Using It UP~Oatmeal boxes and Coffee Cans

I really hate to throw out stuff that can be re-purposed.  I have a couple of neat uses for ~

Oatmeal boxes:

1.  Cookie/candy give a way containers.  Line with wax paper and decorate with Christmas paper.  Use to give away your fresh baked goods for family and friends.  Let the kids decorate them for a personal touch!

2. Store dry goods.  I have stored extra items such as bulk macaroni and dried beans.  They stay very nice.  It's food grade, so it stores things very nicely.

3. Child's drum. Let your child decorate with construction paper and with the lid on, tap for a drum sound!

4. Sewing thread storage.  Do you have loads of the stuff and have no where to keep it? Here ya go!

5. Small toy storage for a child's room...remember that drum? Well, this box can be decorated and small cars and other toys can be stored inside it.

Coffee Cans:

For metal cans~

Party lights~I like to take an "all" and punch holes for a pattern.  Then I turn the bottom right side up and place a candle over for a neat outdoor party light to line my walkway...

Food storage~everything from bake goods as gifts, to anything that will fit.

GREASE trap~I like to pour grease off my cooking into a coffee can with a lid so I can store it until it's pretty full or before it goes bad and then toss.

Kid's cooking fun~ Take an empty metal coffee can, punch some holes~you can use the can opener or an all, but make some holes so the can will breathe near the rim of the top.  Be sure the label is removed.  Scrub the bottom.  Take a sterno can and light. Place this on a sturday table and place over it the can with the holes with the bottom facing the top.  Prepare grill cheese for the 'stove' and set on top...flip when heated through...This is fun for an outdoor camp out!

For plastic coffee cans~

I like the way they stack.  Store sugar and other dry goods in these.  Label with a permanent marker.
Use as a huge scoop to remove water in larger quantities such as in a pool or decorative pond.  The handle makes this nice!

You can use as storage for food items...but I don't care to use them as gift givers because they aren't as attractively shaped and are more difficult to decorate, but they make wonderful rice, flour, bean, pasta storage and MORE!  Remember these stack really nicely!

What are you doing with these? 

Using It UP~Tissue Cardboard Rolls

Waste will fill up our dumps and landfills before the stuff we throw away can decompose! I won't use any stats here, but we all need to remember that recycling and re-purposing is a great effort to reduce waste and save our money.

So what do you do with your toilette paper rolls when you have finished with the tissue?  They are nice card board tubes, and there are some neat ideas to do with them.

1.  Snowflake, flower or star gift decoration or ornament: Cut in 1/4 inch circles so that you have circles from the tube.  Glue them with sides to each side in either of the three shapes using clothes pins to hold the glued sides until dried.  When dry, spray paint the color of your choice.  If a snowflake, white; star, gold or silver and flower, red.  Use the matching color in glitter to add sparkle.  When completely dry, you can hang with an ornament hanger for the Christmas tree or use a thin ribbon or cord to tie on a package.

2.  Party Favors for a Girl's Birthday Tea Party:  Once we held a Birthday Tea for our daughter and used tissue paper tubes to place small gifts inside for the guests.  You cut a center slit in the tube so it will break open in the center.  I wrapped the tube with gift inside with tissue to old it tightly with the gift wrap about 3 inches longer than the tube on each end.  I used ribbon to tie each end closed and made bows.  This made such cute favors, and all one has to do to open is hold each end of the tube and bend away from the middle, and it will break open easily.

3.  Easter Egg Holder: Cut the tube about 2 1/2 inches so that the circles are even on both sides.  You can paint them or cover with paper or fabric.  They can look nice natural too! If you want, you can get dried grass and twigs from the yard and glue them on, or even use Easter grass to decorate the egg holders.  When you have decorated your Easter Eggs and want to display them on your table, set the eggs in the circles to hold them upright!

