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Nifty Thrifty:  Repurposing...what have you done lately?  |
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texdane
Farmgirl Legend Chapter Leader Chapter Guru
2368 Posts
Nicole
Sandy Hook
CT
USA
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 Posted - Apr 11 2010 : 5:35:51 PM
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I love "repurposing" things, finding another use for something. Two of my favorites that I have repurposed are a crystal biscuit jar into a toothbrush holder (left the lid off), and an old but elegant glass decanter as a mouthwash holder. Recently, I reused an old teak and plexiglass breadbox into a "mini hothouse" for baby seedlings. What ideas have you come up with to reuse and repurpose?
Nicole 
Farmgirl Sister #1155
KNITTER, JAM-MAKER AND MOM EXTRAORDINAIRE |
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clothedinscarlet
True Blue Farmgirl
1333 Posts
Siobhan
Battle Creek
MI
USA
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Posted - Apr 11 2010 : 5:59:17 PM
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I've mainly been repurposing old clothes for me and my kiddos. I have a ton of glass baby food jars sitting in my kitchen that I am brainstorming about. I haven't decided what to do with them yet, but I can't bring myself to throw them away. My husband thinks I'm crazy. They're getting a little out of hand LOL! I keep thinking, there must be something brilliant to do with them. There just MUST be!
Farmgirl Sister #1110
Siobhan - AKA Liza-Jane (my farmgirl name), wife to my best friend, Trent, and mommy to Camden (11/28/05) and Bennett (7/11/07). and Truman (7/28/09) |
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natesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1710 Posts
angela
morgantown
indiana
USA
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Posted - Apr 11 2010 : 8:07:10 PM
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Siobhan, I have used those jars for storing home dried herbs, screws, jewlery, snacks for the kids while driving, jello servings for picnicing, sand art paper weights, coin sorting for the kids, money sorting for the bills, to teach the kids about how to make butter from milk, holding buttons, beads, sequins, loose ribbon, hair clips, sewing needles, straight pins, seeds, homemade ice cream toppings to take on picnics with the roll around ice cream maker, bugs, wood chips left behind by beavers, butterfly chrysalis, rpetty rocks, shells, and even made homemade snowglobes as gifts one year. Start looking around the house and you'll find lots of little piles of things in drawers everywhere that could use a container. Plus if the kids lose them or break them while playin in the dirt and collecting bugs, it's not a big loss. I love those things.
I love the really old or odd looking canning jars, but can't spare the space for any kind of displays. I use them for pencils, vases, cooking utensils, and canisters.
I am now using the childrens old easter and halloween buckets for berry picking buckets. They are the perfect size.
God - Gardening - Family - Is anything else important? |
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clothedinscarlet
True Blue Farmgirl
1333 Posts
Siobhan
Battle Creek
MI
USA
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Posted - Apr 11 2010 : 9:21:03 PM
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Angela, great ideas! Thanks!
Farmgirl Sister #1110
Siobhan - AKA Liza-Jane (my farmgirl name), wife to my best friend, Trent, and mommy to Camden (11/28/05) and Bennett (7/11/07). and Truman (7/28/09) |
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texdane
Farmgirl Legend Chapter Leader Chapter Guru
2368 Posts
Nicole
Sandy Hook
CT
USA
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Posted - Apr 12 2010 : 6:16:01 PM
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Angela,
Love those ideas. We use Mason Jars for drinking glasses, and we use old baby jars for many of the things you describe. I love jam jars with buttons in them, too. And, my daughter has one for a bug jar, too. :)
The berry picking bucket idea was a new one, very clever.
Nicole
Farmgirl Sister #1155
KNITTER, JAM-MAKER AND MOM EXTRAORDINAIRE |
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farmmilkmama
True Blue Farmgirl
1939 Posts
Amy
Central MN
USA
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Posted - Apr 12 2010 : 6:57:32 PM
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Well, I don't know if you would call it "repurposing" but my dad did tear out a deck at someone's house the other day and brought home all the scrap wood...and from it in the past couple days we have built a new fence for our upper garden and also a deer feeder!!
I like all the ideas that have been posted here. I always want to save things because I know I will have a use for them, but we just don't have the room. We have about 400 square feet here that is "ours", so we're pretty picky about what we can save!
--* FarmMilkMama *--
Farmgirl Sister #1086
Be yourself.
Everyone else is already taken.
-Oscar Wilde
www.wakeupstartlearning.blogspot.com
www.farmfoodmama.blogspot.com |
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Annika
True Blue Farmgirl
5370 Posts
Annika
Moscow
ID
USA
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Posted - Apr 12 2010 : 7:20:49 PM
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Well, I'm building my new coop out of salvaged goods. Free pallets for a lot of the floor etc...it's going to be fun designing this thing as I go, I've got an a-frame plan to work from, but I'm going to go with what I can scrounge. I HAS to have windows and curtains!
