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Inside the Beltway
Jul. 12, 2006
Cheap Shots: Cereal Boxes
Living inside the Washington D.C. beltway is expensive, especially on
one income. So I am grateful for ideas for saving money. I have
learned a few and would like to share some with you. I hope you
share your ideas with me.
Today's "cheap shot" concerns cereal boxes. I
know a lot of families skip the whole cold cereal routine, but my
husband, myself, and 7 kids like it. We have found that Aldi's is
a good place to buy it. But when you buy the cereal, you also pay
for the packaging, so use it!
First, when you are done with the cereal, take
out the wax paper lining, shake out the crumbs, and store it. Use
the bag for wrapping sandwiches when you have to pack lunches, for
storing things in the refrigerator, for shaking chicken pieces and
breading in before baking, and for corn on the cob. Yes, corn on
the cob. Wash the cobs thouroughly and place a few, still damp,
loosely in the bag. Place the bag or bags in the microwave
oven. For my microwave oven, I cook on high for around 2 minutes
per cob.
Now what about the box. Most of them you
will recycle, I am sure. But when you need something to contain
magazines or reports, cut the top off and cut out a triangular wedge to
make a magazine holder shaped like the plastic ones in libraries. You
can cover it with construction, wrapping, or contact paper.
If you buy a box with a cool picture on it,
like the Cheerios Honey Bee, you can cut out the rectangle panel and
then cut the picture into pieces for a jigsaw puzzle. The first
one I made for my kids only had like 5 pieces but they enjoyed it.
Alternatively, you can cut out the cool
picture, punch holes around the edge, tie a long shoe lace onto it, and
voila, you have a lace up card.
I bet you can think of even more things to do with things we normally throw away.
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