# Reusing every day items.



## Kahlan (Sep 16, 2014)

I've learned (from this awesome forum) to start saving everything from toilet paper rolls to dryer lint. A lot of the items I am saving are pretty self explanatory for reusing. I was just curious as to some other ideas people have.

For instance the glass (and plastic) spaghetti jars with the screw on lids. I have a ton of these because they seemed like they'd have some kind of good use. I have a ton of peanut butter jars too. However they don't work with the vacuum sealer and I haven't figured out what to use them for yet. Pinterest is sometimes useful but they seem to have more crafty solutions. Filling them with brownie mix, decorating and giving as gifts etc. 

Mrs Inor started a similar thread recently about what dumb stuff we save, well now I want to know how you all reuse the stuff. So come on and enlighten me. I am tired of browsing Pinterest. 

HuntingHawk mentioned today reusing baby food jars as candle holders. That's a great idea. Give me more please!


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## CrackPot (Nov 11, 2014)

Well, I just started prepping in earnest and I'm reusing my 2 liter Diet Pepsi bottles for bottled water (I drink 2-3 bottles a week). I now have 23 of them sanitized, filled and down in the basement waiting for The Event.


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## Eagles700LvL (Apr 10, 2014)

I saved a ton of baby food jars from when the kids where that young. I use a lot of them in the garage from nuts/bolts/screws. I screwed the lids on the bottom of shelves then they can hang.

They are pretty watertight too. I have 8 jars that have a whole bunch of fire starting items in them. Put them in the cars and bags and work.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

When you get new tires, save the old ones. Lots of uses for them. One small example is making a stack of them to plant root crops in. It works especially well for potatoes.


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## Kahlan (Sep 16, 2014)

Arklatex said:


> When you get new tires, save the old ones. Lots of uses for them. One small example is making a stack of them to plant root crops in. It works especially well for potatoes.


I actually have 2 tires I got just for this purpose. They were donated to me. I'm hoping to get more before it's time to plant again. Yay, see these are the kinds of great ideas I am looking for!


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

My family goes through lots of coffee. I save the large plastic containers of folgers from Sams club to put my 1 gallon mylar+O2 absorbers bags of rice/beans etc into. They stack nicely and are somewhat critter resistant.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Plastic coffee containers as well as the plastic powdered creamers are meant to be water & air tight. 

If you want to get an early start on plants for the garden take some of those containers & cut the bottom out & fill with potting or starter soil. When ready to transplant remove the lid from the bottom & push the plant up & out.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Don't throw out chicken shells. Grind them up & feed them back to the chickens or to dogs.


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## thepeartree (Aug 25, 2014)

HuntingHawk said:


> Don't throw out chicken shells. Grind them up & feed them back to the chickens or to dogs.


If your coffee is bitter throw some in while brewing (if they're clean).

P.s. you can do it with eggshells, too


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## Smokin04 (Jan 29, 2014)

Take your dryer lint and soak it with petroleum jelly. Let it completely soak in...mix in a separated cotton ball or two and let it all soak up the vaseline. The most amazing fire fuel you'll ever use. You can light that with a metal match or bow all day long.


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

The 26.5 oz Great Value Natural PB jars hold 100 rounds of 223/556 cartridges
Used dryer sheets are good for polishing brass or removing static electricity, a good idea when using flammable items
I just rub everything with the dryer sheets to keep everything flowing.

I keep the popsicle sticks for later use such as mixing bondo type materials or sanding sticks.
I store water in gallon milk jugs and half gallon prune juice bottles and set them out back.
If a storms knocks out power I can bring them in a warm them up and flush the toilet.
If they don't get used that way they thaw out in the spring and are fun to hit with a 55 gr projectile @3000+FPS,or a 180 gr one @1000 FPS


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

One of the things we reuse is the big plastic jugs liquid laundry detergent comes in. I rinse them out a little and refill with water for hand and dish washing. Didn't have to wait for the S to HTF to find this useful, as the township has been regularly turning off the water to replace pipes and valves.


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

Margarine/butter plastic containers are good for filling up with water and freezing. They make nice sized ice cubes ,that keep barley pop cold for several days in the summer.


