Got an ache? Stick a sock on it

Editor's note: Join Donna Freedman today at 7 p.m. ET on MSN Money's Facebook page for a chat on all the ways you can save on Halloween. Be sure to bring your own tips to share!  

Loading and unloading a U-Haul truck did a number on my left shoulder. Driving more than 2,500 miles in three and a half days wasn't exactly healthful, either.

Fortunately, I have a clever and cost-conscious daughter who reminded me of the "frugal heating pad." That's why I'm writing with a sock full of hot rice on my shoulder.

That's uncooked rice, by the way.

Making a rice sock is as simple as it sounds: Pour some raw swamp seed into a sock, tie a knot in the footwear and pop it into the microwave. Nuke until very warm. Apply to sore spot. Aaaahhhh.

In this blog post, my daughter also suggests that rice socks would make good bed-warmers on cold winter evenings. Back in the day, people used heated bricks or pans containing live coals to warm up freezing sheets before climbing in. Sometimes these items would be left in place all night.

"The rice sock improves on this by not having the tendency to set the sheets on fire. I consider that a major plus," Abby says.

Now that I've moved to Alaska, home of the icy percale, a rice sock could become my best nighttime friend. One for each foot, maybe.

Hot and cold
Not everyone uses rice. I've heard of flax socks, wheat socks, oatmeal socks, popcorn socks, even cherry-pit socks. All such contents conform nicely to the sore spot, vs. a stiff heating pad that you may have to hold in place (on a shoulder, for example).

Not everyone uses socks, either. Some stitch little bags from scrap material, or buy pretty fabric and make these things as gifts. They're particularly appreciated by expectant mothers, according to Jennifer Chait of the Pregnancy & Baby website.

"If you like, you can add a few drops of lavender essential oil to the dry rice," Chait says,   making the experience aromatherapeutic as well as warm.

• Bing: What is an essential oil?

It's also possible to put rice/cherry-pit/what​ever socks in the freezer. According to Beth of My Plastic-Free Life, iced rice is quite nice as a headache remedy.

A throbbing noggin is a distinct possibility, because my stuff is mostly still in boxes. It needs not only to be unpacked, but meshed into the home I'm sharing with a friend. Frugal ice pack, here I come.

More on MSN Money:

• Best gym deal -- at a hospital?
• 18 cheap ways to beat stress
• Save $1,000 -- get a dental X-ray
• The do-it-yourself day spa