I'm the one that had/has the vitamins that were too big for me. I kept telling myself I'd use them (and I should have know otherwise) and eventually they were expired but I still have the 3/4 of the bottle I didn't use. I'm curious how you suggest one reuses expired vitamins. I'm in agreement that one should reuse if at all possible, but you must have a much greater imagination than me if you know how to reuse vitamins better than the suggestions in the thread this came up in which was "Expired Vitamins in the compost". I don't know about the brown paper post, but let me give you a scenario where I think you are very incorrect on your assumption that Freecycle would be the better option if I came across a roll of brown paper not in use and I had no other use for it but composting. If I put it into the compost, it will break down and provide food for much life including mine. No landfill material where it will take a lot longer to break down due to likely being doused with other chemicals from other trash. If I put it on Freecycle then someone possibly uses it for packaging. That packaging is not nearly as likely to get reused again and will likely go into a landfill because the number of people that don't reuse or compost is exponentially higher than those people like us that do. And Freecycle isn't just full of greenies. It's also full moochers or poor people looking for free stuff. It's a fact that neither of those groups is notorious for their recycling/composting habits. You might think I'm being harsh or politically incorrect, but try driving in a poor area and tell me how littered it is because the people just don't care. Can anyone here speak up from the south side of Chicago (specifically halstead street where the plastic bottles outnumber the blades of grass) or certain areas on the east side of Indianapolis, please? How about the poor areas of Gary, IN? Anyway, the proof is lying in all those yards and along those streets so I don't feel bad about my statement. The point is that the roll of paper is a lot more likely to end up in a landfill using freecycle and the benefit of reuse is largely reduced to less than the benefit of composting it. And I didn't even add in the gas used to transport the roll of paper if you use Freecycle. Let's consider the Freecycle person is like us, but doesn't compost. Instead, the person used the paper for kid projects and turned around and recycled it afterward. Good for them! But the environmental impact of the recycling (which uses fuel and emits lots of carbon and requires transportation) in the end is still larger than the impact of simply composting it. So my good intentions actually led to a worse impact. I find a lot of "environmentalists" tend to forget to take in the big picture. They only see the immediate effect and choose not to think further to the end result. It's why a lot of "environmentalists" buy bottled water. They think that recycling the bottle makes it okay and makes them green. They choose not to consider how much recycling adds to the waste stream, carbon emissions, and pollution. Instead, they throw the plastic into a recycling bin or reuse it a couple of times and then do so and then feel good about their decision to make this a better environment. They forget that all that was negated by the very purchase of the bottle of water in the first place. Are you taking in the big picture? Or are you seeing one simple act as the saving grace while ignoring the rest of the process? I don't think you are purposely ignoring it. But I do think a lot of people accidentally do with good intentions.

I have 4 kids so we do try to be frugal whenever possible! We save printer paper that is only printed on one side for scratch paper. We save school notes that are one sided so my kids can draw or do math problems on the other. We save big plastic yogurt containers and such for leftovers. Why buy tupperware?? And with these containers I can sent leftovers home with family when they come over for a big meal. I also save grocery store bags and pack my kids school lunches in them instead of buying those small paper bags. We save napkins from the bags of fast food restaurants. We also save the condiment packets and use them when needed or to pack in school lunches. I save some sales flyers for my kids to do crafts with. I also save some egg containers and some cereal boxes for the same thing. Sometimes we stuff newspaper inside some food boxes and tape the top shut. Then my kids play store with those items till they are falling apart and we then recycle them in our recycling bin. When a board game is missing too many pieces to use anymore we still save the pieces and my kids use them for crafts or to invent new games. I save all gift bags we receive presents in and most of the tissue paper. We then reuse them to give gifts. If my kids get a present they don't really like or my dh or I get a present I don't really need (and we have no gift receipt) they go on a closet shelf and are re-gifted to someone different for a birthday or holiday. If my kids tear out the knees of a pair of pants then I cut and sew to make them shorts or capris for that spring and summer. If my kids get a stain on anywhere but the sleeve of one of those long sleeve t-shirts then they wear it under a regular t-shirt for a new winter shirt. When I get address labels in the mail from one of those places that try to get you to donate money I save them and actually use them! I have never paid to get address labels made. When we are expecting rain we put a few buckets outside to catch the rain and then use that water later to water plants. Speaking of water we have all made a conscious effort to save on our water bill by turning off the water when brushing our teeth and only turn it on to rinse our toothbrush instead of leaving it on the whole time. We also all try to turn the shower off as we lather up with soap and shampoo and then turn it back on to rinse off. If we have pencils that are too small to write with anymore, but have good erasers left we save them so we can still use the eraser.

In case some of you may be interested in recycling T.P., here`s a thread related to that issue that appeared several years ago ... and caused some levity among the denizens of this place. Actually, though it was billed as `recycle`, that`s after goods have undergone some reprocessing ... but in this case, it was reuse of the T.P., as no further processing had been involved. Some time ago it was on about p. 14, I think, but then was reetreaded and now is on about p. 6. But I`ll include a link to save you the trouble of searching for a report of a research project on recycling (but it was actually `reusing`) toilet paper. http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/saving/msg0602255426560.html?27 Sorry - there`s usually a place to put the link that requires you only to click on it, but there wasn`t such available this time, to here`s the link ... but you`ll have to highlight it. Good wishes for success in practising frugality: it pays well. Grandma used to say that a penny saved is a penny earned, but Grandma was only partly right. As most of the stuff that I buy isn`t income tax deductible and I`m in 25% tax bracket, I must earn pre-tax $1.33 in order to produce the equivalent of saving $1.00 on some purchase that I`m considering. But - wait a minute. Most of us have to pay sales tax, and in our case there`s some that goes to the province and some that goes to the feds ... about 13 cents on the dollar. So, in order to earn the equivalent of the $1.00 not spent, plus 13 cents sales tax, I must earn a hair over $1.50! Yikes!! ole joyful

A further consideration to all of the above - well two. First, the requirements for all vegetables is NOT the same. It varies greatly from vegetable to vegetable regardless of how they are grown. So what specific vegetables are you talking about? Second, growing in containers has its own set of variables. Container gardening shares little in common with in-ground growing. The biggest difference is that the provided nutrients do not remain in the container. They are flushed out with watering so must be replaced far more often and on a regular basis. How much and how often depends on the size of the container used. Even with ProMix in the container the needs of any vegetable grown in a 5 gallon container will be very different from that same vegetable grown in a 10 gallon container. So the simple answer to your question is no. There would be too many faulty underlying assumptions for it to be possible. " The only fertilizer I can find for my tomatoes that is in line with research is General Hydros MaxiGro which is 10-5-15". Sorry but there are many nutrient supplements that can be diluted to just about any ratio one might want. Liquid supplements are much easier to work with than dry/granular IME but there is no limit on choices available. "I think these specifics are less of an issue when growing organically in soil..." That is a very broad statement as it would all depend on the quality and tilth of the soil and the amendments used to improve it. Simply gardening "organically" offers no additional guarantees of success over so-called "non-organic" gardening, especially in containers, unless one has an in-depth understanding of how "organics" work with plants. Dave