Two simple ideas to reuse
May. 5th, 2011 10:24 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
gifteddruidess.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
craftgrrlI just wanted to say Thanks for all the wonderful ideas and links I got the other day after asking for help with my overflowing fabric supply! As part of my appreciation, I'd like to share two extremely simple ideas to reuse basic things from around the house.
First, I have 6 cats. (Yuki, Kira, Link, Zelda, Jing, and Cole.) We go through lots of litter but we prefer to buy Tidy Cats because we get those nifty, heavy-duty, plastic containers with handles. We use these containers around the house for everything. We wash 'em up, dry 'em out, spray a spritz of febreze or something to remove any lingering litter smell, let it air out, and start storing our hearts out.
We've used these things to hold paint supplies, winter clothing, cat toys (haha!), tissue paper, desk and office supplies, tools, etc. But recently we've turned them into desk legs. We had a folding accordion door thing for our coat closet that got replaced. We unhinged the two doors and put one door on top of 4 litter bins (two stacked on each end) to make a make-shift desk. The bins were full of heavy things, so no worries about it tipping over.
We made another of these desks for my girls' room so they could have something to do puzzles and color at. However, they had nothing to sit on. My mom took a bin, wrote their names on each one, and let them use them as stools. However, the older child decided that cat litter bins are ugly and do not make good stools for her tiny 6-year-old bottom. So my mother took a roll of contact paper, cut out pieces and stuck them on the sides. This was a quick fix, and behold! My 6-year-old totally forgot that it was EVER a cat litter bin to begin with!
A before and after shot. You can see even more bins in the background, waiting for make-overs. You could also spray paint the bins with the Krylon paint that adheres to plastic. She just used the contact paper because it was a faster solution.
Next up.. If you're like me, you use birth control pills. But every month, along with my pill pack, I get the little pocket thing to cart them around. After months of pockets piling up, I have finally found a use for at least ONE of those pockets.
I get a generic pill because I cannot afford the real deal. (And insurance doesn't cover birth control- Why??) So you see what the pockets look like, my pills, and the newly not-so-transformed pocket that holds yet another form of birth control: vaginal contraceptive films aka VCFs.
VCFs fit perfectly into the pockets. (Each box has 9 films and I currently have 10-12 films in that one pocket.) On a more personal note, I would highly recommend the films. :) You could also use them to house business cards, recipe cards, and coupons, depending on the size of your pocket. Mine just happen to be big enough to store Pokemon cards, too, so I'm thinking of giving some to my girls to see what they can come up with on their own.
Hope that gives you some ideas for reusing things! Next up: a step-by-step process on transforming a retail store's tossed out display unit! (No, seriously, I'm working on this now!)
First, I have 6 cats. (Yuki, Kira, Link, Zelda, Jing, and Cole.) We go through lots of litter but we prefer to buy Tidy Cats because we get those nifty, heavy-duty, plastic containers with handles. We use these containers around the house for everything. We wash 'em up, dry 'em out, spray a spritz of febreze or something to remove any lingering litter smell, let it air out, and start storing our hearts out.
We've used these things to hold paint supplies, winter clothing, cat toys (haha!), tissue paper, desk and office supplies, tools, etc. But recently we've turned them into desk legs. We had a folding accordion door thing for our coat closet that got replaced. We unhinged the two doors and put one door on top of 4 litter bins (two stacked on each end) to make a make-shift desk. The bins were full of heavy things, so no worries about it tipping over.
We made another of these desks for my girls' room so they could have something to do puzzles and color at. However, they had nothing to sit on. My mom took a bin, wrote their names on each one, and let them use them as stools. However, the older child decided that cat litter bins are ugly and do not make good stools for her tiny 6-year-old bottom. So my mother took a roll of contact paper, cut out pieces and stuck them on the sides. This was a quick fix, and behold! My 6-year-old totally forgot that it was EVER a cat litter bin to begin with!
A before and after shot. You can see even more bins in the background, waiting for make-overs. You could also spray paint the bins with the Krylon paint that adheres to plastic. She just used the contact paper because it was a faster solution.
Next up.. If you're like me, you use birth control pills. But every month, along with my pill pack, I get the little pocket thing to cart them around. After months of pockets piling up, I have finally found a use for at least ONE of those pockets.
I get a generic pill because I cannot afford the real deal. (And insurance doesn't cover birth control- Why??) So you see what the pockets look like, my pills, and the newly not-so-transformed pocket that holds yet another form of birth control: vaginal contraceptive films aka VCFs.
VCFs fit perfectly into the pockets. (Each box has 9 films and I currently have 10-12 films in that one pocket.) On a more personal note, I would highly recommend the films. :) You could also use them to house business cards, recipe cards, and coupons, depending on the size of your pocket. Mine just happen to be big enough to store Pokemon cards, too, so I'm thinking of giving some to my girls to see what they can come up with on their own.
Hope that gives you some ideas for reusing things! Next up: a step-by-step process on transforming a retail store's tossed out display unit! (No, seriously, I'm working on this now!)
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