:::upcycling::: taking something that you would otherwise throw away, and finding a way to give it a second life by making it into something else.
We do what we can to make our money go further. At times, we try to make things ourselves, instead of buying it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Other times, we look for ways to use something before we get rid of it. It’s kind of fun to try and see what we can come up with. Not to mention the benefit of recycling and reducing waste. My youngest has gotten pretty good at finding a second life for things and she uses a lot of odds and ends for art projects.
Finding a second life for things, instead of throwing it out, is something I enjoy doing and find it very creatively rewarding. I enjoy finding simple uses as much as taking on larger projects. Sometimes the quick and easy projects are more enjoyable because you can see the results quickly.
:1: My husband used two thick wooden beams to make a balance beam for our kids in the back yard.
:2: A old tea cup saucer became a place for butterflies to drink by adding some small rocks and water.
:3: Some old picket fence panels got painted and placed around our pool pump.
:4: Crushed up cookies at the bottom of the bag get tossed on top of pudding or ice cream. (my kids love this!)
:5: Old washcloths and towels become cleaning rags
:6: Sunday comics to wrap the kids birthday gifts (they think this is cute!).
:7: A very large piece of cardboard became a mobile jigsaw puzzle holder while it’s being worked on.
:8: We save buttons, tassels, old earrings, greeting cards, etc to use for art & craft projects.
:9: An old plastic container became our buried time capsule.
:10: Four wheels from a table left behind by the previous home owner became the wheels for Buddie’s (our iguana) cage…even though she’s hardly ever in it. We only use it when people are over.
:11: My youngest just did this 5 minutes ago: She’s got a cold and is on the couch with a box of tissues. She just finished the box, so I gave her a new one and went to throw the old one out. She told me not to because she was going to use as a garbage pail and put the old tissues in it.
:12: When a folding table started to rot, we removed the folding legs and attacted them to a piece of wood to make a new table.
Recommended Upcycling Books
Another thing that my husband & I did when we first bought this house was start composting. We really didn’t do it very well, got discouraged and then with the adoption process underway, composting was the last thing on our mind. But, I’ve been giving it a lot of thought again lately. One of the things we’ll have to do first is make a bin. I don’t want to spend a lot right now because I’m not sure it’s going to work (especially with rainly season upon us) or that we’ll be able to keep up with it. We might actually start collecting grass clippings now and start in the fall when we can use the fallen leaves as a base.
These are some ideas I found online that we might want to incorporate when we do start one.
Old Fencing Take down the fence in sections. These sections can be used to make a great compost bin, ready-made with small space between the slats so your compost can breathe.
Dresser Drawers Take an old dresser / bureau. Knock out the bottom of each drawer. With a few 2×4′s you can attach the drawers together to make a small compost bin. Detach the top of the dresser and attach to the top of your bin with hinges at the back for easy accessibility.
Simple Compost The simplest compost bin container – 4 sticks of wood in the ground, Wire or plastic netting round the sticks, lined with cardboard.
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Tags: make it yourself, reduce reuse recycle
