A Christmas Edition of Random Reuses

If you've read this blog for a while, you may know that I'm always on the lookout for ways to reuse items around my house, even if it's just once, before it goes to the trash. It's been a while since I've done one of these Random Reuse posts, so I thought I'd share a few reuses to help during the Christmas season!

Rolls of wrapping paper can turn into a big, wrinkled mess in no time (especially with kids wanting to wrap their own homemade gifts). One way to keep your rolls of wrapping paper a little more tidy is to keep them rolled with this handy-dandy cuff made from a toilet paper roll. I saw this idea years ago on Pinterest and it works really well. All you have to do is cut in a line down a toilet paper tube so it opens up and then put it around the roll of paper. Easy peasy!

While I'm on the topic of wrapping gifts, one thing I always do is reuse the boxes from cereal and crackers for gift boxes. My mom did this all the time when I was a kid. I mean, why spend the money on gift boxes for family gifts when they're going to be torn apart? This is a good thing to do if you have someone that tries to peek under the wrapping before Christmas, because all they'll see is a cereal box. I like using the cereal boxes because it makes things a little more confusing, adds an extra level of mystery because the shape gives nothing away. Plus, there's the inevitable joking (at least it happened with my family growing up and now) when you open presents Christmas morning -- "I've always wanted a box of Cheerios!".

Maybe this is a super-obvious tip (I never know with these reuses. Am I clever or are these common sense? Oh well.), but if you need a hook for an ornament you can always use a stretched out paper clip. Personally, I think they hang better than those flimsy ornament hooks that get tangled up in the box. 

I'm sure I'm not the only who does a lot of baking during the Christmas season (have you tried my recipe for the BEST gingerbread cookies ever? Because if you haven't, you should). One thing I've been doing is saving my butter wrappers when I've used up a stick of butter. When it's time to bake a batch of cookies, I use the little remnants of butter on the wrapper to grease my cookie sheet. 

Finally, what list of Christmas reuses would be complete without the wrapping paper tube-turned-sword? Having grown up in a house full of boys and now currently being outnumbered by boys again, I know all too well that paper tube sword fights are an inevitability around Christmastime. And, let's be honest, they're one of the best (and most fun) reuses out there. 

A Round-Up of Random Reuses

My grandfather grew up during the Great Depression. As you can imagine, during that time he learned some pretty thrifty habits, ones that stayed with him for the rest of his life. One of those habits was reusing things before he threw them out. He definitely took the mantra "waste not, want not" to heart.

My family and I always joke that my grandpa was green without even knowing it. He was ahead of his time! We kids would drink out of washed-out plastic yogurt cups instead of glasses when we needed water.When we wanted to draw, he would pull out a big tin of broken crayons (probably from when my mom and uncles were kids), which we would use to draw on the back of paper that had already been printed on. He had a bar of soap at the sink in the bathroom made exclusively out of saved-up soap slivers (you know, that little slip of soap that remains when you're almost finished with it) -- I just thought it was rainbow soap and he bought it that way. He had a specific drawer in his kitchen where he stored plastic grocery bags and bread bags and every doorknob in his house had rubber-bands around them. The guy didn't throw anything out unless it had been very thoroughly used.

When I first started blogging as the Parsimonious Princess years ago, some of the very first posts were about reusing things that others would throw out. I call these "random reuses" (what can I say? I'm a sucker for alliteration.). Maybe it's in the genes, but I love finding a second life in things; it's a sort of challenge. Today, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite reuses, the ones that I either use the most, the ones that I have benefited most from, or the ones that simply would have made my Grandpa proud.

Find out how I've reused household items like empty gallon jugs, old t-shirts, mesh onion bags, bread tabs, plastic lids, and tomato cans in my monthly post over at The Green Phone Booth!

(This post is linked up to Simple Lives Thursday and Little House Friday DIY Linky..)

Lovely Links: Lovely Locks Edition

About six months ago, I chopped close to fifteen inches off my hair.

Since I don't dye my hair and because I'd worn it up so much (being a mom with nearly waist-length hair meant lots of braids, buns, and ponytails), my hair was healthy enough to be donated. I even got a $10 discount for donating (everyone wins!).  I've always had long hair, but I was ready for the change and barely flinched when she chopped that long braid off. 

