A few weeks ago, I wrote a how-can-I on those solid, upright toothpaste tubes and one of the commenters, Cadan, asked what about squeezy toothpaste tubes instead.

So what about squeezed squeezy toothpaste tubes?

They used to be metal (like tomato/garlic puree ones still are) but now toothpaste tubes – or at least the ones we used – seem to more plasticky instead. The plastic ones look like they might (MIGHT) be easier to refill – anyone got any suggestions on what they could be refilled with? The metal ones though have a tendency to weaken at the edges when they’ve been utterly squeezed dry and rolled up so I doubt they can be refilled – does anyone know if they can be recycled?

(Photo by stocker)

I’ve a few old jumpers (aka sweaters, pullovers, woolly warm things) that aren’t really suitable for wearing any more by me or anyone else. I’ve either shrunk them a bit in the wash, or they’re stretched and baggy, or are stained in parts or are, frankly, a bit stinky in (under arm) parts.

I know that you can unpick old jumpers for their wool – but only if they’ve been knitted as a jumper, not if the different parts have been just cut from one big piece of cloth and (I forget the right term for it) kinda stuck together at the sides – if you unpick tops like that, you just get thousands of little pieces of wool, just one row in length rather than one piece of very long wool. Unfortunately all the woolies in question are of the latter, unpickable variety.

So given they’re not really any good for going charity-shop-ward and I can’t unpick them to feed my newfound knitting addiction, any other suggestions of things I can do with the cloth? Some of them have sleeves that are ok but the bodies are too far gone; on others the bodies are fine but the armpits and cuffs matted – so any suggestions for using up the different bits of them?

(Photo by fugue)

John used to play drums back in the day and has just started to pick it up again so has been cleaning/refurbishing some of his old kit.

He used to specialise in hitting them awfully hard with sticks so the “skins” are a bit knackered – especially since he uses brushes on them now, therefore needs them coated so they sound right … or something (my musical skills begin and end with the swanee/slide whistle).

Anyway, we’ve now got a couple of old drumheads lying around the house now – they’re not torn, just not worn out. For those as musically challenged as me, they’re, well, like floppy-ish frisbees: round and flat (funnily enough), with the edges curved around about 1.5cm (3/4 inch). The skin is thin plastic and, as I said floppy.

Presumably with all the musicians out there, there are thousands of these things discarded every week – so any suggestions what people can do with them? And what about if the skin is torn – any suggestions then?

(Photo by Vierdrie)

I’ve been thinking about Scott’s really big piece of slate from Monday and it reminded me that I often see old slate roof tiles in skips around our estate as houses are renovated and new roofs added.

We have a slate surround and hearth for our fireplace so slate goes well in our living room but we already have some slate coasters and to be honest, we don’t use them much.

Any suggestions how else we can use the skip-dived slate tiles around the living room or elsewhere?

The tiles are flat, and usually about 30cm by 20cm and between 5mm-1cm thick (1’x9″x um, a quarter of an inch or something).

(Photo by Flo_Evans)

Had an email from Scott Tillman:

I hate throwing away old furniture, but sometimes there’s nothing left to do but mulch that old wood and move on. That’s fine except now I have the slate top to an old pool table (so its about 4’x8’x1″) and I’m trying to figure out what I can do with it.

I’m a handy-man, so no idea is too crazy. I have thought about building a new base for the pool table, but I don’t really have a rec room big enough to use it. And I _really_ don’t need a 500 lb. chalk board.

If it’s in a good condition, I guess you could use it as dining table top – but only if such a heavy and striking feature would work in your house.

The other idea that springs to mind is Freecycle in case anyone else in Scott’s area could use it as a pool table or whatever – but it sounds like he’d like to use it himself – so any suggestions? Remember crazy isn’t an issue : )

(Photo by cmx82)