You’re going to turn into your mom or dad with the repurpose ideas and manage the unused and old properties at home.
Otherwise, you end up throwing out or overlooking things that are easily handled. It also makes you realize how creative you can get.
Containers, plastics, and fabrics are used every day, so here are easy and practical repurpose ideas to control waste and make your homestead more sustainable.
1. Glass Jar
I have been using jars for propagating plants, bulk storage of grains, leftovers, and freezing bacon. They are suitable for storing salad dressings, mayo, and salsas.
You can also use jars and water to store fresh herbs such as cilantro, dill, and parsley in the fridge. The most eye-pleasing is about doing terrarium art.
If you have tiny jars like tiny honey or jam jars, you can use them to store toothpaste as they are unlikely to crack or break for camping or travelling.
Many use glass jars to hold markers or pens on the desk and entry table.
Besides, it is ideal to store paper clips, thumb tacks, and safety pins with lids on in the junk drawer. It’s fun using them for vases or candle holders.
2. Skateboard
It is pretty funny for me to use my old skateboard at my homestead.
Actually, I move things around my house on a skateboard, and it works fine. You can use it as long as it rolls. I have seen people selling this old stuff for $3 at garages.
The plaything helps move the things that are low to the ground, so you don’t have to lift them so far.
Whether you want to transport a poultry feed or make a trolley for gardening tools, add two skateboards for spacious loading and put a piece of plywood. There, you can make a transport system for a homestead.
3. Wodden Pallets
I have a compost pile made of four wooden pallets, nailed together. It is bigger than three feet and works fine for my backyard garden.
Fifteen garden cards of compost are already made of old pallets. Also, I make this number twice a year.
You can also make garden beds out of recycled pallet wood. The trick is that you need to paint the woods and line the inside with plastic.
Those wooden bed boxes can last several years, over 5 years.
And it won’t cost you more than 2 afternoons of labor in making these. The vertical and horizontal supports easily hold the sides together and allow diverse vegetable gardening.
4. Yoga Mat
Have you tried a yoga mat in the kitchen instead of purchasing an anti-fatigue mat?
You can also cover it with a runner, and it’s quite comfy. Also, you can use old yoga mats for your dog bed.
Besides, many use old mats in the garage in front of the washer and dryer. I also find it makes a good cat toy as they like to jump and claw on things around.
5. Bath Towels
I cut up many used and old bath towels, hem them, and make my reusable paper towels.
So, I don’t need to buy paper towels for a few weeks. They’re stained and stuff already, so I don’t mind if they clean up messes.
6. Metal Tins
Metal tins are great to repurpose for more teas, herbs, spices, spice blends, candle holders, and rubs.
My friends use them to store lotions and balms they make. If you have a hobby or side job with lots of small items for organizing, tins can be your tools.
Put beads, gems, screws, bolts, drill bits, washers, sewing kits, DIY air fresheners, miniature gift boxes, craft supplies, and storage inside.
Many add office supplies, gift containers, containers for small snacks, travel toiletry containers, and even containers for small plants.
7. Old or Vintage Ladders
You can make plant stands out of unused ladders and leftover wood. Make an A-frame ladder and install boards between each step.
Now, you are ready to place potted plants there.
You can also make a display for vintage housewares in a similar fashion.
My neighbour had given me his grandpa’s oldies, which I repurposed into the nice bookshelf, which has been decorating the empty place under my home stairs.
8. Cat Litter Buckets
I had several tidy cat litter buckets and turned them into a couple of 2×4′ to make a multi-nest box for my chickens.
The hack is that I could add them vertically to include more litter bins, and chickens liked it.
You can set up a tidy cat box outside as a standalone thing and make it 10 x 10 for chickens.
9. Wine Bottles
Some wine bottles have a standard size opening, which you can close with a spout top like you use for olive oil sometimes.
So, you can also reuse them to store dish soap, vinegars, soy sauce, and oils.
To make eclectic flower holders, you can remove and sand down the neck. Also, you can turn them into water glasses or even candle holders.
If you’re a gardener, you can turn bottles into an easy watering system for plants in pots or containers.
Fill the bottle, and stick it a couple of inches into the soil. The dirt or soil will take water when it begins drying. So, you needn’t worry about watering plants every day or when you’re on vacation.
10. Baby Burp Cloths
Trivets, pot holders, cleaning rags, paper towels, and hand drying towels are great options for reusing baby burp cloths.
They’re thicker and more obserbent.
If you’ve got a 7 to 15-month-old in the house, you’ll have plenty of messes to clean up.
11. Boxes
I can remember how our kitchen cupboard was organized with baskets and boxes.
My mom began with sturdy boxes from kids’ school lunch snacks or a 3-pack of almond milk packets. She would cut them to the right height and use them as a basket.
