thought this might be fun...
I've been so enjoying the 'greenspace' thread and now the 'what you get for $' thread, I thought about sharing ideas on reusing.
I have one...
a couple of years ago a friend of mine split up with her boyfriend/husband whatever and was cleaning out the rest of the house. they took just what they needed and bagged up about 10-15 bags of cloths. she said theyre was some good stuff in there but she wasn't seperating. take all, or nothing. I took them. All of us got some nice stuff out of it and 3-4 garbage bags went to goodwill and I still had 2-3 bags that weren't worthy of giving away. I took out everything that was 100% cotton, cut out zippers, buttons, elastic and used in my flower bed under mulch. it worked out great for me, (but I must add that I used them in my cactus bed that would pretty much grow under any conditions). I'm not saying do this, just saying it worked out well for me in my situation and 2-3 garbages bags did not go to the dump.

any other ideas, thoughts on reusing?

I save and wash all the pickle, salsa, olive, mayo jars. I use them for beans, rice, popcorn, sugar, flour, ect

I reuse the plastic bags the newspapers come in for a mini trash by my sink.. for the stuff we don't compost- or put down disposal... use them for a liner in my lint collection can too- can is old coffe can covered in contac paper.. metal can -had it for yrs in there.
I refill the bottles my swiffer mop uses after soaking in very hot boiling water to get lids off.. use vinigar and water mix with a drop or two of dish soap, sure a whole lot cheaper and still have the convience.

I too wash out jars for reuse- some I fill with soup/chili/stew/ leave about an inch of space for expansion- use old socks to cover them and keep them in doors of my freezer, socks keep them from shattering.
I have started using tote bags I bought at Albertson's for 10/$1., I take them grocery shopping and to Sam's too.. sure makes it easier to get stuff in the house and better than collection all those boxes I used to use. We also use them for hauling the boys stuff back and forth between our houses,, school stuff home too this last week of school- I have 20 of them and find I use them all the time.
All empty containers I don't use other ways I give the boys for rock/bug/ collecting... or sandbox play... I refill the big bottle of bubble stuff with homemade bubble maker too- had it for at least 5 yrs now- boys think it never gets empty...LOL!
I also save the dribs and drabs of leftover veggies- keep a jar to collect them in the door of my freezer in the kitchen- add them to soups and stew when I make them- or puree them and add to spaghetti sauce and chili- even meatloaves sometimes... extra vitamins and no one knows(kids).
Nana

what do you do with the lint?

I wash out Ziplock bags for reuse unless they've gotten a hole.

I try to buy all staples in bags rather than in containers so I can just put them in my canisters/storage units... trying to avoid an overload of boxes and plasticware I can't reuse.

Our town has mandatory recycling which includes the necessity of purchasing special trash bags. They are expensive individually but if the famiy recycles then the amount they actually throw away is less and then the bags are affordable. What irks me though, is that the hotels/motels in our town are exempt from the recyling laws. Considering we are a resort town, go figure!

Merme

my m.i.l. bought the kids shoes over the weekend. I saved the boxes. I never know what to do with such things at first, but find I always find a use for them later.
last week I was looking at some hotels on line. were planning a short vacation here sometime very soon. one hotel had SOME rooms that were 'green'. you could request one if you wanted. they did things like, if you were gonna stay a couple of days you just used the same linens and towles. there were recy bins in the rooms, some other things, i'm sure...just can't remember right now.

We did lots of Motel stuff when we go out west......9 times we did..
Motel 6 or or Motel 8 were cheapest buys.
Depends where you go......Some of the local folks had small motels and were cheaper. We enjoyed the small towns for sleeping. There would be places like Mc donalds an stores to shop.....I love to shop in every town we went to......It was great.. We went by car, always.

b

PS........I only ride horse on here...... ...

We have a recycling drop off box but everythime I go it's filled. It seems they only empty it every blue moon and you're not allowed to leave anything except for what you can shove in the steel bin.

