I'm taking part in Thrifty Thursday over at Thrifty Jinxy, and my piece of thrifty advice is to recycle recycle RECYCLE! I'm not talking about collecting soda bottles for nickels and dimes (though that works too), I'm talking about recycling containers you already have. I talked briefly about this when I redid my stockpile closet for the Declutter Challenge, but I feel that this very important thrifty topic needs a bit more attention.
I pretty much never throw out a good container. I keep all my shipping boxes, shoe-boxes, and I've even been known to save containers from food. My husband thinks there's a loose screw in my head for doing this, but it is really one of the best thrifty things I've done and one that continuously saves us money. I especially love containers from microwavable meals - I just wash them out and toss them into the dishwasher, and then they're good for just about anything.
The best part of recycling containers is that you can find them in pretty much any shape and size. I wash and re-use the mushroom boxes, and I've found them to be the best things to keep my daughter's nail-clippers and other teeny tiny toiletry items grouped together. I have a wicker basket in her room that is labeled toiletries, but in that actual basket I have recycled containers that separate all of those tiny things. If I were to just throw all of her toiletries into the wicker basket, I would have to spend 5 minutes digging them out! Instead, I have a separate container for nail items, toothbrushes, hair brushes, medicine droppers, suction bulbs, and it's literally grab and go.
Another great thing about reusing containers is that I can throw them out without feeling like I'm throwing away money. I change up my containers all the time, especially when we buy a new product and it comes with a container that fits better into that alloted space.
As with everything else, please do NOT turn off your common sense to save a couple of dollars. I will never re-use anything that once contained raw meat, for example. It's just too yucky and too much work. My rule of thumb to determine whether or not to keep a container is I need to spend less than a minute cleaning it (dishwasher time not included). If I can't give it a quick rinse in the sink and toss it into the dishwasher, it's not worth keeping.
Recycled containers are also great to store scrapbooking supplies in, since most of those things are such randomly odd sizes. I've used boot shoe-boxes for my scrapbooking paper, and microwavable lasagna bowls for my stamps and such. Speaking of scrapbooking items...I really need to declutter that soon. I'm pretty sure all of my poor recycle boxes got smushed in the move, so I will need to replace them. Oh well, at least they didn't cost anything!
I pretty much never throw out a good container. I keep all my shipping boxes, shoe-boxes, and I've even been known to save containers from food. My husband thinks there's a loose screw in my head for doing this, but it is really one of the best thrifty things I've done and one that continuously saves us money. I especially love containers from microwavable meals - I just wash them out and toss them into the dishwasher, and then they're good for just about anything.
The best part of recycling containers is that you can find them in pretty much any shape and size. I wash and re-use the mushroom boxes, and I've found them to be the best things to keep my daughter's nail-clippers and other teeny tiny toiletry items grouped together. I have a wicker basket in her room that is labeled toiletries, but in that actual basket I have recycled containers that separate all of those tiny things. If I were to just throw all of her toiletries into the wicker basket, I would have to spend 5 minutes digging them out! Instead, I have a separate container for nail items, toothbrushes, hair brushes, medicine droppers, suction bulbs, and it's literally grab and go.
Another great thing about reusing containers is that I can throw them out without feeling like I'm throwing away money. I change up my containers all the time, especially when we buy a new product and it comes with a container that fits better into that alloted space.
As with everything else, please do NOT turn off your common sense to save a couple of dollars. I will never re-use anything that once contained raw meat, for example. It's just too yucky and too much work. My rule of thumb to determine whether or not to keep a container is I need to spend less than a minute cleaning it (dishwasher time not included). If I can't give it a quick rinse in the sink and toss it into the dishwasher, it's not worth keeping.
Recycled containers are also great to store scrapbooking supplies in, since most of those things are such randomly odd sizes. I've used boot shoe-boxes for my scrapbooking paper, and microwavable lasagna bowls for my stamps and such. Speaking of scrapbooking items...I really need to declutter that soon. I'm pretty sure all of my poor recycle boxes got smushed in the move, so I will need to replace them. Oh well, at least they didn't cost anything!
1 comment:
You have some great ideas. Your post a nice with great information. Best Wishes
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