Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Saving $ - Don't Buy - Reuse

 There are so many ways we can save money.  The first is just don't go out shopping and buying new things or gadgets.  Gadgets can be addictive!  We have so many things in our homes that we can use for other things.  Many of these items are things that may just get trashed.  Turn that trash into treasures and $$.
Here are several ideas on things that you can reuse in new ways and save a little money and help save the environment as well.

No need to have a fancy steamer for veggies.  I had one - hardly used it, took up space - donated.  This is my standard now!
I use a very old sieve over a pot with a little water.  I place a lid on and steam away.  I do have a double boiler as well with cookware - but for me this works perfectly.  Don't judge on the looks of that sieve - it is OLDER than me!!!!!  Yep, it was mom's and that things has been through a lot.

Recipe books.  Sure, a notebook will work just fine.  I like these little $1 photo books I have gotten at the Dollar Tree.  I have different categories - canning, baking, meals, mixes, etc.  I like this method as it is easy to find all my handwritten recipes.

No need to buy some fancy egg cooker.  I can make perfect round eggs for biscuits simply using a large mouth canning ring!  Grease it and place in pan - crack egg and cook.  Can flip the entire thing over to cook other side.

Coffee filters - so many uses!  Filters can be purchased for little money and they have so many uses.
Absorb grease from fried items.  Microwave cover for bowls to keep down splatters.  Use in the bottom of air fryer to catch grease.  Use for snacks (paper bowls).  Use in the bottoms of pots and planters to prevent dirt from falling out.  Use to filter fresh juice (catch pulp or seeds).  Sooooo many uses!

Bacon grease!  Great for frying all kinds of things.  Gives great flavor.  I also keep a jar for hamburger grease as well (beef).  I use these for frying potatoes or other veggies.  To give anything a little more flavor.  Saves on using bottled oil.  P.S. a little bacon grease is great with baking biscuits and /or cornbread!  I do keep mine in the frig - but I remember mom kept hers in a tin on the stove.


Jars, jars, jars.  Keep your jars from store bought items.  They are great for dry storage of all kinds.  I also make jar recipes and they work perfectly for my soup mixes and when I gift, I am not giving away my precious canning jars.
Jars  can also be clamp type jars you buy at thrift or decorator/discount stores (see red one in top pic).  I really like those clamp tops.  I have a few old ones as well.  Keep those plastic bottles from herbs and spices too.  They have shaker tops and are great for storing your homemade spice mixes or for your home grown herbs.  There is absolutely no limit to how you can use jars. 
Heck they make nice flower vases as well!
I even use them in the bathroom.  Great for cotton balls (which I get from vitamin bottles) and for Q-tips.  Water bottles can be used for homemade drinks to go and here is one with salt water in bathroom for rinsing mouth.
You can use anything from spice bottles to gallon jars for storage.  I LOVE BOTTLES AND JARS!

Baskets of every sort.  This is my bill paying basket - bills, checkbook, stapler, correction ribbon, tape, paperclips, etc.
I have baskets for books, for napkins, for bathroom items, towels, vitamin bottles, snacks, groceries, extra candles, etc.
Basics can be wicker and they can be plastic or metal.  Anything from a tiny piece to a milkcrate.  Use for all kinds of storage.

Even in the outdoors you can reuse things in new ways.  Here is an old wagon used to hold many of my fossil rocks that I collected for free.  You can use shells, rocks, logs, chunks of wood for risers in gardens, even plants.  Make starts from other plants, separate plants, get starts from others.  I have a store purchased water barrel and I have a homemade one as well.  I got a 55 gallon barrel (clean - no chemicals).  I cover top with screen to keep out bugs and then I placed a piece of lattice over it - so animals can not fall in.
Here you can see both barrels.  I attached a small piece of hose from the one in front (at over flow spout) to drain into the second one!
You can use old buckets, wheelbarrows, toys, pots, etc. for decorations and for planting.

