Don't just throw them away...

Horasio

I save empty glass jars (and their tops!) to store dry food such as nuts, pulses, pasta, small quantities of cereal, chocolate drops, herbs - I could go on ....

Make sure they are thoroughly dry else they will go mouldy.

Saves a fortune on buying them and reuses the old glass jars.

Now I need to find a use for all the glasses from M&S puddings I have accumulated over the years.

Horasio

KraftyKate wrote:

My hubbie has always peed over his compost - well he peed into a watering can in the garage and then poured it over the compost - he didn't want to frighten our 93 year old neighbour!! Anyway I read somewhere, and I can't for the life of me remember where - some book on composting - that only male pee is any good for the compost heap. Apparently us girlies have far too many hormones in our pee and that isn't so good for the compost!!!

Does it get to smell bad enough to deter the neighbours from getting too close to your garden?:D

HappySad

rubix_76 wrote:

Slightly off subject, but has anyone seen that !!!!!! Strawbridge (used to be on Scrapheap Challenge and that war gadget programme) TV show on at the moment (tues BBC2 8.30) where they are trying to be as green as possible (also self sufficient - good-life style) it is also (as we all know) very moneysaving-esque too !!! :j

Anyway to the point - there was a guy who was so green (he was a pice of brocoli :rotfl: ) he claimed to only throw away one carrier bag worth of rubbish every MONTH. He either composted, recycled, or reused.

NOW THAT IS MONEY SAVING !!! :T

I wish I could be that good, it would save on bin-bags !!

Rubix

I wish that I was also that good at recycling. I recycle about 80% of stuff that does out of the house.

Reduce
Think before I buy stuff .. try to consume less and try to buy secondhand or borrow.

Library: get everything from here Books, music, DVDs, videos. If they don't have what I want then I order it in. Use Amazon to find a book I want then use library to order the book.

Charity: Buy Magazine, toys, clothes etc.
Ebay: great!
Refuse small pastic bags in shops as I would not be reusing them at home.
Always tick the box to not get extra junk mail when joining company mail lists.
Added name to mail preference to reduce junk mail.
Most of furniture from family & friends & office bankrupt sale.
Will try refilling printer cartridge hope that the print quality is still good.


Reuse
Someone can use the stuff that I don't want. I try hard to think of other uses for stuff.

Charity Shop : Clothes, magazines, orniments, picture frames, videos... just about anything that can be reused.
Library : Give all my books to them. I can sometime borrow them again if I want to.
Borrow & share house tools & other equipment with friends, neighbour & family. Share our magazines & borrow books.


Get as much bills online (mobile, phone, utility bills, council bill)to reduce paper, reduce time filing & storing them.


Free toys for toddler son! old pot lid to make music, all plastic bottles as bath toys, all shape packaging to make stuff with and pull apart. Make kitchen cooker out of box and kitchen packaging. Make indoor bat out of cereal box & kitchen roll handle--toddler loves it. Used left over MDF as an indoor low slide from the sofa & also to do jigsaw puzzles on the floor. Music - shaker with a plastic bottle with old pea in it. Toddler loves watching the peas inside. Old catalogues for crafts & sticking with toddler. Good old carboard box as an indoor car & hide inside. Old sock as puppet. old shirt as painting shirt for toddler. Make picture book out of old printed paper and tie together with ribbon..then stick his picture inside. Make Christmas tree decoration old of last year's Christmas cards. Milk bottle tops for art & crafts. Old phone as a toy phone. Use large ice-cream lid as frizby .. did this as a kid. Cut large wide milk plastic bottle at an angle, so that you keep the handle side and use it as a ball catcher..one ball catcher each.. hours of fun!! Dolls house or car station.. out of a box & use match boxes as furniture or petrol pumps.


Plastic bags -store clothes on holiday, bin liners.
Food tins - pen holders in office (matches my silver table light)
Percil table bags to store all sorts of small stuff (money, nappy sacks etc)
Plastic bottle to take drinking water out with me.
Collect used stamps for charity.
Preview before printing - just started to do this.
Print in draft mode mostly.
Use left overs for lunch the next day.

Friend used old newpapers to line floor when she was toilet training her puppy. When their was an accident she just picked up the papers and binned them. Thinking of using this for potty training my toddler.

Use old ice-cream tubs and jars to store food.


Recycle
Compost - Food
Council Doorstep recycle - Plastic, tins, paper, carboard, boxes, small electrical items (videos, microwave, kettle).

Council uses plastic cups holders next to the water dispenser ... it is basically a large tube on the floor that you use to put your old used plastic cups.. then they can then be recycled.

HappySad

BACKFRMTHEEDGE wrote:

Is this true? Can anyone else confirm>

As far as I know tea bags are great for plants.. put then in the compost bin or dig them in the plants.

HappySad

radio10 wrote:

Take a 6pt plastic milk container and cut in half. Fill with the compost you've made and use the bases as large pots for sewing runner bean seeds. Also, divide into two with a piece of thick cardboard and get two 'pots' for the price of one. Cut a 1 litre orange juice carton in half and use the base as seed pot for tomato seeds. Discard when planting them out. (or keep and reuse next year!) Remember to make a few holes in the bottom for drainage.

Great idea Radio and it got me thinking....


You can use kitchen roll to plants runner beans in and when you come to plant then the roll will bio-degrade in the soil. To keep the kitchen rolls upright you can use the 6pt plastic milk bottle (that Radio10 uses) and use that to hold all your kitchen rolls filled with runner beans. So you end up with a water bottle filled with several kitchen rolls that has runner beans growing in them. Now you can't get this in the shops and this is free!!!

