Reusing Everyday Household Objects

11. April 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Homemade Products, Household, Money Saving Tips · Tags: , ,

Please enjoy today’s guest post on reusing everyday household objects.

Being a parent is rarely regarded as a creative, entrepreneurial job, but it darn well should be! Raising a child, especially in a healthy, eco-friendly atmosphere, can be one of the more challenging tasks an adult can take on. Don’t believe me? Consider asking your parents living at your local Brookdale assisted living center what the hardest job they ever had was. A good number of them will say raising their kids. Make things easier on yourself, your wallet, and the environment by reusing household items. Here are some of the more obscure examples:

T-shirts—Most households have attics and basements full of old clothes. You can always donate these clothes to Good Will. Or you could reuse the old t-shirts for a variety of applications. Cut out square patterns to create a blanket, sew certain shapes onto jackets, or use them as cleaning rags.

Egg cartons—One of the best uses for egg cartons is as portable seed sprouters. The little oval shapes are the perfect containers for a bit of soil and some seeds. Get your kids involved in this project. You’re teaching them two valuable lessons at once: how to reuse household items and how to sprout seeds, which are very healthy and delicious on salads.

Greeting cards—You probably have hundreds of all greeting cards laying around—birthdays, holidays, get-well-soon’s. Since you can’t really reuse these in the traditional way, cut them up, reappropriate them and create your own new greeting cards. Or, if your kid is into arts and crafts, use the pictures and textures as the raw material for a mobile or a collage.

Coffee Grounds—After making a pot of coffee you’re stuck with a turgid black-as-night mess that you would normally toss in the trash. Not so fast, though. Coffee grounds makes for a great fertilizer for your garden or compost.

Glass bottles—Start collecting multi-colored glass bottles and create your own fun and creative lamps. Any shape, any hue will do—all you need is a light bulb fixture.

Toilet paper roll—You’re thinking, what on Earth could this possibly be reused for? The answer is wires. The average living room or home office has dozens of pesky wires connecting various appliances to various outlets. Use toilet paper rolls to bundle them together.

There are hundreds more examples of how every household items can be given a second life. Collectively, if we all started reusing many of the objects laying around our houses instead of throwing them away, we would save more money for our families and protect the environment too.

I Hate Junk Mail – 10 Uses for Unwanted Junk Mail

24. February 2010 · 8 comments · Categories: Environment, Homemade Products · Tags: , ,

 

If I get one more piece of junk mail I'll...

I hate junk mail.  It seems like an invasion of my mailbox, and for reasons other than some sense of eco-morality, every time I open my mailbox to an onslaught of paper fliers and advertisements to credit card companies, I see red.  There are a number of legitimate ways to stop junk mail, but while you’re calling the 1-800 numbers and filling out forms, you can try these 10 creative – sometimes slightly revengeful – uses for unwanted junk mail.

1.  Learn to make nifty beads which can be strung together for colorful jewelry.  Sell it at flea markets and use the money to buy a composter.

2.  Save the junk mail in a craft box for your kids.  My son loves to color on the wasteful ads that have print only on one side.  And kids always manage to find creative uses for otherwise unwanted items. They’re brilliant that way.

3.  Weave a basket. 

4.  Line your birdcage.  (My birds love pooping on credit card applications.)

5.  Throw it in a blender, add water, and make your own decorative stationery.  Okay, there may be more to it than that, but darn it’s creative.  Check out this how to make paper link.

6.  Wrap small presents in the more colorful sheets.  Yes, it’s cheap, but your friends will thank you for it.  Or not.

7.  Mark it return to sender and mail it back.  It’ll help keep our U.S. postal workers employed.  (This doesn’t work with bulk mail, however.)

8.  Learn origami.

9.  Teach the kids papier mache, make collages, shred it and use it in your chicken coop, sort and recycle it, wallpaper with it, make paper airplanes.

10.  Getting an A+ for creativity is this idea I stole from a coworker.  Collect all the Postage Paid envelopes you receive from credit card companies.  Stuff them with a wide variety of advertisements and other junk mail, seal the envelopes and mail them.  Is it legal?  I have no idea.  But just the thought of sending junk mail to the credit card companies makes me smile just a little inside.

