Repurposing and reusing

I have been trying to figure out how to write this post, because I don't repurpose as many things as I would like to. But here we go.
Living in an apartment is hard when you have to figure out space. I would love to have room in my kitchen for recycle bins, and although we have a decent sized porch, the apartments are very watchful on the amount of clutter we have on it. So while recycling isn't going as I had originally planned, we try to find other ways to accomplish goal 2 right now.

So one of the things we repurpose is butter and sour cream containers.
I am sure that many of you reuse your plastic food containers for leftovers. But when I get an abundance of them, I give them to Marcie, to take to the church that feeds the homeless. I have served on quite a few homeless feeding centers before and all of them needed plastic containers. Not only do they have leftovers to store, but although it is technically against the rules. Many of them will give out leftovers to those who had families for later. Even the smallest little plastic containers can give hope to those that walk out the door, waiting for their next meal. So first of, if you have never fed the homeless, I suggest you volunteer at least once. It is an amazing and addictive service! Secondly, don't throw out those plastic containers. Find a church that feeds the homeless and offer them the plastic ware.

Something else we repurpose in the kitchen is ice cream buckets. We like to buy the big value size ice cream containers, not only for the ice cream but for the containers. I am a crafty person and that means I have tons of stuff that needs organizing. These big buckets have been used for toy buckets, collected rocks and leaves, painting supplies, glue sticks, and currently one holds my bird seed outside for the birdies! Mega storage organizing and ice cream is a win-win to me!!!

When you find yourself the mother of children, baby wipes have ten thousand purposes. They are handy in crafts, almost all kind of clean-up, and just perfect for the car. We we started collecting the wipe containers, they were having a sale on the ones in a box, so we bought 4 or 5 of them. But mostly we buy the big cheap value brand which may come with one box or none. So once I saw how great they were for keeping crafts in, I Facebooked my mother friends and put the word out that I was collecting them. In response I was amazed at how many of my friends were just throwing them away. These little gems are so very handy. Currently I keep markers, pens, pencils, chalk, letter magnets, flash cards and so much more in these containers. They are also great for the garage, if your handy man needs a little organizing these are great for tools, nuts and bolts, screws and nails.  Really they are amazing organization bins because they stack so easily.

In tiny spaces you have to get creative with your organizing. When we moved from our big 2400 square foot trailer into our 800 square foot apartment we had much downsizing to do. We also had bought a huge multi pack of efficient light bulbs that would not store easily. The light bulb boxes are cheap, flimsy, and easily dropped. Especially by this clumsy lady. I found this hanging storage organizer and didn't know what to do with it, when I thought of storing lightbulbs in it. I was amazed that even on the door, it keeps the lightbulbs still and safe. we also have them easily available for changing out the old ones. I also love that I automatically know if we have lightbulbs without having to search a deep corner for them.

Obviously I use crafts a lot, because much of my repurposing is done for that. But when I was looking at my new tiny kitchen, I realized I had a goldmine in storage because of the foot tall gap I had above the  cabinets. In old times I would store collectables or fake plants up there. But since dusting is one of my least favorite things to do, I realized I could use that space for something more helpful. My momma Marcie had a few old jars above her fridge that held buttons and things and it gave me an idea for my space. It killed me that our recycling center in town didn't take glass and throwing it away was heartbreaking to me. So I decided to use old spaghetti glass jars and pickle jars for storage for more craft supplies. We also use them to store office supplies, like paper clips, rubber bands, small candles, plastic outlet covers, and many more things. The glass jar effect on top has a charm to it and I never dust them unless I get into a jar and then I wipe it down really quick.

We buy a lot of diapers in this house and although we are having small successes with potty training, we will be starting over with baby #2, so diaper boxes are plentiful at my house. I never throw away a diaper box because of their usage. We repurpose clothes a lot at this house because we get so many hand-me-downs from friends I have to do the same for others. So when I get a new diaper box empty I automatically start an old clothes box and sort through Joslyn's clothes. Anything she can't wear anymore that I don't save for her quilt is thrown in the box and donated to the latest friend in need. This keeps her closet clean and clutter free and leaves more room for new hand me downs! I also try and repurpose paper as much as I can. Old newspaper is great for bird cages and packing, but it can also be used as wrapping paper and crafty things.  Paper mache is done with newspaper. We use Walmart Sacks as poop bags, since cleaning up after our dogs is required and appreciated. You of course can use them as small trash bags also. We use the store grocery paper sacks to drain meats and fried foods on instead of paper towels. They hold up much better to lots of grease.


There are so many things that can be repurposed. We try and be mindful of what we are throwing away and if it can't be recycled, can it be repurposed? What do you repurpose around your house?