Sneaky ways to save the pennies

jenkins3563

Just want to say a big thank you to everyone for thier suggestions for my milk tins - I love the idea of using them as money boxes and plant pots and I'm sure my two ds's would love to help me decorate them - thanks everyone - your a very creative bunch !!!

Refund_Queen

cheap idea for kids wrapping paper for parties.

You can buy a huge roll of lining paper from DIY store for under £2 and then my kids do their handprints and spotty fingerprints all over a piece to fit the present. The roll lasts for ages, the finished wrapped present looks really nice and the kids are entertained for 5 mins!

[Deleted User]

uolypool wrote: »

wow my mum used to do this when we were little i can remember her calling it mock soufflee sp it was so nice and cheap which is why we got it will have to make this for the kids :j

I saw this the other day in a farm shop in Faversham It was made by Symingtons and was called 'Table jelly' I too can remember this being made by my mum over 60 years ago in those days a 'table jelly' cost around 4d(2p) today it would cost 70p+ to buy and just add hot water to,a lot cheaper to make your own with evap milk or even semi-skimmed and a cheapo jelly from the supermarket

Jacey53

kingshir wrote: »

I wanted to fleece line, and make, a lot of the curtains in my house and was going to buy cheap fleeces to do it. The only trouble was the very cheap ones were in very garish colours and, of course I wanted a cream shade which always seemed to be at least a fiver each when I looked!:p

Then I found that I could buy an 18m, 54" wide, roll of lovely, thick ivory fleece on line. Even including p&p it came to less than £2.50 a metre!:D

I made and lined all through, and because there was no waste I had enough left to loosely cover 2 armchairs and a set of dining chairs. I have lots of bits left for future projects and all in all I'm a very happy bunny:j

I used to post on the Preparing for Winter thread, but it seems to have died a death, so am inflicting my delight on you all on here instead:o:o

Hi Kingshir
Can i please ask where online you found this - it sounds exactly what i'm looking for.
Thanks
Jacey

Gaia

jenkins3563 wrote: »

On the subject of reusing things would you guys have any ideas for what to do with SMA Milk tins ?:idea:
They are the cylindrical containers that the powdered milk comes in and similar in size to a large tub of coffee and they have a plastic lid. I have found uses for the little plastic scoops and my older boy loves to use them in his sandpit too, but I have a lot of the tins left and they are quite a good size so it seems a shame just to throw them out but I just can't think of anything to use them for so I thought I'd ask you guys as you are an imagantive lot !!!

They would make brilliant storage jars - and if you have too many for your own use you can always offer them on your local Freecycle group: https://www.freecycle.org and http://www.freecycle.org/group/UK/ to find your local groups

Murrell

jenkins3563 wrote: »

On the subject of reusing things would you guys have any ideas for what to do with SMA Milk tins ?:idea:
They are the cylindrical containers that the powdered milk comes in and similar in size to a large tub of coffee and they have a plastic lid. I have found uses for the little plastic scoops and my older boy loves to use them in his sandpit too, but I have a lot of the tins left and they are quite a good size so it seems a shame just to throw them out but I just can't think of anything to use them for so I thought I'd ask you guys as you are an imagantive lot !!!

You could decorate them (to theme with the insides) and fill them with cheap presents:

Gardening gloves and seeds for a gardener
Homemade cake mixture with a recipe attached for adding the liquid ingredients
Bath salts
Travel size shower gel and flannel


Also larger boxes/chocolate tins make great gift containers. For a chocolate fan fill with chocolate and the dvd chocolat
For a cake fan, silican muffin tins and some ingredeints
Gardening, mini fork and trowel, gloves and seeds

I have lots more ideas, but I'll leave it at that, you get the idea.

This site is great for survival kits, that make great presents.
http://sawyers-specialties.com/survival-kits/

Sandra
x

Mrs_Thrify

try again? the quotes are not posting??? Thats better.

Murrell, thanks for posting this web site.
Two years ago I made up Christmas stocking with small gifts and the quote for each. They went down realy well.
I had a personal challange to not spend more than £5 on each stocking as one was for a secret santa at work.
I have added the web site to my faverotes.

Primrose

jenkins - the only caution I would offer for using your big tins as plant pots is not to use them anywhere indoors on furniture as over time, with moisture being added, they can go quite rusty.

I use an large old round Quality Street to hold all my loo rolls filled with compost to plant my climbing bean seeds. After one year of using it for this purpose, with regular watering, the inside has gone very rusty. It's OK for this purpose as long as it's kept where it doesn't matter but they could do serious damage to paintwork on window sills.

babyshoes

Primrose wrote: »

jenkins - the only caution I would offer for using your big tins as plant pots is not to use them anywhere indoors on furniture as over time, with moisture being added, they can go quite rusty.

Of course, if the plastic lid will sit properly on the bottom, that could be used to protect the surface...

They also make great collecting tins for charity when decorated and have a slot cut in the lid. I used to use a similar tin as a cash box when I was doing face painting at fetes etc because it is a nice portable size and easy to get the lid on and off.

rosemary54

babyshoes wrote: »

Of course, if the plastic lid will sit properly on the bottom, that could be used to protect the surface...

They also make great collecting tins for charity when decorated and have a slot cut in the lid. I used to use a similar tin as a cash box when I was doing face painting at fetes etc because it is a nice portable size and easy to get the lid on and off.

when my boys were babies(20 odd years ago )my MIL asked for teh tins to use as storage,when she died,amongst all teh other junk she had(20 trips to the tip!!!) were dozens of the tins:eek::eek::eek:I seem to remember the inside of the lid was very sharp where the inside seal was pulled out but maybe the design has improved since?