What Do You Do When???

[SQUEAKS]

OK, I am not an enviromental nut, but I got to thinking today how can we make use of things we regularly throw away with out thinking about those things. I'll start off by syaing I am a "TRUE PACKRAT". I save things that most would say I'm nuts for saving.

However I would like people seeing this to post things you normally toss in the trash that can be useful later on.

EXAMPLE: I have 4 cats and of course buy a lot of cat food. Every time I dumped a bag of cat food cans in the garbage, I kept thinking there has got be some use for these. Then it hit me. All my fence posts were about the same size as the cat food cans so I tried an experiment. So on one fence I nailed a cat's food can with just one nail on top of all the fenceposts. I found out that the posts with the cans on lasted longer than ones without the cans. When one rusted out I just replaced it with a new cat food can.

On another example I had to replace our home heat and air conditioner so when the repairman wanted to haul off the old one, I told him no. I want it. I saved the fan motor and fan and made it into a barn fan that keeps the entire barn cool in the summer Florida heat.

I am just curious how many people are like me and see some usefulness in something that I guess you would haul to the landfill.

If you have found uses for things that may be considered as trash or junk, PLEASE post here things you have found that others may find useful also. We may not be able to save the world but we sure can help each other by telling what we have discovered that while it may be trash to some it is gold to others.

Bob:v:

[pnalley]

Cat food cans make good bridle racks. Takes a 2 x 4, nail the cans (open end towards the board) with 1 nail in the center. Paint the whole thing. Since the cans are so round it is better for your leather items then hooks or nails.

[SandyMM]

I am deathly allergic to cats, soooooo no cat food cans for us - unfortunately!

[CarolU]

I put empty cat food cans in a gunny sack and use it to train horses. I like that bridle rack idea. Wish it worked in a Quanset hut with curved walls. :mecry:

[SQUEAKS]

Many times I have to cut up trees that have fallen during a storm. Grace has me cut the trees into 8 foot lengths, remove the branches and lay them on the trails at different places. It helps the horses getting use to obstacles and they just step over them.

Another thing is to place flags at all the gates, we have 33 gates here on the farm and when the wind is blowing it doesn't spook the horses at a gate. I use multiple strands of flourscent surveyors tape along with catalogs and CD's we get in the mail to make noise then just replace the catalogs and CD's as required. :)

[SQUEAKS]

Another thing I do is I have a hand grinder that crushes and breaks up horse poop. I grind up up about 2 bushels and spread it on the garden every week. We get tomatoes about 6 inches wide and cucumbers about a foot long.The zuchinni and pole beans give us plenty to cut and freeze.

There are a lot of good tricks you can do to get better garden veggies.

Bob:D

[Abejita]

empty cat food cans around here get rinsed out, smashed flat and put in the scrap metal can..they are recycable..$$$$ ( although we take most of our scrap metals and put them in a dumpster at a local body shop..the money goes to the Red Cross )Steve will even strip the insulation off of old electrical wire and save the copper ..it's amazing how many cans you use ( canned food) and how fast they fill up a garbage can..
Milk jugs come in handy as funnels ( cut the end off) and to keep around to make up stuff and store like batches of humming bird feeder nectar. Smaller soda and water bottles ( like a 20 -24 oz size) I put listerine and/ linament like Absorbine in, punch a small hole in the cap with a nail or use a small drill bit..makes a great squirt bottle to apply linament to an exact spot like a hock with out wasting as much Just squirt it right on instead of putting it in your hand and splashing . The listerine you can apply to mane or tail very easily to . I also keep an extra cap or two that doesnt have the hole so I can carry this in a tack bucket to a show or in the trailer..just switch caps back and forth
The plastic mesh bags that my beet pulp shreds come in I have used as weed mats in the garden, but be warned..take them up before winter because they will deteroriate and shred up and blow around ( at least with these north winds up on this hill ) I use old newspaper as weed mat under mulch in the flower beds..just a couple of layers. I also used a LOT of layer of wet newspaper as my pond liner underlayment when I built my pond ( its pretty small ..just around 100 gallons) yogurt cup with the bottom cut off placed around a seedling helps to protect it from slugs and other critters

[Linda Y]

I used to feed cinnamon in those big containers from Sam's. I collected a LOT of them. They are great for keeping nails and such in at the barn because the sides are flat and they arrange neatly. They are also good for keeping ant bait in to sprinkle on the fire ant beds.
Empty milk jugs are kept on a string for water during hurricane season. I also use them for scoops and funnels.
Empty feed sacks are used for garbage bags.
Empty butter containers or sour cream containers are used instead of tupperware type storage containers.
I reuse small water bottles. Fill them with our own well water, which is better than store-bought water.
All horse poo is used as fertilizer in the spreader.

[lisa l aka marci]

Let's see....

