Rhiannon left a message on our suggestions page:

I was wondering if you have any ideas for an empty Tabasco sauce bottle? They are so pretty, but due to the very narrow neck (so that you can only shake out small droplets at a time) it is unsuitable for storing anything that I can think of.

We’ve covered narrow-necked glass bottles on here before – beer bottles or wine bottles and the like, but Tabasco sauce bottles are that bit narrower than most.

I’ve seen the teeny-tiny single serve Tabasco sauce bottle used as jewellery but the normal size bottles are a little too big for that. ;)

They might be useful for liquids that need to be added drop-by-drop – food colouring for example, but that type of thing tends to come in a little bottle with a dropper thing anyway.

The largest standard size (150ml ish?) bottle would make a cute single-stem vase (if I recall correctly, they tend to have a plastic dropper thing in the top but that can usually be pulled out) but the standard size bottle would be too small for everything bar the absolutely thinnest stem.

So suggestions?

Leigh of the scarves had another question – what to do with “name tags/nametag holders”:

you get them everywhere, but I have nothing to do with them!

I don’t know whether Leigh means conference name labels – either the pockets for use on lanyards (which we covered last year) or ones with safety pins on the back – or proper, personalised name tags for people working in public-facing positions and the like — so let’s do both.

When I used to organise conferences and events, I collected any badges leftover at the end of the day and used the pockets again for the next event – I suspect I wasn’t alone in doing that, especially in cash-strapped academia. So that’s a reduce idea: leave your conference name badge on the reception table at the end of the day and it’ll probably get reused again. The same thing might work for solid name tags if they’re first name only and you’ve got a reasonably common name.

But what about reuses? Any ideas?

We’ve had an email from Rebecca:

I have a grill I no longer need, but it’s a bit grotty so I don’t think I could sell it on. It looks like this –>

Are there any facilities for recycling items like this? It seems a waste to bin it, but it’s difficult to clean so we couldn’t get it into a resaleable state.

In the UK, it will be covered by the WEEE Directive so the place you bought it from might take it back – or if nothing else, there should be an electricals spot at your local “household waste sorting site” (ie, the local tip), where they’ll get disposed of properly.

If it still works though, it would be a shame to scrap it just because it’s a bit grotty. If you don’t think you can sell it, try giving it away on Freecycle instead – someone might be grateful for it in whatever state it is in – particularly if they have a non-food use for it. The only non-food use that springs to mind instantly is for making shrinky-dinks but I bet someone with some electrical knowledge could use the heating element/timer for something fancy and useful.

Any other ideas?

We’ve had an email from Lisa, asking:

How can I reuse laundry detergent and fabric softener bottles?

I have a bunch piling up by my washing machine – the ones you pour, not with a spout on the side.

We’ve bulk bought fabric softener in the past and I’ve decanted it into a old, small bottle to make it easier to use – the giant bulk bottle could be stored out of the way in the cellar and the little bottle just refilled once a month. You can do the same thing with big boxes of powder – with handles, those pouring bottles are far easier to carry and use than a big box. They are also moisture tight so if the bottle is dry when you pour in the powder in the first place, it’s less likely to cake than in a cardboard box.

That’s only two bottles though – so what else can you do with them? Carolien Adriaansche makes them into cute creatures and many of the bottles that I see are nice colours or even pearlised, so you could use the plastic to make things like bold jewellery.

Any other suggestions?

Leigh sent me an email a few weeks ago and it dropped into the black hole that is my email inbox – I only found it when looking for something else this morning. I *must* get better organised, I *must*.

Anyway, she asked about how to reuse or recycle a number of things so I’ll feature them over the next few days. First up, scarves:

i picked up a bunch for almost nothing at a garage sale, some silk, some not, all different colors and shapes, thinking they would be useful for something, but I’m not sure what!

I’m a sucker for scarves too – they’re one of my favourite things to look out for in charity shops because there is usually a good variety, in as-new condition and often unbelievably cheap (especially compared to buying similar printed fabric new).

One of the easiest things to do with them – particularly square ones – is to make them into cushion/pillow covers. Another no-sew idea for big square ones is to use them to make furoshiki bags.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by Gerbera)