Before you throw it out or recycle, can it be used for something else?

Repurpose - to give a new purpose or use to (as per Merriam-Webster).  Why not use your garbage for something else rather than needlessly adding it to a landfill? There are so many ways to repurpose items I couldn't possibly include them all.  However, I think I put together a pretty nice assortment of  possibilities!  

Slide Show of Repurposing Possibilities  
Links to all items in the slide show can be found below.  I apologize if you have any problems with the links due to circumstances beyond my control.  Links can also be found on my Pinterest Board Repurposing.

Check out our Pinterest Repurposing Board for many more great  ideas!

Remember, think about what else you might be able to use it for before throwing it away!

THIS IS POST NUMBER FOUR (IV) IN A SIX (VI) PART RECYCLING SERIES.  COMING SOON: RECYCLING PART V: TRY REUSABLES INSTEAD!

CHECK OUT THE PAST RECYCLING POSTS HERE:

• Recycling Part I: At Home Basics
• Recycling Part II: Oddball Items
• Recycling Part III: Selling & Donating

Check our our Minimizing Household Waste page on our Website!

Please like and follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, and Instagram!

100% cotton yarn and so simple to make! Never have to buy or deal with smelly sponges again!  Just wash the cloth when it gets dirty and have a few extra ready to go as backups! These make great gifts as well.  Two FREE printable labels for a nice finishing touch are included!

The finished dishcloth measures approximately 6" x 6".  It is a little bigger than  a sponge, but small enough to not be mistaken as a dish towel! Since this is a dishcloth the gauge is not crucial, however for those of you who need to know, 4 stitches = 1 inch.

I will only use 100% cotton yarn to make these.  It is more absorbent, natural, and great to crochet with. 

I purchase the Lily Sugar'n Cream brand from Michaels because it comes in 2.5 oz skeins in multiple color options.  It regularly costs $1.99 for a 2.5 ounce skein, however I only buy if it is on sale or I have a coupon for 40% or 50% off.  I recently purchased about 40 skeins when they were on sale for $1.19 each. That was a great buy! One 2.5 ounce skein makes three dishcloths with a little yarn left over (I use the scraps to make "scrap" bags.  That post is coming soon!).

Don't know how to crochet?  Then check out the Crochet Guru on YouTube to learn! She has excellent step-by-step videos with no "fluff."  She also has videos for both right handed and left handed crocheting so no excuses!

I used the single crochet front loop ridge stitch to make these dishcloths but you can easily just use a regular single crochet stitch.

Presentation is everything! 
If you plan on giving these as gifts it will look better with a nice label.  I have included two different labels that can be printed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper.  There are 5 labels to a sheet.  Just click on the picture of the labels you want to print to download the pdf file.  The two styles are separate downloads.

I printed them out on Brown Bag Paper (affiliate link) and then cut between the dotted lines.  

I love shrimp.  I can eat it just about any way except raw.  These two  recipes are so simple and so yummy we make them all summer long.  I hope you like them as much as I do!

You can click on the recipe cards below or use the button under them to download the pdf file. It will print one sheet of  8 1/2 x 11 paper, preferably cardstock paper.  Cut out each of the 4 x 6 inch recipe card and put them in  your book!  They always come two recipes per sheet in an effort to not waste paper! 

Visit my Recipes Page to print out previous recipes (pdf files) or to download a FREE 4 x 6 Recipe Card Template (.dox file) for your own recipes! 

Don't want to print them?  No worries, just copy them down and enjoy!

Every year for Halloween I give out candy.  Every year for Halloween I eat the candy before Halloween  and end up having to buy more.  Then I eat that candy and have to buy more again, and so on.  I never have leftover candy and it's not because we get a ton of kids knocking on our door.  I just have absolutely no willpower.  I have even purposely bought candy I don't like so I wouldn't eat it. Guess what?  I ate it.  Come on, admit it, because I KNOW I'm not alone!  Well, this year I was determined to change that pattern and do something different.  I wanted it to be fun, so when I saw glow sticks on sale I thought, "Why not? Who doesn't like glow sticks?"  Then I realized this year Halloween is on a Saturday and that means kids out after dark.  Why not help them be safer by giving them something bright to wear at night?  By this time, giving glow sticks as my trick-or-treat give-away was a no brainer.  Here's what I did.

Supplies Needed:

• Glow Sticks (3 per favor) with connectors
  
• Orange Cardstock or Construction Paper
  
• Printer
  
• Scissors
• FREE Printable Pumpkin Cut-outs - This is a pdf file with four (4) pumpkin cut-outs to a page.  You can click on the link or the picture below to download.

