Your tips on re-using...

OK, I'm a freak, and I'm sure this won't even scratch the surface, but some of the stuff we do/re-use: cloth diapers for babes cloth menstrual pads for me the mesh netting that oranges/onions come in can be used as scrubbers for pots and pans (I've not bought brillo pads in YEARS) and I also use them for tops for sprouting jars (mason jar, with a ring, no metal lid, use the screen/mesh folded over for rinsing sprouts) misprints from the printer/junk mail, etc...use the back for the kids to draw on or as scratch paper for notes, lists, etc. I collect all the seeds I will need from my garden to use for the following year (so I don't have to buy seeds) freecycle things we no longer have a use for - someone can use it! If I make a beef roast in the crock pot, I save the drippings (in the crock pot), add water, a bit of seasoning, some dried hominy and put it on low. The following day a few hours before dinner (or lunch) I cut up some carrots, celery, fennel, arugula, onions (whatever veggies you want) and throw them into the crock pot, give it a stir and turn it on high and its ready when we are for dinner. compost all organic waste: coffee grounds and unbleached filters, banana peels, fruit skins or cores, potato peelings, veggie peelings, egg shells...etc. (No animal or fatty products -egg shells are ok, but nothing else) Find out if your local bread outlet has "feed bread" or "duck bread"... this is bread just past its expiration date (literally a day or two). I know people who buy this and freeze it. I buy it (at our rural store its $1.75 for a huge bag of bread...I just bought a bag yesterday and it happened to be all hot dog buns, but it can be all kinds) and I really do use it as feed for the chickens and ducks, but if I were to come across a bag of whole grain "healthy" bread in there, I would definitely freeze it for our use, it is all sealed in original packaging. Any food scraps after meals (or if bananas are turning too fast or other fruit/veggies), before I turn them to compost, I separate out what the chickens will eat....so, in the morning, I may break up some "feed bread", toss in some sprouts (I usually make so much that I share) and the leftovers from breakfast - apple pieces (no seeds) from what I've cut up for the boys, the "strings" from bananas, etc...chickens love it all! I do still buy feed for the chickens, but our "homemade" blend makes the girls VERY happy! Milk jugs get cut up for mini green houses for the garden/protect plants from the cats, cut up for use as scoops for chicken feed/cat food, rock salt in the winter. Plastic detergent jugs with the pour spouts are also perfect for rock salt in the winter...they are not too heavy to lug around for salting icy spots. I'm sure there's more...but those are what I can think of off the top of my head.

it is the recyclable plastic bags. instead of throwing them away after a single use, you could still save them by keeping them in neat place. so the time you'll be needing it, they are available right at your own home, without spending again.

That's not a bad idea at all! Thanks for the tip. I actually re-use cereal bags a waxed paper. Mostly at Christmas time when I am making the candy that I give away. they also work well in between frozen hamburger patties as well.

Hmmm ... thinking of something specific is quite hard, even though I hardly ever throw anything away! How about empty tetra packs from milk with the tops and bottoms removed for planting baby trees? Oh, here's a good one I just thought of. We're currently saving old cans (like Coke cans) to make a solar heater. And we've just fixed the skylight on the caravan using old plastic fixers from a redundant exhibition stand.

My mom used to keep a butter wrapper in her Crisco container for greasing pans. She probably still does. I always save my Chinese food containers. I use them to store leftover food and bring it to work. I love them because they are extra durable plastic. In the fall/winter we use our plastic milk cartons to make bird feeders with our daughter. She decorates them and we hang them out for the birds filled with birdseed.