As the lady was styling my new haircut (which I loved), she was suggesting all sorts of products and tools I would need to style my now shoulder-length hair. Like I said, before the cut, I wore my hair up most the time; I didn't have time to blow-dry or curl all that hair! But once it was chopped off, I was told that I needed a flat iron, curling wand, salt spray, heat protectant, and mousse.

Confession: I was so excited about my stylish new hairdo, I bought all of it.

Granted, I didn't buy the $100 flat-iron the stylist told me I needed and the salt spray was basically free with the discount for I got for donating.  Still, I spent a good bit of cash buying these supplies. I felt a little strange buying all those beauty products. I mean, I'm the girl who has washed her hair with baking soda, cleaned her face with oil, and is using the same solitary eye-shadow compact I bought at least two years ago. 

Since I'm a little paranoid about frying my hair, I go easy with my styling tools, limiting myself to only 2-3 times a week. In the process, I've found a lot of alternate ways to curl my hair. In many ways, I find myself preferring the look of the heat-less curls over the heat-styled ones.

But why am I blogging about my hair on a blog about frugality? Because as I've been thinking about it, curling your hair without heat can actually save some money.

One way that heat-free curling can save you money is that undamaged hair means less trips to the salon. Split ends are often the result of heat damage and the only way to get rid of them, despite what many shampoo commercials say, is to cut them off. Unless you're particularly brave and can cut your own hair or you have a stylist in the family, you'll have to pay to get your damaged hair trimmed. There are lots of in-salon treatments for damaged hair, but the prices for them can range anywhere from $40 to $600 (seriously -- I did a little reading and there are these keratin treatments that can cost that much!). Even if you skip the professionals and try to fix heat-damaged hair at home, it can still get costly. 

Another way heat-less curling can save you money is pretty obvious: you don't need to buy an arsenal of tools and hair products, like curling irons, wands, flat-irons, or heat protectant sprays. For most of the heat-less curling methods out there, your needed supplies are likely things you already have at home and if you don't have them, they don't cost much. Usually, you just need a couple socks, some bobby pins, or a headband to curl your hair.

Here are a few of the many ways you can curl your hair without heat, often while you're sleeping:

No Heat Curl Headband Tutorial :: The Paper Mama

This was one of the very first tutorials I pinned on my hairstyle board on Pinterest and one of the first I actually tried out. When I had all my hair wrapped up, it looked like some kind of weird hairstyle Princess Leia would have, but I went to sleep on it and hoped for the best. It totally worked! I got lots of compliments on it the next day, so, of course, I explained how to do it to a bunch of people. My friend has a darling little girl with super-fine, super blonde hair and she tells me this method is the only way her daughter's hair will hold a curl. My sister-in-law, Katherine, also swears by it and always has great results. I love this curling method for vacations -- it's so easy to just pack a headband! (The link at the top is where I first saw the idea and she has a video there (but it's kind of long). This pin has a quick and simple overview of how to do it; I would've put a link to that but I couldn't find the original source.)

Natural Waves :: Join the Mood

I like this tutorial because it doesn't have to set overnight to work. Plus, sometimes I'd rather have some soft, natural waves instead of curls. This method only requires some water and bobby pins.

Foam Curls :: The Shine Project

Of course, no post about heat-free curling would be complete without mentioning foam curlers. If you're like me, you have childhood memories of wearing pink foam curlers to bed at night (ouch) and waking up with Shirley Temple-esque curls. Even though foam curlers haven't changed at all since I wore them in the 1980s, there are ways you can use them stylishly in the 21st century. The link above is proof. 

{source}

Bed Head Beach Waves :: Maskcara

Beach-hair waves are in right now and the whole goal is to look all windswept like you've been to the beach. I find it funny that often a lot of work is required to curl and style your hair so it looks like you didn't do it. In any case, this tutorial looks pretty simple and I'm totally going to give it a try.

Hair and How We Do It, Including Sock Curls :: 

71 Toes

This curling method looks really, really easy and only requires 3-4 socks to do it.  I hope my hair is long enough to make it work because I really want to try it this weekend. I love doing my hair Saturday night instead of when I'm trying to get my boys ready for church on Sunday.

How to Rock 4 Awesome Vintage 'Dos :: 

Refinery 29

Empty coke cans, pink foam rollers, hand-ripped rags -- this post shows you how to use all them (though not all once) to get gorgeous hair. Seriously, each hairdo is gorgeous. Who needs a blow dryer or curling iron anyway?

Hope your weekend (and your hair) is lovely this weekend! 

