We’ve had an email from Carole Minvielle about shower curtain rings:
I have loads of these stored for some use I am yet to discover, but I found a use for ONE! I wanted a pretty soap dish for my favourite scented soap but it had to have ridges in the bottom so the water could drain off and the soap not be a soggy mess.
But the only ones I could find were ugly.
Eventually, I had the idea of putting a plastic shower curtain ring in the base of a pretty dish. The soap goes on top, stays dry and lasts longer, the translucent white ring disappears against the white dish, and the dish looks lovely in my bathroom.
But what can I do with the other 30-odd?
We’ve got loads of wooden rings (exactly like the ones pictured) floating around too – I think the person that owned the house before us had a bit of an obsession. I’ve thrown a stash in my craft supplies box – for use, say, at the bottom of a macrame plant hanger – but aside from that I can’t think of much else to do with them. Suggestions?
Categories: bathroom, household, items
Posted by louisa
on 13 July 2007
We’ve had an email from Jasmin:
I shred bank statements, receipts etc but our local authority doesn’t accept shredded paper in the recycling bin. I don’t have a garden so composting isn’t easy either, does anyone have any other suggestions?
I’ve seen shredded paper used as packaging to protect breakable items in the post so that’s one idea – but any more reusing or recycling suggestions? What do you do with it?
Best Suggestions
- Reduce: Only shred documents that absolutely need shredding. Paper is must easier to reuse or recycle when it’s in one piece, not dozens.
- Reuse: Use it to protect fragile items in the post/storage. Some people use it instead of straw for small animal bedding. Turn it into papier mache creations or into paper kindling logs for a fire/stove (stuff it in toilet roll tubes to get the shape if you’ve not got a log maker).
- Compost: Shredded paper can be added to compost heaps – it’s great at adding bulk and is a useful “brown” if you have lots of greens (fresh garden clippings or most kitchen scraps) in there already. Alternately, dig it directly into your garden in the autumn (at manure time).
- Recycle: Contact your local council to see if they will collect it for recycling – many don’t collect it but some collect it with other paper and others with cardboard.
- See the comments below for more suggestions and ideas
(Photo by winjohn)
Categories: household, items, office, paper & stationery
Posted by louisa
on 11 July 2007
We’ve had an email from Am about bottle caps:
As we have a lot of plastic water bottles, and they are easy enough to recycle/reuse… but what about the screw-on bottle tops?
When they are recycled the council insist the lids are not included…and I hate to waste all those little lids.
I always keep a few spare ones in case I lose/drop-somewhere-rank the lid of a bottle I’m re-using. I’ve also used them (usually in pairs for stability) to add height when a plant pot sits too low in the planter – water bottle caps add about 1cm while milk bottle ones are a little wide and not as tall.
Anyone got any other suggestions?
Categories: household, items, packaging
Posted by louisa
on 9 July 2007
We featured babies’ dummies last week and it made me realise we hadn’t covered much baby paraphernalia – but there is a sure to be a lot of it out there.
So how about babies’ bottles?
Can they be sterilised sufficiently to be passed on to others? And if not, what other things could they be used for?
(Photo by spekulator)
Categories: baby, household, items
Posted by louisa
on 6 July 2007
We went out for a Mexican meal the other day (mmm, mexican food) and while eating a giant pile of guacamole (mmm, guacamole), we had one of those wonderings about what must happen to the many, many leftover avocado stones. From that, our wonderings went onto other fruit stones – what could we do with plum stones, or peach pits?
They could be planted to grow a new fruit plant (although trees from seeds don’t tend to be that productive) or composted (they’d take a good while to break down) but aside from that, are there any fun ways to use them? What do you use fruit stones and pits for?
Avocado stones are usually beautifully smooth so could they be made into (GIANT) beads? Any other suggestions?
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Categories: food, garden, items
Posted by louisa
on 4 July 2007
