What do you reuse? - Page 3

[jenerationx]

Great thread! I'll be back...

[BlessedOne]

Originally Posted by art_teachermommy

As an art teacher, i put on the 'supply list' at the beginning for the year for families with children who use glass baby jars and need a place for them to go, to bring them to the art room. We use them as paint jars and water jars for rinsing brushes and a myrid of other crazy things.

If you can't find a use...you might check with your local school to donate to the art dept.

yes that is a great idea.
our school has a "recycling room", in which I give stuff that I can not recycle anywhere else.

[Melhow36]

taking over the thread

1. I've switched almost everything paper to cloth except for tp and I am working us towards a family cloth. I currently use tp rolls in the garden - whever I plant seeds I bury a tp roll with just the top out of the ground and plant seeds in it too that way I have a sample plant for seedling identification.
2. I've also used tp rolls to make holiday crackers.
3. I started to punch plant names into tin can lids for plant ids but didn't get too far - it needs to be a winter project that I complete before spring.
4. My in-laws do fast food and carryout and the containers are great for wintersown seedlings.
5. I use juice concentrate lids for beautiful decorated ornaments (and collages like these memory collages - although there isn't a photo here)
6. Vinegar jugs get holes drilled in the bottom and the buried next to tomatoes for a root watering system (however it has been so wet this year I haven't done it yet).
7. Yogurt containers get used for just about everything (in the winter I freeze water (by sticking them out on the deck) in them and give them to my children to play with as bath-tub toys - ice is the best bath-tub toy - they fight over it).
8. I reuse plastic baggies.
9. I try to reuse foil although I find it difficult and am trying to eliminate my use of foil.
10. I love egg cartons - they make awesome paper mache right now I am making a three foot tall paper mache cross.
11. I am a button addict. Two things I do is make button pins and button bouquets.
12. Old jewelry is great for wind spinners which are pretty too.
13. I make my own fabric gift bags for Christmas which the whole family (my MIL saves them and gives them back to me) reuses. I also have started decorating oatmeal and cornmeal containers for cool boxes and have plans to decorate a nice sturdy shoebox I recently got my hands on.
14. I've made teacup pincushions from fulled wool from old sweaters and an old teacup.
15. May baskets can be made from all those old doilies that you've inherited.
16. I make capes from old skirts.
17. I made this crown from an old asian silk dress.
18. I've made teddy bears for my children from an old coat of my grandfather.
19. I keep my eggshells, tea leaves, and scraps for composting in the garden (eggshells crushed fine and put around tomatoes deter cutworms and prevent blossom end rot).
20. I craft with old clothes, make rags from old clothes, and recently read here to bury unusable (natural) fabrics in the garden and am going to do some of that soon.
21. Old bread can be used to make your own bread crumbs.
22. I use the back of all my printer paper before recycling it. My hubby brings home one-sided paper from work so I don't have to buy paper. I also look in junk mail that has letters (such as home loans and insurance) and often find one-sided paper.
23. I save envelopes from junk mail to make shopping lists and put the coupons that go with the list inside the envelope.
24. I reuse shipping envelopes.
25. I love to turn boxes inside out so that I can use them for shipping purposes without having to wrap them in paper (I think I describe how I do it in this article).
26. I use soft t-shirts to make my own re-usable cotton balls.
27. I use old containers for all my home-made cleaning solutions.
28. I wrote an article called Have a Junk Store Christmas with some ideas I like.
29. I throw odds and ends (old key-chains, broken jewelry, bits of games, bits of just about anything) into a box and my girls can use it to make collages. I love the one my six-year-old made recently.
30. Both my girls have really long hair and I save the hair for the birds to use for nests.
31. Cute embroidered jeans from my girls ended up in a gift this year.
32. I've made tie purses for myself and I love them.
33. I've also used old fabric calendars and unique pillowcases to make purses.
34. I've used old vinyl record covers to make unqiue gift boxes.
35. I've used junk mail and folded it inside out and then cut cereal boxes and put it altogether to make little notebooks for my girls.
36. I've used old cargo pants combined with ties to make a funky bag for myself.
37. Cool thing for an old scrabble board.
38. This is a cool thing to do with an old Connect Four game. I also noticed that this has an old jewelry box repurpose.
39. Old clothes make great quilts or unique place mats for the table.
40. Fulled wool can make cute flower pins or be used as non-fraying appliqués on children's clothing.
41. I've stitched old doilies to the front of a simple dress I made for a neat look.
42. Tin cans make neat candle holders. As do decoupaged jars (someone else also mentioned this but here is a photo).
43. One, two, three things from old calendars.
44. This lady crochets the neatest things from plastic bags (I wish I could crochet).
45. Old pb jars are great for spices in the fridge. I've read a neat idea for putting the salt spout inside the plastic lid to make them pourable but haven't done it yet
46. The Tightwad Gazette has loads of ideas for reusing things.
47. Fun kids craft from eggshells and cottonballs (or the cotton thingy that comes in medication-yes I save them).
48. Floral frogs are great for holding cards or photos.
49. I want to recycle old barrels to make my own rain barrels.
50. I recently trash-picked the ornate metal hinged corners from one of those cheap gazebos that Target sells. I am going to use them to make tomato supports.

Re-using old things is a family trait - a peachpit key chain from my maternal great-grandfather.
I come from generations of quilters - I recognize many of the pieces of fabric in this quilt.





I'm sure I could think of more things. I have only been here a short while and some of my reasons for frugal natural living have more to do with the equitable distribution of the earth's resources more than saving the earth or even my own personal health but I have to say - I love this site and all the awesome ideas I find here.

I also want to say that I apologize for linking to so many of my articles in this thread but I have a passion for reusing and it seems easier to do it this way.

[MPsSweetie]

Wow, I haven't been back to check this thread in a while! So many great ideas!

[jyurina]

glass jars =storage containers for leftovers, packaging for food related gifts(I did spiced nuts in jars this year), storage for dried beans, rice, etc.
cardboard egg cartons= starting pots for the garden, paint trays, bead trays, shedded up for worms(when I finally start a worm bucket)
Plastic milk jugs=watering cans, dog food scoops, water toys, shell buckets for the beach, picnic blanket weights( filled with water or sand)
There are SO many things you can do with reused stuff!

[kags]

Wow I like all the ideas for the glass jars. Very helpful indeed. I always try to buy my stuff in glass jars and I do not reuse them as much as I should thanks to this thread.

We reuse clothes. I never buy new clothes for my children. Always from a consignment store or given from someone else. Then when I am done with it, they go to the next person.

Reuse water. We have rain barrels set up at our house for watering. I also dump water I use to rinse things in there aswell.

Great thread.

[Materfamilias]

Wow, Melhow. You're amazing. :
I just bookmarked your blog.