DIY Life

At some point, most of us just throw our items away, sometimes never even giving a second thought as to what we could have recycled it for. This is understandable if you live in an apartment or small abode. You just can't save everything, especially if you are already a pack rat. There are many things that you can be reused, however, and I try very hard to follow the unspoken rules of reuse.

Storing your items in containers that have previously been used for something else will help save that item from ending up in the landfill, at least for a little while. The possibility of storage for almost any item is endless, so here are a few more of my favorite items to reuse.

• Baby wipe containers are excellent for storing small items that you don't use everyday. My hubby has a small bookshelf in his closet that is used for storage, and all 3 shelves hold baby wipe containers. When we moved back to my hometown 3 years ago, all odds and ends that used to be in the junk drawers were stored in the containers and are still in there. They are handy for storing markers, pens and pencils, masking tape, stray shoelaces, and baby food jars, and all the other things that would just rattle around in various places. I also use them to store my daughters' hair pretties.
  
• Baby food jars are excellent for storing small washers, nails, screws, rubber bands, marbles, paper clips, buttons, tacks and brads, and all kinds of craft and sewing notions.
• Metal coffee cans are an endless possibility of storage space. They are excellent for storing nails, screws, power saw chains, springs, hinges, and Christmas tree replacement lights. Use a coffee can as a cigarette butt container. In the kitchen, decorate them and use as flour and sugar canisters.
• Don't throw out your empty oatmeal containers. Reuse them as storage for cookies, candy, craft supplies, a yarn ball holder, a piggy bank, a valuables holder, and my personal favorite, a container to send your item in the mail. This one works well for me, since I sell many small clothing items.
• Film canisters make great sewing notion holders as well as paint containers for craft projects.
• Plastic eggs are excellent for storing small pieces of jewelry and make great Easter eggs to hide candy and other goodies in.
• When you are done with that old shower curtain liner, it makes a great cover for your firewood that is stored outside. It also makes a great floor cover for messes that toddler hands. I cut up enough liner to cover the floor beneath and around the high chair.
• Store your accumulation of pretty blankets in pillow shams and you now have decorative pillows for your beds and sofas.
• I use my luggage for storing extra pretty blankets when I don't have enough pillow shams, seasonal clothing, and gift items that I bought because they were on sale.
  
• Take along a cooler on trips, fill with food and reuse soda bottles for water. Soda bottles also make great watering containers when you are on your trip. Poke small holes in the bottom, fill with water, and set inside plant pots to drip.

If you stop to think about it, you can reuse almost everything in your house. The list of possibilities is endless, and if you open your mind to them, there isn't anything that can't be reused in one way or another.