I have seen some very cute creative wind chimes made with old keys there are several crafty things you can do with keys.

I take my older bath towels and cut them into smaller size kitchen towels and surge the edges to keep them from fraying.
I also make a lot of shop towels for my husband.

I save the nice juice bottles and tea bottles that look like a carafe, wash well and remove all labels, fill with filtered water and freeze. When I am going shopping and not sure how long I will be I take my insulated cold bag and stick one of those frozen bottles in side, it keeps the contents very chilled and also provides me with ice cold water to drink on a hot day. they work great in an ice chest also and no melted ice to deal with.

Cut up milk cartons, staple them together to make a tray about 3" deep and wide, into which I put investment report letters, bank account records, utility bills to pay, paid utility bills to add up at year-end to bill landlord for part of them, charitable receipts, mail from family, mail to be answered, etc.

Cartons and trays from grocery to store large mail, larger sized sheets of paper that I use for various purposes, cookie trays that I use to start seeds in spring (easier to take a number at a time in a tray from the yard into the barn when frost expected).

Used auto parts for my car - but, now that it's 24 years old, they're getting more difficult to find.

Keep papers used on one side (with a mark across them to note that they are redundant) to use the other side for making notes, shopping lists, Christmas card lists, kids for colouring, etc.

Save cutting bar from landlord's sod cutter to use as stakes in garden. Cut small deadfall trees from neighbour's woods to use as garden stakes.

ole joyful

I always keep some empty egg cartons - Styrofoam, cardboard or plastic to use as a cushion when shipping fragile items.

I never thought of using egg cartons that way, Maire. But now I will!

I'm afraid I haven't been very innovative in my recycling, but I like the idea of passing things along (and acquiring someone else's things when needed) so I make ample use of eBay, Craigslist, and Freecycle. And the Salvation Army!

I recently went through my mother-in-law's old damask linens. I sold a set of seemingly unused napkins on eBay, but the tablecloths were in very poor condition. So they went in with the gardening supplies and will be used to cover plants at frost time.

I learned this week that Home Depot will take our old compact fluorescent light bulbs.

I have to post a link to this page from the garden junkers forum, on this post the gal gets extremely creative in recycling items in amazing ways. A lot of talent there!

Here is a link that might be useful: Dont throw that away

I recycle all of my printer paper where one side (or sometimes both sides) are blank or practically blank. I'm forever printing off stuff from online where there is a second page with only a line or two of text on it. I also save junk mail pages which have a blank side. I do software support (from my home office) and usually need a page of paper for notes that I take while working with each client. Work policy states that all notes are confidential and must be shredded after finishing with the client, and I go through a lot of paper this way.

I also save all of my egg cartons for a friend of Gary's who has chickens. We pay him for eggs, then send the cartons back to be re-used when they are empty.

I do the typical recycle - plastics, cans, newspapers. I HATE that our recyclers won't take glass - they say there is no market for it close enough for them to take advantage of it.

We've bought most of our grandson's clothes and many other items at garage sales and second hand stores.

We recycle all KINDS of things into garden ornaments and planters. We have a large number of galvanized tubs that we've punched drain holes in and filled with top soil. We grow our tomatoes in them, and also have apple trees planted in half a dozen of them. LOL! We even have an old 16 foot boat, that we made a garden bed in out at our camp. We filled the whole thing with top soil and are growing perennials in it!

I love to be able to reuse things. It makes money go further, and better yet, it's the responsible thing to do! Oh yeah, and I just plain love old stuff too :-)

I crochet strips of plastic shopping bags ( I get the from others, as I use canvas bags) in to door mats.

water at the faucet goes in a jug, till it runs warm, and the jug gets used to water my porch plants

Love the idea of egg cartons as packing material. Never thought of that before. Thanks

Moni

Oh, Raven--those ideas are SO cute--and show so much talent (and imagination). Now I'll be looking around the house at some of my other recyclables in a whole new way!

After I posted this topic yesterday, got something interesting in my e-mail box for those who might like to give it a try.

Here is a link that might be useful: repurposing challenge

I was given a ceramic milk pitcher from the neighbour, and immediately use it to put my wooden spoons, whisks etc in.

I wish we had more glass jars. Everything is being made in plastic. I love using glass jars to store my oatmeal, rice, cornmeal, quinoa etc etc in. I try to check out the blue boxes on garbage day to rescue some jars, but it's not easy coming across them.

