# Great uses for ordinary things. A DIY recycling thread.



## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

Simple everyday item can be repurposed for many other uses. This diy type knowledge will be very important once the s hits the f. 

I will start the thread with an example. 

Pantyhose, lots of uses for them other than the obvious. 

Use the toe section them to hold those slivers of bar soap. Then you can use them to lather up.

Patch a hole in a window screen. 

Apply paint or wood stain in small crevices, just rubber band it to a popsicle stick or use as is.

Support seedlings with strips. Also useful for supporting melons on a trellis. Cut a leg off and tie it over the baby melons and it will stretch out as the melons grow, supporting them off the ground and protecting them from bugs.

Make a strainer for paint or other liquids. Use as a pre-filter for your bucket style water filters.

You can store your Christmas wrapping paper in the legs and hang it from a hook or clothes rod in you storeroom.

They make decent containers for produce like onions. 

Polish your boots. 

Pony tail scrunchy.

Cut off the toe section and attach it to your vacuum cleaner to help find tiny items lost in the carpet such as contact lenses or earrings. Maybe some tiny screws or roll pins from a firearm. 

Make a tea bag or fill with herbs for aromatherapy. 


What are some of the ways you have come up with to reuse an everyday item?


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## survival (Sep 26, 2011)

Adding to pantyhose:

Filter honey and wax (if new and clean)
Hair net
Filter coarse particles out of water.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Place over head to hide identity.
View attachment 9320

Help your inner child.
View attachment 9321

Fake the cops out.
View attachment 9322

Kitchen storage.
View attachment 9323


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## SoCal92057 (Apr 12, 2014)

Arklatex said:


> Simple everyday item can be repurposed for may other uses. This diy type knowledge will be very important once the s hits the f.
> 
> I will start the thread with an example.
> 
> ...


You can also use pantyhose to replace a v-groove fan belt.


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## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

Use them on your shop vac as a filter


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## jbrooks19 (May 22, 2014)

We buy Infant water for my 2 month old to mix with his formula, we reuse the 1gal jugs they come in to store more water, just fill it from the tap, drop a few drops of bleach in it and store it in the basement.


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## jbrooks19 (May 22, 2014)

Oh, and old pallets (As long as they didnt haul chemicals or are treated) can be used for heat, VIA wood burner or even used for many, many other projects..Although i feel like pallet use is like beating a dead horse, so move along lol.....


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

I built a 8 x 16 wood shed using pallets and other scrap wood... i spent less then $100 (that was nails, screws, etc)


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

I would like ideas for toilet paper/paper towel tubes.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Cat toy
View attachment 9327

Cord caddy.
View attachment 9328
View attachment 9329

Spooky eyes with a glow stick for Halloween
View attachment 9330
View attachment 9331

Wife used to put pantyhose in them in her suitcase while traveling to holdup banks. (only kidding FBI/NSA)


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## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

The plastic containers with the slide tops that 22LR come in are great for storing small odds and ends (nuts, bolts, screws, change)

I re-use the small plastic containers wet dog food comes in for the same thing.

My BOB has a small fishing kit tucked into a plastic tube of mini M&M's


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## sparkyprep (Jul 5, 2013)

Pantyhose make excellent chum bags.


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

I put some fish hooks and snap swivels in an old micro sd card plastic case. It fits okay and a shot glass is about the perfect size to wrap fishing line around to coil it up. Add tape to secure it.

Phone books. Free, hundreds of pages, possibly use to burn or start a fire.

Hand sanitizer. .99 cents, contains alcohol, look for flammable warning, tried it and it lights up.

They have a new type of soda bottle out, its a metal one that looks like the plastic or old glass bottles with the twist off cap, useful for something.

Cat toys. The tops to the plastic soda bottles. The fiances cat loved those. The cat would sit there and watch you drink the soda or water until you threw it then zoom!


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## Spice (Dec 21, 2014)

RNprepper said:


> I would like ideas for toilet paper/paper towel tubes.


Cores to wrap twine, etc around. Then you can push a stick handle through the middle for rapid release without tangling.

Pieces of old electronics that really annoyed the heck out of you make especially satisfying targets.

Worn O rings make great rubber bumpers for tubes or rods (we use them to keep bike cables from rattling against frames).

Egg shells make good direct-plant single seedling starter containers. The egg cartons serve as racks. Or, you can use the blown-out egg shells for fun targets too. Half orange peels work, too.

Very bad or old beer makes a good slug trap for the garden. Slugs apparently have low tastes.

Old wire animal cages are faraday cages (EMP protection for the contents).

Old bike tire inner tubes make great wheel liners, boots, patches, whatever else requires a bit of thin, tough, flexible rubber. Or cut them perpendicular to get very tough rubber bands.

Paper clips are a good source of small pins (for support when gluing small items).

Cedar shingles or scrap board can be shoved into a pond's side within 18 inches of the surface to provide breeding grounds for minnows. More for the bass to eat.


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## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

RNprepper said:


> I would like ideas for toilet paper/paper towel tubes.


I cut toilet paper rolls in half and put them around seedlings, for some reason caterpillars, slugs etc don't like climbing up the cardboard. They eventually degrade into the soil.


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## redhawk (May 7, 2014)

You can use the tubes to hold dryer lint to use as tinder to start a fire.


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## warrior4 (Oct 16, 2013)

I've been using dryer lint as fire starter material for years. Since everyone else in the apartment complex just throws it out I get as much as I want for free. 

T-shirts or other cotton clothing items can be used as coarse water filters.

Bandannas have many uses hen it comes to first aid or general survival. Slings, bandages, more filtering material, useful in securing gear.

