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Imaginative Ways to Save

Well, I can’t really take credit for these ideas. My little girl gets all the credit. We weren’t even trying to be frugal; she just decided that certain things around the house would make cool toys. While I’m not big on collecting more junk, she has had hours of fun with some of the simplest things, and with four kids I’m certainly not going to complain about free “toys.”

Toy Food

My youngest has a play kitchen that has been handed down by way of three older sisters. She also has lots of toy food and dishes to go with her kitchen, but she’s always looking for new additions. Recently, an empty milk carton and an egg carton have become part of her collection. I hesitated, but then I agreed to let her play with them “for a while” before throwing them away. I added a drop or two of bleach and water to the half gallon plastic milk jug and shook it repeatedly. I rinsed it thoroughly and gave it to her, and she immediately began playing with it. I sprayed the inside of the egg carton with disinfectant spray and gave that to her as well. Needless to say, a little while turned into a long while and she still plays with these items regularly. With all the cute toy food she has, who would have thought she’d enjoy these items so much. Go figure.

Toy Dishes

My little girl also loves to play house outside, but she didn’t want to bring her “good” dishes outdoors. She decided that plastic containers would make very good outside dishes. She has margarine tubs for bowls, plastic lids for plates, and lids from laundry detergent bottles for cups. These go in the sand, in the pool, or they are simply used to set the little table she keeps on the deck. She serves very imaginative meals. I was recently served a special pasta dish (grass clippings) with iced coffee (sand with water). I was even treated to fresh cut flowers in a vase on the table (dandelions and wild daisies in a soda bottle).