I am 'gathering' clean fill to fillout a spot for a riding arena - just picked up someone's broken up patio (got my Mom's last year) - been cutting down trees and using the smaller branches as part of the base to put dirt over (otherwise it will turn into MUD!).....

I've joined an on-line group called freecycle - and given away a TON of stuff I had no use for anymore - also gotten a bunch of stuff for the house and even outdoor tows for Tori.

Grass clippings go either in a compost pile, or right now in the garden for mulch. Feed bags are used for trash bags or in the garden as a weed barrier.

Cardboard goes in the gardens as weed barrier between plants.

Milk jugs get saved also for keeping the spare fridge full (runs more efficiently when full) - then the jugs get used for funnels etc.

Coffee cans - plastic ones are used for storing nuts, bolts etc. Metal ones get used for holding critter bait in the gardens.

Need to try that trick with the cat food cans~ - I have a bunch of bridle hangers already, but want to start desensitizing Lunita to different things.....

We have a LOT of brush (type of dogwood) - that grows very straight - I have cut some of that while clearing fence line - the insulators that go over fiberglass poles fit right over these - saving the use of poles! (For now at least!).

I have also been cutting Barberry trees - they can grow very tall and still thin - especially when growing through the hawthorne trees....they have been used as fence rail in the brush - nailed to hawthorne trees.....

I also have fire hose (got the idea from Leila!) - being used as fence rail - looks quite nice if I say so myself!

[SQUEAKS]

Another thing we save are the large kitty litter containers. They make a great storage container for used cooking oil and grease. We keep one under the kitchen sink until it gets full.

Also use them for storing drain oil from tractor and vehicles. When one gets full I just burn it in an outside fireplace where we burn our trash.

Grace always puts the hay strings in a large barrel we have in the hay shed. When you need some for something just tie as many together as you need. They also make good ties for holding up tomato, pole beans, or any veggie that needs tied up. They also come in handy for tying down outdoor furniture and gates during hurricanes.

A neighbor of mine carries a 4 foot piece of 2 and 1/2 inch firehose for when he has to change a flat tire. Much more easy on the knees than on hard blacktop or concrete. Also if you get stuck in sand you can put the firehose under your wheels to help you get out.

I had an old wooden gate that couldn't be used anymore so I attached a 8 foot chain to it and use it as a drag to drag the outdoor riding area and barnyard as well as the round pen. Just pull it behind my riding mower.

More later:v:

[tinomino]

I also use any plastic containers from take out food or like someone said the butter and sour cream containers as tupperwear.

I re-use my plastic grocery bags as bags to clean out the kitty litter boxes and for poop bags for the dog.

Also re-use any 20 soda bottles for when I bring milk in the car for breakfast. And I also use them in the barn for squirt bottles. :)

I used to use the bailing twine to make spare lead ropes for an emergency. They aren't very comfy on your hands but they work :) You just braid them together around a snap. We collect the plastic ones now to tie anything around the barn that needs tying.

[Soltera]

Another thing I do is I have a hand grinder that crushes and breaks up horse poop.

I take it that's not a kitchen gadget? :biggrin:

Any plastic containers (cottage cheese, mostly!)from grocery store are reused at least a few times. Plastic grocery bags for in-yard doggie litter. Small containers, like for spices, become toothpick or loose change vessels. Non-repairable socks get saved up and knotted into bundles for (stinky!) dog toys. I’m still using some “Deli Cat” cat food containers from a previous employer from the early 1990’s for dog food (buy in bulk, divide into tightly sealed plastic containers for daily dispersal).

This thread is erally making me think!

[baileyholc]

I reuse bread ties. I use them to tie back my electical cords so they don't get tangled. I use news paper in my garden instead of the black plastic stuff to hold the moisture in my rose beds. I have to replace it every year but that is ok. My roses never looked better.

[reuben T]

It'd be hard to list what all I use that was used for something else first, it's just a way of life. I've collected way too much useful stuff, been trying to clean out some of it. I know we need to be clean and neat, but on the other hand I also need something to work with if I'm gonna be doing anything, it's hard to find a good balance. (some of what I call useful junk is what most people would have no use for, because I'm a mechanic and inovater, building and modifying my own machines to do what I want them to, a junk TV is chuck full of useful parts, a junk car is loaded with useful parts and metal for making things) I've built a home shop size cupola furnace so I can transform scrap metal into expensive or hard to find parts for equipment.
Now I think we're on the verge of some real trouble, the distinct posibility of food shortages is looming, it's time we get busy in a garden and hang on to whatever is usable for reusing.

[lisa l aka marci]

I found a 'new' use for some of the old fire hose I have.....I ran out of T-post toppers, and didn't have any that fit U-posts, so I cut about a 2' section of hose, slid that over the end of the post half way, and left the other half hanging down to keep the top covered. The other thing I used it for (figured this out yesterday!) - had to attach .hinges. to a round pen panel to use it as a gate - nailed the section of hose to a pole using it as the 'hinge' for the panel.


