Are you looking to help the environment? Do you want to save some money in the process? These creative ways to reuse items in your home will help you accomplish both of these goals.
Why throw away items that can easily be used for a different purpose? Why spend the money on brand new products when you have something that will work just as well at home?
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Reuse Plastic Grocery Bags
There are lots of different ways that you can reuse the plastic bags you get from stores.
Cleaning Cat Litter
Grocery bags are great to use if you have cat litter boxes to clean. Instead of buying bags to place dirty litter in, you can just reuse the bags you have.
Packaging Material
You can use plastic bags as packaging material for anything that you need to ship.
Trash Can Liners
Instead of buying small trash bags, you can just use grocery bags to line your little trash cans.
Create New Bags
If you cut your bags into long strips, you can use them to crochet a purse or tote bag. Bags can be used instead of yarn easily.
Carry Wet Clothes
Plastic bags are good for holding wet clothes (while on vacation) to pack in your suit case.
| Check out some of our other packing tips!
Reuse at Garage Sales & Thrift Stores
If you plan on having your own garage sale, you can save your grocery bags to use for your customers.
You can also donate your bags to many thrift stores, and they will reuse them for their customers.
Cover Clothing
Larger plastic bags can be used to cover clothing stored in a closet.
Just punch a small hole in the end and slip over the hangers and clothing.
Reuse Worn Out Comforters/Sheets
Instead of throwing away your old, worn out comforters and sheets, you can save them for these things:
- They are great for covering car seats when taking your dog to the vet or elsewhere.
- You can use them for covering things that aren’t for sale in your garage when having a garage sale.
- Use them to sit on for picnics, watching fireworks, at the park, etc.
- Cover up furniture when painting, storing, or moving
- Use instead of buying drop cloths when you are painting
Reuse Toothbrushes
When the bristles on your toothbrush wear out, you can use it for cleaning.
They are great for scrubbing small crevices.
Reuse Gift Bags
Gift bags can be expensive to purchase every time you want to give a present.
You can reuse gift bags you have received for other people’s presents. As long as the bag is not beat up, it works just as well as a new bag.
Note: make sure if there is a tag on the gift bag that no name is written on it. If there is a name, just cut the tag off.
If you have gift bags that are too worn, you can use them as small trash bags.
Reuse Lunch Meat Containers
The plastic containers that some lunch meats come in are perfect for storing lots of different things because they are usually clear, which makes it easy to see what’s inside.
Here are some uses for them:
- food storage
- store paint out of a larger can
- paint tray for a small roller
- storage for hardware, nails, screws, etc.
- sorting craft items like buttons, foam pieces, jewelry parts, etc.
Reuse Old Socks
Instead of throwing away socks when they wear out or get holes in them, you can use them to create dog toys.
Just take a larger sock and stuff it full of socks and tie a knot in it.
| Check out other budget friendly tips for you pets!
Reuse Cardboard
The nice square piece of cardboard that you get tucked inside a new calendar when you open it makes a great holder for a cake.
Just wrap it in some pretty paper then put your cake on top and decorate it.
Reuse Egg Cartons
Egg cartons are great for storing small Christmas ornaments.
You can store them in the containers as is, or you can lay the bottoms of egg cartons in a bin to use as dividers.
Reuse Boxes
We recycle or reuse all of our boxes. Ones that we can’t use at all go in our recycling bin with other cardboard.
- A heavy duty box that cat litter comes in is great for storing 12 x 12 scrapbook paper. I cleaned the box out really well and covered it with contact paper. Then, I used thin scrap cardboard for dividers.
- I have a box that a box fan came in that is perfect to hold large picture frames. One of my daughters enters a lot of art work in the fair, and it has to be framed. I buy cheap frames when I see them and store them in that box.
- Boxes are also great for eBay. I keep an assortment of boxes on hand in the garage on a shelf. To save space, I flatten them out and sort them by size so they are available for eBay packaging.
- I also like to save tiny boxes to make doll furniture out of them
Reuse Re-sealable Bags
Save empty re-sealable bags to use for other purposes. We like to save the bags that tortillas come in as well as other types of Ziploc bags that are still in good shape.
Reuse these bags for non-food items. We also use them when packaging items for eBay.
Reuse Twist Ties
Every time you buy things that come in bags such as bread, they typically have twist ties keeping them closed. We always save good twist ties to use again.
They are useful for tying bags that you’ve opened like frozen foods or chocolate chips.
Reuse Old Towels & Wash Rags
Instead of throwing those worn and stained towels and washcloths out, reuse them around your home!
You could reuse them as rags to use for cleaning. Old towels are also great for cleaning off wet shoes and wet dogs.
If you have too many to use, consider donating them to a local animal shelter. Many animal shelters would gladly accept extra towels that can be used for cleaning as well as bedding. Just call your local animal shelter and ask!
Reuse Old Sock Clips
You might be wondering what in the world is a sock clip?
Sometimes when you purchase socks, they are hung on the rack using a clip. These clips are actually very sturdy and are great alternatives for chip clips! A lot of chip clips that you can buy are super junky, so they easily break.
Side note: another great alternative to chip clips are binder clips. They are affordable and very durable!
Reuse Milk Cap Rings
If you have cats, milk cap rings make awesome toys!
While there are many awesome cats toys you can purchase, sometimes the best toys are random things in your house that wouldn’t typically be considered toys.
Our cats love hitting milk rings all over the floor. They pick them up in their mouths and carry them all over the house.
| Check out other money saving tips for pet owners!
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What are some of your favorite ways to reuse items in your home?
Comment down below your favorite things to reuse!
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