No, not the stinky 1970s aftershave but spices that have been hanging around the cupboard for a little too long.

You could say that we like spice food. You would be grossly underestimating our adoration of it though.

However, even though it’s not the correct thing to do, we have a tendency to buy spices in bulk because we’re disorganised – and even though we don’t pay that much attention to best before dates, we do notice that over time they become less potent.

So what can we do with them once they’re past their best? At the moment, we’ve got a stash of garam masala (mixed spices), turmeric and cumin (aka jeera) but any suggestions for any old herbs and spices is fine.

(Photo by LotusHead)

Ok, we’ve already covered shampoo bottles and plastic drinking bottles but I think shower gel bottles are a little different.

The ones I use have got a little, I don’t know, valve thing on the top to stop the gel falling out while they hang upside down in the shower. I don’t know whether this would stop anything as wet as water but the liquid gel stuff stays put.

So could this be used for anything else? I guess I could refill it with liquid soap for sink-based handwashing – either commercial stuff I’ve bought in bulk or when I get around to make my own from soapnuts – but any different, non-soapy suggestions?

A suggestion (and photo) from Jill:

I have a pile of old hot water bottles lurking in the cupboard beneath the sink in my bedroom. Some have actually leaked, others have simply started to perish – but none of them are fit for their original purpose i.e. to warm my bed!

The trouble is, I just can’t bear to simply throw them away in the bin – it seems such a waste.
I have never seen a recycling centre with any facilities for rubber products.
Any suggestions as to what else I can do with them, as the pile continues to grow !

Ideas then?

A suggestion from JH753 (I’m guessing that’s not their real name, unless they’re a car number plate : ) ):

When the kids were growing up, they used to play tennis all summer and got through a fair number of tennis rackets. Most of the time we just replaced them when a string got busted or they got a better racket as a birthday present when they decided they wanted to make a bit of an investment in their hobby.

I didn’t want to throw them out because it seemed wasteful but I didn’t bother getting them fixed either or giving them away because I was ‘too busy’ so they just stacked up in the garage.

What can I do with them? Most of them were quite cheap to start with so now a good few years old aren’t worth selling on or getting restringed.

So has anyone got any suggestions? I guess my first thought would be giving away the ones that are still in alright condition to a charity shop but what about ones with broken strings?

(Photo by q83

I never throw shoe boxes out. Because they’re always useful for odd bits and pieces, right?

But the thing is, I can never think of enough random bits and pieces that would utilise them properly. I tend to buy more bigger, more sturdy boxes for anything that needs a permanent home, or use plastic (ice-cream-esque) tubs if I need the contents to be kept dry so the shoe boxes end up cluttering up the place with their potential, but unrealised, re-usability.

So any suggestions of other ways I could use them? Or specific suggestions of things I could put in them?