Apr 29 2008
20 Things You Can Use Twice Before Tossing
- Dry Cleaning Bags: Use to pack suits, dresses and fine clothing when travelling, this will help protect it from wrinkles when packing. When storing the bags make sure to keep them safely out of reach of children, they really are that dangerous.
- Butter Wrappers: Once you’ve removed a block of butter from its wrapping, place the wrapping in a plastic container or bag and refrigerate. Use it to grease baking pans.
- Business Cards: Use the other side to label storage boxes and tubs and tape to the outside of the lid or side so you can see at a glance what the container is holding.
- Used Envelopes: These make excellent lists for groceries, To Do lists, bookmarks and labels.
- Cardboard Egg Cartons: You can use these to make homemade firestarters.
- Tissue Boxes: Once they’re empty you can use these as a plastic bag dispenser, just fill with grocery bags and you’ll be able to neatly pull out one at a time.
- Plastic Grocery Bags: Use as garbage pail liners, paint tray covers, packing material.
- Plastic Bread Clips: Save a few of the square plastic clips that keep bread bags closed to use as tiny scrapers. They come in handy to remove labels, price tags, and even do a good job scratching lottery tickets.
- Newspaper: Line kitty litter boxes for easy cleanup (top with kitty litter), protect work surfaces from crafts & interior paint jobs, giftwrap, use as packing material when moving or shipping.
- Plastic Strawberry Baskets: Use as a homemade bubble machine, hold small packets in the pantry.
- Cleaner Spray Bottles: Clean thoroughly and use to hold your homemade cleaners, use to spray plants…very important to clean thoroughly first.
- Mesh From Veggie Bags: If you buy veggies that are bagged in nylon mesh, you can use that mesh for various cleaning jobs around the house and yard. Just wad up the bag and use it as a scrubber.
- Styrofoam Food Trays: Clean thoroughly, wrap in foil then use as trays for giving gifts of baking.
- Pantyhose: Use in the garden to tie plants to stakes, make shower spa bags plus there are 20 ideas found here.
- Paper Towel Cardboard Rolls: Use to wrap extension cords, Christmas lights (keep untangled).
- Citrus Peels: Use to make your own homemade citrus cleaners, candy peels to use in baking or freeze the peels to use for zest in recipes as needed, Save your peels from citrus fruits like lemons and oranges. You can toss them in the fire place when you have a fire going to give the room a nice, fresh smell.
- Packing Foam Peanuts: Save them and reuse when packing breakables, storing Christmas decorations or sending gifts in the mail
- Brown Paper Bags: Once used, twist into small rolls and use as fire starters.
- Laundry Bottle Caps & Scoops: Wash thoroughly and use as sandbox, pool, bathtub toys or pet food scoopers (for dried food).
- Cereal Liner Bags: Clean and use for stacking meat patties before freezing, store bread crusts, cover food in the microwave.
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( 58 )
29 Apr 2008 at 7:27 pm
The square plastic bread clips can be used as “small bobbins” for knitting to hold the long tail at the beginning of the project while you knit. Just wrap the “excess” yarn around it.
29 Apr 2008 at 9:33 pm
You can use the biodegradable packing peanuts to make a clay, as seen at:
http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/2008/04/modeling-with-b.html
I’ve never tried it, but it seems plausible!
29 Apr 2008 at 9:35 pm
We use brown paper bags for putting our recyclable paper in before we put it out in the collection bins.
29 Apr 2008 at 10:26 pm
Use nylon mesh bags from vegetables for your wild birds nest making..just fill with dryer lint, short pieces of yarn, etc. They will use it to integrate with the twigs, etc. Just fill and hang outdoors where they can get to it.
Use empty plastic strawberry containers when you plant some of your spring bulbs. Just bury it in the hole before filling with soil and bulbs..the gophers and moles will not eat your bulbs.
Use empty facial tissue boxes to catch all your loose threads that you trim from your sewing. When full just empty and reuse.
30 Apr 2008 at 3:03 am
Used dryer sheets are one of the best things to use when removing nail polish. Put a bit of nail polish remover on it and it’ll clean your nails in seconds.
30 Apr 2008 at 3:31 am
All these ideas are wonderful, BUT, where, oh where, do you store all the things you keep for another day??
30 Apr 2008 at 3:58 am
Hi Lynette, you can use things up as they become available and if you have too much to use, just pick one or two things to save and keep stock of (the most frequently used items would be worthwhile).
These are just ideas intended to spark looking at things a little differently instead of just automatically throwing stuff away :).
Edit: Forgot to add–great ideas guys, thanks for sharing with everyone!
30 Apr 2008 at 7:58 am
I reuse jelly jars, pasta sauce jars and the like by running them through the dishwasher and using them for drinking glasses.
