I dislike grocery shopping, particularly in the wintertime. I get a head start during the summer. I watch for sales on staples. The more I buy now, the less I'll have to lug home in the sleet and snow.
I mix my own laundry concoction, and really like it. I use ½ of a popular laundry detergent and ½ of a non chlorine fabric whitener/brightener. Often these powders are lumpy when I first buy them, and even lumpier after being on the shelf for a while.
I measure equal amounts of these two into a plastic bucket, stir for a second, and then funnel the lot into clean and dried coffee creamer containers. I keep these filled containers in the laundry room, and at the kitchen sink, where I wash my dish towels in scalding water. (Tip within a tip: I don't use fabric softener on my dish towels. It tends to leave a film on glassware).
The lumps do not reform in these plastic containers. I can dispense a little through the pour spout or remove the lid to measure a cup or so. This idea may not be practical for large families, but for a small crew, it should work well.
Also, I stock up on wild bird seed. I transfer the contents of a 10 lb. bag of seed into these containers. When refilling my several feeders, it's much easier dispensing from these containers, rather than a 10 lb. bag. With a home made inner seal of foil, the seed will stay fresh and bug free.
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Today's tip is that sometimes, you can still use something even though the lid is missing. I find these creamer bottles without the tops and replace them with juice container lids.
For my Kindergarten class at Sunday School, we made Santa toys out of Liquid Coffee Mate bottles. The white bottles have red caps that are shaped as Santa's hat.
Empty non dairy creamer containers are perfect to use as drink bottles. The smaller ones are great for mixing and drinking from and the larger ones are the perfect size for the 1/2 gallon unsweetened drink mixes.
I have stared using large coffee cream containers to store rice and other things. The opening makes it easier to pour into measuring cup.
I use empty creamer bottles for lots of things, especially food items we buy in large containers at Sam's Club: syrup, dishwasher soap (awesome for that!), hot chocolate mix, strawberry mix, even as a small pitcher of milk for the dining table that kids can easily pour.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I hope all of you creative people can help me out.
I have many of the big plastic canisters that powdered coffee creamer comes in. We drink A LOT of coffee around here! I'm reusing one to store sugar in. It's great because it has the spout on it for pouring. Other than that, what else could I use these containers for? I'm at a loss, and I hate to throw these canisters out. There's got to be other ways of reusing these. Thanks. and I'm looking forward to all of the creative ideas you have.
I save a lot of things to recycle and these containers are great for them, and they smell so good every time I open one. Use to collect change(let kids draw pics on them and use for banks), bottle caps, can tabs, marbles, nuts and screws in the garage, craft supplies, etc.
Keep some in the car for emergency pet food, change for the parking meters, pre-moistened wipes, sewing kits, eyeglass and fingernail repair parts, sugar free candies, energency candles and waterproof matches, or just about anything you need to keep protected from water and sun. In the kitchen, they are perfect for ice cubes in lunch boxes because they don't melt all over everything. When they do melt, you have nice cold water. They make nice spice containers but you have to be careful of no place for a shaker. Keep powdered things, pasta, or just about anything in them. They are just about perfect!
My daughter and I made this birdhouse to go with our collection! I also have used them to make snowmen and santas.
I like to reuse such containers myself but I am worried about putting food products in the plastic and wondering if it's safe or not. Some plastics are not safe for re-using for food. How do we know?
i like to keep a couple similar items by my brew station for cough drops & hard candy.
Because these 2 items (in particular) come in a plastic bag that usually gets torn I cut the label off them & tape them on the canister to ID it!
I'm using a Folger's plastic coffee can for coffee filters.... We don't use creamer so I don't know what those cannisters look like but as I've said before ...
Fill the canister with baking soda or Epsom salts to add to your bath water or foot bath. Looks lots nicer than having the box sitting out!
We use the really big economy sized creamer canisters, too. Up until now I'd only used them when cleaning out the fridge or throwing away cooking oil, anything messy that might leak in the garbage bag. I like your idea of storing sugar in one! Also would be good as a sand shaker when snow or ice is on the steps, or keep one full of sand in the car's trunk in winter, or use to shake fertilizer out around the garden in the summer, easier to hold whatever comes in a big bag and is hard to deal with.
Great tip! I recycle any containers like this also. I recently used one for the bathroom filled with laundry detergent as I find that to be the best cleaner for my bathroom over other cleaners. and it saves me money big time. Thanks for sharing.
They come in handy for flour, sugar. I use them around Christmas. I like to make flavored coffee and teas. We have been short on cash the last couple of years so I make family & friends a basket of crocheted things and the drink mixes, baked cookies and breads.