Note: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have disclosed.

A Gentle Reminder: Are You Saving Your Milk Jugs Yet?

We got about three or four inches of snow at our house yesterday, but I'm telling you, I feel spring in the air. I can't explain why or how I've come to this conclusion, but I just can tell that it's around the corner. Punxsutawney Phil has my back on this.

This is the time of year when I start planning my garden and ordering seeds. The idea of ordering seeds makes me a little giddy (this is my favorite place online to order seeds) -- I love flipping through catalogs, checking out all the different varieties, consulting my Western Garden Book to make sure what I like grows in my area, and planning out where I'll put them in my garden. (insert sigh of contentment here)

And as if that wasn't exciting enough, I'm gearing up to start my tender crop seeds again with the help of empty milk jugs. That's where the gentle reminder mentioned in the title comes into play:  are you saving your milk jugs? If not, you still have time! Once you finish a gallon of milk (or, as it goes at my house, a gallon of vinegar), rinse it out, remove the cap (more on that in a bit), and set it aside (though you could start some of your seeds right now, depending on what you're growing and where you live).

Are you reading all of this and thinking, "What on earth is she talking about?"  Basically, with a tiny bit of alteration (emphasis on tiny), you can turn an empty gallon-sized jug into a mini-greenhouse. This allows you to start your seeds outdoors with minimal effort. No need for special lighting or seed-starting kits or finding the space in your house for a seed-starting operation. Besides actually planting a seed directly into your garden, this is as easy as seed starting gets!

Want to learn more? You can read the a couple posts I wrote last year about my experience with mini-greenhouses:  "In the Backyard: My Milk Jug Mini-Greenhouses" and "How Empty Milk Jugs Changed My Garden".

I must give credit where it is due -- I first learned about this seed starting technique (called winter-sowing) from the blog, A Garden for the House. It's a lovely blog, full of great ideas. (Plus he seems like such a nice guy. I want to tour his mid-1800s house, chat with him about gardening, and enjoy his charlotte almondine.) You can find all of his winter-sowing posts here.  I highly recommend it.

One last thing about saving milk jugs: if you have kids, save the milk caps!

Not too long ago, I saw this idea on Pinterest, about creating a simple activity with an empty wipes container and milk caps. I'll admit, I was a little skeptical at first since some of the other baby activities I've seen on Pinterest and tried with my little guy have entertained him for like 5-10 minutes, tops (it's bad news when even a baby thinks it's boring). Seeing as I had a bunch of milk caps and an empty wipe container, I thought I'd give it a try.  Guess what? He loved it. I was amazed how long it kept him entertained. Toys made out of stuff I'd normally throw away or recycle? Love it!  (For some more great ideas of ways to use milk caps with kids, look here. Who knew?)

So start saving those milk jugs (and caps!).  Start your own seeds easily. I can't think of a nicer way to usher in spring. It'll be here before you know it. Trust me on this.

Note: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have disclosed.

{This post is linked up to Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, Little House Friday, and Homestead Barn Hop.}

Tipsy Trap: How I Used Beer to Get Rid of Snails

I hate snails with a seething, white-hot hatred. They're vile, loathsome, repulsive creatures. I hate their slimy little guts.

There are a few good reasons for this deep hatred and disgust.

My mom has these pretty orange flowers growing all over in her flowerbeds. (I snapped this picture on the 4th of July -- they're in full-bloom right now). I love them.

Knowing this, my mom potted up a bunch of transplants for my yard. Isn't that sweet?

I couldn't get to planting them right away, so I left them in the backyard like this for a few days, making sure they would get watered regularly by our sprinkling system.  One morning, as I was heading out to feed the chickens, I looked over at my little potted transplants. They were covered with snails! Seriously, there had to be a snail on each one, if not more. It was completely revolting.

My transplants never quite recovered. The stupid snails also did this to my petunias in my front yard -- they ate the blossoms right off during the night. I find them on all sorts of plants and flowers regularly. Grrrr.

Another reason:  these awful things love to congregate around my house at night. One time after dark, I was taking out the trash and I stepped on one. Barefoot. It was one of the grossest experiences of my life.

Last week it rained a few times (hooray!) and the weather seemed to bring them out in droves, so I decided it was time to fight back. They'd eaten too many of my plants and left their little slimy trails all over my driveway and patio long enough. I read a while back that snails are attracted to the smell of beer. There's something about the yeast in the beer that they seem to like. If you put some beer in a dish, they'll go to it to get a drink, get drunk, and drown. Easy enough. Plus, I like the idea of using this natural alternative to any sort of insecticide in my garden.