Stop buying and throwing out unnecessary waste!  Why buy something that you use once or twice and then throw it away?  What a waste of resources, money, and landfill space!  These swifter sweeper covers take about 5 minutes to make, cost $1 and can be washed and reused over and over again!  I made two for myself so if one is being washed, I have another one that I can use!

Don't just throw it out...sell it or donate it if you can!

Have you thrown any of the following items in the garbage?  

• Clothing, toys, shoes, cell phones, furniture, housewares, small appliances, decorative items, hardware, eyeglasses, keys, jeans, corks, tools, buckets, candles, crayons, etc.?
  

If so, then you may have disposed of items that had monetary value or could be donated to a worthy cause.  Why needlessly add items that may be of value to your or someone else to a landfill?  I know it takes a little more time, but it is worth it!

We discussed the basics in Recycling Part I - At Home Basics and in Recycling Part II - Oddball Items we talked about where to recycle household hazardous waste, plastics #4 and #5, e-waste, and other oddball items that did not fit into the basics category.  We mentioned that if the item was in good working order to wait for todays post: Selling and Donating Items, because if it's good, why not sell it or donate it to someone  who needs or wants it?

Selling and Donating Items
"One mans junk is another mans treasure."  I don't know who originally said that, but it couldn't be more true!  If your garbage can be useful to someone else, then please don't just throw it out!  Either sell it for some extra money or donate it!  It would be a shame to let good stuff take up space in a landfill...

Donating Basic Items:
It' pretty common knowledge that you can donate toys, clothes, and many usable household items to several different charities such as:

• Goodwill
• The Salvation Army
• Clothing Donations (a Service of the Vietnam Veterans of America)

Most or all of them will even come and pick up directly from your home on a scheduled date.  How convenient!  Just click on one of the links for more information. Be sure to check the list of items they are willing and NOT willing to take.

But what about some of the other stuff?  Like old sneakers that aren't even worth donating!  How about stuffed animals or old video game systems?  Do you want to help children in bad situations?  Well, take a look at the list below to see what sort of 'other stuff' can be donated.  I think you might find some of them very surprising!

What's left?
For other items, especially large ones, that you think might be worth something to someone else (swing sets, trampolines, sheds, etc.) and even other things you just don't want to be bothered selling or mailing out, make an account and post them on FreeCycle.  On this site you can find a group of people in your local area that recycle items by posting them and sharing them for FREE! The first person to respond get first dibs on scheduling a pick-up time and date.  You just leave the item out on the agreed upon date and they come and get it!  It's better than needlessly adding to a landfill.  You can also find items you might want on there rather than buying brand new!

Sources:
http://www2.epa.gov/recycle
http://www.earth911.com

Two very simple recipes that can use a variety of different vegetables depending upon what you have!  Of course I always try to use whatever is fresh out of the garden!  As you can see in the picture above I used my abundance of string beans in both of them!  There was nothing left so I am pretty sure my family liked them!

You can click on the recipes or use the button below to download the pdf file  and print one sheet of  8 1/2 x 11 cardstock paper.  Then cut out each of the 4 x 6 inch recipe cards.  They always come two recipes per sheet in an effort to not waste paper! 

Visit my Recipes Page to print out previous recipes (pdf files) or to download a FREE 4 x 6 Recipe Card Template (.dox file) for your own recipes! 

Enjoy!

Making jelly is much easier than I thought and I find myself wondering why I waited so long.  However, after having to strain all my raspberries through cheesecloth to make my raspberry jelly I decided I did not like that part of the process at all.  I knew I needed  some help and after a little research ended up splurging and ordering the Roma Food Strainer & Sauce Maker (And I also ordered the additional strainer attachments for berries and grapes.).  Making the grape jelly is pretty much the same as making my Homemade Raspberry Jelly, the only difference being the quantities that go into the recipe and the fact that getting the juice out of the grapes was so much easier!  The really big bonus for me was that the grapes were FREE!  I picked them ripe off the vine in my yard :-) 

The Ball Classic Pectin recipe on the label does not give the amounts required for making grape jelly so I had to use their Pectin Calculator.  It's a very simple and helpful way to get the exact ratio of juice/pectin/sugar that is necessary for any fruit you want to do.  They also have a lot of other recipes available if you are combining fruits or are making herb jellies (mint for example).  

FYI the jelly does NOT come out purple!  My husband was a little upset at first, but after he tasted it he realized it tasted just like the regular grape jelly from the store.  It's funny how we get used to things being a certain way. 

