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Have you ever heard of repurposing? I had come across the word before but I didn’t initially know what it meant. So I took a closer look at it and did a bit of research, and I realized this was a great way to save money and re-use things more than once.
Repurposing is becoming quite popular during these modern times as we’ve become much more aware of the environment. Plenty of things can be recycled anyway, like cardboard for instance. But why recycle something straightaway if you can use it for something else first?
Let me share some of my examples with you. Firstly I love egg boxes: cardboard ones of course. I use these for chitting my seed potatoes before they are ready to be planted out in the garden. They are also ideal for growing small seedlings particularly if you’re like me: I’m somewhat clumsy about getting them out once they’ve already been placed in the flowerbeds. By using egg boxes, I can cut them out and put them straight into the ground as they are. I don’t have to handle the seedlings, and the cardboard just rots away over time. Perfect!
Two liter cola bottles have come in handy in the garden as well. We bought a gazebo last year and because we wanted to use it on the patio, we had no way of attaching it to the ground until I saved up some cola bottles. I filled each one to the brim with water and then tied one tightly to each leg of the gazebo. It kept it firmly on the ground in all but the worst of winds, when we had to take the gazebo down anyway. I even managed to hide the cola bottles behind a nice selection of flower pots and plants so they were hardly visible.
Think twice about throwing out glass as well. Glass jars are great for a variety of things, and if you grow your own onions like I do, you can pickle them in these same jars.
Don’t throw away worn out clothes until you have considered them for other purposes too. I tend to think about cutting up anything made from cotton to use as cloths for cleaning windows. They can also be good for lining hanging baskets, and can be used for a myriad of other uses. These days, I’ve found it quite interesting to think differently about every object I’m about to throw away. Each item may have alternative uses that are completely different from what they were originally intended for.
You’re probably getting the idea behind repurposing now, and the great thing is that you can use this method in plenty of different areas and in various ways. You can find a lot of ideas on the topic online as well; this is how I started to find ways of reusing and repurposing things I had never thought about before. Some of them are blatantly obvious when you start to think about it; others are less obvious but equally as good.
There is no doubt that the idea of repurposing things has become more popular as we all try to do our bit for the environment. You can start today in a small way, and then do more and more of these activities as I did, as you get used to this fantastic idea.