Plastic containers such as margarine etc also kept kept and used, if I have a 5 gallon bucket that cracks, the bottom gets cut out and then the bucket gets used to protect small plants, trees etc.

Umm..not sure I mentioned this one - empty coffee cans are used for holding screws, nails, etc in the garage.

[Finogirl]

Over here we are encouraged to recycyle as much as we can. Cans, glass and plastic bottles are collected along side the trash and taken to be recycled also paper, cardboard and garden waste is all recycled by our local authority, that way we throw out a lot less trash and feel better about it too !!

[Monty]

Our Village has a recycle/trash contractor - it goes on our taxes :(
Metal is going sky high around here - so save the cans and take them in and get cash! SIL and daughter just took a pick up truck load in and got $210 !
Hubby is very inventive and saves stuff - then repairs equipment or makes things he needs .
Bob - check with you local places - some will take in used motor oil - our Fire Dept does that .Fast food and restaurants recycle their cooking oils - they are being made into alternative fuels !
Hey everyone - don't forget to sign your donor card - ;) The ultimate recycling in the end !

[motorgypsy]

Absolutely sign that organ donor card. We think we'll live forever but one never knows.

Soda bottles can be used to replace worn out bag flytraps. Remove the fly filled bag and slice an X in the top of the 2 liter bottle after you remove the screw on part, add water and rotten meat, insert the plastic fly trap top and you have a new flytrap. If you want to hang it you need to support the bottle also since it's larger and heavier than the original trap.

Leftovers - we've become masters at creating interesting soups and stews and spaghetti sauces from leftovers that are too small to reuse. Kids who normally won't eat a lot of veggies will usually eat spaghetti sauce with all sorts of things mixed as long as they go in the blender first.

Our parents went through the "Great Depression" and mine were down to the rough ends on asparagus as their only food so wasting things was not allowed. My dad even made a really neat small wheel barrow from a discarded and trashed plastic hospital baby isolette. The original container on the wheel barrow rusted out so he secured this plastic isolette to the frame and we're still using it.

One way to deal with kids who are picky eaters is to prepare a nutritious and varied (avoid things they really really hate though) meal (frozen en trees are fine but personally I think most are pretty bad), allow the children to serve themselves with the rule that all new things must be tasted and you eat what you take. And nothing else is available to eat other than snack fruit and veggies until the next meal. And get them to help menu plan. Kids can cook with supervision as young as five if you use the microwave in particular. Pizza can be very very healthy if you reduce the amount of cheese and use lots of different toppings. We raved about the fried chicken served at our school and my mom actually called the school and got recipe. It was GREAT!:biggrin:

We switched a great majority of our cooking to the microwave. Most fresh veggies can be done in the microwave with less loss of vitamins and minerals because you can cook them dry. We cook potatoes, fresh corn on the cob in the husk, squash, sweet potatoes, frozen veggies, eggplant, and a lot of other stuff in the microwave. You do have to stab some of them a few times so they don't explode:v: After they are cooked you can slice and saute them or add them to different dishes and they are done in 5 minutes or less. It's amazing how much time you save.

TC senior bags make great trash bags because they are plastic lined.

Newspapers are supposed to be great mulch for plants. I use horse manure but know people who have used newspapers and said they did a very good job.

Banana peels are supposed to be great for rose fertilizer. I've used them but my roses do well anyway.

My grandparents always composted all veggies and paper products. If you're going to compost meat you have to bury it really deep. Rotten meat is better for fly trap.

Weathered old boards make beautiful picture frames. I have several that look fantastic especially on horse and nature prints.

Small pieces of electric fence tape work really well for tying buckets and food tubs to the fence so horses don't turn them over or carry them off. But watch the ends. The metal threads can stick you. They last a lot longer than string does.

[Monty]

I suddenly realized - some things I have always done - were things my Mom did ,and I never realized it was recycling LOL ;) I will have to really think what all I do - LOL Never thought it was recycling - just a way to save money ! ROFL
BTW - Do NOT reuse the butter,cottage cheese containers or the like,for reheating stored foods - they are of a different composition/formula and give off toxic fumes ! Best to transfer to a safe micro dish to reheat !;)
If I have to have the oven on - try to do at least two things in there at the same time - IF the cooking temps are the same .
We have a great composting area - Have to dress the garden this year again ;) I grew pumpkins in a part of the pile 2 yrs ago ! But, then it was hard to get water out to them - easier now that we put in two frost free faucets back by the horses ! LOL
I will buy a large beef/pork roasts, and do my own cutting - , my knives are sharp - why pay $1 to $2 more a pound for stir fry,stew or whatever "special" cut! A large roast price can scare you - but look at the packages of the other cuts and you may be able to save a lot by buying what looks like a heck of a lot of money - by breaking it down into several meals !