30 Apr 2008 at 8:15 am
Question about the cereal liner bags…. You mean the plastic bag that the cereal actually comes in? That’s microwaveable?! Wouldn’t it melt?
30 Apr 2008 at 8:21 am
My wife uses the clear egg cartons to package mini cupcakes.
30 Apr 2008 at 8:29 am
This is an oldy-but-goody that many people surprisingly don’t know. Save your peanut butter jars (preferably plastic) as storage for nuts, bolts, screws, or other small items.
If you have a place to do it, you can attach the lids to a piece of plywood and hang the piece of plywood from say the rafters in your tool shed. That way the lids stay attached, and all you do is unscrew the jar when you need whatever it holds. Saves space, too.
30 Apr 2008 at 8:46 am
The heavier plastic utensils (forks, spoons, etc.) can be placed in the dishwasher and reused many times. Eventually the start to break down, but they are worth more than the single use that they are marketed for.
30 Apr 2008 at 8:55 am
When you’re cooking with fresh lemons/limes, you can use the spent lemon rind halves with a little salt to clean and disinfect your wooden or bamboo cutting boards. I use it on counters, too.
Plastic produce bags get tucked inside an empty bowl and used to hold the trimmings from the produce - peels, onion ends, etc. It reuses a bag and makes cleanup easy.
If you have old towels or blankets, animal shelters would gladly take them off your hands to use as bedding.
I haven’t tried it, but I hear dry cleaners will take back your wire hangers for re-use.
30 Apr 2008 at 9:23 am
We do a lot of these already. I use junk mail for scrap paper all the time. Also, I use junk mail and old newspaper and other paper goods as kindling, just rip it into pieces first. Also, I reuse paper grocery bags to collect food waste and dump it bag and all into the compost bin.
30 Apr 2008 at 9:31 am
We save butter containers and use them to store small toys for the kids. Little super balls, tiny army men, the little crep that comes home from birthday parties and that restaurant with the arches. They last forever, wash easily and stack up neatly.
30 Apr 2008 at 10:08 am
Sometimes you just get too much of the same reuseable or even unused items like Envelopes.
I work in an office that everybody waste A4 paper as if they’re toilet paper. Example here, something printed wrong, oh gosh, whole document goes to trash without even thinking. I was like WTF. Sorry to say that but he’s my boss. Another coworker he trashed those disposable paper cups every time he drinks water. So pretty much one cup per sip.
There isn’t recycling going on in this area. I mean hey it’s a business district here. What’s going on with the recycling campaign. I want to help reuse/recycling and even reduce. Just sometimes system isn’t ready for folks who are eager to do anything good for our environment.
I urge anyone who’s like me seeing this happen just do the best you can to reuse items. Use less is another way too please don’t forget!
30 Apr 2008 at 10:11 am
I shred most of my bills because of the identity theft threat and I save the shredded paper to use when shipping items, instead of plastic filler or peanuts.
Also - regarding plastic peanuts..when I receive something packed in them, I bag them up and bring them to our local UPS store…they accept them to re-use.
30 Apr 2008 at 10:23 am
I reuse many of my ziplock bags. For example, I cook bacon by the pound and then heat it in the microwave when needed. So there is a plastic ziplock marked “bacon” that gets washed (inside out) and reused. I keep open hotdog packages in a ziplock, and that bag is also marked and reused. I’ve also got freezer bags that are reused as long as they don’t get too contaminated. Some are marked for specific foods, and some are not. If these bags are washed between uses they can last a year, and there is no longer a need to keep buying them for single uses.
Another reusable is a plastic bread bag that goes back to the grocery store and gets refilled with bagels, hardrolls, or fruits/vegetables. They also make great lunch bags.
30 Apr 2008 at 11:12 am
If the recycling program isn’t up to par in your workplace, you should think about putting something in place. With a careful approach, you’ll show your boss that you’ve got the wherewithall to put something together. If you have a tough time getting him/her to sign off on it, tell them that any proceeds can go to a communal party fund, or to an office supplies fund ( to pay for all the paper everyone’s wasting). With the way things are going it wont be long before everyone has no choice but to do this anyway, it’ll show you’re a forward-thinking individual if you’re ahead of the game.
30 Apr 2008 at 11:28 am
We use plastic grocery bags as dog-poop bags.
I buy a bottle of water every two weeks and take it to work to refill from the water fountain. More than a couple weeks and it gets a little greenish.
I load up my home printer with one-sided printouts from the office, printing on their backsides. I also tear a lot of those printouts in quarters for scrap paper.
30 Apr 2008 at 12:17 pm
These are all good ideas, but i’m not going to do any of them. I just cant be bothered. Yesterday, I threw away 23 pennies b/c I hated how much they jingled. I wonder how many other people are like me. I’d like to help, but I’m just impatient and lazy. Sorry.
