Frugal Friday - finding new uses for old items!

Whenever I have a need, I first try to fill it with something I already have. This way I will not spend money unnecessarily. There are many common household items that many people throw away that I have found can be very useful.

Milk Jugs - I could write a book about all the great ways to reuse a milk jug. While I don't keep every milk jug we use I do keep a few on hand. Some of the ways I have used them are:

Toilet brush holder in the bathroom, holders for blocks or Legos (just cut a hole in the top - leave the handle)

I found this idea here. Cut the milk jug as shown above to make a disposable pooper scooper - or a scoop for another purpose. Genius!

Cut off everything from the handle up and use the bottom for anything! I have used it to hold paint with great results.

Bread Ties/Twist Ties - I keep all of these because they are so handy! I love having them around. Some of the things I use them for are:

The obvious, re-closing other bags - chocolate chips, popcorn, rice, you name it.

Gardening - I used them this summer when I bought a honeysuckle vine that I wanted to grow up my patio. I used twist ties to attach it until the vine was strong enough and attached on its own.

Holding wires/cords together - I keep my cell phone charger plugged in on the counter, but the cord is really long. To keep it looking tidy, I wound the cord and secured it with a twist tie. This could be used for any other small cords.

Check out these other great uses for twist ties on the Readers Digest website here.

Laundry Soap Boxes - I keep one of these on top of my dryer and use it to toss dryer lint and dryer sheets. My laundry area is tiny, so the laundry box it just the perfect size.

These are just a few things that I came up with off the top of my head. There are many more creative and fun ideas out there, I'm sure. How about you - how do you reuse stuff?