I had a lot of tshirts from events I have attended, and cut the fronts of them and had them made into a quilt. The left overs are cleaning rags…

I remove labels by soaking with a bit of vegetable oil — usually works, unless the glue is super strong.

I’m cutting squares out of old woven clothes to make a new cover for our quilt. I’ll use squares from shirts and boxers on one side and squares from khakis and jeans on the other. I’ve also heard of people making t-shirt quilts.

I also have a plan to make a checkbook cover and some dining room napkins out of old clothes. And most people would agree that long before the time I refuse to wear something anymore, most people would think of it as trash.

I like to save pretty pictures from magazines to decoupage shoe boxes and envelope boxes I’m using for storage. Not that I’ve actually done that yet, but I did just decorate an (admittedly new) notebook with one of the things I saved. It let me buy a cheap boring notebook but then have a gorgeous notebook that I love looking at.

As a kid, I once cut out a picture of a car from a greeting card and glued it to a peanut butter lid which was the perfect size to frame it. This is still hanging on my wall today.

I’ve made a charcoal starter from a large can and a camp stove from a tuna fish can, corrugated cardboard (or you could use dryer lint) and wax.

I’ve turned failed attempts to make tomato soup into spaghetti sauce. And bruised and extremely ripe fruit into smoothies. (Actually, fruit milkshakes.)

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I can’t think of many things I’ve made from garbage, but I do re-purpose some garbage.

I use glass peanut butter jars and spaghetti sauce jars to store home-made pumpkin butter and to store some bulk items like peanuts, granola, and chocolate chips. Lots of people use glass baby food jars for screws and things. I use yogurt containers (the kinds with lids) to bring home-made pudding to work.

I’m using a free coozie from work to store pens at work. And a free mug to store rubber bands.

I sometimes use newspaper as a layer of mulch in my yard. Not to mention coffee grounds and egg shells.

I use envelopes from junk mail (the ones without any writing on the back) for my shopping lists. I store coupons inside.

I’ve used gift baskets to hold hair scrunchies in the bathroom, first aid stuff in the bathroom, juggling balls in the living room and fruit in the kitchen. I’ve heard of people using Velveeta boxes to organize their silverware.

I hope some other people have better ideas than mine.

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Alcohol also is good for removing most stickers, though supposedly not quite as good as lighter fluid (and, I assume, gasoline). Alcohol seems much safer and more pleasant, so I always try that first and so far it has always worked for me. Sometimes just letting things soak in water can work, too.

@Spork – We have some weaknesses. The pizzas are the $5 from Little Ceasars. The soda bottles are Walmart’s 79c cola light, so they are not overly expensive sins.

I don’t know if this qualifies, but I compost grass clippings, leaves, and food scraps. I’ve still got plenty of baby food jars that I use for nail, nuts, and bolts. I use old bleach bottles to hold old motor oil before I take it to be recycled.

I got rid of the soda bottles by not drinking them anymore – in fact soda is an unwanted American influence in our country. We get very natural sodas like tender coconuts in plenty and fresh fruit juices. So I have successfully shifted to tender coconuts and fresh juices instead of sodas or and packaged juices.

But the idea of using it for self watering is a good one though.

Reference labels.

A strongish solution of soda crystals in a bucket. partly fill the 2L bottles and stand in it. I do this with wine / beer bottles and the labels just fall off.

I turn old t-shirts into (grocery) sacks – you can find loads of tutorials online.

And if you go onto Instructables, you can find TONS of uses for bicycle inner tubes, old climbing rope (occasionally rock climbing clubs will retire rope and give it away for free), and just about anything you can think of.

My house is full of upcycled items. Here’s a few.
I make tote bags from dog food bags.
I turned our old kitchen sink into water bowl for the dogs –finally a bowl that holds enough water.
I made a little chest of drawers by decorating & gluing together empty matchboxes to hold a week’s worth of my daily vitamins.
I set the olive oil bottle (they always drip) on a plastic lid from an empty ice cream bucket to keep the lazy Susan in the cabinet clean (it’s a pain to clean– but the lid goes in the DW).
I use empty strawberry baskets (doubled for strength) as drawer organizers.
I use old dish towels to make my cooking aprons.
I tear up my crossword puzzle books when done & add to the compost pile.
I wad up the mesh sacks from onions and use for scrubbing everything.
I use old grated cheese containers for dispensing baking soda on the carpet to deodorize it.
I use the squarish tag type bread tie for scraping stuck on things.
I made a border around the herb garden using colored glass bottles from sparkling cider, vinegar & olive oil. I turn them upside down and bury about 3/4 of the way.
All types of old clothing gets turned into rags.
I reuse the dog treat containers for storing my DIY laundry detergent and a number of other non-food things.
When I pick a bouquet of roses from my bushes, after a few days in the vase the petals fall. I scoop them up and place in a dish in the bathroom, they smell great & are pretty. Once the fragrance is gone they go into the compost.
Into our compost bin goes–fruit/veg scraps, newspapers, egg shells, leaves, yard debris,fireplace ashes and such.
Empty jugs are cut in half & used as scoops for garden dirt or used disposable mixing bowls.

Please don’t think I am a hoarder. I store my prospective upcycleables in our very large blue recycle can and if I don’t use the items by recycle day they go to the curb. Recycle is bi-weekly.

That is pretty cool. We’ve made one larger version of that, from a big tub. It worked.

I also have two commercial self-watering containers, that I randomly won in a drawing. They were great for my tomatoes. I am also very very bad at remembering to water. And in So Cal, that’s bad, especially with a drought.