Also go down to you local carboot sale and get large old metal containers. Paint them in your favourite colours (black, brown, blue, green...) then use them around the garden.

I get free plants from my neighbour when he divides her plants every two years. The plants that she gives me I know are easy to look after and will grow well in our local soil.

toozie_2

rubix_76 wrote:

Slightly off subject, but has anyone seen that !!!!!! Strawbridge (used to be on Scrapheap Challenge and that war gadget programme) TV show on at the moment (tues BBC2 8.30) where they are trying to be as green as possible (also self sufficient - good-life style) it is also (as we all know) very moneysaving-esque too !!! :j

Anyway to the point - there was a guy who was so green (he was a pice of brocoli :rotfl: ) he claimed to only throw away one carrier bag worth of rubbish every MONTH. He either composted, recycled, or reused.

NOW THAT IS MONEY SAVING !!! :T

I wish I could be that good, it would save on bin-bags !!

Rubix

My elderly parents are similar-wish I could be!

All that can be is re-cycled, composted etc. Egg boxes, all cardboard, marg tubs, silver paper are given to local playschool for crafts.

Eat fresh food, no left overs (Dad can't abide people leaving food-although he's not over weight!) Bones are used for base for soups and stews, then given to next doors dog, unless its chicken/turkey. Dad grinds these down and puts them on veggie patch.

They don't seem to get junk mail, any other mail i.e envelopes to pay bills received (bills paid at bank) are used for lists and then shredded and put on compost.

They don't accept carrier bags, use they're own shopping bag. When they do get them, they're used to keep jumpers in etc.

They only drink tea, tea bags composted, or piled in cup and opened up and put directly onto plants. Any left over tea in the pot is cooled down and poured over growing plants. Milk cartons used to water plants, store liquid stuff in shed (not sure what liquid stuff!) or cut 3/4 way up, and used to hold various old nuts and bolts in shed, or they make home made lemonade, thoroughly wash milk bootle, put cooled lemonade in, and into fridge.

Fruit, veg and meat are bought in market, clear bags the fruit come in are recycled in house.

The best ones!
Gives us a birthday card, with no name on the front and asks for the envelope back!
They like Xmas and birthday presents wrapped in glossy paper. The sellotape can be peeled off, stuck onto her reel of tape and re-used, and the paper its self can be folded carefully, and also re-used!
The grease proof paper bag, that is sometimes inside some boxes, like corn flakes etc, are saved used used when grease proof is required during cooking.
All baking foil is re-used, unless its been around meat-then its squashed into balls and used in the home made foil tree in the veg patch as a scarecrow.

Ohh I could go on all night.

The problem I have- having been brought up that way, I tend to waste too much- a sort of rebellion- to waste not want not!

troll35

Wow!! seriously impressed

Valli

When I sort out the junk mail (ie shredding my address) I save the envelopes they send you for your replies - ideal for sending dinner money/messages to teachers at school. You can also cover the preprinted address with a label and use them in the post (obviously you need to put a stamp on).
Incidentally although I try not to collect carrier bags inevitably I do end up with some. I can take them into Somerfield where they are collected for recycling. Anyone know who else takes them for recycling?

Oh - and I put my shredded paper in the compost bin - along with the soggy, 'curranty' (you know what I mean!) sawdust and hay from the bottom of the rabbit's hutch - that helps it all turn into super compost!

:rotfl:

DragonDosh

Here's a few you might find useful:

old rubber gloves: cut up make rubber bands - not everlasting but OK for some things.

Asda clear honey: the large jars are really useful for storage jars and if you use honey anyway...

Teabags: but in a pot with lemon juice, lemon rind and pepper (corns as well as ground) leave to stand with a lid on: makes an OK cat deterrent if you spread the resultant bags and erm ... goo ... around the area. Plus it's biodegradeable.

Ikea paper bags: (if they still have these) use them to collect your shredding then the whole lot can go in the paper banks.

Pillows: some new pillows come in quite thick plastic bags, which are pretty good for storage (but check they're not open both ends!)

White t-shirts beyond their best: provided there are no grease marks or staings - dye them!

Junk mail: letters/leaflets only printed on one side - use it in your printer.

Carriers: I used to use these as bin liners, but my refuse collection gives black bags as we don't have wheely bins ... so I realised I was increasing the number of bags being burnt/land-filled. Now I use the bags from the council, in a bin the right size for them and just put that bag out on bin day.

Take away containers: the plastic ones wash ok and make useful storage for the freezer - though they go brittle after a couple of uses.

Pringles lids: can be used as make-shift lids for small pots in the microwave or fridge.

Hope these are some use!

TurnaroundSue

We try and recycle everything in our house - had 10 of us for a week over the new year and only threw out 1/2 a black bin bag!!!

Was really annoyed then to see neighbours with only a couple and them having about half a dozen bin bags (urghh!) :mad:

Constantly trying to convert anybody I know to recycle, but find people are so apathetic - usually saying it takes too much effort (urghh!) :mad:

If there was one thing I wish the government would tax people on, would be the amount of rubbish bags they put outside their houses coz it's the only tax I know I could save on!! :j It might also make people sit up and start thinking very seriously about recycling.

Mind you, the companies also need to be taken to task about the amount of extra in their packaging - just thinking about easter and the amount of plastic for a tiny egg (urghh!) :mad:

Well done to everybody on this thread who are ardent re-cyclers - I have learnt a few more things and will be actively putting them into use asap :T :T