4.Give them to your children along with other craft supplies such as markers, scissors, glue and colored paper and let them CREATE! You would be surprised what they will come up with~preschoolers LOVE to make things...what about a finger puppet or a Christmas decoration using some ribbon or yarn to tie off one end to make streamers.  The tube can be colored, covered or decorated and then the end without the streamers can have one string to make a way for it to hang by putting a hole in opposing sides of the roll. A hand held hole punch is good to use for this one!

5. Your idea (WITH CREDIT) here!


Here's more ideas from Frugal Families: 
http://frugal.families.com/blog/creative-uses-for-toilet-paper-rolls
Squidoo.com idea with YouTube videos (lots of ads, but nice ideas!)
 http://www.squidoo.com/reusepaperroll
Loads of printables to use with your tprolls!
http://www.dltk-kids.com/type/tp_roll.htm
About.com

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/cardboardtubecrafts/Cardboard_Tube_Crafts.htm
 Have fun with this "renewable" resource~ya NEVER run out of these!!

Using It UP~Empty Tissue Boxes

 "Have I lost it," you might be wondering? NOT YET, actually I am finding it! Finding new ways all the time to use what I have to re-purpose them into something I can use or would like to use. . .

On top of my TV which, BTW will sound REALLY extreme if I share that we have no channels, no cable~all we watch are DVD/VHS tapes on it! Another post for another time, but think of my savings in this area per year much less just what I am saving keeping that JUNK out of our minds!! But on top of the thing is a tissue box.  It's almost empty. I have another under my kitchen sink where in an old apple crate I am storing trash bags, cleaners, cleaning rags, cleaners (I only use a few), dishwasher powder and odds and ends like this. . .but that tissue box is there for the purpose of storing my grocery and discount store plastic shopping bags for future use!  Yup, I put them in this already attractive enough container...it beat the fabric bag I had that was nice, but you know what? When I get tired or this tissue box gets worn, I can toss it.  A cloth bag can hang around too long~lol!! But at any rate, consider that these boxes can add new uses long after the tissues are gone.

Uses:

1. Cut the top off and use as a vanity/dresser organizer compartment.

2.Use the cut top for a picture frame for a cute pic~make a card board stand and there ya go!

3. Let your preschooler wear them as 'play shoes'! They will have a ball!!

4. The construction of light weight cardboard is good for many uses...wrap for a fake gift at Christmas.  You can place these "fake presents" under your tree if you have small children and don't want them peeking in the packages! OR you can use them with other trees and decorations in the home.

5.  Use them as building blocks for small children.  Save them up...loads of fun!

6. Use in the bathroom vanity drawers for organization. They will hold a lot of stuff!

7.  Any ideas on using these UP?  Give me your ideas !!

Finding new ways to live budgetly!

Using It UP~Cereal Boxes...

If your kids eat box cereal, and mine love it, you will have a card board box and the wax papered lining that held the cereal left when all the goodie is gone! We can re-purpose them for something our own lives, not just throw them in the garbage or recycling into new right away. Since we are using everything up, here are some ideas:


For the inside wrap/bag:

Since this is food grade and had held cereal, how about a bag for sandwiches or other food storage for either fridge or on the go. These can be easily cut down to fit what is needed and since they are large, they will hold a lot more too. Anything you need to put in a bag without regard to water tightness can be used here.

Cut it open to make a place mat to work on for messy projects. Trimming and peeling fruit and veggies can put juices all over the table, but to save the mess off, use a cereal bag. Also you can paint on them putting your canvas or paper right down. It won't let the paint through to the surface~it's wax coated! Pet's dishes can set on one cut open~really any surface you want protected for the size can be used to cover with one of these...beats purchasing paper towels...and if you don't have newspaper which while great for many things will leave newsprint ink on your hands and other stuff...

Leave intact and put messy stuff to throw it away...my tomato skins are an example of this...because of their high acidic nature, I didn't compost them...so in putting them in this bag, it contained the mess~a bigger bag than the bread bag I use sometimes too...size will matter!! AND it kept the messiness from potentially leaking into my trash can..it holds in odors too until you can get an offensive item in the garbage for a few minutes.