So I went and bought a big can of beer at a nearby gas station.

{I'd like to pause for a moment and mention the significance of this. I'm 30 years old and this is first time I've bought an alcoholic beverage. A life-long Mormon, I've never so much as tasted even a sip of beer. It felt kind of weird. Plus, I didn't even get ID'd. Aren't they supposed to check if you look under 40? Do I look over 40? As you can imagine, I've developed a minor complex because of this.}

Instead of using a dish or saucer, I went for a more hands-off approach using some empty containers. That way, I could just pick up the container and throw it straight into the trash, dead snails and all.  I also wanted to keep it enclosed just in case my cat got curious. To make my traps, I used an empty vinegar jug and an empty milk carton. You could also use a soda bottle or any other plastic container you have on hand.

On each side of the container, about 1-2 inches from the base, cut out a square hole (again, about 1-2 inches square). I used my husband's pocket knife, but you could use a box cutter, scissors, craft knife, whatever you have on hand.

Next, dig a shallow hole where you want to put the trap. You want the bottom edge of the hole to be at ground level so that the snails can crawl right in.

Pour the beer into the trap, filling the base up to the bottom of the holes on the side. I would suggest doing this in the evening since the things are most active at night.

The trap is set. Now you just have to wait. This is a good time to practice your maniacal  laugh. I know I did.

The next morning, on my way to feed the chickens, I popped open the lid of the snail trap. Sure enough, there were a bunch of them in there and there were others just about to go in. Remember that burning hatred I mentioned before? Well, let's just say I'm feeling a lot better lately.

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop,  Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, and Little House Friday..} 

How Empty Milk Jugs Changed My Garden

Earlier this week, I wrote about some of my various frugal endeavors and experiments, that...well...failed. However, I have one experiment that has been going on in my garden since April that makes up for all of them!

Those little seedlings I mentioned back in early May, the ones I was so nervous to transplant, are thriving! It's borderline crazy how excited this makes me!

I'm guest posting over at The Green Phone Booth today all about my experience with the milk jug mini-greenhouses. Check it out for a recap of the process and how reusing milk jugs changed the way I garden forever!

{This post is linked up to Your Green Resource, Little House Friday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, and Homestead Barn Hop.}

My Mother's Day Garden Gift

For Mother's Day, I got my mom some gardening books and I made a garden paver with all the grandkids' handprints on it (she especially loved that -- I got the idea for it here). Garden-related gifts are always a hit with her -- and with me.

But I didn't get any gardening supplies from my parents this year. Instead, they gave me a garden!

If you've spent any time on Pinterest, you've likely seen at least a few ways to re-purpose wooden pallets.   Tables, bookshelves, beds, wall art, compost bins, fences, crates, and more. It's amazing what people can come up with.  Lucky for me, my dad just so happens to be the supervisor of a warehouse and gets first dibs on the wooden pallets. Knowing this, I told my mom all about the pallet gardens I'd seen on Pinterest.

To my surprise, Mom and Dad made me a pallet garden, with "Happy Mother's Day" written on the boards in chalk. I sure love those two!

My mom, the certified master gardener, knows my yard about as well as I do since I'm always asking for advice. As a result, she knew what I wanted to grow, what I would like more of, and what plants I particularly love.  My pallet garden has lavender, cilantro, basil, lettuces, and strawberries growing in it.

What's so fun about the pallet garden is that it takes up hardly any space. I have mine leaned up against our shed (even though it's really heavy and would be hard to tip over, I didn't want to take any chances with my curious one-year-old, so Kevin secured it to the shed with some screws). It's such a great solution for people with limited or no yard space. And even if your space isn't limited (my parents live on almost an acre of land and they've got these along their fence), it's great way to maximize your yard's food and herb production.

To make them, my dad simply got some outdoor cloth (you know, the kind you use to block weeds) and stapled it to the the wood. They filled it with potting soil and planted.  So simple. You have to be careful when you water it it - I just lightly mist it with my hose.

Gardening and a random reuse. Creative ideas like these just make me happy. My parents know me so well.

