There are so many items in a home that get trashed instead of being reused. By reusing a variety of common household goods, you can easily add a little green to your routine and decrease household spending. Opting to reuse household items saves you money, reduces your carbon footprint, and consumes less resources.

Product Packaging

Most people don’t even think twice about trashing these items but, in fact, they can come in quite handy.

• Cereal box liners can be washed and used to wrap sandwiches for kids’ school lunches or as cake-pan linings.
• Quart-sized plastic containers, like those used for yogurt or cottage cheese, are dishwasher safe. Clean and use to freeze batches of soup stock and crockpot dishes.
• Butter or margarine containers are perfect for meals on-the-go, especially if the food is a bit odiferous and would ruin a good piece of tupperware.
• An empty tissue box is the perfect size for a tabletop garbage receptacle. Keep one next to the bed when you are sick to dispose of your used tissues.
• Transform empty soda bottles into self-watering seed starter pots.
• Plastic water bottles are easily converted into packaging for baked goods.
• Make a lunchbox container from an empty gallon milk jug.

Paper

Despite living in a digital world, many find themselves drowning in paper waste. Rather than getting rid of it, reuse paper in these fun and fresh ways.

• Make adorable heart-shaped dishes from magazine pages.
• Weave baskets from newspaper.
• Make envelopes from last year’s wall calendar.
• Craft seed starters from newspaper.
• If you park your car outside during the winter, place newspaper on your windshield so you don’t have to scrape ice off of it in the morning.
• Newspaper is an outstanding packaging material, instead of paying for bubble wrap or packing peanuts.
• Newsprint is awesome as at cleaning glass, leaving it streak-free and clear.
• Save non-important documents you printed but no longer need to use as scrap paper to jot down messages or to-do lists.

Laundry Waste

Can you believe that lint and used dryer sheets are easy to repurpose? Lint can be fashioned into compostable seed pots, paper mache, and campfire starters.

There are literally dozens of ways to reuse dryer sheets. From cleaning soap scum off your bathtub to repelling rodents, dryer sheets are capable of so much in and outside of your home.

Paper Towel and Toilet Paper Cardboard Rolls

Besides serving a variety of purposes for crafting, these cardboard rolls can also be used to organize spare extension cords. Additionally, when the holidays are over, you can wrap lights around tubes to keep them tangle-free.

Or try cutting a tube in half vertically and attach to a hanger for a crease-free to store your pants. Cut a tube the same way to use as a means for keeping gift wrapping from unwinding.

Miscellaneous

The list of ways to reuse household items just goes on and on. As you research, you really discover just how much stuff we unnecessarily throw out. Some of the other common household items you can reuse include:

• Glass jars: Once thoroughly cleaned, jars are perfect for storing pantry items, craft supplies, and bathroom toiletries.
• Linens:Cut up old clothes, sheets, towels to use as rags for cleaning, or braid a t-shirt rag rug. There are also numerous craft projects you can try that require scrap fabric.
• Old toothbrushes: Great for cleaning small objects or the grout between tiles.
• Empty toothpaste tubes: Cut off the bottom to use as a funnels or cake icing tool.
• Unused furniture: Break it down and repurpose the materials, such as the wood and linens, for other DIY projects.
• Egg cartons: Excellent storage for small Christmas tree ornaments.
• Plastics bags: Reuse as garbage bin liners.
• Rubber scraps: Attach pieces under the corners of rugs to anchor them down so they don’t slip around on the floor.
• Candle stubs: Heat up the stubs so they are pliable and use to cork a wine bottle. They also make excellent fire starters.

Now that it is the holiday season, you are probably thinking about ways to repurpose the space in your home. One of the easiest ways to open up a room while adding a standout decorative touch is by installing a rolling door. Beginning Friday, December 1, all Barncraft doors are on sale for 30 percent off with promo code HOLLY30. Shop today for all holiday orders!