Category Archives: reuse
Diane Spotilla of Hobart, Ind., has found a sparkling way to get more out of those little net shower puffs used to wash your skin: She hangs old, out-of-shape ones on an extra hook and has a soapy good time … Continue reading
Posted in cleaning, housework, print, reader tip, reuse, usaweekend.com
Tagged cleaning, shower, shower puff
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We’ve had many readers suggest new ways to make the most of magazine inserts that waft perfumes. This one from Barbara O’Leary of Tucson shows that the samples should not be reserved for your pulse points. “Use the perfume sample … Continue reading
Posted in beauty, cleaning, house and home, print, reader tip, recycle, reuse, saving, usaweekend.com
Tagged cleaning, perfume, reuse, saving
1 Comment | | |
Reader Gene Greenwood of San Jose has the right idea when it comes to green onions. Instead of watching them wither to curled brown strands in the crisper, he suggests the following trick to keep yours crispy and fresh from … Continue reading
Posted in food, print, reader tip, reuse, usaweekend.com
Tagged fresh, green onions, onions
2 Comments | | |
Thanks goes out to Jo Ann Sichi of Mebane, N.C., who shares this friendly tip for removing that crusty ketchup that somehow always lands on our hot dogs and hamburgers. “My best friend gave me the greatest hint,” she writes. … Continue reading
Posted in cleaning, food, print, reader tip, reuse, usaweekend.com
Tagged cleaning, food, ketchup, reuse
4 Comments | | |
Who hasn’t experienced the frustration of seeing lotion left in a bottle but not being able to reach it? When you have squeezed all you can out of your tube of moisturizer or hand cream, cut the tube in half, … Continue reading
Posted in print, reader tip, reuse, saving, usaweekend.com
Tagged Durant, lotion, Oklahoma, reuse, saving, toothpaste
54 Comments | | |
This week’s reader tip is from Ruthie Harrell of Dickson, Tenn. Her method of “recycling” junk mail may come in handy. “Since we pay most of our bills via Internet, we save the envelopes the company sends to use for … Continue reading
Posted in print, reader tip, recycle, reuse, usaweekend.com
Tagged Dickson, junk mail, paper, recycle, reuse, tennessee
187 Comments | | |
Rather than bagging up all the haystack-like mounds from a summer lawn-mowing, this idea recycles your trimmings to keep your landscape beautiful. Reader Paul Miniacci saves the grass clippings from his lawn and places them all around the base of … Continue reading
Posted in house and home, print, reader tip, reuse, summer, usaweekend.com
Tagged gardening, lawn, yardwork
29 Comments | | |
Susanna Chilelli of Wantagh, N.Y., cleverly reuses the magnets that come in shower curtains. When the shower curtain is old and ready to be replaced, she takes out the magnets and “I usually glue them to the back of things … Continue reading
Posted in print, reader tip, reuse, usaweekend.com
Tagged magnets, New York, reuse, Wantagh
35 Comments | | |
Several of our ingenious readers have figured out clever ways to get the wax paper they use for cooking, wrapping food or for arts and crafts projects. Phyllis Morrison of Coldwater, Mich., summed it up for the others by advising, … Continue reading
Posted in print, reader tip, reuse, saving, usaweekend.com
Tagged Coldwater, Michigan, savings, wax paper
29 Comments | | |
Anne Victoria Reich of Stafford, Va., likes to buy blankets and sheets that come in resealable plastic bags. That way, she can reuse the bags to store “extra stuff around my house,” such as magazines, threads, yarn — anything that … Continue reading
Posted in house and home, print, reader tip, reuse, usaweekend.com
Tagged blankets, resealable bags, Stafford, Virginia
25 Comments | | |
As a landscape designer and author specializing in sustainability, Cherie Foster Colburn of The Woodlands, Texas, cringes when she receives her dry cleaning in plastic bags. Then she realized they’re the perfect size to serve as liners for her kitchen … Continue reading
Posted in print, reader tip, reuse, usaweekend.com
Tagged dry cleaning, Texas, The Woodlands
6 Comments | | |
After eating all the bread-and-butter pickles out of the jar, there’s still half a jar of juice and spices left. So Patsy Curran of Brogue, Pa., pours it over chicken, seals it in a plastic bag and puts it in … Continue reading
Posted in food, print, reader tip, reuse, saving, usaweekend.com
Tagged brogue, chicken, marinade, Pennsylvania, pickles
21 Comments | | |
Tracey Tyrrell of Wauconda, Ill., has a green tip for you: She uses the water collected in her dehumidifier to water plants or puts it into her washing machine so it uses less water when it fills.
Posted in print, reader tip, reuse, saving, usaweekend.com
Tagged dehumidifier, Illinois, reuse, reuse water, saving, water, Wauconda
17 Comments | | |
Carla Lewis of Sheffield, PA, has a clever use of travel maps she no longer needs: “I save travel maps to use as gift wrap. Kids, in particular, love this, and any color ribbon goes great with the maps.”
Posted in kids and family, reader tip, reuse, saving
Tagged children, gift wrap, kids, maps, Pennsylvania, saving, sheffield
2 Comments | | |
Donna Rudl of Clifton, NJ, cut down the money she spends in cosmetics with this tip: “One time when I got off the chiropractor’s table, the paper on the table absorbed excess oil from my face. So instead of buying … Continue reading
Posted in beauty, reader tip, reuse, saving
Tagged chiropractic paper, Clifton, cosmetics, New Jersey, oil-absorbing sheets, savings
20 Comments | | |
Carol Lanke of Hudson, FL., writes: “To make a handy dandy mini-garbage container to collect garbage on your sink, just take a facial tissue cube box and cut the 4 corners diagonally from corner to center. Next put a small plastic … Continue reading
Posted in cleaning, reader tip, reuse
Tagged cooking, Florida, garbage disposal, Hudson, kitchen
33 Comments | | |
Janie Barcus of Parsons, KS., saves money on trash bags by reusing the plastic bags from the dry cleaners. She just ties a knot in the end where the hanger goes through, then uses the bag as a trash can … Continue reading
Posted in house and home, reader tip, reuse
Tagged kansas, parsons, reuse, saving, trash
17 Comments | | |
Barbara Gajda of Fall River, MA., doesn’t let her eggs go to waste, especially when a recipe calls for only one part of the egg. “Eggs can be separated up to one week ahead and stored in a tightly covered container … Continue reading
Posted in food, reader tip, reuse, saving
Tagged cooking, egg whites, eggs, fall river, massachusetts
50 Comments | | |
This report from KARE in Minneapolis-St. Paul has great advice on how to reduce the waste from your kitchen.
Irene Zagar of Hazel Park, Mich. has a great idea for beautiful gift wrapping. Use scraps of pretty material from fancy dresses, like a prom dress you only wore once. Any nice material will work, especially if the gift is … Continue reading