DON'T FORGET:
Trash clothes - take off buttons and/or zippers for reuse.  Use these items as rags.
Stained t-shirts or jeans use for yard work or painting
Extra paint from projects - you can mix different colors together to make a new color for accents or small projects (latex w/latex or oil w/oil)
Food leftovers - make soup or casseroles.  Start a freezer bag for future soup.  Don't forget compost
Old worn out bedding - use for pets.  Old blankets or comforters can be used as stuffing for handmade quilts
Newspaper - makes great drop 'cloth' for many projects, make plant starter pots, line pots, use as kitty litter, drainage for fried food (place a coffee filter or paper towel over it (don't place food directly on print) - paper is so absorbent, it also makes a great weed barrier in gardens.
Feed bags - those neat and pretty plastic bags bird seed and such comes in - make reusable grocery/carry bags out of them.  They are so pretty and unique
Lids from peanut butter jars and lids from grated Parmesan cheese fit standard canning jars
Those squirt tops from dish soap bottles - fit water bottles and indiv. pop bottles.  Great for kids to use for playing water games or good for drinks (keeps out bugs)


There is so much more we can do - to save money and to save bringing more stuff into out homes.
USE WHAT YOU HAVE - get creative and think before you purchase.
There is absolutely NO limits to what you can reuse.  It all saves money and it saves the landfills as well.


38 comments:

  1. Good to know about the coffee filters in the air fryer. We just got our first one and so we are learning. For my Southern friends-Dukes mayo lids fit canning jars too.

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    1. Make sure to put them in just before adding food - not during preheat. They need the weight of food to hold them down. Out they absorb a lot!
      I think a lot of mayo lids fit as well. So nice to be able to reuse them.

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  2. Debby in Kansas USAMarch 16, 2022 at 10:30 AM

    GM Cheryl! I had to laugh at saving glass jars! I have a compulsion for that! As more stuff has switched to plastic, I hate giving up glass. I'm so grateful that I thought to save baby food jars when all my friends were having babies. I use those in my craft room.

    As for clothes, I'm a total cannibal. If it's heading for the trash, I use everything or pretty much. I use the elastic bands as sweatbands for gardening, to bundle stuff, hair/headbands, and my Grandma would beam over my button collection. Speaking of collecting glass bottles, I have my buttons separated by color in those Starbucks glass bottles. I used to have an addicted friend and I love those bottles!! I hoarded every one of those she gave me lol.

    Thanks to your great mini composter idea yesterday, my Folgers containers will be compost creators.

    And the grease can...my Grandma kept hers by the stove, too.

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    1. I have kept elastic as well - especially the wide stuff. I think our folks just taught us to use it up!
      I have a button metal box - so many old and new.
      Craft room - yes, another good use for those jars and bottles. Baby food jars were just the right size for little fun things.

      I hate that things are going plastic, you would think since glass can recycle they would stick with it.
      Glad you found an idea to use!!!!!!!

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  3. Those empty parmesan cheese jars make handy shaker containers for flour to sprinkle on a chop or thicken a sauce. I also keep several filled with brown, confectioners and cinnamon sugars for quick use when I don't want to take out the whole canister. Also handy for storing Baking Soda.

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    1. They sure are good for flour. I have one for that as well. Oh, great idea on the sugars. Super idea. Baking soda too. Thanks!!!

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  4. Good morning Cheryl, I'm sure liking your ideas. Have you shared the soup in a jar recipes on here? If you haven't, could you?

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    1. Good, glad you found them. I thought I had shared a couple times. It sure is nice to through in the crackpot or to give as a gift.
      Glad you are enjoying the ideas.

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  5. Some great tips! Thanks.
    I too love baskets. I keep one in the car with hand sanitizer (Alcohol soaked washcloth in a ziplock bag), drinks, snacks and miscellany.

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    1. Super idea. You could even do one with kids toys or colors or books, if you have kids.
      So many neat ideas coming up!

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  6. I hadn't thought to use coffee filters as a cover in the microwave but it does sound like a great idea.

    I don't get newspapers any longer and few flyers too. I use the flyers on top of my kitchen cabinets (they don't reach the ceiling). I simply replace them every few months and wipe down the tops - far easier than trying to take the vacuum up there to clean up the cat hair and dust that gathers.

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    1. Debby in Kansas USAMarch 16, 2022 at 1:59 PM

      Maebeme, I bought several yards of cheap muslin with a 50% off coupon. Hubs tacks it down. Twice a year we take it down and wash it. It's so easy! No wiping required! That was one of my better ideas that worked out! The muslin doesn't show at all.

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    2. The filters work great on microwave things. No more splatters. You can use a paper plate as well.
      I have those cabinets - keep newspaper up there too. Easy to throw away and start over. Also use in my sink base cabinet.

      LOVE the idea of muslin on cabinet tops. Pretty smart cookie! No more trash.

