You’ve heard it said that the best things in life are free! Well, that is true here when we find ways to repurpose our used stuff. Trash can become treasures with a bit of creativity.
Here is a list of 16 unique ideas for recycling, reusing, and repurposing everyday items around your home.
- Mini M & M Candy Tubes: Reuse the tubes as safe storage for a few crayons. Keep the container in your purse or diaper bag for a quick activity on the go.
2. Bath Salt Jar: Once used up, soak off the label or clean with Goo-Gone, and clean out the jar. Reuse for a perfect-size flower vase.
3. Lemon & Orange Rinds: Keep your citrus peels for freshening up your home. Place 3-4 small pieces of lemon rind down your sink and turn on the garbage disposal for 5-8 seconds while running cold water. Or, to create a fresh scent throughout your kitchen, place orange, and lemon peels in a pot and boil on the stove, releasing the citrus oils.
4. Glass Jars: Many products and foods come in perfectly sized glass containers. Reuse baby food jars, pickles, pimentos, capers, and jelly jars for cleverly containing small screws or tacks, hair ties, Q-tips, cotton balls, and coins or for packing a serving size of salad dressing in your lunch.
5. An old mirror, bicycle, bench, small chair, or ladder: Old items can add charm to a garden or planter. Paint them a vibrant color to add pop to the landscape, or choose a rustic vibe.
6. Old Pillow Cases: Is your pillowcase dingy, faded, or sporting a hole? Reuse the pillowcase to remove dust from ceiling fans. Slide the case over the blade and hug it tight as you slide it slowly off. Wash the pillowcases and reuse them at cleaning time.
7. Tooth Brush: Ready to change your toothbrush? Reuse your old one as an excellent grout-cleaning tool for scrubbing around faucets, car wheels, or hard-to-reach places.
8. Plastic Berry Containers: After your berries are enjoyed, wash and dry the container, then save them for when the grass needs seeding. Fill a container with seed, then shake over the grass. The holes make distributing seeds easy.
9. Contact Lens Cases: If you wear contacts and end up with many screw-top lens cases, reuse them for small amounts of lotion, cream, foundation, hair gel, serums, or ointment when traveling and need to fit a lot in your quart-size cosmetics bag.
10. Old or Single Socks: Do your socks seem to lose their mate? Use the single sock for cleaning baseboards and window blinds. After, toss it into the washer to clean.
11. Ball Jars: Reuse as outdoor candle holders, creating a beautiful ambiance. For standing candle jars, fill them with sand and a tea light, and line a walkway with the glow of candlelight. For a hanging candle holder, wrap wire around the jar’s top, make a loop, then place it on a hook in a planter or along a walkway.
12. Egg Cartons: Used to protect fragile eggs, reuse to protect small light bulbs and small Christmas ornaments, or organize garage items such as screws, nails, tacks, washers, or bolts.
13. Plastic Containers without lids: Do you have Tupperware containers that have lost their lids? Reuse them for clever storage solutions. Organize a drawer with hair clips, cotton balls, and rubber bands. Cleaning products will stay organized and easily found inside their container.
14. Empty Wine Bottles: Especially if the bottle is fancy or from your favorite vineyard, reuse it as a flower vase. Or, bury the neck of your bottles into the ground halfway, forming a line and creating a glass planter or walkway border.
15. Paper Towel or Toilet Paper Rolls: From crafts to practical organizational uses, save those rolls! Reuse a paper towel roll for keeping plastic grocery bags stuffed into one place. (An empty tissue box works well too.)
Cut and re-tape the roll over the bottom of the hangers to ensure the pants won’t have a crease. Use rolls as kindling by tearing the paper into strips or make fire logs by stuffing a tube with shredded paper or newspaper.
Store extension cords inside of a roll and marked with the size of cord.
16. Dryer Sheets:
- Once out of the dryer, place them into shoes to keep them smelling fresh.
- Place sheets in your suitcase to keep clothes fresh during travel.
- Cut the sheets in half and put them in the dryer. Same result, yet double the product!
What clever ways have you repurposed your old items into new uses or treasures? Please share in the comments below.
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I love all of your ideas to reuse items! I do quite a few of these and learned some new ideas! I have so many single socks and will start using them to dust. Great idea!
I reuse shoe boxes for a variety of things but they were especially great when the kids were little. I loved storing little toys like Lego’s in them to keep them organized and contained!
I reuse old towels to wash/dry cars and the dog!
I reuse prescription bottles for when I travel. I put bandaids, hair bands, vitamins, etc .
I also save the plastic packaging when I buy new bedding. It’s thick plastic and has a zipper. I put my pillow in it when I travel. For the bigger bags, I’ve stored winter clothes, sheets or items I want to keep fresh but don’t use often
Renee, I love your ideas for re-using and re-purposing containers. Awesome, and thank you so much for sharing! 🙂