Recycling

My grandma Midge was recycling long before there was any environmental tree hugging movement.  She had lived through the great depression and knew what it was like to do without, what it meant to make scant resources stretch.  She scrimped and saved, reused and re-purposed everything, even left over scraps on the dinner table, no matter how small was put away in some container to be eaten later.  One day as I watched her wash out used sandwich bags, I said "grandma you don't have to wash those we just throw them away and buy more when we need them."  I had kind of forgot what she told me until today.  "Honey, , there was a time when we had to learn that you couldn't just go buy more because we didn't have any money, my daddy worked hard just to feed us kids and sometime there was not enough to go around so we learned how not to waste.  We learned how to use what we had to make do.  So we never throw away anything until it had been used so much it could no longer be used, she said. "To throw something away dear is being wasteful, if it can be used for something else or used over again.  I wash out these bags because there is more life to them."
I am sure grandma had a list of things that could be reused that I could not even dream of now.  But she had learned these things from necessity, maybe her granddaughter should consider doing some of these things before it becomes a necessity. 

Today I was watching a youtube clip on a herbal preparation when the presenter said something that started  me thinking about what grandma had told me so long ago, about not being wasteful.  He said, that he never buy containers to put his ointments in he recycle containers.  Another lady showing how she makes her deodorant, said she uses recycled deodorant containers she just takes them apart and washes them out and then fills them with her homemade deodorant.  That got me to thinking, of all the little containers I have thrown away that would have worked perfect to store my seeds in.

I have spent a lot of money in the past buying little containers to store left overs from our meal and slowly but surely lids get lost or the kids just don't return the ones you send with them in there lunch.  But recycled containers work great for left overs and if the kids forget them or the lids disappear no great loss.  Maybe this is an area I could save a little bet.  We don't live that far from a recycling plant, what would it hurt to separate some of my trash?
My one concern is that I am suppose to be simplifying my life so I don't want to be collecting things for future use and end up again over burdening myself with "stuff"  There is a fine line in keeping enough to replace the things you would normally have to buy and keeping things that you could use but you end up with so much you will never use all of it and the TV reality show will come to my house and films a episode of hordes.

What are some of the areas that I can stop waste in our home?
Buying to much fresh produce and not getting it use up before it goes bad.  (I need to plan better)
Make sure left overs get used before they mold!
Stop leaving lights on when we are not in the room.
Items that can be reused instead of being replace just because they are disposable
Items that can be taken to the recycle plant.
Looking for needed items at thrift stores rather then buying new.
Using one or two light bulbs in my light fixtures in my living room, bed room and kitchen instead all  four.
Line dry at least some of my laundry.
Cut back on the amount of cloths we have would cut back on the laundry.

 I am gong to need to really change the way I think about the things we use in our home.  How can I change our waste habits and save or stretch our new budget?  We already put our organic waste in the worm beds to compost, but maybe it is time to do more.  This also goes for the things we buy!  I have a garage full of boxes of things I haven't used in at least two going on three years. 

To my friends, I am not turning into a save the plant nutso, you will not find me changing my graying hair-do into dread locks or wearing tie dye I am just asking God to help me see where I am being wasteful in my time, and resources because all that I have is really his and I should be using it wisely.

To encourage myself that recycling can be fun and creative I didn't throw away Sarah's last pill bottles.  I will show you how I am using them to store some flower seeds that I saved this fall. By creating colorful labels they now look more attractive and the useful information will help me later when I go to plant.  Oh, and toilet paper rolls, can be re-purpose for spring planting!!!  Which is perfect because I really want to try and start some of my own plants this year.

I have also started to separate more of my trash.  Tin cans and aluminum are going into separate containers.  Saving containers that I can put left overs in are also going to be part of my recycling plan.  Fabric scraps no longer go in the trash I am putting them in my worm beds.  The worms love them I am seeing more worms dressing up to go to dinner.  The worm ladies must be using the scraps to make clothing for their families. lol. 

Make very nice containers for my seeds

these will make nice seedling pots to start my plants in.

    If I will make these little seedling pots every time a roll is finished it takes about 1 minutes, then I can toss them in a box and have them ready when we start our seedlings.  For us recycling will probably start slow so no one gets over whelmed as we work toward being less wasteful.  Maybe keeping a list of things you might need will help you decide what recycled items you need to keep and what ones need to go.

My beginners list:

I am going to need seedling plants - save TP rolls
I want to save seeds from the garden this year - plan how many storage bottles will I need and what sizes
What type of containers would be useful for herbal home remedies?  How many do I need to keep on hand?
Make a separate bin for my organic waste.  This can be composted
Save old laundry bottles to put my homemade laundry soap in.
Wash out use zip lock bags like grandma did and reuse.

If you have any fun ideas about recycling tell me about it.  I am re-purposing shoe boxes to store my growing supply of seeding pots.  I will print out labels to put on the boxes so I know what is in them.  I think it is helpful to start small and really make an effort to stick to those things and then as you become more accustom to recycling add something new to your recycle list.