Reuse it!

[Goose and Fig]

I have an obsession with colored glass

I save wine botttles and make borders for flower beds (bury them upside-down)

I take my elderly neighbor's recycling to the drop off center. When I'm sorting it, I pull out all the plastic coffee jugs to use as feed scoops for the critters, and always keep one on the kitchen counter for compost.

We also recycle our grey water from the wash (use phosphate-free soap) to water plants & trees.

Might sound kind of gross- but our new house (almost done!) is going to have a composting toilet.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
Another good use for pine cones is to tie a string on them, dip them in wax and save them for fire starters. They work great. Just put them in the fireplace and light the string. They burn long enough and hot enough to start the logs on fire. If you you use pretty colored wax, you can put them in a baskets from the second hand store and give them away as Christmas gifts.

 

[Royd]

Quote:
How short? I had a piece of 24" fiberglass pipe, which I cut up, into 1' lengths, and placed them side by side, and made permanent garden planters.

 

[jojo54]

I reuse most stuff and hate to throw anything away. My mom takes reusables to schools for art projects, containers to the foodbank to use for bulk food, etc. There is a site to giveaway or get reusable stuff. http://www.freecycle.org/ I have given away tons of stuff that is too good to throw away but no longer needed. I have also got some good stuff. You know the saying "one person's junk is another person's treasure.

 

[fitzy]

i like to stuff tp tubes with gunpowder and a foot of cannon fuse....wrap it with duct tape till it resembles a football and viola! you own homemade firecracker!

 

[Eggs-Actly]

I use just about everything I can from the kitchen for compost. About 3 years ago DW was complaining about the smell coming from the compost bin in the kitchen. The problem was the seal - it wasn't sealing so the smell/stench came out. So I asked DW to pick up the large plastic coffee containers when she went shopping instead of the vacuum packed coffee bricks. When we finished the coffee I re-used the containers for my compost containers. Now I can leave it on the counter and no one is the wiser. No mess, no smell. And when I have about 6 or seven of them I take them out from under the counter and the one that is always on the counter and I go out back, empty them into the compost pile and rinse them off in the rain water barrels and turn them upside down on the garden spikes to dry.

I re-use eggshells too. Dry them out, crush them and give them back to the girls for calcium. Saves me $8 a month since I don't have to buy crushed oyster shells.

We canceled our newspaper subscription and read it online. But they still mail out the Thursday circular for those residents who do not subscribe - you know the one that contains about 4 pages of worthless info along with the week's coupons for the local grocery store. Well, we save that and use it as weedblockers for our veggie gardens.

 

[thebritt]

Quote:
Yeah, me too. I reuse wrapping paper, too.

My mom still has wrapping paper (small pieces) from when I was a kid (and I was born in 1963!!!). How's that for frugal?

 

[KDbeads]

ALL cans/tins get saved here. I use them from feed scoops to candle tins. If I have too many they get taken to recycle.
Sour cream/butter/yogurt/etc type containers are saved, get used for leftovers, flour for dusting meats (kept in the freezer), misc items, and we freeze veggies in them before they are moved to vacuum pack bags.
Frozen entre dishes are saved for reheating leftovers, feeding the chickens treats, bead trays, project trays, freezing dog food, etc.....

 

[fitzy]

Quote:
ummm just gonna say ditto!

oh, i work next to a restaurant that gives me all the 1 gallon tin cans i want....i've used them for the darndest things

 

[mjdtexan]

Stuff the empty TP rolls with dryer lint and you have a nice little fire starter