STUFF Can Have Many Lives
By Alice Osborne
Giving new uses to old things is the original green idea. Dental floss can be used to truss a chicken or slice eggs, an elasticized bracelet can be a charming napkin ring when twisted a couple times, or your bundt pan makes a great ice ring mold for the punch bowl. This approach to living with, and using our stuff has "smart," "surprising," and "good for the earth" all wrapped up into one.
Here are a few more ideas for giving our everyday belongings new life and new purpose:
YOGA MAT: A forgotten or spare yoga mat can be cut to fit your kitchen shelves and used as a super surface to cushion tableware and glassware.
ZIPPERED PLASTIC BAG I: This can cushion breakable cargo. Slide a straw into a bag that is nearly closed and blow air to inflate it. Remove the straw and quickly finish closing the bag. You now have your own bubble wrap!
ZIPPERED PLASTIC BAG II: This makes a perfect frosting piper. Add some frosting, snip of a corner of the bag, squeeze frosting into the snipped corner and decorate away.
WAX PAPER: Use this to clean floors. If you run out of Swiffer-style sweeper cloths, just substitute a piece of wax paper cut to the size of the tool. Gunk will stick to the wax paper as you sweep!
WALNUT: I use walnut halves all the time to revive my hardwood floors and repair scratches on my furniture. By rubbing these into the scratches, the natural oils penetrate the wood and do a good job of hiding the scratches.
RUBBER BAND: This can be used to secure wobbly and wayward glasses in the dishwasher - I tether them to the prongs of the washer's upper rack.
PASTA MAKER: If you give up the idea of making your own pasta, you can still use this interesting tool - it's a great paper shredder. Who knew?
MICROWAVE: Use this to get more juice from your lemons. Place them in the microwave for 20 seconds before squeezing and see how much easier the squeezing goes.
LOLLIPOPS: Got any leftover from Halloween? (Or hang onto some next Halloween.) These make great little stir sticks for iced drinks!
ICE GEL PACKS: I keep them in the freezer, "just in case." But I just heard that they make great coolers for the picnic basket. Secure one or two (with rubber bands or hair elastics) to your bottle of soda, and voila - chilled beverage.
GOLF TEES: These can keep food being served at potlucks organized. Distinguish vegetarian from meat dishes, or medium rare from well done steaks, etc. by flagging them with clean colored tees.
GRATER: One of my favorite ideas is to salvage burned (overly done) muffins or cookies by lightly grating away the charred or too-brown bits and no one will know the difference!
