Do you have something on your list to buy the next time you head to the mart store, or home improvement store? Well, get ready to cross it off of your list, because you probably already have something right in your home that will do the job.
I really enjoy this review of common household items because it shows how creative people can be with what they already own. And, reusing common household items can save a lot of money, of course.
You’ll be surprised at how much you can do with what you already have. So, relax and enjoy a good read through of the following articles. Maybe they will inspire you to come up with some more new ideas, as well.
Great Frugal Uses for Tennis Balls
Most families have tennis balls somewhere around the home. And if they don’t, consider this. Tennis balls are seriously inexpensive, and make great toys for kids and pets alike. But in addition to pets and children, tennis balls are useful for many different purposes around the home too.
Reusing What You Have – Dresser Drawers
My friends and family always laugh when they see the strange uses I come up with for my many different odds and ends pieces of furniture. I have been reusing furniture in new and innovative ways since I first moved out of my mother’s house at eighteen. So what could I possibly find to do with a dresser drawer? Oh, you just wait and see!
Reusing What You Have – Flower Pots
A great, low-cost item that is completely reusable is a flowerpot. /It does not matter if it is made of Terra Cotta, ceramic, plastic or any other material. And it does not matter if you paint it, decoupage it, stamp it, use fabric or use scrapbooking items on it. The creative possibilities for decorating the flower pot itself are completely endless. However, what can you use these items for besides your plants and flowers?
Reusing What You Have – For Bookends
Several weeks back, my son came to me and was complaining because his books on his dresser kept falling over. He wanted me to buy him some bookends to help hold the books up. So I started looking around at the prices for some that would match his room. Ha! The prices were outrageous for anything that was made for a child, and honestly even grown up style bookends are pretty crazy.
What to Do with Old Toothbrushes
Hate to throw anything away? You’ll love these ways to reuse old toothbrushes. Some of these ideas are very practical, while others are pretty funky. Enjoy!
Do you have a bunch of old earrings that you never wear anymore? Earrings can be like single socks, one of the pair generally gets lost and then you can’t do anything with them. So you throw them in a drawer, and there they stay. Well, here are some frugal ways to take advantage of all of those unwanted earrings in some fun new ways. (And if you don’t have any unwanted earrings, check out your local thrift store or tag sale, where they can be had for pennies for a bagful.)
New Frugal Uses for Pillowcases
Pillowcases can often be found around the house or at thrift stores for pennies. Recently I found a bunch of new ones in some funky designs on clearance. They were a mere 50 cents a piece in the package (2 for a dollar).
Well, this new house is finally starting to come together. Tom is back to work, and Andrew started at his new school, which so far, he absolutely loves. He comes home with a happy face after school.
Clothespins are one of those things you find in life that are really useful. In a pinch (pun intended) they can be used to hold or repair or fix or hang almost any simple thing around your home. As I mentioned in an earlier article, New Uses for Clothespins, clothespins are so cheap and long lasting, that it makes perfect frugal sense to use them in place of other expensive gadgets, gizmos and doodads.
Even More Uses for Clothespins
You must think I am obsessed with clothespins. After all, I just recently talked to you about New Uses for Clothespins and More Uses for Clothespins. But you see, it is just that I have found so many frugal ways of using the little things around the house, that I wanted to share. I don’t want you to go out and waste money on things when you can find a perfectly good and frugal solution that does what you need it to do.
While cleaning out our master closet the other day I found….ack!!!! Oh the horror! I found several wire hangers. Now this wouldn’t normally be such a terrifying experience if it were for the fact that I thought I had just cleaned out all of the wire hangers. Somewhere perhaps I missed one behind the coats. And that one must have been pregnant.
My son just walked into a living room with an old music CD stuck on his thumb. “Look Mommy…a ring”. “Cute, honey…now throw your ring in the garbage before you break it”.
We are slowly in the process of getting through our many VHS movies. Over the years, we’ve picked up quite a few of them from thrift stores and yard sales. Friends have given us their VHS tapes when they have upgraded to DVD because they knew that we would use them. We were one of the last hold outs in purchasing a DVD player.
Cds and DVDs seems to be everywhere in our household. We constantly get them from so many sources. Many are mailed to us, to encourage us to sign up for internet services or preview some great new gadget. We received a CD when we bought house paint, and another in our box of light bulbs. The are CDs slipped into bags when we buy greeting cards, and others when we visit a local fair. Major appliances now come with their own DVDs that explain how to use them. It is getting pretty ridiculous.
Reuse: New Uses for Toothpaste
Do you seem to always wind up with tons of toothpaste tubes. I do. Sometimes we try one and decide we really don’t like them, other times we just get a new one and the kids might forget about the old one and by then it just seems silly to use it. So they collect in this basket I have. It didn’t take me long to go on a quest to find out how to use the toothpaste in new and innovative ways.