Waste Not

Did you know that much of your money is thrown in the trash every day? Have you ever stopped to think about how much money you waste by just throwing things away? Do you ever stop to think about what you could reuse?

Many of us don’t. In today’s fast paced society we’re all about convenience. To me, convenience is a waste of money. They say time is money, but is it really? Let’s examine things more closely.

How many leftovers do you throw away on a weekly or even daily basis? Did you know that every scrap of food in your home can be used for something else? Here are some tips for reducing food waste:

Peels from fruits and vegetables: toss them in a compost bin. Compost can be used in the spring and summer in your garden or window box for your beautiful flowers or home grown fruits and vegetables.

Left over fruits and vegetables: Even if it’s just a spoonful, save it and freeze it. They can be used in soups, stews, sauces, or even meatloaves and casseroles.

Left over meats and pasta: Again, save it for soup, stew, hash, casserole.

Use left over pizza or tomato sauce in a meatloaf.

If it can’t be frozen, or won’t work well in a soup, you can use it as a lunch the following day (taco meat can become taco salad). Or you can plan a left over night each week to eliminate all those extras in the fridge, and each person can choose a different dish.

If you don’t use leftovers often, then plan your portions more accordingly and make smaller meals to eliminate the leftovers. This will save on your grocery bill!

Food isn’t the only thing in most homes that are thrown away. Here’s a look at some other things we often throw away that can be reused.

Newspaper: This can be recycled, shredded and used as pet bedding or compost, use it to line  your cupboards or to pack fragile items for storage or moving. You can also donate them to local pet shelters as cage lining, or to schools for arts and crafts projects.

Plastic, aluminum, and glass: This can also be recycled, or used for storage. Little glass jars are great for organizing screws, nuts, bolts, and nails, or you can use them to store small craft items such as pins, fabric scraps, cotton balls, popsicle sticks, small spools of thread, etc etc. Some of these can be used as craft objects as well. Milk jugs make great bird houses or pet food scoops. The tops of laundry detergent bottles make great bath tub toys for little kids. Or you can decorate the jar or can and use it as a planter.

Clothing: Most clothing can be used for repairs on other clothing. Save worn and outgrown clothes to mend newer clothes, or for button or rip repairs. T-shirts can be used as dust rags. Clothing can also be used for craft projects. Or you can donate the clothing to a homeless shelter or thrift store. Towels and blankets are always needed at pet shelters as well.

Lawn and garden trimmings can be added to the compost bin. Many towns allow you to bring sticks and limbs into a center where they chop it down and turn it into mulch that they sell at a reasonable price. Call your town offices for information.

Wrapping paper: So maybe you don’t want to be the person who carefully unwraps gifts in order to reuse the paper, but, did you know there’s more uses for wrapping paper than just wrapping a gift? Scraps of wrapping paper can be used as home made gift tags, or snowflake cutouts. You can even use it to make ornaments if you stuff them with something (used dryer sheets or stuffing from a torn stuffed animal).

Last year’s Christmas cards can also be recycled. Tear the front page off, cut it if you must, and use it as a gift tag for this year’s gifts.

Anything that can possibly be used again can always be donated, or given to anyone who may use it if you don’t. Join your local Freecycle group and www.freecycle.org. Remember one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!