Store the lettuce wrapped in paper towel in this bag...especially if your iceberg is larger than the already mentioned bread bag...don't squeeze in, if it doesn't fit!

We can craft with these...yeah...cut the top decoratively. . .if you have scalloped scissors or some other like pinking shears or free hand and edge to make the bag at the desired height. Use as a gift bag placing colorful tissue paper ($1 for a pack of many colors) and then use ribbons to tie around the top leaving about 4-6 inches for a "candy bag" look. Even without tying the bag, it can be turned down into a rolled hem to the desired height with the tissue (even white is pretty) sticking out of the top. Wanna get fancy? Make some handles with braided yarn or cord and staple them to the sides. Remember that they will not carry well by the handles. . .Often store bought gift bags are reinforced with cardboard. Just remember to carry this bag if it holds much weight at all from the bottom.

Use in the microwave to cover foods or cook corn on the cob in it. Yum! And less mess!!

Put papers that are needed to stay together in a notebook. The bag acts like a slipcover. Even books can be placed into these bags to prevent moisture or spoilage.

Place items to be crushed like crackers and chips~anything you are crushing~use these bags...

Offer your child some baby carrots and raisins (not the box ones, get the larger container for less and use the cereal bag) for a snack! How about some dry cereal??

Can you think of any ideas or share those that work best for ya?

Cardboard Cereal Box Uses:

I love the cardboard weight of the cereal boxes! I love paper crafts, and one year hand stamped teddy bears and watercolor penciled on each bear that was on these cereal boxes...shaded him well...and put a yarn tie on the bear for an ornament for the Christmas tree. This cardboard is so light that it's simple to cut it out and use it!

Crafting~make frames, a nice template will work and it can be covered with fabric. I will be awesome to see and do such work! Make a box that can have many purposes. Here are patterns: http://freedigitalscrapbooking.com/christmas_paper_crafts.html
for several styles. They mention cardstock, but you have to buy that stuff~use your cereal box! Small gift boxes work so wonderful and you can make them. There are also many uses for light cardboard such as just wrapping them at Christmas as a "fake gift" for under the tree as decor. This is really cool especially if you have multiple trees you decorate. I have "harvested" thrown away artificial trees by "curb shopping" to bring home and have a nice short tree for a little spot in our home...Another idea: get these for mantle decorations or wreath making...OK..maybe a post on Christmas decor is needed here, but back to the boxes...you can use the if cut and covered to store magazines or papers...so many uses...and really are not just cheap! They are less harmful than plastic in the home. Now I am not a glass/paper only kind of gal, but I know that there is some good thought to keeping as much plastic out of our homes as possible due to possible harmful effects...AND the neatest thing about these is this: WHEN YOU ARE DONE or it's worn out...you can really truly throw it out!!! It WILL disintegrate into compost and become good dirt unlike plastics that will take years to decompose!

Remember the fancy photo albums covered with fabric and lace? It was light cardboard that was the bones to make the frame to hold the picture on the front of the album. Using craft glue~I like Alieen's Tacky Glue because Elmer's Glue will work but will need to be clamped with something to hold it down. . .Tacky Glue will hold pretty quick..and glue down the fabric or colored paper/gift wrap works too. . .to cover the shape..using an exo-knife you can cut out the area to display the picture~if it's a circle or square area, just make an 'X' cut after first putting a hole dead center of where the two lines will meet. Fold in your edges and glue them down. Your edges are covered. . .now this was for the square...if for a circle, you will need to cut to the edge of the inside of the frame (not below this) around the perimeter of the inside of the circle and fold those down and glue. . .again your inside frame has a nice edge!

Light weight cardboard boxes~cereal boxes are wonderful to double and triple or more to make a faux gift look bigger for under the tree. . .or once my mother decorated our front door for Christmas and wrapped three. . .

She covered the door in aluminum foil for a shiny silver door. Then she wrapped the three cereal boxes in pretty Christmas paper, putting ribbons and bows on them and securely attached them to the door. On the packages she fixed tags that could be read that said beautiful Christmas greetings. This was the 70's. . .a variation for today would be to wrap/cover the door with foil and then put the packages in brown paper bag and use dried flowers and pine cones with raffia ribbon...These cereal boxes are so cool. . .