Annika
Farmgirl & sister #13
Palouse Prairie Girls Chapter
http://palouseprairiegirls.blogspot.com/
http://prairiegirlsjournal.blogspot.com/
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ~Leonardo DaVinci
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EastTXFarmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
725 Posts
Victoria
Farmgirl #549
TX
USA
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Posted - Apr 12 2010 : 7:33:54 PM
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Siobhan my mom took the baby food jars and glued the tops to the underside of shelves in her sewing room. She keeps her pins, buttons, bobbins, and any other little what-nots that fit into the jars. She just unscrews the jar, uses what she wants, then screws it back. Keeps everything neat and tidy. The small jars allows her to seperate her buttons by style and color. I would think you could convert the idea into any hobby. Could come in handy in the kitchen too. Wow, now that you brought it up. I never realized what a neat idea my mom had.
I have been repurposing clothing. Large mens shirts make really cute aprons with a little alteration. I just made a tote out of a sun dress. I also made bird feeders out of old light fixtures. The kind that hang down under the light bulb.
Begin each morning with a song in your heart. |
Edited by - EastTXFarmgirl on Apr 12 2010 7:39:43 PM |
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farmmilkmama
True Blue Farmgirl
1939 Posts
Amy
Central MN
USA
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JojoNH
True Blue Farmgirl
1679 Posts
Joanna
Clarksville
New Hampshire
USA
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natesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1710 Posts
angela
morgantown
indiana
USA
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Posted - Apr 13 2010 : 05:12:33 AM
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It's kinda more a re-repurposing that I did just this week. I am learning to sew and needed somewhere to put all the little things that go along with it. My mom had given me a sewing tote when my daughter was born to keep all her medical things in. She was a preemie and had lots of problems. I drug it out from under the bed and am using it for a sewing basket now. I know it's not such an original idea, but the fact that I remembered it was there is really something these days.
God - Gardening - Family - Is anything else important? |
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vegetarian farmer
True Blue Farmgirl
249 Posts
Jane
Freedom
pa
USA
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Posted - Apr 13 2010 : 08:36:07 AM
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I just got a free farm house sink from Craigslist. I had been wanting one for a while. It is the kind with the sloped counter on both sides of the sink. I am going to make it into a potting table/sink for my outside area next to the garden I use for washing things from the garden and an outside kitchen area. I am putting the brick beehive oven close by. I hope to have the sink in by this weekend. Soon I won't need to go in the house at all!
Jane
http://hardworkhomestead.blogspot.com/ |
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phonelady
True Blue Farmgirl
323 Posts
Carla
Loveland
Colorado
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Posted - Apr 14 2010 : 06:51:38 AM
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I like to reuse. Can't stand the idea of all the stuff that goes in the landfills.
Old canning jars are great to hold little things in my desk drawers [as a matter of fact my desk is a combination of furniture that was rescued from the thrift store and assembled].
Any old crates I can get ahold of have become bookshelves.
Any hardwood branches that blow down in the storms here are taken up sawed and made into little table legs and other bits of decoration.
I learned to weave old towels into rag rugs.
Any stuff like wire or good wood gets taken up.
Since I live on such a small property I have to have a game plan for the articles and have the job done in a few months or I can't take it in [my place would look like a junkyard otherwise].
Smiles!
Carla
It's not just life-
It's an adventure! |
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SheilaC
True Blue Farmgirl
1667 Posts
Sheila
Vermont
USA
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Posted - Apr 14 2010 : 06:54:38 AM
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Someone gave us a dresser for my girls to share, so I re-made one of their old ones into something to hold dishes--it works GREAT! :) and looks nice in my dining room too.
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krissy
True Blue Farmgirl
222 Posts
Kristen
Snohomish
WA
USA
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bboopster
True Blue Farmgirl
1127 Posts
Betty Jo
West Bend
Wisconsin
USA
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Posted - Apr 14 2010 : 08:43:22 AM
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A couple of weeks ago I redid my old rocking chair from when I was a child. I used a piece of denim I had left over from making my chaps and an old quilted pillow sham I got from someone for free because they were throwing the set out. Now it is a beautiful back cushion for the rocker. Looks and is very comfy. My oldest grandbaby crawled right up in it. He loves to sit and read his book. The only problem with re-purposing is that I collect and bring home so much stuff. I looked at my attic the other day and went WOW!!!! I could be on that show Hoarders!! 
http://www.bboopster.blogspot.com
Nana to 4 with 1 on the way.
3 Blue Star Mother and Proud of it!
Pray for our troops to come home safe and soon.
Enjoying the road to the simple life :>) |
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Nifty Thrifty: Repurposing...what have you done lately? |
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Repurposing...what have you done lately?
