Thursday, April 19, 2012

The 3 R’s

A to Z Badge 2012 (1)

Recycle

Reuse

Repurpose

If you’re someone like me who loves to go thrifting, it can be really easy to become a collector of junk or even a hoarder if you’re not careful.  The nice thing for us is that we don’t like clutter—though by the looks of my craft area right now it doesn’t seem that way!

For us, we’ve learned that it’s important to do a periodic recycling run.  We always have a box handy and usually filled up and ready to go by the next time we make a trip to the thrift-store. 

When I’m out thrifting, I try to be selective as to what I buy.  It’s so tempting to buy something because “it’s only a quarter”!  So.tempting.  I’m learning to be honest and ask myself on the spot if I’ll be able to reuse the item, or if it’ll end up in the Good*will box the next time I cull out.  That pretty platter that will come out once a year with a turkey on it?  No.  That set of nice cotton cloth napkins?  Definitely.

Part of repurposing an item, to me, is using it for something other than it was intended.  The revolving spice jar rack now holds my buttons.  The antique tool box turned sideways makes a perfect shelf in my kitchen for my vintage German-labeled spice jars.  That pretty purse my sister gave me hangs on my wall and holds my hot glue and heat gun.   

What are some ways you practice the 3 R’s?

Thanks for stopping by.

Brenda

I’m also participating here.

5 comments:

  1. Hehe. Very clever. I'm at the stage of life where I move things out of home. Clothes that no longer fit or are inappropriate for my age. Toys I'll never use, which I've collected from television days. I rarely buy anything. The lessons learned in the 70s back-to-the-earth days are well ingrained. Blog on!

    http://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.com

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  2. you are truly gifted---do you have a shop---it would be a success

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    1. Thank you Lynn. I do have an Etsy store that I'm trying to get off the ground for my paper art/vintage sewing patterns. I have another one that I'll be using strictly for vintage thrifted items, but haven't opened it yet.
      Have a great weekend.

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  3. We flea market every week during the warm months. It is easy to collect a lot more things than will ever be used, under the guise of, "It's only a quarter." :-) But, getting older has made us a lot better about that. Many weeks we come home now with nary a thing. A good plan you suggested, "I’m learning to be honest and ask myself on the spot if I’ll be able to reuse the item, or if it’ll end up in the Good*will box the next time I cull out. "

    We do recycle as much as we can. We turn flea market glass items into garden totems for gifts. Never a complaint. :-) And we ask ourselves before we recycle an empty container if we can reuse it for something. I have cut apart old clothes to make baby blankets (with a nice new flannel lining). And I rarely pitch little doodads until I am sure if they can be worked into a scrapbook.

    Good post :-)

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    1. You sound so much like me! Especially your last sentence about not pitching things that could be used in scrapbooking.

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