I'm a paper fiend too. I hate using new paper for anything!
I did read that paper that's printed on one side should NOT be used in the printer, though. (Unless it's laser printer they are talking about, and a desk jet would be okay....I'm not sure).

water at the faucet goes in a jug, till it runs warm, and the jug gets used to water my porch plants

Thanks, Moni! I hate losing that good water down the drain.

Jasdip--what was the reasoning for not using printed (on one side) paper in the printer? I do that all the time, being another who saves all the old printer paper. Haven't noticed any ill effects so far (my printer's probably 6-7 years old by now). Still, would like to know what I'm risking.

That's a difficult question to answer since I was raised to reduce, reuse and recycle long before it became fashionable. With parents who grew up through the drought and depression saving money, "getting by", using less, repairing, repurposing and such were a way of life. There was no running to the store for a quart of milk. If we didn't have it, we didn't use it. Few special trips and shopping had a purpose. We never bought "trendy" clothing so it never went out of style, you'd use it and move it down just by nature, then use it for mowing or yard work, then move it down to dirtier jobs and finally when/if it was a super greasy job, they'd get used a few times. My dad had greasy old clothes hanging in the garage for working on the car.

To me, refilling pump bottles is common sense. I like the foam hand soap now (it's one of my splurges) but I refill that pump. No grocery bags are thrown away, they're used for carrying things, and of course cat litter, litter bags for vehicles, putting frozen stuff into when I bag my own at Aldi to keep the reusable bags cleaner and dry. I use smaller bottles for dish soap and refill them from large bottles and the big bottles often get filled with bleach and used for spraying weeds and tree growth.

I get a lot of paperwork for my job and probably half of it is printed on one side. That is scratch paper by nature. It's almost embarrassing at times since my upbringing really frowns on throwing usable things. I used to use old envelopes for grocery lists and put coupons and flyers in the envelope. My income tax records were put in a recycled larger envelope. I make my own clipboards from cardstock envelopes and a binder clip or two and they're more effective than commercial ones. I usually clip a file folder on the back when I need to keep some forms or something in there. I have 1/2 sheet sizes too and they're real handy for to-do lists and such. When I was throwing out one of those over-the-toilet storage units I couldn't get myself to throw the sliding doors. They just seemed like they'd have a use. A nice sized piece of plastic. Few months later it it me - perfect size for clipboards. The nice thing about these over traditional clipboards is I can put several into my briefcase and not take up a bunch of room as would regular ones.

I was thinking about buying a mesh strainer for things like draining hamburger and the like but then it hit me one day I have those screen splatter shields. Let them do double duty.

For a while I guess I was a bad "hoarder" but I got to be far more reasonable about it and compromise a bit. "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" still has a big meaning to me. "Can I use something else to do the same job?" is asked often. I detest one-trick ponies especially for cooking and gadgets.

One little reuse that works well is my "trailer" for the garden tractor. I bought one of those plastic sled things on rebate (free after rebate) and initial intention was to use it for ice fishing but I needed to haul some things one day and it hit me that the little sled would work well. Slides nicely on the grass and fasten it to the back of the mower with a good sized carabiner clip and I haul tools, chain saws, gas, oil when I go to the back of the lot, haul branches, logs and anything else. Lightweight too and doesn't leave tracks like wheels would. I didn't need to replace my rusted out wheelbarrow.

If yu go to the garden junk forum, you will find fantastic ways to use "stuff". I love things used this way. I have two rusty floor lamps that will become bird feeder holders. My mother was a past master at reusing clothing...she sewed all of ours, cutting up dresses for the material. Our quilting group at church reuses a lot of old sheets, spreads, etc. A woman called me last night to let me know that she has about 20 to give us, and I was ecstatic!

I reuse what I can, but it seems todays lifestyle makes it harder and harder. As Cynic mentioned above,keeping good stuff sometimes borders on hoarding. I don't need that either. Fortunately, I'm finding more people to give stuff too. I had a bunch of identical coffee cans saved up. Dd's teacher is using them for storage. Ds's teacher uses glass jars like spaghetti comes in. Thrift stores will take the excess of grocery bags.

I save used wooden chop sticks and wash them in the dishwasher after use. They are great for school and craft projects. Caps off of plastic bottles work for crafts too.

I keep old shower curtains in the back of our vehicles. They work as a tarp to protect the fabric/carpet when I'm hauling bags of mulch and other dirty stuff.

