Old style things that 'only you' do...

123xyz

jomary85 wrote:

I use old microwave turntable for board games e.g. Scrabble to turn the board around to face the player. Old tights I cut the legs around in 1" strips and use for plant ties in the garden Any more ideas for tights?

My husband uses my old tights for straining paint through.

jan_northwind

I do quite a few of the things listed, including washing paper nappy liners that go in the kids cloth nappies. Generally, I use washable fleece liners though, which further cuts costs. Normally we use washable terry cloth rectangles (about 10cm by 6cm) as wipes but on the rare occasions we have disposable wipes at home (if we have some left after a holiday or similar when we are not able to wash nappies/wipes) I wash those too, and reuse them. They also last about 3 goes before falling apart.
Hair/nail clippings etc. go in our worm composter for recycling, as do cooked food scraps. Raw veg peelings/scraps are divided between this and the regular compost heap.
I can see I've got a way to go though...

betsysmum

Well done, Jan, me too, I used to use terry cloths (recycled nappies) for cleaning up the kids. I also kept an almost empty baby shampoo bottle topped up with water next to the kitchen sink for quick cleanups. No tears! And once we got the microwave, a quick squirt on a cloth, bung it in the microwave for ten seconds and it's a lovely warm wipe.

Don't think I'd go for the hair in the compost though. I've got tomatoes growing on my compost heap, also some vine that I think might be pumpkin.

janeawej

Does anyone else wash and reuse tinfoil? also i kep all butter wrappers ect to use as baking parchment when making pasties and biscuits and put ash from the fire to fill in holes in the garden path.

shetitasatic

betsysmum wrote:

Hello, everyone, I'm new. I do most of the things suggested - just a few extra -
- We don't reuse tea bags, but one bag in a teapot gives us four mugs of tea. I pour them all and microwave when needed.
- My OH makes a big pot of filter coffee (reusing the same paper towel filter, until the filter is ready to overflow) every morning, turns the machine off, then microwaves a cup at a time.
- Instead of buying tomato seeds, last year I took a plum tomato from the farmers market, cut it up and wiped the seeds on paper towel and ate the rest of the tomato. A few days later, I cut the paper towel into tiny pieces and planted them in a meat tray (with holes in the bottom) filled with compost. I got 118 tomato plants.
- I take big plastic water bottles, cut them in half, burn some holes in the bottom with a soldering iron and make my own planters.

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more later

In the greenhouse we 've got smashing sweet peppers and chillies grown from seeds saved from last years crop and from supermarket peppers

Chipps

Does anyone else wash and reuse tinfoil?

Depends what it's been used for. If it's just wrapping sandwiches etc, then yes of course, but if it's been used for wrapping raw meat, then fraid not.
Either way it gets put in the recycling once it is beyond all use.
Don't forget you can use it with soda for cleaning silver, too.

And how would I grease cake tins etc without butter/spread wrappers?

Kantankrus_Mare

Old coffee grounds and tea bags are great for compost or putting round plants and veg!!

Apparently slugs dont like it

Chipps

Kantankrus_Mare wrote:

Old coffee grounds and tea bags are great for compost or putting round plants and veg!!

Apparently slugs dont like it

That's just as well.
Can you imagine a whole load of hyperactive slugs careering round the garden, high on coffee?:eek: :rotfl: :eek: :rotfl:

liz.._4

There are deer near where I live so when I walk the dog I scoop a bit of deer poo up if I see it lying around and into the compost heap it goes when I get home. Excellent compost accelerator!

Confused_Jo

For really frugal gardening ideas and lots of support have a look at https://www.allotments4all.co.uk.

All very helpful when it comes to all gardening stuff not just veggies and not just for people who have allotments. :beer:
Jo
PS They also have a seed swop shop on the forums!