Repurposing items to reduce waste

Hey, it's nice to be back!  I've had a good break, and I'm all ready to blog once again.  I thought I'd kick off with some items around the house that I've been able to repurpose rather than throw away.  It's always best to try and reduce the amount of stuff that's coming into the house in the first place, and I'm working on that.  However, since these things were already here, it makes sense to get as much use out of them as possible. 

1) My partner's sister-in-law is a ceramicist, and one Christmas she gave us each a couple of mugs she'd made herself.  This was a wonderful gift.  Unfortunately, I was washing one of my mugs in the sink one day, and the handle cracked off.  As it was damaged, I couldn't donate it, but I really didn't want to throw it out either.  So now, it's a lovely, artisan-made brush holder in my bathroom.

 

2) A coffee tin from Aldi, repurposed as a utensil holder.  I have a couple of these in the kitchen now, as I like the design.

3) Glass jars as storage jars.  I use a lot of glass jars this way as it's so much better than having food in plastic containers.  I'm afraid I don't normally spend time taking the labels off, although they would look much better if I did.  As well as dried goods, I use jars to store things like half an onion or half a lemon in the fridge, and you can also use them in the freezer too.  They are super versatile and inexpensive.

4) Rubber gloves to rubber bands.  Yes, I know I really shouldn't use rubber gloves at all, but I don't have a dishwasher, and I hate how dry my hands get after doing the dishes.  So I do still buy rubber gloves, but I make sure each pair lasts as long as possible.  When they finally spring a leak, I cut them up into rubber bands.  You can make them quite broad, so they don't dig into things the way normal rubber bands can.  I've also cut them into strips to tie plants to sticks, and other miscellaneous uses. 

5) An odd glove becomes my glove for scrapping the car.  I've moved house quite a few times over the years, and for some reason, things go missing almost every time.  This was a nice pair of gloves, but this one wound up on its own after a move, and I've never been able to find its mate.  Luckily, it's the right-hand glove (I'm right-handed), so I now keep it in the car for the sole purpose of scraping ice. 

You know how your hand freezes after only a few seconds of scrapping?  Well, I no longer have that problem as this glove is always ready and waiting.  Chances are I won't have brought any other gloves with me, no matter how cold it is, so it's great to be able to keep my hand warm whilst scrapping the ice. 

The coffee tin and the glass jars could be recycled, but it benefits the environment to keep them out of that process for as long as possible.  The other items would just have to be thrown out, so I'm glad that I've been able to find new uses for them.

Do you have any favourite things that you've repurposed or upcycled?  I'd love to hear!