Chop sicks from Chinese restaurants make great plant stakes in the garden. I do recycling mandated by my town-newspaper, catalogs,junk mail,cardboard, metal, glass plastic. My town picks up hazardous trash (leftover paint, bug spray,etc) every year but ony once. Have two compost piles near my garden. Use them alternating years, so I know it sits and decomposes at least a year. I walk around the neighborhood and take things out of neighbors' trash to use in my yard- plastic bench, garden ornaments. When a neighbor replaced his kitchen floor, I took the old sheets of linoleum and used them for a back-yard path.

Azzalea, I'm sure someone here advised not to use "used" paper in the printer. It took me by surprise when I read that.

On contemplation, I think it was specifically for laser printers.
I must say, my inkjet hasn't suffered any ill effects for using recycled paper.

Perhaps he/she will chime in, and give her reasons.

I just found this....

Re: Reusing paper on printers and copy machines
the tiniest wrinkle can cause a jam, but I think I would be more worried about cleanliness. If you are using laser copying machines and printers which use toner cartridges, the old toner that is already on the paper can build up on the internal parts of the units, especially the fuser. this can lead to more jamming if enough builds up, but more then likely will just end up putting shadow images on the backsides of your prints/copies.

All in all it is ok to do once in awhile, but I wouldn't go overboard with doing hundreds of reused sheets at a time, and definitely don't reuse sheets that have a lot of toner on the surface.

Ink printers can usually handle reusing paper as well, but again over time the ink will build up on the rollers inside and leave shadow images on new printouts.
__________________

I have a laser printer and did not know that but I have never had any to reuse that way, but now I know.
Thanks!
I usually save any of mine and cut it into squares to fit into my note pad holder(a small square box I covered with pretty wrapping paper) and use them for notes.

I saw something on pinterest that really caught my interest, If you use those creamers for coffee that come in the plastic containers with the flip tops, you can remove the labels on them clean them well and store all kinds of stuff in them and the flip top keeps them all safely inside. They had paperclips, beads, small candy, all kinds of smalls fit in them and they they put pretty labels on them and had them all lined up on a shelf.

I use the purex crystals and I do reuse those bottles after cleaning them well, but I have not put food items in them, mainly cleaning products, they are great for bath salts or epson salt etc.

I drink the simply orange,orange juice.I save those bottles,wash tem out very good,let dry and use them to pour the leftover paint when painting a room into them.That way i can see at a glance what color is in which and with a grease pencil,mark the color,date,and room it was used in on the bottle.Sure looks better on the shed shelf than a bunch of messy paint cans.

Use coffee filters in bottom of planters,also use styrofoam peanuts for same.

I use pretty flannel back tablecloths from the dollar store to recover the cushions on my porch bench for each season,no sewing involved,i just use duct tape on the back side.

I also use the back of junk mail for notes,cut it into 4th's and put it in the note holder..

I wash and use the meat trays to store small stuff on my desk organizer,and i use the boxes my checks come oin ,in my desk drawers to hold pencils,pens,markers etc.

Save the small pieces of soap from the shower,drop into the toe of a knee hi nylon and tie it on the outside faucet,so we can wash our hands outside when working in the garden.

I have tons more,but i need to get ready to go see DH at the hospital.
Kathi

I'm the one that first mentioned printer paper in this particular thread. when I read all the following posts I thought I should clarify. I save the paper from my printer that has one side blank and also printed pages that have only a little print at the top, and I recycle it to make hand written notes. I don't put it back in the printer again.

Jel, this was mentioned months ago, and someone did say that paper that's printed on one side should not be used in printers. I'm sure it was laser printers specifically.

Some of the tips below are for repurposing/recycling in general. Hope no one minds.

Use binder clips to keep bags and other types of packaging for coffee, bread, frozen vegetables, etc. closed and to keep the air out. They provide a tight and secure closure.

If your Pilates ring or exercise circle breaks, use extra thick pillows or shams to tone your thighs. Use 2 together for added resistance.

Use sponges as cushions to miminize scratching the sink when washing heavy items such as stove grates.

Check to see if you can get money off when you bring in your old broken items. For example, some retailers offer money off a new paper shredder when you bring in your broken one. The retailers will probably have it recycled. Not repurposed but at least there's hope that it doesn't end up in the landfill. I got a great micro cut shredder on sale with another $30 taken off.

It's not green to buy bottled water but there are times when I just need to have it in the refrigerator. I recycle the corrugated bottoms that comes with cases of bottled water by using them as trays to cushion and protect pantry shelves and cabinet from stains and scuff marks. I use them to store spices, cooking oils, cleaners etc. They can also be used as drawer organizers too. Cover them with decorative contact paper.