Got littles? Let them build with them...save them up...or let them play "store" with play money and play "food." My kindergarten teacher did this for us~we didn't have the expensive and plastic play food or grocery store items,,,and you know what? It was much more realistic! I haven't even begun to talk about what could be used for this game for kids. . .but if you can recycle it or use it and it has NO sharp edges, why not? Kiddies can learn money counting and loads of play skilll with this...and it begins with their cereal boxes ;-))

Do you have any ideas for your cereal boxes? What would or are you doing to keep them out of the landfill and re-purpose them? What about the inside bags that are just awesome for so many uses?? I'm all ears! AND wanna know ;-))

Use It UP~Empty Bread Bags

Today I made my lunch from a home grown tomato and using the ends from two loaves of bread that we get from a "dent can store," the ones with the damaged packaging where we only paid~ARE YOU READY? $.50 per loaf and while this is a great savings, AND I enjoyed my thrifty sandwich (the mayo came from there too!) I had two empty bread bags that I was looking at, and they began to "inspire" me...

Call me nuts if you wanna ;-)) but I remember back around 30 plus years ago before baby wipes, moms carrying wet wash cloths for babies in used bread bags for excursion diaper changes. They carried one with the wet cloth(s) and another to hold the soiled cloths. This way costs very and still is a great way of dealing with messy babies or littles who need a wipe down while out and about. It's been a few years...my kids are teens now, since I had to wipe them down. If you want to save in this area, think of your bread bags and wash cloths. I'd suggest using thin older cloths, but you might have nice baby grade wash cloths too...but use what you have...and if you have a towel with a hole developing, you can cut it up, bind the edges either by hand or machine and use up the towel for baby rags or any other cleaning for that matter. Now binding can be done with a blanket stitch by hand or the zig zag or rolled hem on the machine. Go to the end for a simple and homespun but all you really need to know to do the blanket stitch on anything~

Bread bags are useful for many things. I was thinking of my uses today, and they are really food grade plastic~our food/bread is stored in them, so it's not like a grocery plastic sack, these are safe . Here are some ideas:

1. Store your iceberg lettuce in it down in the crisper~when you open your iceberg lettuce set the head of lettuce on your table or counter with the stem side facing up. I take my palm and hit that spot very hard, and sometimes I have to use my fist and the whole stem will come out. Do not wash it unless you are going to use it all right then. Just break off what you need, using paper napkins or towel, wrap the unused lettuce and place it in the bread bag and store in your crisper. It will keep crisp a whole lot longer and if you don't use a metal bladed knife to cut it, it will not turn brown. Tare lettuce and break it from the head~it will last longer, and you have a great lettuce keeper in your old bread bag.

2. Messy clean up bags~It's never EVER a good idea to put any type of oil or grease down the kitchen sink. To clean it out, I've used bread bags on my hands to scrape out messes from the fry pan into the trash as well as food stuff that is not consumable. In the south, and I hardly ever ever do this, but you might~because it's delishous: fry with flour or cornmeal...like fried chicken or porkchops. I don't HONESTLY do either for health reasons, but I have in the past, and using a bread bag to clean out the residue...now some will drain the greese (no recipe here ;-)) and make gravy~can't you imagine a zillion calories per bite, but it's so good~ Anyway, cleaning up this mess is just that...a mess~and we can't put that pipe clogging stuff down our sinks, so use the bag as a glove. Also in the kitchen I will use it to tie up small messes~like the tomato stems and skins I was working with that I wasn't composting and didn't want to smell~fish is another thing~even if you are hauling the trash out right away, another 'layer of protection' in a bread bag against the juices or odors getting in the can is not a bad idea...also when I deal with watermelon or any kind of melon...it's great to use these to place sees and rhines til you can compost or get them out. Now you can also use it for a glove for many other gross (ewww) uses too which I won't name, but you can get the idea! My husband has hauled bags with him when walking our dog to be polite to neighbors...they're great for cat box duty and more...