All pastas in one box, sauces or gravy envelopes in another, baking chips (chocolate chips, white choc chips) in one box, and nuts and spice mixes, others.
Whenever I needed something, I would never put out a bunch of things to find what I needed. I only pulled out the right box and put it back when done.
She had also labeled the boxes with duct tape or masking tape so we knew what was in it.
12. Egg Cartoons
It’s easy to repurpose egg cartoons. If you have cardboard egg cartons, you can use them for a seed starter.
I often sow seeds of morning glory, columbine, and black-eyed susan vine in them. Also, it is easy for you to plant when they grow seedlings.
Only, you need to separate each cup of carton and transplant it directly into the soil.
Egg cartoons reduce the agitation to their root systems and provide organic fertilizer after decomposing in the soil.
When winter starts, you may have to ignite the fire multiple times a day. And it becomes hard in the backcountry when timbers and firewoods remain moist.
So, you can turn cardboard ones into excellent fire starters. You only need to fill the cups with a mixture of wax and dryer lint.
13. Empty Chimes
Once, it was my hobby to collect empty chimes, ginger candies in an upright tin that looked like the old-fashioned slide-top bandage or plaster tins.
They’re perfect for a medicine cabinet and collecting used razor blades and old sewing needles for recycling.
The slide tops help you avoid spilling blades around and harming your fingers.
14. Plastic Buckets
When I revamped my homestead, I collected several paint buckets, which I needed to repurpose instead of throwing.
I simply drill a couple of tiny holes, place them next to a newly planted tree, and fill them with water. This way, I made an automatic waterer.
You can also drill 4 holes, loop 2 natural fiber ropes, and fill another bucket about 1/4 full of water. Then, place the first bucket inside the second one and fill the first bucket with a mix of hydroponic soil.
It will be ready to be a planter.
In case you work in the garage or garden, buckets also offer a seat. But I like them to use for chicken feeders and waterers.
Besides, you can store gas cans, oil, containers, and fertilizer. It will be great to avoid leakage.
Another idea is that you can use traffic cones for kids if they ride bikes, skateboards, or cars around. You can also use buckets for collecting rainwater.
15. Disinfecting Wipe Holder
Wipe holders can be used to store reusable shopping bags, shop rags, or repurposed towels, and a mini trash can for your vehicle.
You can also use them at the office to hold clothespins, to make DIY disinfectant wipes.
Just take off the lid of the wipe holder and decorate the outside to make an indoor or outdoor vase. They’re also great to use for holding and dispensing string, twine, and yarn.
Many organize small extension cords or cables to hold coins or receipts, and have small games.
16. Cardboard
I want to boast here how I have built a massive, elaborate maze and forts for my cat, which I have named “Fort Caties.”
Also, I use cardboard to hold kitchen waste and compost like vegetable-based packing peanuts, fruits, and food-soil paper.
You can also use them for storage and organization indoors.
17. Old Shirts
My mom used to make pillows out of T-shirts for my dad. She cut t-shirts into squares and stabilized them with interfacing.
They work fine with a zipper on one side or an envelope style with a button. This way, you can get premade pillow forms to go inside.
Besides, you can make clothes out of t-shirts for kids. I myself wore several of them from my brothers. With good tailoring skills, you can get hoodies, pants, raglan shirts, and dresses.
T-shirt quilt, little stuffed animals, pet beds, doll clothes, pot holders, and hand towels are also options.
18. Old Doors and Windows
My dad would keep an old door in his garage and another in the basement, along with an inexpensive set of folding sawhorses for each.
This helped him store and set up work, painting, hobby, and party tables on each floor of my house. Also, they come in handy for yard sales.
But I have a better idea to make outdoor tables and benches.
What about a permanent greenhouse, then?
19. Bed Sheets
If possible, repair the sheets. But if irreprible, you can cut the sheets into strips and make braided baskets or rugs, shopping bags, and napkins.
They are also good to wrap around plastic bags and make insulated shopping bags for cold items.
My sisters lay the sheets down for painting, crafts, and untrained pets. She won’t spare any of them. You can also wrap outdoor plants with old sheets for warmth during a cold snap, and throw them over a tree for a ghost decoration.
20. Old Tires
Since DIYs have several use cases for old tires, I have collected some of them. A gardener may use colorful hanging planters, garden borders, raised beds, garden paths, a vertical vegetable garden, and pot holders.
If you have kids in the house, make tire swings and a balance beam for them.
You can also make tire flipping and tire step-ups for exercise out of old tires for yourself.
Final Thoughts
When you start homesteading, or living with nature, it’s not possible to compost all unused and old things such as containers, furniture, and clothes.
So, you need to repurpose or recycle the materials.
Make sure you have used the items sensibly without harming nature and yourself, as I see many suggest using old tires to make dining tables.
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