Another use: I use a corrugated bottom to create another layer inside a corrugated box. The materal/color blends in. My laptop is placed underneath the corrugated bottom and cleaning supplies are placed on top. I do this to hide my laptop from thieves in case my house gets burgled. A Shake and Bake box is used to hide my e-reader in the pantry.

Place old broken laptops, Ipods, and other electronics in strategic areas to act as decoys when you're away.
Burglars might take them and be satisfied with the loot and leave. I have an alarm system and I like to take extra precautions. Otherwise, drop them off at at responsible recycler.

I use old terry face cloths as mats under my electric toothbrush and oral irrigator to absorb any drops of water. My bathroomm countertop is made of ultra-hard porcelain decorative squares. I feel uncomfortable not using something to at least cushion the surface.

Use an old towel to clean floors by wrapping it around a Cuban mop. A Cuban mop is a simple T-shaped mop with no material mop head. Sham Wow type chamois cloths can be used with this mop too. Toss the towel in the wash. Sham Wows can simply be rinsed.

At Lowes, a clerk once mistakenly threw in three 2-1/2 quart "Mix and Measure" containers in my bag without my knowledge. When I got home, the minimalist in me wanted to throw them out but I decided not to. I finally found a use for them. Instead of filling a big bucket, I fill one of the mix and measure containers with the right proportion of water and cleaner or water/vinegar to tackle small cleaning jobs such as the floor in one room. I also use them to store cleaning brushes.

Keep an old toothbrush near the sink to clean ridged coffee filter holders, fork tines, ultra sharp knives etc.

It sounds strange to mention soup and detergent in the same sentence. I use plastic takeout food containers with lids to store homemade soup in the freezer and store handy amounts of powder laundry detergent to keep near the washer. I designate specific containers for single purposes.

Use old mouse pads as coasters or cushions to place jewelry, eyeglasses. The porcelain in my bathroom counter wore off a little of the finish on my eyeglass frame so I use an mouse pad in there.

Empty garbage bag boxes are used to store plastic grocery bags.

If you're using kitty litter that comes in a big plastic bucket, save the bucket when the kitty litter is used up. Wash it thoroughly and use it to brine a turkey. It actually fits in my refrigerator. I eventually switched over to a brand that doesn't use plastic.

Plastic grocery bags or newspaper bags are used for dumping coffee grounds into them to prevent contents from spilling all over the garbage bin if the kitchen garbage bag breaks.

Always Freecycle, and donate to Goodwill and the Salvation Army.

Wow, Pandora!!! You're the queen of repurposing! What a lot of great, creative ideas!

I do several things, but just this weekend I finished up a wood shed that was probably 90% re-purposed.
When I was at the greenhouse, I was asking the owner where he got his green metal roof...turns out he had some that he tore off another building. - gave him $35 for something that would have cost me about $120 new. He also had some lumber from same torn down building. $25 for about $75 worth of goods.
My company gets truckloads of furniture grade plywood and in between bundles, they often put flakeboard to protect...5 sheets of 4 x 8 FREE.
The only thing we bought new were the posts, joist hangers, lags and screws.
This weekend I also made a birdfeeder with 'rough' cobalt depression glass. It was Ravencajun's garden statue and her link to a website that inspired me to try. It looks so good I may try to make some for a craft show to sell!

good for you salgal!! I did warn it is addictive LOL
I got 2 boxes of glass this weekend to do more totems and birdbaths and feeders. They would definitely sell at craft shows.

RC - if you are drilling glass...definately get the diamond tip drillbits - the carbide say it is for glass and tile, but it was slow going and just ended up grinding my way through - not cutting.
But I have to say it looks so cute!

I prefer a jersey-cloth undershirt type of cloth to part of an old bedsheet or shirt for dusting, wrapping around a corn broom and fastening with rubber bands to clear spider webs, using as a rag to wash the floor, etc.

I use grocery cartons to store somewhat obsolete filing folders, annual reports of companies, large pieces of mail, etc. and if the material is too deep to allow the former top pieces to close, I tie them up with tape or baler twine and use part of an old bedsheet, shirt, etc. to make a cover to keep the dust out. Plastic'll do - but doesn't drape/stay in place as well: light plastic sheets and breezes, whether from window or internally-generated, don't get along harmoniously!

