• I’m a big fan of reusing milk bottles for all sorts of things and this idea for using them as stationery organisers is fantastic. If they were for use by little delicate hands, I’d be tempted to sticky-tape the cut edges to make them less sharp.
• Kristin from Craft Leftovers used the offcuts from fitting a bamboo blind to make coordinating twined coasters.
• Jan McNeil, a Sculpture & Photography student from the University of Ulster, emailed to ask if anyone has any old baby dummies/pacifiers lying around – she wants them for an art project. Get in touch if you’ve got some – or have any ideas for where she might be able to get them from – and I’ll pass your details/suggestions along.
• I love the idea of this toothbrush holder made out of old toothpaste tubes. (Although I’d want to make sure it was easy to clean – which, with the lips, I’m not sure it would be in this design).
• This reusable lunch bag how-to uses new shower curtains but it could equally be made from a clean old one. A great way to reuse to reduce.
• Someone – a name didn’t make it through so I don’t know who – sent over some photos of a birthday table cloth made from old balloons: “I recycle my birthday ballons by gluing them to a clear plastic sheet, gotten in the fabric dept. They make a cute table cover for the party!”

This is cross-posted to my new frugal/growing/making/cooking blog, The Really Good Life.

I’ve reached the end … of my shampoo bottle and our mayonnaise jar. And it made me wonder…

Every vaguely-frugal/green family has their own tricks for getting those last bits of gloop, sauce, oil or whatever out of jars and bottles – but what are your top tips?

Most bottles – from condiments to shampoo – are easily emptied by standing them upside down for a few hours.

Cooking sauces – jars/cans of tomatoes – are easy too: a little squish of water around to pull off the last of the sauce/juice then into the pan it goes to be reduced off.

Cooking oils bottles and jams & honey jars get left in a bowl of hot water to make the remaining contents a little runny and easier to pour out.

Metal squeezy tubes – like tomato puree and old school toothpaste – can be rolled up and squeezed, but the new plastic toothpaste tubes aren’t so rollable – cutting them open seems the only option.

What other methods do you use?

We’ve had an email from Kelly, asking about reusing a “Swiffer” handle:

I’m sick of having to buy Swiffer cloths so am swapping to a regular brush and mop instead. What can I do with an old Swiffer then?

Disposable branded cloths aren’t the only option for using with Swiffers and the like – there are lots of homemade alternative options, often reusing and recycling old fabric from clothes, which can be washed and reused like any household cloth.

Looking at the pictures on Google, they’re look like a pole with a flat bit on the end so I imagine could be used for various other cleaning purposes – gazing at our filthy window here, I could imagine using it to dry water stains off the glass.

The pole away from the base could be useful by itself – I remember an old thrifty decorating tip was to use wooden broom handles instead of curtain poles, I’m not sure if the Swiffer pole would work for that but maybe it would… Could the base be used as a sandpaper block when you want to lightly sand a large area?

Any other suggestions?

This is usually the other way around – we usually suggest things that can be used to insulate water pipes – but I saw some foam water pipe lagging on the road today while walking the dog. I imagine it had blown off a nearby skip or been taken off by kids (because reuse #1: they’re great for sword fights) but either way: yoink!

Given the rain of the last 24 hrs, they’re a bit wet but since they’re plasticky foam, I imagine they’ll dry fine. We’ll probably use them for actual pipe lagging as we’ve just had some new pipe work put in – but if we were already insulated, what else could we use them for?

We’ve had an email from Dean:

I have just had my eyes lasered and need a suggestion of where I can send unused trueye contact lenses? Also have some monthly disposables and two pairs of glasses?

Glasses – spectacles – are quite widely collected for recycling/reusing overseas — a lot of opticians have collection bins and some charity shops do too (Help the Ages, for example). Contact lens containers are also useful little things – eg, use them for carrying little amounts of salt, pepper or other seasonings on camping trips.

But what about the contact lenses themselves? Does anywhere collect them for redistribution overseas or anything?

Any suggestions?