5-gallon buckets are great for mopping

cloth diapers are great for windows

I had my Camp Fire Girls use egg cartons for separating their beads for projects

baby food jars are good for homemade spice mixes (small and junior size)

plastic bottles of Bubble soda pop (with the white pull up tops) - 25 cents a bottle - just empty the contents and wash and dry out - great for spices, homemade colored sugars, etc.

I save all the pull up tops from dish soap bottles, etc. - work well on glass long-necked bottles that I use for oil and vinegar (which I purchase by the gallon - smaller bottes are easier to handle)

speaking of dish soap bottles - they make the best "squirt guns" for summer fun

Crisco shortening covers also work for covering certain bowls

the white dividers from boxes of tea are nice book marks

nail baby food jars to the underside of a piece of wood on your work bench and use the jars for smaller screws, tacks and nails - you can see thru the jars and its easy to unscrew them to get at what you want

baby food jars (or other small jars) are nice for holding thumb tacks, small objects

plastic coffee jars and Domino sugar jugs are nice for food storage

clothes pins are nice bag clips

save the waxed paper box when empty (one with a good cutter) and a cheaper generic brand (the ones with the lousy cutters that don't work) can be placed in that box - better cutting

if you have a lot of spices and herbs in your cupboard - using a plastic container or two to keep them all together and in order makes finding them easy - no rummaging thru the cupboard

pencil size plastic containers (long and thin) are nice to hold food colorings and extracts
(or use another Velveeta box)

I'm a big butter user - I always have at least 2 pounds in my butter "container" - great for cooking and baking (yes I have a butter dish for table use) - a friend of mine uses a one of those plastic tortilla holders (with the cover) to hold hers for baking and cooking

stainless steel coffee cups are great for making individual cakes or all sorts

I save the racks from my ovens to use as baking racks for marathon baking

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I have friends hooked on those 100 calorie packs, or they are on a diet of some sort and they need to measure their foods, or are into portion-control with everything - so to save money they (for instance) buy a regular box of whatever (which is usually much cheaper) and have the kids measure/portions the foods into zip lock bags from the dollar store - saves money and keeps the kids busy - place the bags in plastic containers in the pantry - grab -n go for cereals, snacks, etc.

I’m not sure I can visualize what you mean? It seems to me you would have juice flying out everywhere and pretty squished tomatoes or olives. What lids are you using that are so sharp?

You know I have a bunch of large canning jars I should put my dried beans in them. I always have several types and this way instead of taking up lots of space in bags in the cupboard I can use them for a decoration on my counter.

jfain, have you ever seen one of those bagel cutters? Imagine turning one of them on their side.

You're not squishing the tomatoes. Basically you're using the plastic lids to stabalize the tomatoes or olives while you cut through them with a knife.

I find I can cut an entire layer of them this way in about the same time it takes to halve two of them working one at a time.

Hopefully, this sketch will help.

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cut here

Tons of the older ladies around here use the vienna sausage cans for biscuit cutters. My Mom used one as long as I can remember. Everyone used to have the smaller metal coffee cans on the stove that they saved bacon grease in.

MANY fantastic ideas, folks!