Just this year I started using the containers from creamers and lemonade for instant potatoes,dog treats, choc. drink mix, spaghetti noodles ( broke in half) pencils,crayons, clips, etc. They come in very handy in our travel trailer. Does not useup much space and keeps ants and other bugs out.
Take ten of the coffee creamer bottles and fill half full of sand. Glue the tops on with silicone or Gorilla glue. Take a piece of 1/8" thin Luan plywood and paint spots on it in a triangle pattern to make a pattern to set up bowling pins. Set up in your driveway, pace off a bowling lane, and use a soccer ball to make a lawn bowling game for kids or adults. Great for yards parties.
You can store rock salt in them for the winter. When I buy a big bag, I transfer it into a bunch of creamer containers and former orange juice bottles.
I found this explanation. If your creamer bottle has a recycle code of 1, it's probably not a good idea to store food in it. #1 is for a one-time use. Visit www.babygreenthumb.com/
Check out the website, baby green thumb.com. Numbers two and four and five are safer than the rest. Glass is always the best choice!
If you've consumed the powdered creamer that was in the container, I'm pretty sure you'll be alright.
The creamer bottles are food grade, they have food in them so they are safe
I have tons of Coffee Mate liquid cream containers in three sizes: 32 oz, 64 oz (2 qt), and 16 oz. I think they would be great to make gifts for young and old.
Could you please suggest ideas and instructions for something easy and inexpensive? I guess I need to get started, the holidays are near. I also want to say thank you for accepting me. I am so excited to be a part of ThriftyFun. I am looking forward to a very long stay here. Blessings.
By Linda H
Crafting with Coffee Mate Liquid containers - They can be used to storage a variety of materials. I am an art teacher and I would especially save them to make snowmen/women or a nesting doll where you only have one and there are books to read to the kids before creating the art project. There are many colorful books on snowmen and Patricia Polacco has a story called Babushka Doll that would be perfect!
I use lots of liquid creamer and have saved the bottles. I want to make a craft the children will enjoy.
By Gidget123 from OK
Remove any labelling if possible. If not, sand and paint white. Add colorful stripes with tape or paint and number them from 1-10 with craft paint or self adhesive colorful numbers. Weight the bottoms with sand or small stones. Glue the lids on and any pour spouts closed with a glue for plastic or hot glue. Set them up like a bowling alley and use a soft sponge ball (Nerf perhaps) and let them bowl outside or in a basement playroom would probably be best. Or let them use them for building or stacking by adding both letters and numbers to make for some fun learning. Even a large chess set might work using creamer bottles labelled with the name of the piece, like king, queen, pawn etc.
I have made many banks from those bottles, using mod podge and thin pretty paper. Kids can tear the paper into small pieces and glue them on with mod podge. When it is all covered, put a final coat over all. Let dry an hour or so between coats and then embellish with beads around the top. My grandkids love this. (Use a plastic tablecloth as this can get messy especially with kids. Also, be sure to wash paintbrushes thoroughly with warm water between coats). Have fun!
I, too, go through a lot of coffee creamer and was looking for a use for the bottles. The other day, my 3 year old was complaining that her 'baby robots' (legos) couldnt go to space because they didnt have a rocket ship. Ii made her a space shuttle. I just covered it in printer paper and colored it, and stuck a few triangles of cardboard for wings. She's a big fan! It turned out pretty cute. You can cut the bottom out so 'baby robots' can ride inside!
Does anyone have craft ideas for the larger Coffee-Mate containers with the powder creamer? It seems a waste to get rid of them.
By Michelle
They are great for food. I keep rice in one and the little spout is great for measuring out smaller amounts. They are also good for syrup and other liquids. They can also be great for taking soup to work, as the spout again is nice for pouring into a mug. Get the shaker kind of pancake mix and use this to make perfect pancakes.
You can also use them for string or cord in the shop, small items in the craft room (labeled of course), and for keeping change or dog treats in the car.
This is a page about making a Coffee Mate container snowman. A Coffee Mate container is the perfect shape for making a cute snowman that can be filled with treats for a gift or used as a decoration.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
Got Creamer? I go through at least one of these per week. I thought you might like some ideas as to what to do with the ones you may not recycle.
I take coffee-mate containers, the ones that are found in the dairy case, and use them for sugar dispensers.
I have a lot of those very large plastic creamer containers that hold powdered creamer for coffee. I hate throwing them away and I've got one that I keep my sugar in.