Altoids tins are great for storing small nick-nacks in.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

You can take tin cans that were used to hold soup or even the larger ones and fill it with rolled up tp or even a dishrag. Then fill with denatured alcohol or 91% isopropyl. Now you have an emergency stove. There are instructions online on how to make a tin can rocket stove.

Cut a can top and bottom, then lengthwise and flatten to use as a temporary repair shingle on your roof.

Keep things organized in you shop.


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## 7052 (Jul 1, 2014)

I reuse 100% of the paper that comes into the house (mail, newspapers, school handouts, magazines, etc). I shred them (cardboard too), soak them in water for a few days, and press them into "bio-mass" logs. Add in sawdust, leaves, grass clippings, etc, to get rid of all dry bio-mass waste. Once those logs/briquettes are dried, they work REALLY well in a wood stove. If you make your press small enough, you can even make pellets for a pellet stove.

Youtube is full of videos on how to make the presses in all sorts of sizes and shapes, but here was the basis for my press.....

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=eQiTRlGcgEQ1EbW4p5hHqA&bvm=bv.83640239,d.aWw


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

jbrooks19 said:


> Oh, and old pallets (As long as they didnt haul chemicals or are treated) can be used for heat, VIA wood burner or even used for many, many other projects..Although i feel like pallet use is like beating a dead horse, so move along lol.....


Any pallet that has a "HT" code(heat treated) on it, is chemical free.

Just be careful of smells because the cargo previously on it might have spilled something nasty onto it.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

I'm saving potato chip bags. I wash them with dish detergent to remove the oil.

I repurpose them as mylar bags for small quantity preps. For example, spices, band aids, protien bars, etc


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

Tape a piece of pantyhose over the air inlet on your computer and it will filter out a lot of undesirable crud. Since it's on the outside where you can see it, it's easy to clean as needed and will keep the inside of your case much cleaner and make everything run cooler.


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## SoCal92057 (Apr 12, 2014)

SoCal92057 said:


> You can also use pantyhose to replace a v-groove fan belt.


A "How To" video for the enjoyment of the members.


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

I've posted this over in the 'prep of the day' thread. I get white 5 gallon buckets from a local deli (pickle bucket) free. these buckets have a rubber o-ring in the lids and close up real tight. They were throwing them into a trash compacting dumpster before. About one bucket per two weeks. We wash them out good and use them to store our dry goods preps. Pack the dry goods inside in their original packaging and toss in a little rice or a few dried black eyed peas as a natural desiccant and label them with masking tape as to their contents.

We also buy this laundry detergent at Wally's or Ingles and re-use the buckets for just about everything. 
car washing, house cleaning, 
storing tow chains, small lawn & garden hand tools, etc. 
It's pretty cheap too. 
Sun Triple Clean Tropical Breeze Powder Laundry Detergent and All Purpose Cleaner, 22.7 lbs - Walmart.com

I save all our worn out cotton briefs and t-shirts and use them for general cleaning around the house. The white t-shirts are jealously guarded and get cut up in small square patches for gun cleaning, keep a few whole for general wipe down. I keep them in a couple of the detergent buckets.

In the summer we start saving 1-gallon milk & juice jugs. We fill them with water and tie them to the grommets of my sister's pool cover. They hold it down pretty good for winterizing the pool and keep leaves out of it. In the spring, they go into the recycle bin for trash collection.

Baby food jars, both glass and the square plastic cups with lids; hold small screws, nut & bolts, electronic components (capacitors, resisters, transistors) separated by part numbers. Now I need to figure out how to store glass electron tubes. They are currently just wrapped in paper towels and placed in shoe boxes.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Sasquatch said:


> The plastic containers with the slide tops that 22LR come in are great for storing small odds and ends (nuts, bolts, screws, change)
> 
> I re-use the small plastic containers wet dog food comes in for the same thing.
> 
> My BOB has a small fishing kit tucked into a plastic tube of mini M&M's


I use those .22 plastic slide boxes to refill with bulk .22 ammo, since the mags for my .22 holds 10 rounds, it's easy to count out two rows of 5 from the plastic box, I also write on the boxes what type of .22 is in which box, so I can determine what brand my pistol likes. For some reason my Ruger SR-22 doesn't like Federal very much.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

Wife sent me this earlier. Yet another great use for an ordinary item. Everybody has an old wore out pair of blue jeans.

How to Recycle Jeans into a Garden Apron - CHOW T&#8230;:


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

Drinking straws to hold spices in my edc car and BOB. For camping too. Just seal one end with a lighter and pliers fill it up and seal the other end. 

The cotton filling from pill bottles for tinder 

Using pools of wax in candles for said tinder. 

Coffee filters. Nuff said there. 

55 gallon drum bags. 

I reload the 100 round CCI plastic cases with bulk ammo 

Wooden ammo crates for planting herbs and spices indoors (use a plastic liner)

Glass sauce jars for dry good storage in the day use pantry from the bulk in storage

Compost. 

Love the panty hose ideas how about water filter for particulates?


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## tekniq (Apr 1, 2015)

-Take an old egg carton, put a bunch of hand compacted dryer lint into each compartment, and pour old wax into each compartment. Break apart and you have a bunch of great firestarters. For old wax just save old candles, old tarts if you or your partner are into Yankee Candle tarts like I am, broken crayons, etc. 

-Old 2 Liter Soda Bottles are perfect for water storage. Clean and dry, then fill with water and treat with bleach, date with a permanent marker and shuffle them into storage.

-Plastic shopping bags can be turned into plastic yarn which can be knitted or crocheted into useful containers.


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