51 Money-Saving Uses for Ordinary Kitchen Items

[julsandtrish]

http://www.frugalsimplicity.com/article1018.html

This information provided by the above website.

Plastic Milk Bottles

1. Cut off a portion of the top, leaving the handle in place. Add birdseed and make a bird feeder, hanging it on a clothesline or tree branch.

2. Make a garbage caddy for the sink, especially great if you don’t have a garbage disposal.

3. Make a caddy for tools or painting supplies.

4. Cut off the bottom and use the top as a funnel.

5. Fill the entire jug with beans and use for exercise weights, or just storage for the beans.

Plastic Soda Bottles

1. Make a homemade tornado, place two bottles together, top to top - filling one with water. Tape the tops together and swirl around to make a tornado effect.

2. You can also make a funnel from the tops of soda bottles.

3. Add some sand or rice and use for a homemade bowling game for the kids, just be sure to glue the caps on.

Ice Cube Trays

1. Add a squirt of lemon to your ice cube tray and you'll have lemon flavored ice for your tea.

2. Kool-Aid flavored ice for the kids, mix the flavors up for fun.

3. Use trays as drawer organizers for paperclips or sewing notions.

4. Ice cube trays are the perfect size for freezing small portions of left over baby food, or making your own homemade.

5. Freeze tablespoon sized amounts of broth or special sauces for cooking soups and casseroles.

Jelly Jars/Mason Jars

1. Remove labels and use for gifts, placing a pretty piece of fabric on top and tying with a ribbon.

2. Great for pencil holders.

3. Fill with candy.

4. Use for storing cotton balls or q-tips in the bathroom.

5. Store sewing notions, crafts or hardware.

Baby Food Jars

1. Perfect for lost buttons.

2. Store small nails.

3. Keep beads or small craft items sorted easily.

Egg Cartons

1. Great seed starters, get a head start on Spring.

2. Storing plastic Easter eggs.

3. Make a memory game for children, matching up items from around the house.

4. Storage for collectible rocks.

5. Jewelry box, great for earrings.

Lemons

1. Mix with a little salt for cleaning copper or brass.

2. Remove odors from hands or cutting boards.

3. Keep a supply on hand for seasoning poultry and seafood.

Oranges

1. Use the peelings to freshen your garbage disposal.

2. Cover with cloves and use as an air freshener or Christmas ornament.

3. Place open halves inside a turkey or chicken before baking to add a great flavor.

Salt

1. Remove grease and stains from pans and dishware.

2. Put out a grease fire.

3. Clean a sticky iron plate by sprinkling salt on a piece of paper and moving the hot iron over it.

4. Ease the pain of beestings.

Baking Soda

1. Add to a damp cloth and remove crayon and marker from walls and furniture.

2. Pour a little down the drain with some vinegar, let sit 5 minutes and wash down with warm water to clear clogged drains.

3. Mix with facial cleanser to make an exfoliator.

4. Ease the pain of beestings.

5. Line a litter box to prevent odors.

6. Keep an open box in the fridge to prevent odors, put one in the freezer too.

7. Use a quarter of a cup on a damp food burned pan, let sit for five minutes and scrub clean easily.

Paper Plates

1. Place two plates together, edge to edge, fill with beans or rice, staple the edges together, let children paint and decorate for a fun musical toy.

2. Use as a cover for food to keep warm.

3. Place half of a plate on top of a full sized plate, edge to edge, staple edges to create a letter holder. Great for kid's Valentines.

Coffee Cans

1. Use food bag labels and create unique storage containers for flour, sugar, cornmeal, etc.

Mesh Onion Bags

1. Add leftover pieces of soap and make a scrubber.

2. Contain small items while in the dishwasher.

3. Cut bag open and scrunch together to make a dish scrubber.

Muffin Tins

1. Create a memory game for young children, by filling the muffin cups with small items from around the house.

[lynn_22]

Thanks for the tips!

[PumpkinNoodlie]

Thanks for the tips. A couple of other thoughts:

With those soap scrubbies...hang one on your outside faucet. Great for messy outdoor clean ups, after gardening or working on the car.

And lemon aid frozen in ice trays make a great compliment to cokes.

Also, ice cubes made out of the drink you frequent (like Koolaid, etc) will keep the drink from getting watered down once the cubes melt.

[deewheat]

Meat Tenderizer actually destroys the venom of bees and other stinging bugs. Make a paste of tenderizer and water and apply for instant relief.

Save those vegetable bags that you get at the market. Use three of them as one freezer bag.

When you put up your outside Christmas lights, instead of stapling them to whatever you want them attached to, staple a twist tie. Then twist the twist tie around the light wire. This prevents stapling through the wire LOL, and also greatly extends the life of the lights because it does not put pressure on the wire. If you use the twist tie with plastic coating, it will last for a couple of years too.

Take a quart jar, and get one of the short...15-20 light...light strands. Layer potpourri into the jar, with the lights, all the way to the top. Hot glue netting across the top of the jar, running the light cord out of it. Screw on lid and add ribbon, garland, or whatever you want to decorate it. Make sure the lights are on flasher mode LOL! Plug in the lights and it is not only beautiful, but the heat of the lights brings out the scent of the poypourri.

If you hate watering plants...or have something like 30 of them like I do..mix a little clean cat litter into the potting soil. It will aereate the soil and hold the water rather than letting it drain off or evaporate.

[mustang80]

bumping for newbies

[KathiS]

What great ideas! I will try the kitty litter in my plants. Never heard of that but, would really help this lazy gardener!

[Lori Biever-Launder]

I use my plastic store and veggie bags for cat box cleaning and poop patrol outside (for my dog). Also, we take them at my work (I work ten hours a week at the public library) so we have bags to cover the books for patrons when it rains. Many thrift stores will also accept them. I never have any extra to take to work! LOL

[CAGmomof2]

Thank you all for the tips!! I am going to look at the website real soon!!

[dz_blonde_girl]

You can cut a plastic milk jug is such a way as to make a scoop also.

[SewCrafty]

[~Sherry~]

Wow... great tips!

[captclearance]

Re-use those waxed bags from ceriel for freezer bags...

[bamamomto4]

Great tips! Thanks!

[Nelly]

Thank you. They are wonderful ideas and tips.

nelly

[Belinda]

Some really great tips! I especially like the one about freezing lemonade in ice cubes for Cokes! Yumm!