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## CWOLDOJAX (Sep 5, 2013)

Arklatex said:


> When you get new tires, save the old ones. Lots of uses for them. One small example is making a stack of them to plant root crops in. It works especially well for potatoes.


I will be doing this with buckets I get from a local bakery. I'll just cut the bottoms off and stack them as the `taters get taller.


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## CWOLDOJAX (Sep 5, 2013)

I keep those coffee stir sticks from Panera and use them for bookmarks and 
soak them with pine sap for fire starter. 

Not just for camping. I use them for starting the charcoal grill or the logs in our firepit.
Can't remember the last time I bought charcoal lighter.


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## redhawk (May 7, 2014)

HuntingHawk said:


> Don't throw out chicken shells. Grind them up & feed them back to the chickens or to dogs.


Eggshells are great in compost also (cleaned and crushed)


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## OctopusPrime (Dec 2, 2014)

Kahlan said:


> I've learned (from this awesome forum) to start saving everything from toilet paper rolls to dryer lint. A lot of the items I am saving are pretty self explanatory for reusing. I was just curious as to some other ideas people have.
> 
> For instance the glass (and plastic) spaghetti jars with the screw on lids. I have a ton of these because they seemed like they'd have some kind of good use. I have a ton of peanut butter jars too. However they don't work with the vacuum sealer and I haven't figured out what to use them for yet. Pinterest is sometimes useful but they seem to have more crafty solutions. Filling them with brownie mix, decorating and giving as gifts etc.
> 
> ...


I always use organic teabags more than once and I use for plants as fertilizer. A few days ago I was making tea and didn't check the coffee maker from which I also brew my tea.. there was coffee left in there from before. so I turn it on and leave the room. after a short while I come back and the lights are very dim so I don't see at first that my water is much darker than it should be...I take a sip and don't you know it tastes like a decent brew of coffee but with a mix of my tea..very happy to find out I can get more from my coffee grounds than previously expected but grumpy that my hot tea of which I was looking forward to tastes like a hybrid abomination.


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## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

I save all kinds of crap. Pringles containers are great for storing zip ties and other stuff. I also like to save the plastic containers so 22LR ammo comes in (the type with the sliding top). If you have kids save the capri sun pouches (mylar). They can be cleaned out and used to store ramen, rice, beans and other stuff for single servings. Cut off the top, put in whatever and seal back up with a hot iron.


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## Stick (Sep 29, 2014)

All my cans and jars seem to fill up with ammo and components.


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## SquirrelBait (Jun 6, 2014)

I save my amber glass vitamin jars. I wash remove the labels and wash them. Good for storing colloidal silver, Or anything else that reacts to light.


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

I'm a bona fide packrat. I save old bread bags, because I have a great recipe for homemade bread, and I need something to put the loaves in after they cool. So that also means I save the wire ties, the come in handy for closing the bread sack and wire ties work in a pinch like rubber bands, to neaten up cords and wires. If you have a nest of loose wire or half a dozen charger cords that are too long, tie them or rubber band the them. Keeps it neat and makes it less likely you will snarled cords. 

I save plastic coffee cans, because they are great at sealing in odors. Got something stinky like cleaning patches, toss them in a coffee, put the lid on it and you are not stinking the place up with solvent odor. 

I save the small shipping boxes from online orders. They come in handy for storing loose items that have a tendency to get away and find the corner with the most dust bunnies. For some reason they seem to stack together fairly well and the contents can be written in the outside of the box with a marker. 

I save plastic jars, same Idea as shipping boxes, added bonus is that I can see what's inside so I really don't have to use a marker. I also save the squeeze bottles with the pull up caps, because I buy a lot of my supplies in bulk. It is a lot easier to dispense dish soap from a saved squeeze bottle than the gallon bulk bottle. 

I save my gallon water bottles, there is four of them in the fridge now, which augments the long term water storage I have stored in larger containers. I draw on the bottles in the fridge, before I break out the big containers. In a short term water off situation it is a lot easier to fill a couple of gallon water bottles than something some what larger. Besides it is always nice to have a glass of ice cold water every now and then.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

I too save the plastic coffee containers. Mostly I use them for putting dry goods in freezer bags then putting in the coffee containers.

Also, 100% cotton t-shirts after wearing out I wash them one last time, cut them up, & put in coffee containers. Good cleaning rags & especially for gun cleaning.


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