Use a quart plastic pop bottle to freeze water, as someone suggested earlier, to keep your cooler cold for frozen food purchases on hot summer days ... and as the ice melts, use it for drinking.

Pens, pencils in soup cans (tube from toilet paper roll inside to help organize ... slit it, tape if you'd like to alter size). Frozen juice tubes'll do the same.

Canadians: cut a 1/2 or 1-litre milk carton to proper depth, put the toilet paper roll inside, using sewing needle and thread to hold it in place, if you choose.

Cut up cereal, cookie boxes, write name of seed in pencil, then over-write with marking pen, tape it, staple to a small stick to use as markers in veg/flower garden. Have a number labelled "space" so you'll remember what's been seeded ... and what's yet to be seeded in successive plantings.

If you have a farmer-friend who bales hay, ask him/her for some baler twine, as most likely they have lots of it, and it can be used for myriad purposes. Baling of hay will likely include cattle/horses in the same package ... and their (usually fee-free) by-product adds mightily to a compost heap. Mulch or fertilizer bags will assist substantially with unblemished transport.

Sue cut old suits, skirts or other woolen cloth which had seen better days into stips, then turned the edges inward, slipped nylon stockings/tights into the tube and sewed it with the cut edges inside. Then sewed two together for a yard or two, turned back on the other side of the original piece, rounding again when coming to the end, to make a rounded-end rug.

Hard to get the rounded ends configured correctly, as the rug grows - they tend to bunch up.

I've been making my own bread with a bread machine for a time, but ran out and didn't have time to bake recently, so brought a loaf long-resident in the freezer for use.

Most of the top 3/4 or more of the slices were really dry, with the water having migrated to the bottom, and as the ice melted, the bottoms were soggy.

We get our cream/milk in plastic-coated paper cartons that are square and tall, and they have a round plastic lid that screws on the "roof" at the top.

I took one of those caps, put some holes in it with a nail, and used one of those milk cartons to shake drops of water on to the dry parts of the slices of bread, then gave them a shot in the microwave, to soften them up a bit ... as, lacking that, it wasn't the three teeth that complained ... but the roof of the mouth did!

We can buy milk in three heavy bags inside another, comprising a little under a gallon, so each bag is approximately a quart.

I wash them and use them to store veggies in the freezer. I've found that direct marking with a magic marker tends to rub off, so have taken to writing on masking tape or marking on paper and taping to the bag.

ole frugal

Excellent suggestion pandorathecat about the decoy computer. But still, be sure you back up important data.

The biggest issue for me with reusing printer paper on any printer is the potential for jamming. 15 years ago, printer jams were common and repairing printers was practical. Today repairing printers is difficult, expensive and not cost-effective and a good jam can damage any kind of printer. I won't risk it on mine. I will do occasional 2-sided printing but I will never use dog-eared or wrinkled paper in my printers, even if the paper has not previously been printed. I don't do that much printing where 1/2¢ saving for a sheet of paper is worth the gamble of having to buy a new printer. I'll save money in other ways and splurge that much.

Couple other things to keep OT, a nice heavy plastic bag that held (as I recall) accessories/manuals for something is reused to hold paper next to the printer to keep it dust-free and dry (and unwrinkled). The plastic bag that contained my printer is used as a dust cover for it.

Empty cereal boxes make great magazine holders/organizers. I got this idea from a teacher at my daughter's elementary school. Cut them on the diagonal and cover with contact paper if you like. My town recycles newspaper and corrugated cardboard but not regular flat cardboard. I also save and use those zipperd plastic bags new sheets come in-they make great holders for stored linens, things in the bathroom,etc.

I just used a couple of Home Depot plastic bags (cut in to strips) to tie up my new grapevines. :)

Usually I don't get plastic bags, and I don't recall how they ended up at my house.

Recycling was done in my house as far back as I can remember. I had a navy blue wool coat, that in its previous life had been grandmas. I also had a dress, that was made out of a full skirt... and I recall tearing out sweaters to re use and knit other things, back when I was growing up.

I use everything till it can't be used anymore, or if there isn't any use (for me) in an item I donate it to goodwill.

I picked up a BUNCH of older Taste of Home and Quick Cooking magazines off of Freecycle yesterday.
Jannie, I love your tip of using cereal boxes as magazine holders. Failing that, how does everyone store their magazines??

My favourite handy way to save money is to use the cereal liners when I pound my chicken, pork etc. Very heavy paper, and free.