Ideas For Repurposing Household Items

Lately I have found myself recycling and re-purposing things more. Partly because I have begun to see alternative uses for my everyday products and partly because my town's only recycling center is kind of out of my way so I am constantly staring at a pile of empty containers in my kitchen.

 Here are some of my favorite ways to reuse household items.

1. If your protein powder doesn't come with a scoop you can use the scoop from Oxyclean or similar products when you're finished with them. Any product with a scoop close to the protein powder's serving size will work. Just remember to clean and sanitize the scoop well so you don't get a soapy protein smoothie.

2. Reuse food jars. Instead of tossing spaghetti, pickle, salsa, or olive jars you can use them to store your lunch, leftovers, and much more! They may look less trendy than mason jars but they will get the job done just the same.  Use hot water to remove the paper label and a little oil to remove the glue. 

My favorite foods to store in empty jars: 
~Soup
~Salad
~Smoothies
~Yogurt
~Mixed Fruit
~Iced Tea
~Granola
My favorite non-food items:
~Hair ties
~Bobby pins and small hair clips
~Cotton pads or cotton balls
~Homemade body scrub or face mask. 
~Q-tips
~Spare change. Sometimes I like to label the jar and save my change for something specific like new shoes.  
~Beads and craft supplies
~Mini-beauty samples

3. Do you have piles of magazines laying around because you want to save that one recipe? Tear out the recipes you want to save, grab a 3-hole punch, a 3-ring binder, and create your own recipe book! Then you can recycle the leftover magazines and save space while saving the planet. If you want to put in a little extra work and money you can get presentation covers at an office supply store an slip the recipes in there for extra protection. 

4. Clean out a non-aerosol hair spray bottle to use as a salad dressing spritzer. Just add olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the bottle, shake well before each use, and spritz on your salads or veggies. This way you don't have to worry about over pouring.

5. Use 2 empty wine bottles as candle holders for the dinner table. You might need to shave down the ends of the candles slightly if your bottle opening is too small.  If you're going for a more casual dinner you could skip the candles and just put a few flowers in one wine bottle. 

6.  Use twist ties from bread and other goodies to keep computer and TV cords from getting tangled. 

7. Any product that comes in a resealable bag can be reused to transport your lunch or snack to work or school. Rinse it out first, of course. 

Those are all the things I have be reusing lately. How about you? Do you have any other uses for commonly trashed or recycled items? Let me know!