Idea of replacing lost knives, forks and spoons with interesting used cutlery from a second-hand shop

Really really really glad I decided to let go of my perfectionism about having matching cutlery, and took advantage of the good quality cutlery you can find in op shops (second-hand charity shops). Unless you are willing to spend alot of money, things are made much more cheaply nowadays. Instead of waiting to buy a really expensive set of really good cutlery, I got as many as I wanted for under $5 - and honestly, the kids love the unique knives. They were already fighting for a unique spoon and fork we had gotten from somewhere - now they have alot more interesting knives and forks and spoons to choose from.

Another awesome thing to find at an op shops for children (or me) is books. I used to have a Holly Hobby paper doll when I was little. And this monsters book is really creative, full of drawings and ideas for kids to read. My little girl found a soft toy pig (Wilbur), and my boy found some cool toys too. Far better to find things that don't require more plastic and junk to be made.

Idea of buying reconditioned appliances - give it a go they are great value.

This is so cool. You can buy refurbished (repaired) kettles and appliances for a fraction of the price from Trademe. Applianceoutlet is the repair shop for Breville. After they fix a return, the appliance is tested and resold.  We gave this a try and got an awesome kettle we wouldn't have been able to afford.

Give it a go, get a a better model than you can normally afford while helping to preserve the environment by preventing waste!

Using reusable containers for buying meat (to avoid plastic waste)

The one thing I do to prevent plastic waste, that actually works well - both for environment and for my family - is simply to bring reusable hard plastic containers to a butcher or supermarket meat counter.  They can tare the scale to zero, then put in whatever I am buying.  The plastic disposable bag is then unnecessary - the repetitive waste is out of the loop.

Then you can put the containers in the freezer as they are. Ha ha.


(I do sometimes get complaints if I use the meat container to pack a lunch or something.  Best to keep these ones as meat containers only I guess.)

Recently though - the grocery store they built which was closer to our home was made without a meat counter, and the butchery I went to closed (likely put out of business by the grocery store, which did have alot of meat - just all on polystyrene/styrofoam trays).  So I was SOL.  And driving for a half hour to go to a grocery with a meat counter would not get me anywhere as I would, too ironically, create more greenhouse gas pollution.  But I am proud of the fact that I went and explored and found a new place to go and do this, a pretty close drive away in our 2nd nearest shopping area.  The Butcher Lady in Orewa, NZers.  She'll even let me text her to  make sure she has what I need unpackaged.

So just explore - I am sure you'll find a place near you that will let you do this.

My dad's style

Sticks for stirring bread dough that my dad whittled from honeysuckle wood he found lying on the street outside

I just visited my parents, who are currently staying in Salt Lake City, on a mission for their church (they normally live in Calgary, in Canada). Even though my Dad was staying in a small apartment right now, I just loved seeing the simple way he lives, as he brought his ways with him.

A great container for his gas camping stove, fashioned from a tin can, with a piece of honeysuckle wood for a handle

My dad is constantly reusing everything, in a creative way. He used a good canopener which doesn't leave jagged edges, and uses lids of large tin cans as spoon rests while he is cooking. He reuses tunafish cans for everything. His water in the fridge is in a reused juice bottle. He stores grains in reused large tins, and makes handles for them. Other people will give a rusted tool - and he will restore it and use it - it will become a good tool, always kept in great condition. Even when there is the smallest scrap of flour brushed from the counter from breadmaking, with a swish of his hand, he will sweep it into a little reused plastic container to use again, perhaps for making gravy, later.

"It's because I'm a cheapskate" he jokes with me. But I know it isn't that. He just respects things.


When he was a little boy, his dad gave him a hacksaw he was too young to use. When he left it out in the rain, he got into big trouble. His father was teaching him to respect his tools.

My father has been fixing an old school backpack my little brother had for 10 years. The zipper just broke, but he still doesn't want to give it up. "It just kills me to throw it away when the rest of it is still good."

There is such a beautiful feeling, when we set food out in this way, and eat dinner with my parents - with cold, good water in a juice bottle on the table, some fresh cut onions in a clean margarine container - the food is of the highest quality, artisan fresh bread, home-made jam - presented in this purely functional way. It feels blessed; as I am sure my non-wasteful father will always continue to be - with an abundance of resources.

"No. 10" cans reused for storing grains, flour, beans. Once opened, my dad gets plastic lids for them.

The grandchildren having fun grinding wheat into flour.

A very good canopener that cuts along the side of the can and doesn't leave jagged edges - leaving lids and cans that can be reused for many purposes.