3. Tie up your sandwich with them or other tie-able foods. Just remember these are food grade so they are already safe enough to store food. I've made whole loaves of bread into sandwiches and put them in the bread bag for trips and excursions for our family. I'm passing out the sandwiches as we need to eat them on trips and using a lose knot to hold the bread bag closed~when I'm done I can toss it out...I've even put fruit and used them to hold popcorn that we needed to carry. A tip about popcorn: be sure it cools before placing it or your bag will melt and a hole will develop into it. (I love homemade popcorn~it's cheeper...) You can take dry cereal, homemade snake foods like homemade granola, chex mix or trail mix too...it's endless really!

4. Crafting can take on a different edge~if you crochet, you can crochet them up into floor mats for the doors~or you can use them to store items like craft paints by type or color, fabric remnants, and even other small items for crafts. I have a good stash of lace, and sometime back I organized using baggies and bread bags~this will work well with yarn too~the shape is right. Just be SURE the bag is clean as you don't want to draw bugs or other 'visitors' with your bread bags. I've cut open a bread bag and used it for a placemat to paint on protecting the kitchen table. Bread bags are limitless!

5. Keep one or two in the glove box of your vehicle for unexpected sickness in the car~if you have children they are the right size and will get you home without having to really clean the upholstery of your vehicle.

6. Bread bag lunch 'plates'~cut it up and eat your sandwich on it...it's FREE and while not as pretty as a paper towel for eating on~the price is right! Why throw the thing out without some good use?

What would you do with a bread bag? Have you ever used them for other than storing bread?
Tell me! Share your tips!! I'd love to hear what you've done or are doing!

Using it up just makes good sense to our budgets~
bread bags have many uses!

Here's that YouTube Video on the blanket stitch~simple by will demonstrate...use yarn with a big eyed needle or crochet thread with a large eye needle. You will want a thread that is thicker than standard thread for binding wash cloths. Thanks to dreamalittle7 for this video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJht13Bcw-U

Dumpster Diving Diva?

This really is NOT me, but I have to admit that I have done it a time or two. Truly, only a few times, but I am more prone to "curb shopping" than digging in dumpsters. Since the early years when people talked about thriftiness, dumpster diving was one of those things that sorta turned me off really. But I will admit that I did have a favorite dumpster that I would frequent behind a certain store that if I caught it just right, I could find some really neat stuff: like about 8 gorgeous amber colored canisters and some other stuff just for the 'digging out' of some clean trash like packing and papers. I AM selective folks ;-)) when it comes to finding my treasures! But if we look around, we could all save the good stuff out of the landfills and help our frugal lifestyles a bit by just paying attention to what's around that are for the taking. I am not talking about stealing either. This stuff is thrown out, and even "curb shopping" is OK if you ask first. I have a wonderful blessing that came from the side of the road when a nice newer model dishwasher had a sign that read : "FREE/WORKS." I am so thankful to have it~I looked the model up and today they still sell for almost $400! It's just not the latest thing and so someone was upgrading! I'm happy because I got to upgrade too~I didn't have a dishwasher, and now I do!

We certainly can't find everything this way, nor am I suggesting that everyone hit the trash piles, but carefully looking for uses and repurposing of items makes great sense when money is tight and the trash is overtaking our world!

If you want to check out dumpster diving try looking behind

florists

grocery stores

toy or specialty stores

garden shops

home improvement

clothing boutiques

office supply stores

video and electronic stores

It's endless~just look around!

Rules:

Stay just long enough to look and leave no messes behind.

Don't tresspass. If it's prohibited, stay out.

Don't take what you can't use or give away.

If approached, be friendly and polite.

Be safe~you never KNOW what's in there, so I never crawl in>>eek<<

Are you practicing some ways to save hard earned $?? Share with me too~it'll be fun to see what you're up to, and who knows, you could earn the title Diva too! ;-))

SisterTipster<3 taking care of business~her money!