30 Apr 2008 at 12:21 pm
The plastic bread clips are really good for labeling individual cables under your desk. Which one is the VCR? put a clip on it, and write on it with a Sharpie. Down with cable madness!
30 Apr 2008 at 2:17 pm
Wow, reuse packing peanuts to pack things and protect them when sending them or storing them? Clever.
30 Apr 2008 at 2:26 pm
Recycled paper egg cartons make great holders for your seed starts.
ALL plastic bags can be washed and reused. I’m not sure about other places, but in Portland, OR, the stores offer a small refund to you if you bring your own plastic bags(5c)
Yogurt containers/plastic containers with lids are comparable to Tupperware, and *most* of them are microwave safe.
Shampoo bottles/detergent bottles can be reused/refilled at your local bulk/co op store.
30 Apr 2008 at 3:02 pm
Used lemon slices (i.e. the leftover part you get after having squeezed out juice) can be tossed in your refridgerator, and will absorb foul smells from foods etc.
30 Apr 2008 at 4:43 pm
Just stumbled here from BeingFrugal.net and so glad I found you. I love the site! You might be interested to hear about my Earth Day project to find uses for used plastic milk jugs. It was a popular one. I look forward to catching up on your archives.
30 Apr 2008 at 5:21 pm
I used to pay a lot for the pine shavings/bedding for the kids guinea pigs but I don’t need them now. I take the shredded paper home from work and use it in the guinea pig cages. Just line the bottom with newspaper and cover it with the shredded paper. The piggies love it.
30 Apr 2008 at 5:26 pm
Paper. We print tons of it at work, almost all one-sided. I use the back for scratch paper, and take stacks of it home for my printer. Unless it’s a formal letter or something, I rarely use “fresh” paper. The last time I bought a ream was about 2 years ago.
30 Apr 2008 at 5:57 pm
Tombuch’s post made me wonder: It’s great to conserve plastic bags and stuff, but what about conserving water? It takes energy and equipment to purify that water and pump it to your house. How much water is it worth using to save one plastic bag?
30 Apr 2008 at 7:10 pm
Use the Sunday paper (especially the comics and sports or section of interest) as packing material for care packages. Also use newspaper (comic section works best) as wrapping paper instead of buying it for Christmas and Birthdays.
30 Apr 2008 at 9:44 pm
Oh, God. How number 6 brings back the nightmarish memories. My grandmother was a hoarder. After she passed we cleaned out her house, and would you believe that she had a whole half a room, floor to ceiling, of tissue paper boxes stuffed with plastic bags? Of course, it wasn’t exactly in all one room, but I promise you, it was that much. The joy of finally working through another bedroom (or the hallway) only to find another wall, or another shelf, or another bathroom full of saved plastic bags in tissue boxes. *shudder*
01 May 2008 at 8:08 am
A lot of small business people who operate on Ebay are constantly looking for fresh supplies of packing material - we have a coworker whose wife does this so whenever I find I have too many to store, I just bring them in for her. Try your local ebay “storefront” as well.
01 May 2008 at 9:49 am
Another use for used dryer sheets:
They pick up hair and lint from the floor pretty well, e.g. in the bathroom. Put it under your foot, and sweep around. Store a bunch in an empty facial tissue box.
Think about it: in the dryer, they /repel/ hair and lint so they can go to the lint catcher; once “spent”, they do the opposite - pick up hair and lint.
01 May 2008 at 11:44 am
[...] clipped from tipnut.com [...]
01 May 2008 at 7:00 pm
I make coaster and placemats out of old newspapers and magazines. Just fold neatly into strips and weave them.
01 May 2008 at 11:06 pm
I’d really like to see a list of things I can use before AND after tossing. Like, kleenex is definitely a good example of this. Also old towels.
02 May 2008 at 1:56 am
cool site. Some useful tips.
Always re-use the plastic supermarket bags you get. They make good rubbish bags.
02 May 2008 at 5:38 am
[...] Reduce…reuse - 20 things you can use twice 2 05 2008 20 Things You Can Use Twice Before Tossing [...]
02 May 2008 at 8:30 am
I never thought of reusing cereal liners, and I love it, but please, don’t put them in the microwave! It’s bad for your health to microwave anything covered in plastics like cereal liners or plastic wrap. Any plastics are unhealthy to put in the microwave, but I would especially recommend avoiding using something like cereal liners that is not made specifically to use in the microwave.
02 May 2008 at 4:46 pm
Jeez… For a “recycling” post there sure are a lot of ideas for starting fires. Fireplaces should be banned worldwide for all of the particulate matter that they introduce into the air we breathe.
02 May 2008 at 5:53 pm
I take silly blog-posts and re-use them as joke fodder.
03 May 2008 at 8:59 am
Old toothbrushes are great for cleaning just about anything with tiny crevices. They’re also great for scrubbing out tiny stains from clothes.
