

Doing a free DIY energy audit allowed me reduce my electric bill by 32%. 
Not a bad investment for a little bit of my time!

 9. How to Conduct a DIY Home Energy Audit
10.8 Ways to Reduce Household Trash and Save Big 
11.How I Slashed my Electric Bills by 32% without Moving into a Yurt


I reduced my yearly electric bill by 32%!

12. How to Hem Pants Into Shorts
13. Can You Wash a Plastic Bath Poof?
14. 9 New Habits to Keep You Warm During Winter
15. 40 Ways to Organically Repel Japanese Beetles by NOT planting this list of trees, plants, vegetables or flowers.
16. Save Water with Shorter Showers
17. Save Money! Find and Fix Air Leaks and Drafts
18. 9 Things You Need to Do Now to Save Money and Sanity Next Christmas
21. 13 Ways to Lower Your Electricity and Natural Gas Bills
22. Five Repurposed Home Organizers


I'm pretty proud of this flash of inspiration



 What are your free hacks?

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