Friday, January 16, 2009

Reuse - and be creative

I consider myself a moderately frugal person. I shop sales, I reuse, I reduce my waste, I trim the budget, I don't eat out, etc, etc. Tonight I had some free time so I looked up a favorite topic of mine in relation to my frugalness - reusing. I love to look at something not only for it's face value, but for the potential it has past being what it is. For instance, I look at today's jar of spaghetti sauce and see tomorrow's dry storage for bulk-purchased rice. I can look at today's cereal box (which we rarely have nowadays) and see tomorrows standing filer. Today's used coffee grounds are now being saved (in the freezer) to be reused in the spring in my flowerbed as a fertilizer enhancer (hope my herbs like Dunkin! - BTW, I did not realize this was a possibility until tonight, apparently this is an old trick from back in the day that now in this penny stretch society is coming back to light). My empty milk jugs store extra sugar, extra rice, clothespins (after being modified slightly) and even small dried beans. Why pay money for Tupperware and Rubbermaid (both of which can leach nasty carcinogenic chemicals into your food anyway) when Ragu and Classico give you sturdy glass jars for free. If you decide to keep the plastic off of your food - please don't toss the plastics, just use them for you non-food items like buttons, craft supplies, crayons, q-tips, cotton balls, safety pins, paper clips, etc. Have great day!

1 comment:

  1. I also use coffee grounds as a bath scrub. Instead of buying fancy scrubs (which I love), I have a moisturizing soap bar that I coat in the coffee grounds and scrub my needed areas. It really makes my skin feel soft. Although it does look messy, it rinses off cleanly. My DH thought I was crazy! BTW, don't fill the bathtub with water, do it in an empty tub or shower.

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