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    3. Oh using muslin is a great idea! I cut up an old plastic shower curtain, but I'll need to replace it soon, and washable fabric makes sense!! Celie

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    4. Plastic shower curtain is smart as well - great for painter's cloth too.

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  7. There is always so much info here and I have used several of your ideas. I have been using coffee filters for all kinds of things for years. They are also great if you give a kid a melty popsicle to push the stick through and let the filter catch the drips.
    Have a great day. xo Diana

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    1. Another great idea. Filters for kids just makes since. They can be messy, and filters are cheap - you could actually throw them in compost maker - as they break down.
      Thanks

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  8. I love all the things you do, that I do. SO many great reuse ideas.

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    1. YAY - love hearing all the new ideas, and seeing people are doing all the little things that save!

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  9. Husband threw out the coffee can this morning. I grabbed it right back out of the trash. Makes a great scooper for feed and so many other things.

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  10. This is full of lots of great ideas. Thanks! Celie

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  11. I have a large glass lid I use in the microwave. Coffee filters create more garbage. :-(

    I'm a user/reuser to the max. I finally had to go through the bags of containers we've saved and recycled some. Just too many.

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    1. It can get to be too much - I recently got rid of some as well. I put the filters in the compost bin - so they aren't trash here, for the most part. Now if they are greasy - yes.
      Good idea on a glass lid! Thanks

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  12. It's fun to repurpose items! My mom always removed buttons, zippers and even the thread from hems, wrapped it around a piece of paper and reused it. She had a rag box and now I have one too. I have an empty parmesan cheese shaker that I will put baking soda with essential oils in it to shake over the living room rug before vacuuming. All kinds of containers can reused for starting plants for the garden.

    I have several quilts that have an old, worn out quilt for batting. My grandmothers who lived in the hills of Kentucky didn't waste a thing.

    We came out of Costco in Avon around one today and saw the huge black cloud of smoke coming from the fire at the Walmart distribution center at Plainfield. It still is in the air and really stinks. Erin works in Brownsburg and she said they can smell it there. That put a lot of people out of work. I was going to hang laundry on the line tomorrow but will see of the smell has dissipated.

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    1. That WM fire is really bad - I see it is still burning today. Glad I am not a WM shopper for much. Yes, a lot will be out of work for a long while. So sad.

      I love reusing things as well. Our grandmothers were quite wise and resourceful - they had to be. Now we think it is fun. To them it was life!

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  13. A sherbet tub is the perfect size for storing your coffee filters in the cabinet. If you grow herbs and use your dehydrator to dry them, stop in your local hardware and buy a yard of fiberglass window screen. Cut it to the size of your dehydrator trays. The air still flows thru, but your dried herbs won't fall to the bottom.

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    1. Cool. I just use whatever is close! LOL
      Like the screen idea - that is pretty smart. Small things like to drop through. I use parchment, but then again that is waste. Thanks

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    2. I've not had much luck with parchment in my dehydrator, as it slows the airflow too much. The screen allows better movement of the air, in my experience. I think it cost me all of $4.00 for a yard, and that did 5 round trays, with some left over.

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    3. I will need to get me some up the road at the hardware store. Thanks

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  14. When I buy DE, diatomaceous earth, I take it from the bag and store it in the many Kraft Parmesan cheese shakers. I use the shakers for baking soda for cleaning. I reuse sooo much. I had a friend who used layers of newspaper for draining fried meat. I thought it was gross, but she didn't.

    I don't know if I have still my old wire sieve. But, it was so useful.

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    1. Good idea. There are so many uses for those lids!
      I love that old sieve - it sure gets used a lot.

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  15. Great ideas! I too use photo albums for my recipes. Love the idea too for squirt bottles, my two little grandchildren might like that in the summer! I have my Italian grandma's fry thingie and use that for various things, I'm thinking of using it to place some silk flowers in, it looks so vintage.

    Great ideas, thank you for sharing and it looks like the comments are helpful too!

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    1. Thanks. Those little albums are just the perfect size and stack nicely. That would be cute!
      Everyone has such good ideas.

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  16. Do you know how many peanut butter lids I have thrown away??? AND I ordered some plastic lids from Amazon to fit my canning jars!!! Lol

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    1. Aaaaaarrgh! Isn't that the way. I tend to keep more stuff than I need - but it sure saves from spending!

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