Reuse and Recycle

this post could probably go along with my last one. i hate throwing things away that i know i can get more use out of, all part of my thriftiness i guess. so i have put together some ideas on how to reuse items you probably have laying around. some of these are my pictures and some i had to hunt down due to a lot of my stuff (holiday) is packed away.

here is one of my favorites. i made them from baby food jars. i put all my spices in them and then painted the lid and labeled them. you can store these several ways, 1. you can clue some magnets to the bottom and then hang a old painted cookie sheet and hang the cookie sheet on the wall in the kitchen somewhere. 2. for those who have little space you can glue the magnets to the bottom and stick them to the side of the fridge or 3, you can just put them in the cabinet.

i hate when hoses get holes in them cause some of those things aren't cheep. i poke a bunch of holes in them and let the kids play in it or they are great for a garden if you put the water on low

I've burnt my share of cookie sheets. so a useful way to use them is paint it and the make a calender. all the pieces are magnets and scrapbook paper glued over it. obviously you will have to make several magnets that have the months but you can keep the same days. another thing you can do is paint it with chalk board paint and then hang it in the kitchen to write notes on.


this is a cute way to use old buttons by just stringing them together and making an ornament. or even gluing them to a cheap picture frame to put in the kids room. you could put your kids own art in it.

this is a life saver for me. i love making bows and this keeps it all organized! its just a shoe box.

i think i mentioned before that the kids and i don't buy extravagant holiday decoration. well this is one way we make our own. its just a painted milk jug. you can use whatever for the eyes and i use felt for the hair.

the kids have SEVERAL piggy bangs and ill explain why in another blog but we made our own out of old water/soda bottles. i just cut i slit at the top for change and you can even make other things like a rocket ship or other animals.

we don't throw away broken old crayons. we use those rubbery shaped molds. you can get them at ikea, walmart, target etc. just put the pieces in (break them up more if needed) and bake them till they melt!

i love this one to. i paint the old scratched Cd's or those Cd's you get in the mail and make coasters out of them. or you can even but some sort of print over it to match a theme. also making ornaments out of them are fun to!

there are lots of ways to use old light bulb and ornaments are fun to make out of these. another thing you can do is make a little herb garden.

baby food jars are great to reuse (i know i already stated one use with putting your spices in) but another way is making Christmas lights a little more year round friendly!

painting them adds a little character to!

and here are some other cute ways to use them.

if you wrap a wire around the top and the then hang it from something (i used a thick metal hoop that i then hunk fro the ceiling along with metal beads and made a chandelier out of)

this is cute for around the house or even at a baby shower

this is an old wine bottle with the gas wick rope in it (forgot what it was called) but the total cost is $5

again old painted wine glasses made into lights (great for over kitchen islands or bar) have not been able to do this for myself yet but i did do it for a friend and came out amazing!!!!

so there you go, just a few cute ideas. obviously there are more uses you can get out of house hold items then just using grocery backs as garbage liners. get creative!!!!

heres another old bottle turned into a lomp. all you need is a lighting kit!