My wife has a beautiful garden with all kinds of lilies and hosta and many other types of flowers which I have no idea. She wins contests for our yard and we've spent a lot of money with irrigation, truckloads of mulch delivered by semi, trips far and wide to various garden stores to buy the elusive flowers... I say all that to make the point that our yard is her passion and she loves to garden. A couple years ago she went on a vacation with a girlfriend for a week or so. She left me in charge (mistake #1). I was given strict instructions on running the irrigation (we hadn't yet installed our final leg of irrigation that summer and it was hot and dry). Oh, and we have a real deer problem - they will eat her garden down to the ground if we don't spray the garden at least once a week with some "deer-away" stuff that smells like two month old horse urine. Soooo... she gave me instructions to spray all the flowers with the nasty urine smelling stuff she had kindly pre-mixed for me in the hand-pumped sprayer in the garage. Well I did my duties just as instructed, watered, and on the allotted day spent probably 30 minutes spraying the deer repellant onto all the flower beds. When I was done I brought the sprayer back into the garage and suddenly realized I hadn't smelled that horrible smell as I was spraying all the flowers. I then noticed that there were TWO sprayers in the garage. Hmm, i thought. I opened up the second one and PHEW what a smell - well that one is clearly deer repellant. So what I had I just sprayed all over the entire garden? Yes, you guessed it. Round-up. Oh my goodness. Panic set in. I ran out with a hose, but then thought, what if that makes it worse. I feverishly called the manufacturer and tried to get information on what I could do - the guy laughed and said pretty much I was screwed; once it was on the leaves there was nothing I could do. I went out and sprayed and sprayed anyway for hours. Ran the sprinkler for I think 2-3 days continuously. Wife came home. I said nothing. Flowers started looking bad in spots. Then worse. Eventually I had to fess up. And then I went out with a HUGE black permanent marker and LABELED the sprayers. Thankfully after her initial anger, she forgave me. And I wrote many checks that summer to replace flowers.

My husband works for the county prison and when the towels that the inmates use start to get holey, the county purchases new ones and throws the one ones away. My husband collects them before they go to trash and brings them home. (Garbage bags full) We rip them up and use them for rags for things like washing the car, washing windows, dusting, cleaning the grill etc. By the way, he does bring these from work but he has approval to bring them home instead of having them thrown away. As for me, I work at a hospital. Whenever we get a new patient, they get a welcome pack that includes a large water cup with a lid and anti-embolism stockings. A large amount of the patients don't even open the bags that they come in so when they get discharged, if the bags are still sealed, I take those two items home for use. (I ask my nurse manager first!) I give away a lot of those items to friends and family. The stockings are terrific and cost 10 to 15 bucks at the store.

Thanks for all the insight everyone. I've been experiencing some major problems with the washer recently, which backup your theories about the glass door scratches. Namely, when the washer gets out of balance the tub is moving so far in every direction that it seems to be hitting the exterior of the washer! Or at least that's what it sounds like. I've taken a close look when it gets crazy out of balance like this, and while I've never caught the tub hitting the glass, it looks to come pretty close. It also causes the gasket to ripple like crazy as the tub moves back and forth towards the door. Obviously something is wrong with the washer. I never noticed this behaviour during my first loads in the machine which caused the scratches, but I wasn't sticking around to pay attention to the wash cycles at that time like I am now. The balance problem / tub movement seems to be getting worse with each use of the machine! I wonder if each time it goes out of balance it is damaging the (presumably already damaged) suspension each time? I'm wondering if it was defective from day 1, or if the delivery people did something wrong. When they came on delivery day they unboxed the washer and dryer on the street, lay them down on their backs, screwed on the pedestals, then brought them in the house upright on dollies. I didn't see if they removed the shipping bolts before or after bringing the machine into the house. In any case, I went to Sears and told the salesperson what's going on. I also brought a video I took on my phone of the spin cycle going nuts and hitting all over the place. He watched the video for just a few seconds and said from the sound of it he could immediately tell something was wrong. He ordered a new unit to exchange this one, so hopefully all will be operating normal soon.

Many of the things have been covered so I'll try to avoid duplicates. But another caution: $20 will buy jumper cables good for Texas or Arizona, but not for Minnesota or North Dakota. You'll spend 2-3 times that for a decent set worthy of carrying around here. Check the gauge of the wire and the clamps. Buy from a reputable place, not a discount department store, if you want a good set. Another caution is a cell phone is a good idea but will do you no good without power. Always buy a car adapter and keep it in the vehicle. "Emergency" cell phones, won't be maintained so they won't be charged. Without a charger you stand no chance of using it. Also, be sure to check coverage. Why get one that won't have coverage when you need it? Also, if you need to repair a hose, don't go for the duct tape right away. Electrical tape will seal the hole better. Duct tape won't. Wrap it well with electrical tape and *then* give a wrap of the silver miracle. The grey gold will keep the electrical tape in place better and seal itself better. I always used a coffee can and put a roll of toilet paper in a plastic bag, double bagged, actually. Also had some matches and some large heavy duty garbage bags. A garbage bag will be a one-size-fits-most for a rain poncho, and have numerous other uses. People who use eyeglasses should keep an extra pair in the vehicle, especially if your license requires you to wear them while driving. I always keep water in the vehicle. Sure it freezes in the winter but the small bottles thaw quickly. I also keep aspirin, antacids and the like so I don't have to buy them at outrageous prices if needed. I just take a small bottle and keep a few in there. A roll of paper towels cut in half fits nicely in a coffee can and gives you an alternative to the toilet paper and gives you some ready napkins and something to use to clean up those accidents. Put the garbage bags in there and I like a few wet wipes. Tow chain or a tow strap. Takes little room. Oh, I use the crank flashlights. No need to worry about batteries. I usually like to carry a gallon of window wash fluid (de-icer in the winter) and a gallon of antifreeze. If you break a hose you can get the radiator filled. Dump in the antifreeze and it can get you going to a place to add some water. Or if your near a water source, even a lake, stream or ditch, you have a container for the water. Clothes appropriate for the climate. And a comealong winch is a good idea too. Can extend the reach of the tow strap and you can winch yourself out of a bad spot. And I believe in keeping some cash, including change, in the vehicle. Pay phones used to be a big reason but that's more obsolete now but if you have to buy some gas, or bandages or something, you might find a few dollars handy. Nobody's saying you should carry everything everyone has suggested. Very few people would find a gas wrench useful - most wouldn't know how to use it. So you use it for ideas. Modify it. There is no all-inclusive list that will work for everyone. Some things you would take on a trip but not leave in there all the time. Some things should be in there. Minnesota requires you to carry proof of insurance. I keep one card in my wallet and one in the vehicle. Belt and suspenders I suppose. I still haven't gotten around to stocking my "new" vehicle yet. But probably have most of it in there. When the weather gets nicer I'll clean it out and check inventory against my checklist.