Lying around our house we have tons of newspapers, which we were saving to pack things for moving. However, we have plenty more than we need. I wondered if there were things you could do with newspapers besides recycling them or using them to wrap fragile items for moving. I found a few:
Fire Pit/Campfire
This was the first use we found, mostly because we wanted to get rid of it faster (we’d already made two trips to the recycle box). We wound up using it in a campfire we had when we went on a camping trip. It helps to kindle the fire. Crumple them up if you wish, but we found rolling them made them last much longer and you could actually stack them the way you would if it was wood.
Get your Fruits and Veggies Ripe
The first time I saw this tip it was for tomatoes. You wrap the tomato in a piece of newspaper and set them on the counter for several hours or overnight. It works. But I wanted to see if it would work for other items. We tried bananas. That worked too. Those are the only two I’ve tested, and if you test something else, please let us know if it worked.
Get Your Feet Wet
Actually, keep them dry with some newspaper. If your shoes get wet, stick some newspaper in there overnight and allow to dry. The newspaper will help absorb the water and dry the shoes much faster. It you sprinkle some baking powder in there to work on odors, skip it when you put the newspaper in, the newspaper will help with that too.
Wiping Glass Clean
Whether you are cleaning a mirror or window, newspaper is a great streak free absorbent “towel” for wiping the cleaner off. Amazingly the print does not come off either. I tried it.
Watch the frugal living blog tomorrow for the second article in this series, More New and Frugal Uses for Newspapers.