Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Reduce, REUSE, Recycle

Okay, back to my three part blog.
Reuse is really the easiest of the three in my opinion. There are so very many ways to reuse! I hadn't put much thought into some of it until recently. Part of it came from trying to be a little bit more thrifty and stay at home mom budget friendly. Haha

Mainly, I noticed everything I was either throwing away or throwing into the recycling. Yeah, throwing it in the recycling was great. But reusing it then recycling is good too!

It brought me back to a woman I worked with a long time ago. I used to think she was kind of weird, haha. I would see her in the lunchroom with all these random little containers. Old jars of baby food would become a perfect travel container for cottage cheese. Old tubs of butter would become the perfect home for a sandwhich and some veggies for lunch.

I thought, "why doesn't she just buy some baggies or something?"
The revelation I had when I saw the jar that contained spaghetti sauce at one point and thought "Hey I could wash this and put the leftover spaghetti back in it!" brought me back to her.

Since then I've started my own odd little collection of this and that to be reused.

Reusing also contains one of my new favorite things ever: Thrift Store Shopping! Oh how nice is it to find a baby outfit for $2.00 that would cost you $20.00 at Babies R Us?! Love it.
Buying big items here also not only helps save you some money but keeps those items out of the landfills. How many times do you see bed frames, bookshelves or computer desks sitting by the end of the driveway to be hauled away? I bet someone wants them!

Which brings me to my next new love: FreeCycle!
For anyone that doesn't know what freecycle is, it is an online group specific to your town or area that people 'share' their unwanted items. People find things that they have replaced, no longer have a need for, or whatever else and offer it for someone else who might need and want it.
It's a wonderful program if you have a great group of people around.
Some of it is so fun sometimes. I love seeing what people find to share. I also love when I find something I can use and wait to see if I get "picked" as the person to come get it. It's like a game, haha
I've posted up a few things to give away myself. When I'm at a place that I have time to start cleaning up and cleaning out this house a bit, I'll have more.

Reusing is about finding random things to make crafts out of too! There is so much you can use to make into fun things. Go ahead and Google search "trash to crafts" I guarantee you will come back with more inspiration that you thought possible!

It is also about products that can be reused versus just thrown away. Paper napkins and towels can be replaced with cloth napkins and hand towels.
Cloth diapers can replace disposables. (And a good one is one size and will last from pretty much birth to potty training)
I've mentioned the feminine cups and products instead of pads and tampons.
Paper plates and plastic cups can be replaced by glass dishes. An extra load of dishes doesn't hurt too much. ;-)

A lot of tips went along with my Reduce blog. It's a lot of one and the same.

What neat ideas can you come up with to help with Reusing?

2 comments:

  1. Reusing IS a great thing! I learned from a very early age, waste not want not. My Mammaw used to wash & reuse plastic baggies & aluminum foil for Pete's sake! Of course, she grew up during The Great Depression so she knew first hand how easily the things most people take for granted can be hard to come by. I went to Walmart today, the first time in a long time, and it was so weird! I felt so disconnected, like I couldn't understand why there was so much STUFF lol! (which is why I came home & tweeted about my awe) I realized then that it's no wonder our culture is so consumer driven, why people have hoarding disorders, and so on... we are taught that STUFF is important. We need STUFF! When really, we don't. I drove home thinking about all the crap I have stuffed into cabinets & drawers & closets. I have boxes of stuff I still haven't unpacked from the move. You'd think if it was important I would've needed it & unpacked it by now. So, the plan is to go through all of our STUFF & give to someone who might actually need it. Freecycle, here I come!
    But yeah, love reusing stuff; second hand clothes, books, furniture. I'm big on thrift & consignment stores too :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Reusing IS a great thing! I learned from a very early age, waste not want not. My Mammaw used to wash & reuse plastic baggies & aluminum foil for Pete's sake! Of course, she grew up during The Great Depression so she knew first hand how easily the things most people take for granted can be hard to come by. I went to Walmart today, the first time in a long time, and it was so weird! I felt so disconnected, like I couldn't understand why there was so much STUFF lol! (which is why I came home & tweeted about my awe) I realized then that it's no wonder our culture is so consumer driven, why people have hoarding disorders, and so on... we are taught that STUFF is important. We need STUFF! When really, we don't. I drove home thinking about all the crap I have stuffed into cabinets & drawers & closets. I have boxes of stuff I still haven't unpacked from the move. You'd think if it was important I would've needed it & unpacked it by now. So, the plan is to go through all of our STUFF & give to someone who might actually need it. Freecycle, here I come!
    But yeah, love reusing stuff; second hand clothes, books, furniture. I'm big on thrift & consignment stores too :)

    ReplyDelete