Random Reuse: Tomato Can Stilts

As I've said on this blog before, I am HUGE fan of easy crafts. I guess that seems like a sort of obvious statement -- who doesn't like easy crafts?  In any case, I appreciate simple ideas that create simple fun.  This Random Reuse does just that.

A while back, I got an email from Ellen, one of the lovely readers of this blog, who told me about a simple craft of turning empty cans into kid-sized stilts. (By the way, if you ever have any great ideas you want to send my way, email me! My address is over in the sidebar.). This past week, I made some pasta sauce from a couple 28-oz. cans of tomatoes and just as I was about to toss them into the recycle bin, I remembered Ellen's idea.  So I washed them out and saved them.

The first step, of course, is to paint the cans. Granted, this isn't completely necessary, but it makes them more interesting (and it keeps kids busy for a little while).

Once the paint has dried, put a hole in each side of the can. At first, I was using a nail and a hammer to make the hole, but when that was taking longer than I wanted, I thought of using the end of a can opener (like when you poke holes in cans of evaporated or condensed milk) to make the holes. Super easy -- it only took a few seconds!

{In case you're wondering, belts on overalls isn't a new fashion trend.

The belt was purely out of necessity: it's kind of tricky to keep a lightsaber at the ready  without a belt to hold it!}

Thread some thick yarn, string, or twine through the holes and you're good to go! Max has gotten pretty good at (in his words) "walking like a Frankenstein" on them. A cheap and easy way to mix things up on a sunny afternoon!

{This post is linked to Your Green Resource -- check it out!}

In the Backyard: My Milk Jug Mini-Greenhouses

A little over a month ago I mentioned how I was cleaning and saving my family's empty milk and vinegar gallon-sized jugs for a seed-starting experiment. I was introduced to the idea of winter-sowing through the blog A Garden for the House, where he claimed that you didn't need to do much to start seeds. No special lights, no seed-starting kits required -- you didn't even need to keep them inside! Since I don't really have a space in my house to devote to seed starting (I guess there's one space that would have worked, but that spot had a chick brooder up until a couple weeks ago), I was instantly interested in trying this method out.

I'm so excited to be starting my own seeds, especially my tomato seeds. I've grown lots of things from seed but never tomatoes. I always just cop-out and buy the transplants after the last frost date. Even though the results are great and totally worth the expense ((mmmmm....homegrown tomatoes. Is there anything better? I'm dreaming about this recipe already.), it's not the most frugal way to grow a garden. For the same price as a single tomato plant at the nursery, I can get a packet of seeds and grow waaaay more tomatoes.  It's pretty much a frugal no-brainer. So why is this first year I'm actually starting my seeds? Simple answer: intimidation. Again, I thought I'd need all sorts of special equipment and fluorescent lighting rigged up.

Nope. To start seeds, you just need some seeds (obviously), some potting soil, duct tape and some gallon-size jugs. 

Although I highly suggest reading all about winter-sowing on the blog I mentioned previously, I'll just quickly run through how I went about creating my mini-greenhouses.

To start, I cut all the clean, empty jugs almost completely in half around the middle of the jug, only leaving a one-inch section uncut. This way the jug is still connected but also opens for easy access. The uncut part sort of acts like a hinge.

Next, I made about 15 holes in the bottom of the jug and a couple holes on each side of the jug (about an inch or so above the base).  This allows for proper drainage and ventilation. Speaking of ventilation, remove the caps from whatever jug you're going to be using.

Next, fill each mini-greenhouse with a few inches of potting soil, wet the soil thoroughly, and then plant the seeds. It's important to keep in mind the calendar when you're deciding what to plant. For instance, I wouldn't start tomato plants in these mini-greenhouses in February. That would be way too early. Instead, I waited until April (as you can see labeled on the jugs) to plant them. For a complete list of what to winter-sow and when, click here.

Once your seeds are planted, close the jug and seal it shut with some duct tape. Since it's windy where I live, I put my greenhouses in a plastic storage container to keep them from blowing away. Once the greenhouses are sealed, be sure to label what you've planted and when they were planted.

Then you wait. Occasionally check to see if the soil is too wet or dry. Sometimes I'll spray some water over the top of the greenhouses with the hose. Since you're keeping these outside, you'll also get moisture from rain and snow.

A few weeks after I planted the greenhouses, I was feeling pretty frustrated. The insides of each greenhouse showed no progress. Not even a single little sprout. I was so discouraged. The method had come so highly recommended! I was getting ready to plant again but then I saw them...

