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Make do and Mend

I like to save old tights! At this time of year they are handy for storing Christmas ornaments in and tying up bags and bundles of lights. I put the artificial Christmas tree stalk end first (take the stand parts off!) down a cut-off leg and it's more manageable to put away. Winter tights are best for this.
It keeps special candles safe also. I have some from 1970 which look like stained glass windows when lit, I use a tea-light inside now though.
rosie.
 
Living on a Greek island, we use bottled water for drinks and cooking as the village water supply can quite often be a bit gritty. We accumulate 20 x 1.5 litre plastic bottles a week, but a large chunk of the bottle is put to gardening use. There's generally an indentation about 6 inches from the bottom. Run a Stanley knife around this indentation and separate the bottom part. In the bottom you will find a little dimple, so put a 1/4" drill through this. You now have a little flower pot ideal for growing seeds or initial planting out. Having put your compost and seeds or plants in them, stand them in a tray containing 1/2 inch of water. This will percolate up through the hole in the pot without giving rise to the problems of over-watering. Plastic meat trays from the supermarket are ideal to stand a few pots in. I'll try and add a picture to this posting tomorrow.

Maurice
 
Vivienne14 said:
but more because I enjoy the task and the feeling that I've re-used something to get extra value out of the original item. I think it's partly about fully appreciating the value of things too. Viv.
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I have to agree with this - just made some tray mats out of the leftovers from two pillow cases from which I had made two cushion covers. Waste not, want not.

BTW The jumper I am wearing in my avatar is red and yellow - I hated it! Mam knitted it out of two patiently undone jumpers!!!
 
I too use plastic bottles in the garden Maurice. I have 4 pint milk bottles, last winter, being fed up with losing certain plants every year, I cut the base off the bottles and placed them over the cut down plants. The plants were protected from the bitter wind, and got air through the neck of the bottles - all survived. I have done the same this year, but painted flowers on the bottles first, so as I look out to my back garden there are splashes of colour.
 
Another good idea, Aurora. The only problem I find is that the bottles are arriving faster than I can use them. There are two big dustbin bags full of finished pots in the tool shed and storage space is limited!

Maurice
 
During the last War 2 can remember finding what could have been a 4ft length of rubber conveyor belt in the local stream. This I used to resole my shoes and some of the family's. There was always the problem of the small tacks, used for fixing, poking through the inner sole. I'd return home, go to the shed, and hammer them over on the cast iron shoe last. I still have the scar in a finger when slipping with the knife while cutting the resilient rubber.
 
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and nowadays in Tunisia, there are still guys on the street corners that resole shoes - the rubber soles are of course now imported from China - but the trade still exists (even not if in Brum!)
 
Eddie (norfolk brummie) mentioned on another thread (Growing up in Birmingham) that his Mother used a little wire cage for bits of soap. I still do that, but it's a little mesh bag which came with washing powder tablets!
I still cut the end off the toothpaste tube to get the last bit out too, old habits I suppose.
rosie.
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one Rosie who gets the most out of the toothpaste. The same with the ibuprufen gel tube
 
I think it is great that I am not the only thrifty person. My kids make jokes about it, and if one of them is throwing something out they joke and say "don't let mom know or she'll find a use for it"- well at least they will laugh about me when i'm gone
 
Well I use the same excuse for being my usual untidy self, but actually it's the other half taking up all the storage space with her books, clothes and goodness know what else! :-)

Maurice
 
We cut the ends off tubes. I recently did this with a tube of hand cream got three more weeks use. The amount thrown away is shocking but manufacturers must laugh all the way to the bank.
 
I remember during the war time years my mother would make pillow cases and handkerchiefs from linen obtained ,by soaking in water, old blue prints. I believe these were throw outs from the Austin Motor Co drawing offices. It seemed that the linen was treated with a product that created a blue translucent surface on which draftsmen would draw. Soaking in water and rinsing often ,then an almost magical white linen fabric would result. In the initial stages the dissolving of the chemical coating was slimy similar to the used handkerchiefs mother would soak overnight in a bucket of cold water!!!! Not a very nice process!!
 
anvil man said:
I remember during the war time years my mother would make pillow cases and handkerchiefs from linen obtained ,by soaking in water, old blue prints. I believe these were throw outs from the Austin Motor Co drawing offices. It seemed that the linen was treated with a product that created a blue translucent surface on which draftsmen would draw. Soaking in water and rinsing often ,then an almost magical white linen fabric would result. In the initial stages the dissolving of the chemical coating was slimy similar to the used handkerchiefs mother would soak overnight in a bucket of cold water!!!! Not a very nice process!!
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I believe i have some of that
 
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