Needless to say, it's not worth it for me to waste $5 in gas anymore on the drive. I do however buy most things in cardboard boxes(milk, juice etc...) if possible because we use our woodstove for most of the year...it burns well.

that's a shame they don't empty the bins more often. I'm sure there are others like yourself that have given up on recycling for the same reason.
I don't take stuff to the paper recycle anymore cause I don't like to store stuff like that for a long period of time. I will use the cardboard for choking out weeds in beds or around stuff I don't want to weedeat. then cover in pine needles, mulch, or hay.

I never did cardboard for weeds.Think I will start tho.
Thanks lil cricket.

Maxi saves all of our paper egg cartons and then every few months he drops them off at the primary school in our town. The kindergarten and first graders use them for many projects!

Merme

I pull very few weeds anymore. cover and choke is my moto.

Good advice.........Strangle them.......

Know what I did today? I have strawberries getting ready to turn red.
Robins galore......Guess what they do?
I fixed the buggers and bought 20 yards of Tulle netting , on sale. Now I am covered......LOL
Had to put bricks and stones to hold it ..........

ANy one else do that ????????????

I sometimes watch that TV show "Wasted" on Planet Green channel.

They pick a family who is not doing well in terms of conservation and figure out their "ecologic footprint".... how they are living in their home compares to the actual square footage of the place. Then they teach the family a few conservation techniques and challenge them to give these suggetions a try. If the family improves, they compute the total savings over a year and reward the family with cash.

Last night, three women sharing a loft in NYC were using the ecologic footprint of a site that would cover more than 70 acres! In three weeks they were able to reduce that to just over 40 acres and they didn't even have to try really really hard.

I've seen lots of interesting things on this show... how much trash in a year a family makes if they do not recycle; how many toxic chemicals can get into our groundwater from ordinary things such as cleaning products and makeup; as well as terrific wastes in terms of energy for heating/cooling and convenience.

Have any of you watched this?

Merme

no cable or satalite here, but if we did I would surely watch.

me and my daughter went through cloths yesterday. got two bags of cloths to donate, and about another two I cut into rags. any cloths I can't give away I cut into rags. we hardly use paper towles anymore, and I haven't bought dish rags in years.

Dodge what a GREAT idea the tulle. I have to cover strawberries, a red currant-
bush and a black berrie-bush. Will see if the tulle is cheap this weekend and
get some. I have squirrels galore and they are eyeing the berries.
Tanks, Larkspur

Thanks

I put a heavier netting on the blue berry trees......SIs gave me that stuff.

I have some on the sweet corn right now also...They just bite them right off. I made the row about a foot wide and put 3 corns move over abour 3 inches an 3 more.....crazy......I t keeps birds off.

I also covered the peppers and put a statue of an Owl in the garden..LOL

You can buy bird netting at the dollar store now.

Have to check that out.......I didnt see any yet..
thanks

Bought some today, gonna try cat`proof my veggie garden.

It's green and 6.5 ft by 32.5 ft for $1.

Wow what a deal......What is it ? Plastic or material?
Which dollar store.......DOllar General or Dollar bargain?

thanks for the info.

I try to reuse my coffee cans but it seems to be a losing battle. A long time ago we had thread here on the forum about alternate uses for coffee cans. Everyone had good ideas. I am going to look it up and see if I can find it.

Merme

I rarely fry anything anymore, but I put used cooking oil in coffee cans (then in with the trash pick up...shhhhhhh...that's probably not very enviornmental, is it?)
we also use coffee cans for change. when we get it filled up we go down to the local grocery store and put them through the coin counter machine and get paper money.
hubby uses them for nuts and bolts. daughter uses them for her rock collection.
HEY...that reminds me! I've been tossing around the idea of using old cans to make a wind chime. thought it would be a fun project for the kids. coffee cans, soup and veggie cans tuna cans....tying them somehow with some fishing line???? you'd have to get everything precisely balanced though wouldn't you? anyone have any thoughts on the wind chime idea?