Reuse and Repurpose Your Old Stuff!
They say necessity is the mother of invention and no doubt that’s the motivation behind finding new uses for ordinary things around your house. It’s such a green thing to do, finding new and creative – not to mention useful – ways to repurpose. common household goods.
Repurposing Stuff for Insect Repellent
If you’ve ever taken on an outdoor paint project, you know that flies love paint about as much as they do honey and cow patties. To keep them out of your paint can and off of your freshly painted surface, add a few drops of lemon juice to the paint. Bugs hate the scent of lemon and will steer clear of your project, plus you won’t spend all that time picking them out of the finish!
Urban Farm Colorado reports that slugs can wreak havoc in your flower and vegetable gardens, devastating an entire crop in just a few weeks. They’re hard to detect because they hide during the day, but you can control them by reducing moisture in your garden, AND by putting some spare change to good use. Copper pennies will ward slugs off (they hate whatever copper exudes – and so do viruses, by the way!) so take those one-cent marvels out of the piggy bank and put them to work in a penny ball. Bye bye slime trails, hello harvest!
Aspirin, Tin Foil and Clothes Pins
It’s fairly easy to sharpen a dull knife with the right tool, but scissors are another story. Did you know that a swath of aluminum foil will do the trick? Just fold a piece in half and then quarters and cut through it a few times.
A tablet of aspirin can whiten up dingy socks and sweat-stained t-shirts. Just crush a few and mix with warm water to form a paste, then dab it on the clothes you want to brighten. Let the paste sit for a few hours to soak in and do its thing, and then toss the clothes in the washing machine. For really dark stains, let the clothes air dry after washing.
The next time you cut flowers and pop them in a vase, add two tablespoons each of sugar and white vinegar. The vinegar cuts bacteria, and the sugar feeds the blooms. Another variety of vinegar, Bragg’s organic apple cider vinegar, in your first aid kit will come in handy to soothe mosquito bites and the itch that accompanies them. Check out more of Bob Vila’s 36 ways to use ordinary things in his best hacks’ collection.
A bit of paint, wire and some clothes pins can turn a two-foot long piece of scrap wood into a garden gear organizer to hold gloves, hats, even lightweight tools. Check out the finished product at HGTV.
Hacks Using Everyday Stuff
Anyone who’s been hiking or camping knows that hand sanitizer can come in handy for lots of clean-up tasks. When space is at a premium in your backpack, take a look at this video (1.7 million other people have!) and watch what 5-Minute Crafts can do with a little toothpaste and baking soda or bits of melted and repurposed soap.
You’ll find creative ideas for zip log bags, like boiling ramen noodles over a campfire, baking scrambled eggs in pepper “pots” and using ice cube trays to make everything from jelly doughnuts and savory appetizers to cake pops and frozen chocolate candy treats. If you can stay for at least 15 of the 33 ideas, you’ll see how to make a candle out of hydrogen peroxide, yeast and a piece of long pasta!
Real Simple offers 101 new uses for everyday things, from lemons, coffee filters and newspapers, to olive oil and dryer sheets. We all know that a dryer sheet can eliminate static cling, but did you know it can also wipe up sawdust? And that it can pick up indoor dust on venetian blinds better than a microfiber rag? Or that Velcro can help you stop seat cushions from sliding off kitchen chairs, and it’s also great at keeping an outdoor welcome mat in place? Try using these ordinary items, for extraordinary purposes!
Extraordinarily Crystal Valley
The ordinary becomes extraordinary in the master-planned community of Crystal Valley where begin away from it all – but close to everything — . Come and explore the new homes surrounded by nature and only minutes from the town of Castle Rock. With a variety of beautiful models from Richmond American Homes, Kauffman Homes, Century Communities and D.R. Horton to choose from, these ranch or two-story models – are priced from the high $300s.