They were in my tomatillo greenhouse first: tiny little sprouts, as cute as can be, growing away despite the chilly nights outside.  Then the slicing tomato seeds started to sprout and then the San Marzano paste tomatoes. I was so excited! It actually worked!

It's been about a week or so since I took this picture. The sprouts have grown so much since then! They're actually starting to look like the transplants I used to buy at the store!  Every time I check them, there are more and more little plants emerging.

Our last frost date where I live is around Mother's Day, so I'm going to be putting them into the ground soon. I'm not going to lie -- I'm pretty nervous about transplanting my cute little seedlings.  At the same time, I still feel excited and optimistic about it, especially since, according to the blog I keep referencing, winter-sown plants are said to be more hardy than ones started indoors.  We shall see.

Hooray for experiments that actually work -- especially if they produce delicious and juicy tomatoes!

How I Reuse Dryer Lint for Camping, Emergency Preparedness, and Beekeeping

Yep, you read that right -- I reuse dryer lint.

It may be the most random reuse I've written about yet. It seems weird and even a little gross, I know. (I wonder what it is about dryer lint that's kind of gross. I mean, it's just little bits of our clothes, right?)  But don't worry, this reuse is nothing really outlandish, I promise. (Speaking of weird reuses, I couldn't help but think of this book, especially since there is a bit of cat hair in the dryer lint pictured above...)

As you probably know, dryer lint is really flammable, hence the need for regular cleaning of the lint catcher and dryer exhaust vent. Why not use that flammability to your advantage and make a fire-starter?

I first learned about this from a woman at church, who was teaching a class about emergency preparedness (it was the same class where we learned to make these emergency heaters). Too bad she moved out of our neighborhood -- she had so many useful ideas. Anyway, she showed us how to make fire-starters with dryer lint, a cardboard egg carton, and some melted wax.

To make the fire-starters, fill an egg carton with dryer lint, really packing the lint into each egg compartment.  Next, melt some wax. When we made these, we melted down nearly used-up candles in an old stockpot (all those scented candles created a pretty interesting combination) and also used some new, unscented wax from a craft store (nothing fancy, of course. It's for coating dryer lint, after all). Pour the wax all over the lint in each compartment, making sure the lint gets covered completely. The wax will soak through to the cardboard bottoms, so put something underneath it. Let the wax cool and harden. When you're ready to use one, simply tear off one of the egg compartments.

Here's the reason behind these fire-starters: they hold a flame while you're adding fuel to a fire. Often when building a fire, you'll go through a bunch of matches lighting and relighting the kindling in your fire as you wait to for the actual firewood to catch the flame. A gust of wind will often put out a fledgling flame, or too much firewood will smother it, or something like that. That's where the fire-starters come into play.

These fire-starters, once lit, will burn for several minutes, keeping your flame going strong until the fire starts burning the firewood. Using these dryer lint starters make building a good fire easier and less wasteful, making it great for camping and backpacking. In an emergency situation I imagine they would be not only good for the aforementioned reasons, but also as a way to conserve matches.

But what about beekeeping?

This Saturday we're getting two packages of bees for the hives we just purchased! It's a joint venture with my parents since we split the start-up costs and hives will be in their yard. In preparation for the installing of the packages and future inspections, Kevin and I decided to practice lighting and using the smoker beforehand. (PS -- Pay no attention to my horrible looking picnic table. It's getting a paint job soon!)

We decided to try one of the fire-starters in it. As intended, the fire-starter held the flame right away. We added some dry leaves, too, but not much.

It worked so well! Not only did it produce a bunch of smoke, but it was the cool, white smoke that is ideal for beekeeping, too. Using the lint starter alone might not give enough smoke depending on how long your inspection lasts, but it definitely seemed to work better than using paper or dry grass/leaves. When we use it our smoker, we'll probably use the fire-starter and then some fuel like burlap or green weeds. When I took my beekeeping class, the instructor said, half-jokingly, that lighting your smoker and getting it going can take longer than the inspection itself. With the lint starters, we had our smoker going full-force in less than a minute!

So, yeah, even dryer lint has a reuse. Keep an empty egg carton in your laundry room. Who knows? You might be glad you saved the stuff someday.

{This post is linked to Homestead Barn Hop and Your Green Resource}

Random Reuses: Bread Tabs, Paper Bags, and Other Miscellaneous Items

As I've said many times before on this blog, I'm always looking for creative ways to reuse something, even if it's just once, before throwing it into the trash. Here are a few reuses around my house...

