Making do with the not so new and other frugal things I do (great blog go check it out!)

Making do with the not so new and other frugal things I do

I found this great blog and she has lots of ideas for really cool frugal things lol. I emailed her and she said that was fine if I used some of her ideas for my blogs so yay lol!

Hanger Clip Chip Clip
When buying pants at retail stores, keep the hanger. (Or better yet, get them from the free box at garage sales or thrift stores)Take a heavy duty pair of scissors (I wouldn't try it with normal ones) and cut off the clips.
Use these clips to clip closed chip bags, etc.


Lemon Juice Microwave Cleaner
Sometimes it pays to read every word that comes in front of you. I was reading all the fine print on the lemon juice bottle as I was making a pie and it said to heat 1/2 cup of lemon juice in the microwave for 3 minutes and then the lemon juice steam will clean the microwave off. I definitely had a great microwave to test this on; I honestly can't remember the last time I cleaned it (is anyone recognizing that I am a horrible house cleaner through these blog posts yet?). If that wasn't the easiest time I have had cleaning the microwave, then I don't remember.Plus, the smell emitting from boiling the lemon juice in the microwave gave the kitchen a wonderful lemon smell that made it seem as if I had cleaned the kitchen with Pine Sol.


Make Your Own Bread Crumbs
I want my bread crumbs to be whole wheat which is healthier than the store bought bread crumbs, plus I always have bread heels left over, so I make my own bread crumbs.When I have a leftover heel, I toast the heels in the toaster once and let them sit out for a day or two until they are nice and hard.
Then I break them up to fit in my tiny food processor.
Process until all is made into fine crumbs.
And pour into kitchen container.
I've bought bread crumbs once (as evidenced by the container), but the heels keep me well supplied. If you want to make a batch to start off with, just spread out a loaf of bread on some baking sheets and bake for awhile on some low temp in the oven, turning them every so often until they are pretty rigid. I then let them sit over night to make sure they are hard.


Leftover Cereal Flour
We love Mini-Wheats. I grew up eating cold cereal for breakfast, and I still do to this day; it's a habit. I have a stack of them, and anytime it goes on sale my stack gets bigger. (I am currently playing with making my own oatmeal to cut down on this cost)

But with Mini-Wheats (and with other brands of cereal), there is always huge amounts of crumbs left over. Up to a quarter cup with these things!!

So, I got to thinking. If I save the leftover cereal crumbs, what could I use it for? Substitute flour! (with some sugar and maple flavoring). So I store the crumbs in a peanut butter jar. It is full in less than 2 weeks.

I have substituted the cereal crumbs for flour in two recipes so far and it works. I spin it through the food processor if I desire (although I have skipped this step with no ill effect) and substitute it for flour in a recipe that is sweet. I have so far put it in my granola bars recipe and they are as yummy as ever. And I have done it in banana bread. It did make the banana bread darker than the normal banana bread usually is, but my hubby gobbled that stuff down faster than I have ever seen him eat banana bread.You could do half flour and half cereal flour, but so far, I have substituted 100% of the flour with leftover cereal flour in these two treats with no ill effect except for the bread looked dark. I am sure it will work in others. I will update this when I test it in other things.


SHE HAS A TON OF OTHER REALLY NEAT THINGS ON HER BLOG I JUST HAPPEND TO LIKE THESE IDEAS THE BEST LOL! GO CHECK IT OUT!