Don't Throw That Out

[mickeyd]

Interesting everyday items that you may consider repurposing before you ditch them.

Turn a creative eye on the things that you're throwing away, and you may just discover that they're worth hanging on to:

15 Things to Reuse Instead of Throwing Out=

 

[W2R]

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" is an expression of the attitudes I was taught by my (Depression era) mother. For example, we always kept soap slivers, as suggested in the article, just because that is what we do. I still keep soap slivers just out of habit.

On the other hand, I never really thought about re-using newspaper sleeves. Back in the day, newspapers came with wire twisted around them to hold them together. My mother always kept the wire for other uses, and so did I until the switch to newspaper sleeves.

 

[38Chevy454]

What? No reuse for dryer sheets?

 

[Sunset]

It's articles like this that give hoarders hope

I literally wear my clothes out, then I use them for cleaning rags. Would never waste a t-shirt to make a cloth shopping bag when cloth shopping bags are often free.

 

[Bestwifeever]

You can also make a shirt out of a tote bag. And a hat out of a newspaper.

 

[mickeyd]

My Mom used to darn my socks using a deal called a darning egg. All of my socks as a kid that been repaired at least once.

When I got married and a hole broke thru on a sock I gave it to my newish wife and she said "what's this?" I said "it needs to be darned." DW says "buy some new socks."

New socks have part of my wardrobe ever since.

 

[target2019]

Toothbrushes are handy when repurpossed. Just used a used one to clean greasy grill gunk.

 

[Slow But Steady]

My mom use to darn the socks. "This darn sock has a hole in it!"

Boom - straight in the trash.

 

[Meadbh]

I regularly darn my holey socks. However, I draw the line at fixing large holes in underpants. I recently (reluctantly) discarded a comfy 20 year old nightgown that had more holes than fabric. It was too late to make it into a polishing rag!

I clean and reuse plastic bags, including resealable ones from the deli.

I save the wrappers from sticks of butter. They come in handy for greasing pans.

I clean my oven with baking soda and rinse it with white vinegar. Vinegar works well for windows too.

I save certain plastic food containers for storing leftovers in the fridge.

I have never had success with recycling bar soap.

 

[tmm99]

My mom has knitted sweaters out of my sweaters that didn't fit right. I have made a pair of PJ shorts out of a pillow case. We should be able to reuse a lot of things we throw away if we think about it, but we also need to make sure we don't keep too many things unnecessarily and clutter our homes. It's a balancing act.

 

[athena53]

I never buy bath soap. I use whatever is around from our hotel collection since I always take the partly-used bar home with me. Slivers get fused into a new bar when both are thoroughly wet.

We make great broth by freezing all the fibrous bits we cut off fresh vegetables.

And worn-out T-shirts and towels make great cleaning rags!

 

[timo2]

It's articles like this that give hoarders hope

I once alerted a person I did not know was a hoarder to www.freecycle.org , and they immediately started finding things they could hoard!!

 

[aja8888]

When I was young a poor, I used to go to the town dump to look for old bicycle parts and baby carriage parts to make a wooden go cart out of. Old boards and rope were all I needed for a frame and steering control. Long nails were used to attach axle shafts by nailing them in part way and then bending them over the axles.

This was the framework for my mechanical engineering desire in later life. Glad I never had to build anything important after I got my education!

We don't go overboard with recycling or reuse, but DW still has every piece of clothing and pair of shoes since she started wearing clothes. She got rid on the ex-husband though.

 

[Amethyst]

I made a denim drawstring carry bag out of a pair of worn blue jeans. Opened up one of the flat-felled seams on each leg, sewed the opened-up legs together (with new flat-felled seams that I sewed myself), made two buttonhole openings along the top of the sack and used old shoelaces for the drawstrings. Made a round bottom piece out of a doubled piece of denim from the same recycled jeans.

Used that bag to carry my good shoes to work for 25 years, until it finally wore out.

 

[rodi]

My MIL was the queen of repurposing. She claims it is/was because she didn't drive... and so she couldn't run out to the store to get whatever it was she needed. Plastic jugs - cut the bottom off, turn it over - and voila - you have a funnel. Aluminum pie tin - if you bend it just right you can use it to cover a simmering soup pot just right so it lets some steam out and doesn't overboil. Old nail apron - perfect for holding clothespins when hanging up laundry.

 

[athena53]

We don't go overboard with recycling or reuse, but DW still has every piece of clothing and pair of shoes since she started wearing clothes. She got rid on the ex-husband though.

I've got a great collection of cashmere sweaters bought in the 1908s and early 1990s- a lot heavier than most you can buy now, and they were expensive even then. I've mended a few spots where a moth managed to find them. When I was in HS I made all my own clothes and I'm still grateful that I'm handy with a needle, thread and sewing machine.

 

[marko]

Some of you may recall stories of my notorious grandfather.

Quite wealthy, never had a 1930's Depression "challenge" to speak of, but....he had 30 year old, over-the-shoe galoshes that had ripped. He stapled the rips together and then used electrical tape to seal 'em up.

His favorite taunt to me was "oh, ya....just throw it out...(just like your father!)"

 

[aja8888]

I've got a great collection of cashmere sweaters bought in the 1908s and early 1990s- a lot heavier than most you can buy now, and they were expensive even then. I've mended a few spots where a moth managed to find them. When I was in HS I made all my own clothes and I'm still grateful that I'm handy with a needle, thread and sewing machine.

DW still sews and has made a lot of clothes for her kids when they were little. Now she makes clothing and stuff for the grandkids. I guess she just has it built in to her that she just can't trow away clothing.

 

[Amethyst]

I know how to sew clothes, but don't enjoy it at all. Fortunately, clothes ready-made are cheaper than buying patterns, fabric, matching thread, and other matching notions, then spending hours and hours cutting, basting, fitting, altering, and sewing (does anybody have the exact measurements that patterns are made for? I sure don't).

The only thing I might make would be a special-occasion dress or sundress, from beautiful fabric. Most ready-made clothing looks like every other piece in the store, and sometimes I just want something unique to wear.

 

[Nodak]

I grew up poor and we lived in the second floor of my Grandparents house. My Grandmother grew a huge garden and canned most of the produce. She saved bacon grease for a year then used it to make lye soap. That soap would get you clean but really dried out your skin. Scraps of cloth were used to make patchwork quilts. She also sewed most of her own clothes. I gave her ancient Singer sewing machine to a cousin about 4 years ago.

Like Aja8888 I haunted the dump ground for old parts to put together a bicycle. Also looked for old radio and telephone parts to experiment with.

 

[infoseeker]

I love to repurpose things....For years I've been holding on to an (ugly) oh-so-soft deer skin leather vest. Found it at a second hand store for cheap and knew it would come in handy some day for a sewing project. Leather is in pristine condition....both leather and suede side. Perfect "fabric" for the baby moccasins that I am making for our first grandchild.