How to be a bad consumer - Repurpose it!

[redhead5318]

I'm a bad consumer cuz I hate buying new stuff. I'd rather shop garage sales than the mall. If possible, I try to repurpose stuff before it goes in the trash. If a friend is moving, they probably have some junky outdoor stuff (like planters!) they aren't planning on taking with them.


Here are some examples:

egg cartons - great for starting seeds and rooting houseplant offshoots. I'll also take an empty one to the farmers market and they can fill it up with eggs instead of giving me a new carton. non garden related, but I find the nice plastic cartons the organic eggs come in make a nice organizer for my earrings.

gallon/quart jugs, from water, milk, juice, etc - cut the top 6 inches off, cut some holes in the bottom, and you've got a repurposed planter! works great with the bottoms of 2 liter soda bottles too.

large metal coffee canisters - works great for rising bread in, and you can bake the bread right in it. and neato - round bread slices!

broken terra cotta pots - big huge chip out of the top? flip it over, put it in a wet shady area of your yard. Makes a great toad home, and toads are just plain awesome.

How do you repurpose stuff that would normally be destined for the garbage?

[MoniDew]

wow! fabulous ideas!!

I take broken terra cotta pots and shatter them to make shards for drainage at the bottom of whole pots. One could, I imagine, also make mosaic from tile shards...

I reuse the non-plastic type of egg cartons as seed starter/transplant starter for my garden. They compost nicely...

I compost... That's reusing, isn't it? Any plant fiber, including newspaper, coffee grounds, tea leaves, vegetable/fruit peelings, etc.

I shop flea markets/thrift stores/garage sales/etc, too.