Margarine containers holding artisan bread dough - dough which only requires mixing, not kneading, as the yeast slowly brews in the fridge.
Dinner at Grandma's and Grandpa's house; prayers are being said before we eat.

Check out these reusable bread bags by Ginger Pye

Check out my new reusable bread bags! They were custom made by Ginger Pye based on their lunch sack design, but larger (I gave them measurements), and lined with EVA which is food-safe and BPA and phthalate-free. These are large enough to fit any size loaf of bread (or a batch of muffins, or rolls...)

Two came to $40 (NZ).
I love being able to make extra bread and store it in these bags without the guilt of causing horrible landfill fodder...and they bring extra life into the kitchen (instead of taking it away).

How to make your own simple sturdy cotton book bag

In NZ school kids have vinyl pouches to take their reading and workbooks home every day. They don't cost much, but also don't last for long before shredding and becoming landfill fodder. It's actually REALLY easy to make your own out of a sturdy fabric such as heavy cotton.

I embroidered my daughter's bags before I sewed the pieces together (photo below) but it's not necessary. I can picture other kids having sturdy cotton book bags in their favourite bright colour, like orange, or blue, or even pink, with matching colour of bias binding/ribbon along the edges. Just having a well-made real fabric book bag would look great.

The design of the bags is one piece only - with a bias binding sewn around the edges. (I was about to use thick strap material, but a crafty friend stopped me fortunately - so my embroidering was not wasted.) Bias binding is easy to use and light. However, I did notice after that there are a huge variety of choices in ribbon out there in a haberdashery shop, which would be of very little cost - if anyone thought that bias binding was too expensive.


You will need...
Heavy cotton fabric - at least 1 m
Bias binding (preferred) or ribbon
A few centimeters of velcro for keeping the top closed
Scrap of leather or other tough material
Marking pencil (white or dark)
Long ruler or straight edge
White fabric name label
The usual: Thread, needle, scissors
A sewing machine if possible

Step 1: Trace and cut out the one piece shape for the bag. The design of this book bag is one piece - wrapping around the bottom. Draw the bag shape using a white pencil crayon or black marker, depending on whether your fabric is light or dark. Use a ruler to measure and mark straight lines. The large book bag piece is 45 cm long and 36 cm wide, the small bag is 38.5 long and 26.5 wide. Bevel the edges of one end as in illustration above. The bevelled end folds over 9 cm in the large bag and 8.25 for the small. (But I just traced the old cheaply made book bags - it was really easy that way.)

Step 2: Measure and cut binding. Fold the bag piece in half, with the square end stopping where it should, and mark where it should come up to. Cut your bias binding by following around the edge. Piece 1: Along the square edge that goes inside flap lid. Piece 2: Follows the left edge of the bag, and then along the flap, and hten down the right side again.

Step 3: Sew binding along edges. I strongly recommend pinning first. Fold the short piece of binding along the square end first, pin it into place, then sew along it using a sewing machine using an appropriate thread colour. Then fold over the long piece that covers the edge including along the flap and down the other side. Pin, then sew it. Presto, the bag is made! Now you just have to handsew on velcro inside the flap, and a reinforcing piece of leather or other sturdy material (to the outside opposite the velcro. You could also optionally sew on a pull tab.

It's alot harder to describe than it is to make it. If you can borrow another book bag to follow the design, it's really easy.

Ideal Cup - like KeepCup but made in New Zealand

I was looking for a coffee cup that didn't suck.

I was willing to use large, awkward and embarrassing reusable coffee cups in public at every turn - but I needed to find something my husband was actually willing to use. Something with style! But, most importantly - enjoyable to drink from.

I had heard of KeepCup, and I loved the idea. For a Christmas present, I found and ordered from Ideal Cup.

You can choose your colours for the lid, the inside, the outside and so on, like KeepCup, but it's actually made here in New Zealand!

Both are "barista grade" (they look just like the takeaway cups you get, and so also fit under espresso machines). The removable top lid insert swivels with a small plug that can cork up the drinking hole if you don't want it to spill out for a moment, or swivel out of the way.

Ideal Cup costs $15 ordered online, or you can buy them wholesale and get your coffee shop's logo printed on it and sell them (Sierra Coffee at the Albany Pak'NSave had them with their logo on it for sale for $14 - and also proudly told me they were made in NZ. I was impressed.)

Shane - my husband - actually drinks from one. Now that's high praise.

Repairing broken pot handles with drawer knobs

Here is an idea!

Drawer knobs.

When your plastic crap handle breaks off your pot lid, as is likely to happen at my place, you don't have to throw the rest of it away due to this weak link. Just go to your hardware store, and purchase any sort of drawer knob (cupboard knob), and screw it on. A washer is good too, to keep the screw from slipping out the hole.

