You know that you are really frugal when you can look at anything at all and find a way to reuse it. one such items that came up recently for me is the plastic vending machine bubble. These are the little plastic cases that hold rings, tattoos, erasers, cheap jewelry, bouncy balls and other little toys that can be had from a vending machine.
Now, what am I doing talking about buying little overpriced things that cost 50 cents or more these days? Well, I am not actually talking about purchasing these bubble-filled toys, but actually just reusing the bubbles. And I will look the other way if you occasionally let your child have one as a treat for letting you shop.
Where can you get these bubbles if you aren’t buying the toys? My father brought home a huge open package of them when I was little because they couldn’t be resold. I was in little kid heaven, let me tell you. But if that isn’t your fate, you can look around near the vending machine for discarded ones or ask the store manager if they have any empties. You can also collect them from friends who do buy those little toys. Some grocery stores and other businesses sponsor tickets for kids who can trade the tickets in for these toys.
Anyway, if you do have some on hand, here are some ways to reuse them.
You can make them into little miniature snow globes.
You can give them to the cat to use to bat around the house.
Fill them with glitter or sparkly paper and turn them into Christmas ornaments.
Punch a small hole in the bottoms of a bunch of them and then string your lights through the holes for unique Christmas lights. Make sure that the lights you have are the type that don’t get hot.
Use these plastic bubbles to store small objects such as beads or buttons. A collection of filled bubbles could be stores in an egg carton.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don’t miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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