Use It Up, Wear It Out...

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. That's what grandma said right? I try to take it to heart at our house so food, clothes, and other assorted things don't usually get wasted.

This is a big reason I shop used stores. I feel bad paying full price for kids clothes that I know they will grow out of before they get a hole in them.

I've scored pretty big over the years by shopping used but the biggest score is using it until it wears out completely. Take these shoes for instance. My favorite sandals have lasted me 4+ years of heavy wear. These poor shoes are practically the only thing I have worn in warm weather during that time.

It may now be time for new shoes but by using up my shoes until they have completely worn out I have probably saved about $40. That isn't much to some people but it's a day's worth of meals for my family.

Hope this inspires you to keep something a bit longer than you would normally!

Stay green,
Yasha

Dumpster Score!

Say what!?

Most Parents discourage children from touching, going near, or even thinking about dumpsters. I try to encourage mine to look at them. Why? Well sometimes people throw out completely good things. Toys, chairs, couches. Any of these things can be spruced up and resold or kept depending on he condition.

Now I haven't gone so far as to actually jump in a dumpster nor would I let my kids do it (or see me do it if I ever work up the courage.) Jumping in a dumpster takes some preparation and caution. You don't know what is in there. If it will shift. If it will break. If there are bugs. *shudder* However, things conveniently placed next to a dumpster are fair game.

Trash day has become one of my favorite days. I have found some of the more affluent neighborhoods are awesome to cruise through on trash day. Amazingly, there are still a lot of people out there that never take things to Goodwill. They just leave them on the curb.



Still think I'm crazy? Take a look at some of the treasures I found.

Kitchen Chair needed a new bolt
(Please ignore the pile of blue bags in the corner. They're full of donations waiting to go.)

Fully functional keyboard needed new batteries

Dora the Explorer chair Hole needed sewn up

Un-paper towels.

I find myself, on a daily basis, wiping up sticky messes, eewie gooey crud, and just random "what is that!?" spots. So, of course, I love prepackaged wipes. I mean loooove. As in dewy eyed drool on myself trip over my feet L-O-V-E. Not everyone feels this way about wipes but not everyone has kids either. (I'm sure other moms out here have a similar infatuation.)

Small problem with wipes... They're expensive!

So how to solve this? Unpaper towels. A simple linen napkin that I wet with either water or vinegar to wipe up messes. Works just the same as a pop up wipe but I can toss this into the laundry when done.

What's that? Do they scrub? You bet your cookies they do! I never dry these with dryer sheets and most of the time I hang them so they do scrub really well.

Now if you don't like my simple linen wipes they have a ton of cutesy ones on etsy. If you prefer scented just fill a container with 3 parts water, 1 part vinegar, and your choice of essential oil (just a few drops should do). Either put the mix in a spray bottle to spray and wipe or put he mix in a container with the wipes and leave them until you need them. I personally prefer the spray method but I know some people that use the soaked ones.

Either way you look at it unpaper towels will save you a bundle.

Stay green,

Yasha