Old bread tab = less time spent fiddling around the roll of tape trying to find the end.

It's been a while since I mentioned a site I love -- PaperBackSwap.  Do you have books you've read and/or books you don't want anymore? Swap them for ones you do want for free! It's awesome -- for more info about it you can read my post all about it here. You can print wrappers off the site, but they don't always fit the dimensions of the books I'm sending. After a while, I just started buying special shipping envelopes for all the books I mailed. Not anymore!  Now I just wrap them in paper grocery bags (whenever I forget my reusable bags, I always opt for paper).  They work so well since the paper is fairly heavy and durable. In fact, I got a message from the recipient of the book pictured above telling me how well packaged the book was!

Plus, who doesn't like getting a "brown paper package" in the mail, especially if it is a free book?

Are you a crazy person like me who washes and reuses plastic zipper bags?  I don't do it all the time (I don't reuse bags that have held meat or other wet/sticky/gooey substances), but if I've stored dry items in them, like pancakes, waffles, bread, etc., I always rinse them out and reuse them. And since I haven't used paper towels in years, I use my old paper towel rack as my plastic bag drying rack. Hey, I'm not the only one who has a space devoted to drying plastic bags, so I can't be that weird.

Maybe you've seen this reuse on Pinterest, too. Who knew that the lids from grated Parmesan cheese fit perfectly on Mason jars? In the picture above, I've created a cinnamon-sugar shaker with it. Next lid I have is going on a jar filled with baking soda to use for cleaning. I love this reuse!

For the last few weeks, I've been collecting our empty milk and vinegar (we go through a lot of vinegar in our house) jugs in the shed for -- get this -- making miniature greenhouses. Apparently, you can use empty gallon-sized jugs to house seedlings in the late winter and early spring months. I've always shied away from starting seeds because of the need for special lighting and seed-starting kits. I don't have the room in my house for that kind of operation! With these miniature greenhouses, you can keep your seedlings outside even when the temperatures are freezing. AMAZING! I haven't done any winter-sowing yet, but I'm going to start next month by planting tons of tomato seeds. If this works (and the author of the post about it swears it does), it will save me a lot of money. It's bordering on silly how excited I am about this.

Then again, I always get a little too excited about a good Random Reuse...

Note: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have disclosed.

Random Reuse: The Cereal Box Guitar

It's been unseasonably cool and unusually rainy here, which has translated into more time spent inside than both me and my four-year-old son would like. As a result, I've been on the lookout even more than usual for any kind of creative activity for him. Plus, it warms my heart whenever he's working on something at his {messy} art desk.

Not too long ago, I came across the idea for a cereal box guitar on Pinterest. It was pinned from the blog, Made By Joel. I've since fallen in love with that blog and I highly recommend it to anyone who has any influence on children. It's full of awesome, creative ideas. Anyway, being the sucker I am for reusing things, my little guy and I gave the cereal box guitar a go.

To make this simple project, you'll need:

• an empty cereal box
• scissors (a craft knife is also useful, but I just used scissors)
• rubber bands (as many as you like; we used three)
• tape (we used masking, but you can use any kind you have)
• paint, glue, and embellishments (optional but encouraged)  

To start, you'll need to trace a circle for the hole.  We used a canning jar, but you could also use any cup/glass.

Cut out the hole with scissors or a craft knife. As you can see, our edges weren't perfectly cut, but I don't think that really matters.

Cut the cut-out circle in half and tape it below the opening. This will keep the rubber bands from resting on the box. To prop it up away from the box, attach it with a thick loop or two of masking tape. You could also do what the tutorial instructed and use the other half of the circle cut-out by folding it and sticking it under the half-circle.

Now this step is optional, but Max had lots of fun painting his "guitar"...

...and gluing a few things to it. I think my favorite additions were the googly eyes and, of course, his name written on it.

Once the paint was dry, we slipped on the rubber band "strings".  To keep the sound from being too buzzy, the tutorial we followed suggested taping the strings down (as you can see above). 

Final step: rock out!  For our pick, we used a bread bag tab. You can also use part of the circle cut-out and fold it into a pick shape. At one point, Max used a colored pencil and dragged it across the "strings" like a violin. Often, the simplest things will get kids to be creative and keep them entertained. In this case, it only took an empty cereal box.