I used drawer knobs as they didn't sell replacement knobs for pots or pans. Since I had broken a few pot handles off, I bought a few wood knobs, and now the handles are solid as a rock and will last for a long time (unlike their original handles). I chose varnished wood, to help protect from steam. But there were many types there, even solid metal teddy bear handles, if this takes your fancy!



The ones that I bought from the hardware store came with screws and washers, so it was really easy.



P.S. If you don't already have a good screwdriver, get one - they are useful. 

Note from a later date:  USE STAINLESS STEEL SCREWS

Found on the Art Grange - Michelle Stitzlein's bottlecap mosaics

This was posted by ReUseConnection, it just blew my mind. I love it. This couple, Michelle and Nathaniel Stitzlein, have a studio in Baltimore Ohio called the Art Grange. They both make sculpture, and also computer graphics. Michelle reuses many objects in her beautiful sculptures, such as piano keys - they exhibit their art, and also hold workshops for children where they make mosaics out of bottlecaps. This is their website: http://www.artgrange.com/. I always wanted to make art out of bottlecaps, and other objects as well, in the past - these people are really, really doing it.

Michelle has published a book of their bottlecap mosaic projects with children - which would be awesome for schools (or home art projects).

I've started saving bottlecaps again.

Link to order her book here: www.lulu.com/content/2508533

Reusing Plastic Curry Takeaway Containers

Sagar Indian restaurant in Birkenhead makes a mean curry. So much so that we go there once in awhile, despite it costing money, and for me, the guilt of creating more plastic waste. The plastic containers we get our food in (picture me walking out with a plastic bag of plastic containers) are reusable, and I use them all the time for lunches. (I actually get a great feeling, but the way, about very durable plastic reusable containers, for the environment - so much better than disposable.) Eventually these curry containers crack though, and they must be recycled, for perhaps only one more use as jacket stuffing? Far better to avoid.

So, it was not perfect, but one step better when I was brave enough to take a handle of our million plastic takeaway containers back to the restaurant to ask them to refill instead of using new.

The biggest problem was communicating to the lady who took our order. I hesitantly whipped out the stack and asked her if we could reuse them "for the environment". She didn't understand and explained they always used new, quality containers. I started to explain how plastic is often only reused once, and it was better to reuse, but she still looked confused. Finally my intelligent step-daughter, sick of the conversation going round in circles, stated "she doesn't want there to be any more plastic on the Earth" and the lady suddenly understood.

What's more, she was willing to give it a go - and I didn't end up with another giant stack of containers (and guilt over what "on earth" to do with them).

I am so far now from the usual way of thinking that I have a hard time understanding what people don't understand! Thanks clever Savannah.

Rainbow Ruru Wings for Troy

My special Christmas gift for my daughter. The base was made from a pair of pants. I cut out the crotch for her head to go through, and then cut away more of the pants, tailoring it to fit her. It works really well, as there is room for her to extend her arms up as far as she likes - the pants would just be in their natural orientation. The feather rows are cut from felt, as it doesn't fray. It's tied on in front, like a jacket - I used a red wide shoelace.

Underneath she holds onto knitting needles to extend the wings, the blunt ball ends at the wingtips so she doesn't injure anyone when she's playing. They are handsewn into the costume, around the ball ends, so they don't fall out.

Dan Phillips houses made from reclaimed stuff

I love this. Love it.

The Useful, Useless Clock

I was putting back some bottles that had fallen out of a recycling bin, and I saw a chucked-away clock. It was a cheap Chinese clock, the kind that will function barely, until it breaks in a few months, black plastic and a battery. However, I could see that it would make a great toy for the children to play with, and learn to tell time.

Of course 4 and 2 is really too young to learn to tell time, but they were fascinated with actually being able to touch the clock hands themselves, after I took off the glass and plastic frame that held it, with the help of a glasses screwdriver. We sat waiting for the bus (free time), and I promised Troy (4 yr old girl) later chocolate if she tried to guess the numbers the hands pointed to. Well, first I put the glass and frame on my face, and made strange voices, pretending to be an astronaut in space to make them laugh. But she loved the game of guessing the clock's numbers, and it was a very effective learning lesson. Later she compared the numbers to the mailboxes as we walked along, and counted from 1 on the clock to the number on the mailbox verbally to learn what the number was called.

Just another green idea.
Even the glass plate on it's own is a beautiful thing. A perfectly round piece of glass. Shall I decorate the plastic frame, and use glass and frame for a really cool picture? Or use it as a window? Or...save it in the arsenal of magic and useful objects.