Making Sponges From Packaging Foam – Free alternative to store bought sponges

I was at a friend's house one day and they mentioned a frugal tip in regards to household sponges. While most people buy sponges at the store, but my friend had made her own sponges out of packaging foam. This light foam is sometimes used to cushion products when shipping in boxes. Instead of throwing the packaging foam away or recycling it, she cut it into sponge size shapes to use as sponges.

I was skeptical when I saw it because I thought the material would not be nearly as good as “real” sponges from the store, but she offered to give me some to try out so I figured it was worth a try.

At home, I tried them out and surprisingly, they work pretty well! The material is different that regular sponges but they perform in a similar way. They don't hold as much water, but they are a lot more durable than expected. I found they work very well at cleaning dishes with soap and water.

I'm still on my first batch of free sponges and I plan to make more of them whenever I have packaging foam material around. I you have any of this material around and are looking for a free alternative to buying sponges, I recommend giving this method a try.

2019 Monopoly Shop Play Win Game – Rare Pieces

The Monopoly Collect and Win game is back for 2019 and like previous years we will be following the game here and keeping track of the rare game pieces needed to win. Feel free to use the comments section below to post which ones you have and which ones you need.

Like last year, each prize will have at least 1 rare piece needed to win and the larger prizes will have both a rare and a semi-rare piece needed to win.

Rare Pieces List:

301AA, 302BA, 303CA, 304DA

305AB, 306BB, 307CB, 308DB

309AC, 310BC, 311CC, 312DC

313AD, 314BD, 315CD, 316DD

317AE, 318BE, 319CE, 320DE

321AF, 322BF, 323CF, 324DF

325AG, 326BG, 327CG, 328DG

329AH, 330BH, 331CH, 332DH

333AI, 334BI, 335CI*, 336DI, 337EI, 338FI

339AJ, 340BJ, 341CJ, 342DJ, 343EJ*, 344FJ

345AK, 346BK, 347CK, 348DK

349AL, 350BL, 351CL, 352DL

353AM, 354BM, 355CM, 356DM

357AN, 358BN, 359CN, 360DN

361AO, 362BO, 363CO, 364DO

365AP, 366BP, 367CP, 368DP

369AQ, 370BQ, 371CQ, 372DQ

373AR, 374BR, 375CR, 376DR

377AS, 378BS, 379CS, 380DS

381AT, 382BT, 383CT, 384DT

385AU, 386BU, 387CU, 388DU

389AV, 390BV, 391CV, 392DV

393AW, 394BW*, 395CW, 396DW, 397EW

398AX, 399BX, 400CX, 401DX*, 402EX

403AY*, 404BY, 405CY, 406DY, 407EY

408AZ*, 409BZ, 410CZ, 411DZ, 412EZ

413A$, 414B$, 415C$, 416D$*, 417E$

418A#, 419B#*, 420C#, 421D#, 422E#

Bold = Rare
* = Semi-Rare

Stores participating this year include Albertsons, Safeway, Pavilions, CARRS, VONS, Randalls, Eagle, Pak n Save, Tom Thumb, Jewel Osco, ACME Markets, Shaw's / Star Market, United Supermarkets, Market Street, Amigos, United Express, and more.

For the official rules and odds of winning, check out the official Shop Play Win website.

Comments are moderated and will appear below once they are approved.

The 2019 Monopoly game runs from February 6^th – May 7^th 2019. The last day to claim prizes is May 28th 2019. Good luck!

Ripple Pea Milk Review – Chocolate Flavor. How Does It Taste?

I had seen Ripple milk in stores for a while as a new alternative to regular milk but had been putting off trying it out. I am familiar with soy milk and almond milk but I had yet to try Ripple. Today I saw them available in single serve bottles so I decided to give them a try.

I had previously watched some reviews of Ripple milk on Youtube and I remember the reviews being just ok which is why I did not rush out to buy it. But since the single serve option was only a couple bucks, I figured I would try it out.

The main thing that makes Ripple different is that is uses pea protein. The other ingredients are common such as water, sugar, and sunflower oil. As far as nutrition, a 12oz bottle has 230 calories, 12g of protein, and 25 g of sugar.

So how does it taste? Surprisingly good! I would describe the taste as something similar to a low fat chocolate milk with a little bit of a malt flavor. It is very easy to drink and does not have any weird flavors or aftertaste. Usually I am not a big fan of peas, but this does not taste at all like peas so it is ok.

Overall I was pleased with the taste and the nutrition is pretty good too. I would buy it again if I can find it on sale. It is a little more expensive compared to similar alternatives so the higher price would be the only thing holding me back from purchasing it.

I will probably try out some of the other Ripple flavors as well to see if they are as good as the chocolate. If you are looking for a new milk alternative or just a new beverage to try out, I recommend checking out Ripple milk.

Update:

I tried the original flavor Ripple milk and it is ok but not as good as the chocolate flavor. This is to be expected since it does not have as much sugar or chocolate. I would say it compares most closely to a plain soy milk and works as a good alternative if you are looking for something new to try.

Update 2: 

I decided to try out the Unsweetened Vanilla to see how it compares to the others. I was worried it would not be very good since it does not have sugar, but to my surprise, it was actually quite good! I liked it better than the original flavor which does have sugar. This one has a nice vanilla flavor and is very easy to drink. Overall I would probably buy this flavor again.