03 May 2008 at 11:04 am
The containers that liquid coffee creamer come in are excellent for sugar storage. The lids snap closed which keeps the ants out.
I used a mesh/net vegetable bag for my bath soap. You can put small pieces of soap in it, or even motel soap. Tie the end and use it to scrub your feet.
Torn up paper egg cartons go in the compost. Newspaper can also be composted. Avoid using the slick advertising sections. Colored ink is OK.
03 May 2008 at 3:08 pm
I have two ideas to add.
Paper Towel Rolls
It takes some getting used to, but I use these (and especially those from toilet paper rolls) as cat toys. They play for about a week, then I recycle, then when the next one is ready, they’ve forgotten they were bored with it.
Dryer Lint
We use dryer lint along with paper towel rolls as firestarters. If you poke some holes in the paper towel roll, then stuff the inside with dryer lint, it burns nice and hot for a few minutes.
04 May 2008 at 12:32 pm
[...] Things You Can Use Twice Before Tossing: come un rifiuto può trasformarsi in qualcosa di utile Tags:deforestazione fotovoltaico greenpeace idrogeno rifiuti You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. [...]
05 May 2008 at 8:37 am
great overall tips,
05 May 2008 at 1:52 pm
I think I’ll pass on the butter wrappers. Sounds like more of a mess than something useful.
06 May 2008 at 12:34 pm
Please, please be careful when using newspapers to line cat litter boxes or animal cages. The ink from the papers can transfer to the animal’s feet (particularly if it gets wet) and can cause them to become ill. This happened to my cats. I never tried it again.
07 May 2008 at 10:50 am
[...] They’ve put together a list of the 20 casual items that you can use twice before tossing - read it here. [...]
07 May 2008 at 3:59 pm
It is important to remember that this is about being smart with the environment. When someone has too much of something…(such as the grandma)there are plenty of others that could use it…such as shelters (the residents can use the stuff) schools, etc.
07 May 2008 at 8:27 pm
Cereal liner bags: I used to wrap my Lunch sandwiches in them when I worked. just open them at the seam wrap your sandwich, unwrap at work and you also have a ready “place mat” for your chips pickle and the mayo/mustard/ketchup on the sandwich won’t leak thru to your table or lunch bag. Cereal boxes can be cut to become magazine holders also. Leave them like that and magic marker the magazine name on an end or make em pretty w/ paint, construction paper, etc. but that’s so much more work.
Toilet paper tubes work great for storing the messy cords on your counter, fold excess up, twist tie tog and insert in holder.
Tissue boxs kept by sewing machine will hold thread clippings, material throw aways, broken needles (anchored in a bit of thrown away material) andlint. When box is full, toss in garbage or recycle bin (w/o the needle)
Fabric softener sheets: makes foundations for strip quilting. I cut them in half for first use. Seems to work.
07 May 2008 at 8:33 pm
The little plastic squares on loaves of bread make a great holder for on the end of tapes such as duct, painters, shipping, masking, etc. No more folding the tape over so you can find the end.
Small pill bottles or the film cannisters are a good container for sharp objects that need to be discarded such as needles, craft blades, razor blades, etc.
Sewing needles can be reused once they have gotten dull; a couple of rubs across an emery board and they work fine. Works for both hand and machine needles.
I keep two small pill bottles in my sewing area. One for needles that need resharpening and one for those that can’t be used anymore.
The mesh bags that fruits and veggies come in can be used again at the store when you pick up loose fruit and vegetables. And they can be washed if something happens to get squished. Use them at the local Farmer’s Market.
Plastic grocery sacks can be given to local charities, especially food banks or such. They would love to have them.
I keep a small bright fabric tote by my back door that contains all the things I will need when I go shopping. Fabric grocery bags, mesh bags for veggies, coupon holder, etc. The bright color makes sure I’ll see it as I go out the door.
08 May 2008 at 10:12 am
Not a tip but a request:
Any ideas as to how to reuse the spindles that bulk CD’s/DVD’s come on?
Apart from a bowl or a bagel sandwitch holder ?
08 May 2008 at 1:08 pm
I use old ketchup bottles to put my vegetable oil in, so I can squirt in what I need when I’m cooking.
08 May 2008 at 1:09 pm
A good thing to clean mirrors and windows with is rubbing alcohol. It gets them really shiny.
08 May 2008 at 1:12 pm
When you have a lot of hairspray buildup on your hair use a little baking soda in your shampoo. It gets rid of the buildup and makes your hair squeaky clean.
09 May 2008 at 10:47 am
I use the plastic grocery bags for mailing items and cushion for storing items too… I am to cheap to buy bubble wrap!
13 May 2008 at 12:37 am
Steyr,
I’ve used my husband’s CD/DVD spindles to store unused cables. It keeps them from getting dirty and tangled, but it can only store only certain sizes and lengths.