Reusing and repurposing - frugal ideas and tips on how to reuse and repurpose virtually everything!

kimwp

kimwp said:

I saw a YouTube short where someone made a cosmetics bag out of ribbons they had collected and my purse is getting very threadbare,  I can't decide whether to patch it or try to make a new one with the ribbons I have.

I'm not going to win any prizes, but it's got fewer holes...

weenancyinAmerica

Pip - coyotes, skunks, and opossums are as large as we get. Thank you for the clarifying fat instructions.

KajiKita

@kimwp, that looks amazing 🤩 👏
Well done 😊

KK

purplevamp

kimwp said:

kimwp said:

I saw a YouTube short where someone made a cosmetics bag out of ribbons they had collected and my purse is getting very threadbare,  I can't decide whether to patch it or try to make a new one with the ribbons I have.

I'm not going to win any prizes, but it's got fewer holes...

It looks fine to me.  My purse from the 90s finally gave up so I had to get a new one as a Christmas present from my daughter.  It's not the same, but at least it holds everything in place.  My old one was (still have it though) a purple faux fur tri fold and I loved it 

mandy47

My husband burnt something onto the sole plate of the iron......again. 
Gone are the days when I scrubbed it for 20 mins to clean it. Now I just heat it up and rub a paracetamol tablet [carefully] over it and watch the burn marks melt away. Quick wipe with a damp cloth and it's sparkling. 
Not reusing but an alternative use.

kimwp

mandy47 said:

My husband burnt something onto the sole plate of the iron......again. 
Gone are the days when I scrubbed it for 20 mins to clean it. Now I just heat it up and rub a paracetamol tablet [carefully] over it and watch the burn marks melt away. Quick wipe with a damp cloth and it's sparkling. 
Not reusing but an alternative use.

When we left tissues in our clothes pockets as children and the result was little bits of tissue paper on all the clothes, it was the perpetrators job to put the issue right...just saying.

London_1

Hi I had a drawer in which I had around 6 or 7 old face flannels that were a bit too rough and old to use anymore on your face so I folded them in half and hand sewed up the open side to make a sort of mitten, great for cleaning and just throw into the washing machine when mucky I keep one in my car to wipe the inside of the windscreen of condensation in the winter ,save waiting for the de-mister to kick in.
I have a couple I use when cleaning the windows.I have slightly restricted use in my right arm so a mitten type cloth is easier for me to use than a flat one.

Old bread wrapping bags, I have one by my chair in the sitting room for odd bits of rubbish, clipped end bits of wool (I do a lot of knitting as I make charity blankets) 

DD wanted something to tie one of her plants together in the garden as it was spreading a bit too much a green oddment of wool doubled in half was ideal. and used up a bit from my very short wool scrap bag bits. We also used some to tie the tomatoes to their stakes 
I have a small dental plate so at night I always break a denture tablet in half to put into the pot when leaving it to clean over night so a tube of twenty tablets lasts 40 days, plus in the morning once I have cleaned it the denture blue water gets put down the ensuite loo in my bedroom before I go downstairs as an extra bit of cleaning power 
JackieO xxxx

Nelliegrace

I keep a plastic screw top container to collect old hearing aid batteries to take to the supermarket for recycling.
DH uses vitamin pots for all the £1 coins members use to pay for bowls match fees. 
Jam jars get used again and again, for soaking pulses, saving small amounts of leftovers in the fridge, for seeds, nuts and fruit and nut mix for snacks, small ones for individual puddings at home or for picnics, and for homemade jams. I save the mini jam pots for giving kefir starter to friends. I have a dark brown glass jar for growing bean sprouts. There was a shortage of drinking glasses, and a lot more breakages, in WW2 so jars were used. 
Round plastic lids are useful to cover jugs, jars and bowls in the fridge. I use them cover the tumblers to stop a skin forming on the custard in individual trifles
Plastic mushroom punnets are used to store small vegetables out of their bags in the fridge.

Working_Mum

When a gift bag has got to the end of its useful life I recycle the card and then use the ribbon / rope handles in my garden for either attaching to tools so they're easier to find or tying plants to stakes etc. They are often a perfect length for that kind of thing.

Makingabobor2

There's some brilliant ideas popping up on here.