“Razor Mate” Magnetic Blade Saver Giveaway

07. January 2009 · 372 comments · Categories: Contest, Product Review · Tags: , ,

Click Here for Giveaways & Coupon Codes 

At first I was skeptical – a little box you set on your bathroom counter that sharpens your razor blade with magnets.  But after reading the concept about how a blade’s edge actually contorts after use, and how the magnets simply pull it back into place keeping the blade sharp, it started sounding logical.  But too good to be true?  I wanted it to work, after all.  I hate paying $20 for a pack of razors, using them a few times, then tossing them in the trash.  It makes me feel so wasteful and very “ungreen”.  So I gave the Razor Mate a go, and I’m so glad I did.  

I’m surprised at how well the Razor Mate works.  I gave this item a good long test run because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t all in my mind.  When the unit arrived I had a nice dull blade ready for testing, and I simply set my razor on the little box for a day or two until I was ready to use it.  First time using it, I actually nicked myself, something I usually only do when I’m too forceful on a new blade.  I was left with skin that felt just like it had been shaved with a brand new razor!  I’ve been keeping my razor on the Razor Mate for over about a month now, shaving every few days, and it still works the same as day one.  I am, in a word, amazed.

For those of us trying to cut down on garbage, consumption, and wastefulness, for those of us trying to save a few bucks, and for those of us with a love of recycling, the Razor Mate is well worth the $20.  That’s the cost of a box of blades as it is.  The people at Razor Mate say a blade can last up to 20 times longer, and I believe them.  I’m really glad they want to give one away to one of you because it gives us all a chance to learn a little more about them.  One thing to note: Razor Mate is NOT the Save A Blade you see on TV commercials.  In fact, the two products work entirely different from one another.  While Save A Blade actually runs sharpeners across the blades, Razor Mate doesn’t touch the blades but instead depends on the magnets to pull it back into shape.  (See this FOX News story on how the Save A Blade actually damaged the test blades.)  So make sure not to mix the two up – there’s a big difference!  

 Ready to try one for yourself?  

1.) Just visit Razor Mate. Then come back here and tell me what you liked about the product or something you learned about it. (You may enter once a day – following entries don’t require you to answer the question.) Remember, leave an interesting comment.  If I cannot contact the winner, you might be chosen instead based on your comment.

2.) Email subscribers get an extra entry for as long as their subscription is active.

     Already a subscriber?  Leave me a separate comment on this post to let me know you’re interested in this giveaway.

     Want to subscribe?  Just click here: Subscribe to dkMommy Spot by Email  (Please make sure to verify your Feedburner subscription by responding to the email they send you. If you do not receive it, check your junk mail. Only verified subscriptions are entered for all the giveaways.)

3.) Blog about this giveaway on your blog with a link back to this post.  Come back and leave me a Comment with a link to your blog post. (If your comment doesn’t show up right away, don’t worry – I may have to approve it first.  My blog might think it’s spam but gosh darn, I certainly don’t!)

4.) I’m feeling Twittery.  If you Twitter a link to this giveaway, come back and comment here to let me know your Twitter name for another entry!

Feel free to do all four, and you have up to eight entries to win! You have until midnight EST on Tuesday, January 13, 2009, to enter.

Reusing Kirkland Disposable Baby Wipes!

03. May 2008 · 3 comments · Categories: Household, Money Saving Tips · Tags: , , , ,


I read one of the coolest recycling tips for moms recently. Green Girl’s Guide explains how the “disposable” baby wipes Costco sells are actually made out of fabric. So they can be washed and reused! I only use disposable wipes for travel, and so I buy those tiny little travel packs. At home, I use baby washcloths with my own baby wipe solution. But I never have enough of those darned washcloths, and I hate to run the washing machine all the time. And I can always use some extra dust cloths and rags.

What about keeping a bag full of these for use instead of paper towels? Before you get all grossed out about reusing these, the washcloths I use now are washed in hot water with vinegar and Borax, extra rinsed, and dried on high heat. Any fabric is sterile after all of that!

So thanks to Laura and Karen at Green Girl’s Guide. Very cool tip!

Don’t forget the giveaways going on through Monday (Seventh Generation) and Thursday (KangarooBoo)!
I also have one at carp(e) libris reviews for the novel The Baker’s Boy.