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--------------------------Begin Original Post-----

I've been reusing things since I was a child and at 56 I think I've done well.

So here's your chance to show us what you've discovered. How do you reuse (or repurpose) something?

I saw a 55 gallon barrel turned into a chair by simply cutting in the right spots.

Ok here's my contribution.

Use bottles with tight fitting caps. Water bottles are OK.

Fill with Free and Clear detergent.
Put a hole about the size of a very hot paper clip stretched out to make the hole.
The idea is to put a few drops in your hand using it for :

Hand washing
Dish washing
Grease dissolving (no water till it's well mixed with the greasy thing)

Detergent simply means a chemical or process that keeps dirt in solution. With detergent you'll
never have a ring around the tub. Soap is not a detergent because oil causes the gylcerin (I think)
in the soap to turn into scum.

Ok you've got the bottle now.

Use a good glue. I like GOOP BRAND. Scuff up the top and glue down everywhere except over the
hole a

1. Sponge
2. A coarse sponge
3. an abrasive with holes in it

You get the idea. Now you have 2 uses
This one is for scrubbing while it releases a bit of detergent.

Last point

Any suggesion by another person requires that you visualize the process before you begin it. If you
can't then don't expect sucess on your first try. Expect to fail but enjoy learning.

I'm enjoying your posts.

I plant my herbs in old sauce jars. I like the rustic kitchen look.

When we remodel the kitchen, we saved the strips of the original solid pine cabinent doors and used it to built a little house for our HVAC unit outside the house (keep the out the bugs, weather, etc ).

The wash basin next to the washer/dryer is very old and rusty so we're replacing it. But we'll re-use the old basin as a "new" planter for some our small, developing plants. All it'll take is some light drilling to make holes for drainage and decorations to make it look pretty.

Our garage door appears to be an original as well (original: 52 yrs old), so we're replacing that with an new insulated rollup door. The door's old 2x5 strips of solid pine wood looks cosmetically almost new. Hence, we're taking the old door apart, stripping the old paint, re-paint it, and then re-use what can be re-used for a new deck for the gazebo. We still need a lot of wood for the deck, but we're thinking of using the old pine and space them out strategically to give the deck a rustic look.

bravebiffy said:When we remodel the kitchen, we saved the strips of the original solid pine cabinent doors and used it to built a little house for our HVAC unit outside the house (keep the out the bugs, weather, etc ).

I've seen about a 10% improvement in efficiency when I cooled the coils of both my A/c and refrigerator
by using a mist of water cooled air. There is a device which uses an evaporative cooler pad soaked
with water around the HVAC unit. The fan from the compressor brings in air through wet pads
and the cooled air reduced the energy needed to compress the freon. The compressor runs cooler,
uses less electricity and lasts longer.

I can see how adding a pad with a slow water feed , or grey water feed, would
give you cooler air to help keep the hot coils cooler. A clamp on ammeter would
verify the efficiency improvement.


bravebiffy said:The wash basin next to the washer/dryer is very old and rusty so we're replacing it. But we'll re-use the old basin as a "new" planter for some our small, developing plants. All it'll take is some light drilling to make holes for drainage and decorations to make it look pretty.

Our garage door appears to be an original as well (original: 52 yrs old), so we're replacing that with an new insulated rollup door. The door's old 2x5 strips of solid pine wood looks cosmetically almost new. Hence, we're taking the old door apart, stripping the old paint, re-paint it, and then re-use what can be re-used for a new deck for the gazebo. We still need a lot of wood for the deck, but we're thinking of using the old pine and space them out strategically to give the deck a rustic look.

You are the kind of person who will always have what they need.