Check out the Free Grape Jelly Labels at the bottom of this post!

How to Video (written instructions and pictures are below)

Grape Jelly Recipe:

• 3 cups Grape Juice (You need about 4 pounds of grapes to get this much juice)
  
• 4 tablespoons Ball Classic Pectin
  
• 3 cups Sugar 

Directions:

1. Get the juice out of the grapes.  I used my new Roma Food Strainer.  It is a hand crank and was reasonably priced (in my opinion).  I ran the grapes through twice using the special grape cork screw (purchased separately).  
2. Let the juice settle overnight in the refrigerator and just pour or ladle off the good juice at the top, discarding the sediment at the bottom.  You could strain it through cheesecloth, but I prefer to not waste cheesecloth and instead to let density do it's work!
3. You should have 3 cups of juice.  I actually had more so I just saved the extra in the refrigerator to do another batch later.
4. Fill the large pot for processing with about 7 inches of water and set it to boil (it takes a long time).
5. Set the 12 clean 4 ounce jars on the raised rack in the large pot (mouth up) to heat/keep warm.  
6. Put the 12 lids in a small sauce pot and bring to a boil.
7. Measure out the 3 cups of sugar and the 4 tablespoons of pectin and set aside.
8. In medium saucepan, bring juice to a boil.  As it is heating slowly stir in the pectin a little at a time.
9. When it comes to a full rolling boil add all the sugar at once stirring constantly.
10. After sugar is dissolved and it comes to a full rolling boil, time exactly one minute of boiling and remove from heat.
11. Immediately begin to fill jars one at a time.  Using a funnel and a ladle, fill a jar leaving 1/4 inch of headspace.
12. Swipe a rubber spatula along the inside wall of the jar.
13. Wipe the rim of the jar clean.
14. Put a lid on it and screw a rim on to finger tightness.
15. When all jars are done put them on the rack in the canning pot and lower into the water. (If you have extra jelly but no more jars, just pour it into any container and put it in the refrigerator to set.  You can keep it for up to a month).
16. Bring the pot to a rolling boil, cover and then time exactly 10 minutes.
17. Turn off heat, remove cover, and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
18. Raise rack and carefully remove each jar and set aside to cool.
19. You should start to hear the lids 'popping.'  This is great!  
20. Allow jars to sit for 24 hours.  After 24 hours push in the center of the lid.  If it pops back it did not seal properly and needs to be refrigerated and eaten within a month.
21. If the seal does not pop back the seal is good and you can store it in a cool, dry location for up to a year!

Problems, Questions, or Want to Learn More?
Check out Simply Canning for help with Water Bath Canning.
Check out The National Center For Home Food Preservation.

Free 4 ounce Jar Printable labels! 
This is a pdf file that is designed to be used with Avery White Address Labels 5160/8160 size 1" x 2 5/8".
Print a full sheet of labels, write in your name and the date, and choose to cut it out on the line or not!
Click on the pictures or button below to download the pdf file.

I am really glad I purchased the products above and can vouch for them 100%!  They made the process so much easier and in turn more pleasant.  Check them out by clicking on one of the two pictures above or one of these two links:  Roma Food Strainer  or  Roma Strainer Accessory Kit at Amazon (affiliate links).

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I saw this on Facebook and don't know who the originator of this adorable cake is, but I had to try it after my sister-in-law requested it for her birthday!  I made it up as I went along and I think it turned out OK!  

Here's what I did using a box of cake mix and a container of white whipped icing...

Ingredients in Homemade (Organic) Vanilla Creamer: 

• In sweetened condensed milk: milk and sugar
• In  milk: grade A milk (and depending upon the milk you choose there could also be added vitamins A and D).
• In pure vanilla extract: vanilla bean extractives in water and alcohol (you can buy alcohol free pure vanilla extract if you choose)

Oh, and guess what?  IT'S STILL GLUTEN FREE!  That's right, it is still GLUTEN FREE even with real cream and vanilla!  

Is it cost effective?  
The organic version costs a about 5 cents more an ounce, but remember, it has REAL MILK AND VANILLA and NO PALM OIL!  

The non-organic version costs about 3 cents less an ounce and still has REAL MILK AND VANILLA!  So worth it in my book :-)

NOTE: All comparisons were using REGULAR French Vanilla Creamer and WHOLE MILK.  I did not look at nor did I do any comparisons with respect to International Delight Fat Free, Sugar Free, or Fat and Sugar Free but be aware that they all contain corn syrup!

Sources:
Say No To Palm Oil - What's the Issue?
Palm Oil Sustainability - What is it?
What is Palm Oil?