My Mother kept everything. Aluminum foil, plastic meat trays, bottles, jugs, newspaper….. And every now and then she would throw most of it out and start over. I am not so much of a keep-everything kind of person but I do keep some things and I have a specific plan for those things. Having a plan keeps me from turning into a hoarder! 
1. Bacon Grease – Yup. I keep bacon grease in pint jars in the frig. After I’ve cooked bacon, I allow the grease to cool a while and then pour it into a clean canning jar. Canning jars are the best kind of glass container to use because they are made to accept really hot contents. However…. if your jar is really cold and you put really hot bacon grease into it…. pop! The jar may break. So be sure to run some very hot water over your jar to warm it up if its cold. I use bacon grease in green beans mostly but sometimes to season other foods.
2. Plastic grocery store bags. I fold them. Its not hard, you just follow their natural contours, fold them into a long piece then fold that into a small square. I used to have one of those things than is tube shaped and hangs on a hook to keep them in but now I just keep them in a wide-mouth mason jar. I use them to line the bathroom trash can, to carry produce from the garden to people, to put litter in when we clean the cat box and various other things.
3. Dryer Lint – Well, I almost never throw this out, you can get too much because a little goes a very long way. I use it as fire starter for the outdoor fire pit. I just save it in a zip top bag and pull out a bit when I want to start a fire. Always dry, always flammable. If you put it in a paper egg carton and pout melted wax over it you have an even more flammable fire-starter.
4. Pretty glass bottles – I make homemade vinegars and homemade vanilla. and homemade linen spray. Pretty bottles like what condiments and little hot peppers come in are great for gift giving your homemade stuff.
5. Glass mayonnaise jars – I prefer storing food in glass instead of plastic so I save big glass jars like mayo jars to store peas, nuts, beans and pasta in. They are also very handy for making herbal tinctures and other preparations in so that you don’t have to use your canning jars.
6. All kinds of food-grade plastic bottles – Vinegar jugs, 2 liter drink bottles, apple juice bottles can be used to store dry foods like beans, rice and peas. You can also store water in them for emergencies. Be sure if you store water in them you add a couple drops of bleach to keep stuff from growing in it and that you store it where it won’t cause damage if they get busted! Wash out the jugs well using mild and soap and water, rinse well and then turn upside down on a clean towel to dry completely before storing food in them. Avoid using non-food grade plastic for storing food or water.
7. Small, nearly used up pieces of soap – I sqwish them all together and make a bigger bar. You can melt them and mold them into a new bar. Or you can add some boiling water to them and melt them and make liquid soap.
8. Newspaper – Lots of uses for this; cleaning windows, mulching the garden, line and protect tool box drawers, ball it up and put it in leather boots or shoes to keep their shape (and deodorize), cover the windshield of the vehicle to keep frost from forming. Get yourself a box and cut out one side like you were making a dog bed, just leave a 3 inch or so lip. Now put a piece of twine or sturdy string in the box and allow the twine to go up and fall over two sides of the box. Now add newspapers to the box and when its full, use the twine to tie the papers up.
9. Old quilts and Blankets – I cover these with sheets or other fabric, tack them together and create a brand new cover!
10. Old Candles and candle stubs – Well, of course you know that these can be melted and made into new candles. They also make great fire-starters.
And here is a bonus: I save used aluminum foil too, just like Mother. Did you know that you can ball up some aluminum foil, about the size of a tennis ball, put it in the dryer with wet clothes and it will keep static from forming? Sure enough. Try it. One ball will last about 6 months.
That’s my list. What kinds of things do you never throw away? What do you use them for?
Hello and welcome! I'm Sylvia Britton, and I've been online since 1996 offering encouragement and help in the spirit of Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 at Christian Homekeeper. CHK is the original Homekeeping site on the internet
Oh, I have one… One of my failings with my kids is that I let them have Country Time Lemonade (in the big can from Sam’s Club). It’s full of sugar I know, that’s a conversation for another day. But I save the cans over the year and they make the absolute cutest and most unique Christmas gift cans!! Just remove the original paper label, cut wrapping paper of your choice to fit, glue on, add ribbon, voila!! Any kind of can like that will do. Metal coffee cans can be spraypainted, #10 veggie cans (check your local public school cafeteria! They will often save theirs for you.), large hot chocolate cans… Just make sure when you wash out the paper type cans that you do it quickly (inside only!) and dry immediately. Cutest presents under the tree…
Love those ideas, Lori! Thank you for sharing.
I take old tin cans and use them as a buscuit and cookie cutters.I cut off both ends then one end I will turn side ways and cut the finished end off with can opener or tin snips.It will be sharp and with be good for cutting cabbage and ruff veggies for canning.
Leave both finished ends on after u cut out top and bottom and use as a cookie or biscuit cutter.
When we start a new bar of soap, we just squeeze the remaining sliver onto the top of the new bar so we don’t waste anything. I love hearing about uses for glass or plastic jars with screw-top lids as I always save them but don’t always have good uses for them. As for the idea about old blankets and quilts, I may try that with a summery sheet naxt summer to make a new coverlet.
With me , it ‘s always 200g jar size empty Nescafe Gold jars!
They’re great for making pickles. They fit nicely on any cellar or pantry shelf. I also pass them to friends and we all do the same. Then a few weeks later, we all exchange our jars! The pickles keep well, and the jars are a rectangular shape which is often easier to store in a row in a cupboard than roundish jars.
*Plastic screw-top jars have many uses:
large peanut butter or mayo jars make nice containers for gifting cookies or dried fruit mixes, while smaller ones (like soup base comes in) are just right for a lunchbox and will hold a serving of potato, macaroni, or fruit salad. The screw lid eliminates the danger of leakage.
*Plastic snap-lid containers are nice for when the kids come to dinner and I want to send leftovers with them. One-quart yogurt or cottage cheese containers are great for that. Small yogurt cups make handy drinking containers for small children and they stack nicely in the cupboard. They’re also good for making single-servings of pudding, jello salad, or even popcicles. Lids that have no mates can be cut into tabs for marking seedlings in the greenhouse.
*Ziplock bags–I wash and reuse them all
*Too-ripe bananas go into the freezer to be used in pancakes or muffins. I just put the whole frozen banana into a glass container and thaw in the microwave, cut the end off with kitchen shears and squeeze out like toothpaste into the pancake batter. It sweetens it enough that I like them without syrup.