BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Creativity Being Creative and Green

Creativity and green living are the ultimate combination! You can think up creative ideas to reuse everything you would normally throw away! You can also ensure that when you're creative in general that you're using recycled products and get packaging that you can recycle!

When you're creative, are you using things that are made from recycled material?

When you throw things away, do you think creatively about your trash stream?

I know I have seen craft books called "From Trash to Treasure". I should start paying more attention to them.

One thing I did notice was old cardboard rolls that paper towels come on are very useful for storing bracelets. Just string them on and use that to go back and forth to craft fairs or home parties with. Or - paint them and use them to store your own bracelets.

You know, I was just wondering how I could store my watches better so they don't scratch each other up. I have five I think so I'm not talking millions of them, but I do have one for swimming in, one for dress up and so on. I imagine a cardboard roll could do the trick!

I put the toilet rolls in my compost pile.

If one has pocket pets, they make great toys.

I like the jewelry idea.

I try to reuse, compost or recycle just about everything. My actual weekly trash is almost negligible - mostly things like the bag my dog food comes in - and I reuse those as trash bags before i toss them.

I bet I could even find uses for the dog food bags if i gave it some time. They decorated with some of those on one of the White Room challenges on Design Star. (they had to decorate purely with items from a pet store).

I recently saw something where they talked about using toilet paper rolls to hold electronic cords. Fold the cords and then stick them in the tube. You could also write what the cord is for on the outside of the tube.

My daughter & I have decorated coffee canisters and made them into piggy banks. Spray paint the outside, cut a hole in the lid and decorate however you like. We hot glue the lid down so it's less tempting to "borrow" change out of it.

I've also been researching cob building - just completed a book review on the subject. The cob buildings I've seen are amazingly beautiful and simply speak to my heart.

Debbie - if you glue the lid down, how do you ever get the money out??

My sense is she has to destroy the box to use the money. I can see value in that - it makes you not want to use the money.

Exactly You create something fun and pretty that you don't want to destroy until it's full... then there's lots of cash in it to go do whatever fun thing she wants to do. We often use these for special occasions like saving for holiday gifts or a particular trip we'd like to go on. If you make a habit of throwing whatever change you have left at the end of the day into it, you can quickly save up a lot of money.

If you have a broken wall clock, use the hands of the clock to make a necklace.

I have been being creative in finding ways to amend my garden soil for free. I have been gathering bagged leaves and other yard waste from neighbors, finding free fill dirt on craigslist, and scooping up aged horse manure from nearby stables, all for free. Lisa was having me send her unwanted newspaper subscriptions and all that newspaper went into the soil as amendments. I now have a great thick well nourished garden area to accept my seeds and starts!

I am also rooting some rosemary that i cut from a plant in front of the senior center - so that is free too.

I am even thinking I want to call local eateries and see about asking for their kitchen wastes for my compost, since I don't create enough on my own to really have a large enough pile.

One can do a whole lot of gardening for free if they are willing to use a shovel, be creative, and put their back into it!