Showing posts with label household. Show all posts
Showing posts with label household. Show all posts

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Thrifty Thursdays - Reuse

One of the things that I always try to do is to reuse packaging that comes into my home. This can take various forms:
Paper grocery bags
Plastic sacks
cardboard boxes
Bubble Wrap
Packing Peanut
Glass Jars

These are just of the few items that I can think of off the top of my head. I will try to list a few of the ways I reuse these items to give some food for thought. I hope you will add in your comments of ways you reuse these items and others that you reuse.

Paper Grocery Sacks -
  • use it to hold recyclable papers, cardboards
  • to hold items you are donating to charity
  • cut them apart and turn inside out to wrap boxes for mailing
  • use them to create a pattern for sewing or other item where you need a pattern for cutting
Plastic Sacks -
  • use these for your small garbage can liners (bathroom, bedrooms, etc) - I have never bought garbage bags for these small garbage cans
  • use them for additional packaging when mailing books
  • use these to fill space in a box when mailing something fragile or that you don't want moving around in a package
  • put a wet or soiled diaper in these till you can dispose of it (if you are away from home)
  • line mud boots that might have a small crack in them
  • use this to transport dirty clothes or muddy shoes or boots
  • wet swimwear and towels/coverupss
  • sandy blankets, shoes, etc.
Cardboard Boxes -
  • use to mail items/particularly books and gifts
  • use to sort outgrown children's clothing by size and gender to pass along to others so you know exactly what you have and can pass it on to the person who can use it
  • group like items for your own storage (ie. camping dishes, etc)
  • holding items you plan to donate to charity (they can be labeled for easy sorting - to various charities or by item) and stacked till you are ready to transport them
Bubble Wrap -
  • wrap photo frames when moving
  • wrap fragile gifts before shipping
  • entertain your kids :)
Packing Peanuts -

  • Fill extra space in packages that you are shipping
  • Use extra packing peanuts to beef up the stuffing in your bean bags that have gone flat over time
  • Use in the same way for the neck pillows that are full of beads
Glass jars -

  • Store grease from frying foods to dispose of later
  • Store bulk staples - sugar, spices, grains, honey, etc
  • Store leftovers - and you won't need tupperware
  • Use to store your homemade sauces, marinades
  • use for cotton balls or cotton cosmetics pads
  • Q-tips
  • paint brushes
  • pencils/pens
  • hardware - screws, nails, etc
I am sure that I will think of tons more things. Please share your uses for these common household items that continually come into our houses, as I am sure we can all learn something from one another. Please add other items that you reuse in your comments as well.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Trying to Simplify My Household (and Still Get School Done!)

This a post that I had on my previous blog.

Is it just me, or does it take a few weeks to find your groove when you start a new school year. Because I took the time to do more planning the week before we started, I felt that we got off to a good start and stayed on schedule the first couple of weeks. We had a few trips (1-2 days) planned over the next couple weeks, plus a playdate with another homeschooling family, so we have had to adapt our schedule to those, but they have worked out fine and we are keeping up with the basics and have a little catching up to do in some of our secondary subjects.

I don't have a good enough (read: rigid) schedule that my laundry is always caught up, that the house is always drop-in clean or that meals are planned well in advance and on the table in a timely manner. I am working on that. But first, I am trying to declutter my house some more so that cleaning it will be easier for myself and the children. Our lives have become increasingly busy in the last two years and I haven't quite adapted to this new level of activity.

This weekend my sister is coming to help with some long-put-off decorating projects that I promised my daughters and we are going to go through several totes of kids clothing that I had kept for her kids. If she doesn't want them then they are going to go to an outreach center that a friend's church has opened. It will be good to get them out of my storage area, as it doesn't appear that I will be having more kids (my youngest is approaching 8 this winter). Next project after that is to sell some of the books that are overtaking our house.

Perhaps when we are staying indoors more this winter, I will have more time to attack these projects with a vengeance. I have the makings of a menu planning system, but have not implemented it. My sister came up with the system and it works pretty well. She did say that she was getting tired of the recipes she originally put into her system and is looking to expand her choices. I have used the card system (SHE's) and Flylady, and I think that my daily routines are the thing I need to get back to using. Hopefully, I can get back into the routine of doing those things.