Reusing

There is a lot of talk about recycling -- one thing I want to start focusing on is reusing and repurposing (is that really a word?? Regardless...).

Re-Using: Interesting concept -- Can we reuse something more than once? In the world of uber-sanitizing against germs (read: bleach in everything), we, the common person, has been trained to only use the Ziploc bag once rather than again and again. Well, for dry goods I see no harm in that and for the wet items, a good washing with dish soap will get the stickiness or crud out (ahhh, my parents would be so proud, given I used to cringe when opening the kitchen drawer full of "reuseable" baggies back in my high school years). In fact, a girlfriend of mine, just figured out and made a "reuseable" homemade non-plastic "Ziploc". It is made out of fabric, is coated with bib coating - washable - and has velcro in it to keep it shut tight. It is awesome. I told her I wanted lots. The whole thing is washable, but for us moms who have kids, who like their snacks in something personal, it is the perfect reuseable "baggie". Yay Natalie!!

Re-Purposing: I like this, even if not a word... it is the reusing of something for a different purpose. Real Simple Magazine usually has a page or two of new uses for old things - always a learning experience. But I saw something a few weeks ago that was really great. We drink wine a lot and so often have a bottle or so to recycle regularly. This person used old wine bottles, some with really cool looking labels, as water bottles on each of the tables where we were sitting. I must say, they were much easier to pour from than heavy water pitchers and much more interesting! They all had lovely wine stoppers in them too to make them even more appealing. Inside was delicious water. I loved this idea and will be stealing it for our next dinner party!

So look around and see what you can reuse and/or repurpose. That is just as important as recycling.