Guest Author - Lili Pintea-Reed

Question:
How do I cut down on paper waste in my home?

Answer:
Use wiping and drying cloths, dish cloths and towels, and handkerchiefs . And you don’t need to purchase them! Use Old cotton tee shirts and cotton mix shirts for dish and drying cloths. Handkerchiefs can be made from old cotton mix dress shirts. Just cut the large sections out of the old shirts and hem – if you have the time. For people with no sewing machine, hand hemming works fine.

Floor scrubbing cloths and replacement mop heads can be made from old tube socks cut open. My husband goes through tons of socks, so this helps recycle them.

Dish cloths can be made from thin rag strips crocheted or knitted in a knobby pattern. There are tons of dish cloth patterns at:
www.Woolworks.org

Pot scrubbers can be made from the plastic net bags onions and other produce comes in.

Newspapers serve to dry windows sprayed with window cleaner, or to clean up emergency spills.

If you use dryer sheets (tsk…tsk...tsk…) they can be recycled as static dust catchers for quick dusting or floor clean ups. My son skates with them under his socks (OK sometimes I do too). We get our free at the local Laundromat.

All these methods should cut your paper waste down a great deal.

Question:
What should I do with junk mail?

Answer:
You can turn the return envelopes inside out and use them to post for casual mail. You can shred the junk and use it for packing material, kindling, compost, and worm composting. You can clip them together and use them for note pads, etc. You can cut the address off and use them for return address labels. Just paste on with cheap white glue.

What you don’t want to do is throw them in your regular thrash. Identity Theft is rampant right now, and one way people get this information from you is to steal your trash.

For more ideas Check out these Frugal Living Books!
Complete Tightwad Gazzette
The Complete Tightwad Gazzette

Declare Your Finanacial Independence
Declare Your Financial Independence

Complete Cheapskate
Mary Hunt's Complete Cheapskate

Miserly Moms
Miserly Moms

You Can Afford to Stay Home With your Kids
You can Afford to stay Home WIth your Kids