new use for common things

I know there are a lot of innovative thinkers on this site who can see something and think hmm, I wonder.

What are some things you have used in a new way that has worked out well for you? I will share two of my own.

You know those frozen pasta dinners that you are supposed to microwave? They come in a fairly sturdy black plastic tray. The tray has sides that come up a short way, not sloped like a pie plate. Daughter eats these ghastly things, but I found the washed trays are just the right size and rigid enough to work as nut and bolt holders for HUbby when he is working on a vehicle. I have washed several and keep a stack in his work area and now he grabs a few and uses then to stash small bits in during vehicle repair. THey are rigid enough to withstand the weight of quite a few metal objects and flat and wide enough for him to get his fingers easily in to fish out parts. Small yogurt containers have NOT worked as well in this application, too small to dig around in looking for pieces.

And this next one, I thought it was BRILLIANT and cannot claim it as my own idea, but heard it from someone else. They had been helping someone butcher chickens and had used a killing cone made out of a rolled Crazy Carpet. You know those flat sheets of plastic kids slide on in the snow! Wrap one into an appropriate size and shape, drill some holes and wire it together and bolt it to a wall, voila, instant killing cone! WHy didn't I think of that? A Crazy Carpet killing cone? OF course!

Your turn.

Oh..Ponds make-up removing wet wipes work really well for removing the disgusting dog ear wax that long eared dogs develop. Cuts that grease much better than soap and water. For the outer area of the ear, do not stick this INTO the ear canal.

Folgers coffee containers make great scoops for feed, chick starter, scooping soil for filling pots.

We find many uses here for ice cream buckets, but the tops often get discarded into the recycling barrel. The tops are useful for mixing epoxy and body filler.

For gross earwax/gunk/crud or ear infections use hand sanitizer gell. Open the ear, squirt a bunch in and massage deep. It will slice through all the gunk and bsolutely clean it out. Repeat as necessary.
I have a standard poodle who had chronic unending unfixable and painful ear infections for 3 years straight with his past owner. I carefullly plucked his ear canal clean and gentley swabbed and gave him his pills. He was in pain all the time it didnt help. Finally I stopped plucking him and let the ear hair grow, combed it a little to make sure it grew OUT of his ear, and let it get long. The brown gunk was horrific and stunk. I went in with hand sanatizer (rubbing alcohol gel) and did his ear every other day for about 2 weeks. Then it was once a week for a little while, then once a month. After about 6 or 7 months his ear infection was gone. He has long hir in his ears, I trim it out when it is time to shave him, no more plucking, too damaging for him, and his ears are both perfectly fine.

I also use the hand sanatizer gel on hot spots (not directly on open or bleeding, that stings). It is perfect.

I also now use it on my own feet to refresh and clean every so often. I often wear rubber boots and end up with a little "toe jam" between sometimes. One hit of gel and it is gone.

Note, if you are using it on your skin on areas irritated or inflamed from bacterial growth (I do) it may feel really HOT for a bit (means it is working) or sting. If it stings then you should ahe done it sooner.

Bassicly it is rubbing alcohol in a gel. Very handy, very cheap.

Coffee cans, MANY uses. But our Nabob cans have a lip inside them and I don't like them as well as some different brands that don't have that lip.

Rosewood, I used to have a dog that LIVED to chase frisbees and then chew them to pieces. Ice cream pail lids fly through the air just as well as Frisbees! My dog fetched ice cream lids for years!

Hand sanitizer...never would have thought if that.

I am using the clear plastic containers from organic lettuce or tomatoes as pedigree hatch baskets. They are clear, light-weight, come with a good-fitting lid and have lots of holes for ventilation. I line the bottom with paper towel and mist it to make it stay put. So when I am hatching eggs that I need to keep separated, I can put a small group of eggs (3 or 4) in a container and label it. The chicks hatch inside just fine, and I can then mark them as I take them out.

I'm not that innovative, but I used the wire cube shelves for chicken cages at Ty's sale.
I put some drawer liner on the bottom with shavings over top. Tied it all together with zip ties.
It worked very well for me. It's a bit of an investment, but it will last for years.
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Kathy.. that is BRILLIANT!!

The best pry bar I have is an outboard motor shaft. It has also served as a grounding rod, and oversized punch. This thing has not bent in the 20+ years I have been exacting all my strength and energy into prying with it and beating it with a sledgehammer.

This thread is going to grow as we think of more things...

Old used up plastic gift cards. I love them. Great for scraping counter tops after kneading or rolling out bread, cleaning pans or the bread bowl because they are flexible.

Also my dutch weeder (I think that's what it's called) doubled last fall as a pig scraper. It is a flat wood handle with a piece of metal banding screwed in a U shape on one end.

Anna, your cages are beautiful. They stack so nice and look so professional!

Here's one that's good for a laugh....
I had a 69 caddy eldorado with a 501 in it. I couldn't find the top for the air cleaner anywhere.
I drilled a hole in a toliet seat lid, and it sealed perfectly. Drove it for a few years like that. It was always entertaining when that monster Hood was up.

Old tires grow great potatoes!
Start your potatoes in a tire filled with dirt. When its time to hill up more dirt on the stems, add another tire and fill with dirt. Continue as long as necessary.
When they're ready, remove 1 tire and harvest.
Remove another when you need more potatoes...

Wow, Uno! Three recycling ideas, all significantly unpleasant in either source or application. Mmmm.

Peanut butter jars were used here for nuts bolts, and any odds and ends in the shop now that they are not clear hubby will no longer use them. I use the big 2 gallon pickle jars for storage of dry goods or baking. I use soup cans to start tomatoes. We used an old fuel tank which we steam cleaned for an incinerator. I have also used strips of old tires for sweat scrapers for the horses as my old dog had a tendency to steal my scrapers if I set it down. We used strips of the inner tube as a spring latch on a shed. We have also used said tubes to teach horses to have things hanging on them as it gives as they move so makes things not so much of a dead weight it flopps more like a child might. I use old oil jugs(4 liter ones) as training tools with the horses also. I am sure there are other things we reuse also

I love this! It's like a garage sale, but on-line. A garage sale of great ideas!

If you shop at Costco, you may be familiar with the one-use 5 gallon water cooler jugs? I always buy them and this winter instead of recycling them like pop cans, I turned them into waterers for my chickens.My ten gallon water font was too heavy and I find the birds always spill a container they can walk over top of, so I cut one or two holes big enough for their heads into the side of the jug halfway up. When filled with water it is heavy and the small end points up, like a roof. The chickens go around them so I have not had one tipped over yet! In the cold I just would switch frozen ones for cleaned refilled ones. Plus with multiple pens these are cheap and easy!

Wooden lobster traps make great nest boxes.
Metal lobster traps make great fencing. Make sure the lid is accessible as you may need to help stuck chicks out. They also can be stacked and covered with tarps or plywood for summer homes. Living in a lobster fishing village, people will deliver them to your home, just to get rids of them.
Old trunks make great milking stands.
Old bits make great door pulls. Old horseshoes make good door hooks. They can be used to hang poles for fencing too.
Grocery store buckets, that are thrown in the trash at all the store bakery departments, make fabulous water buckets, feed buckets, planters, maple syrup collectors, seats, DE storage, etc.... The pigs love to clean out any leftover icing.
Pallets, well here's another long list.... My friend built his 24 by 30 barn with them.
Old playpens make great brooder houses. I prefer the ones that fold up, as the old wooden one is hard to store.
The metal poles from trampolines, swimming pool, temporary garages and gazebos are great for fence posts.

Strawberry crates make great nest boxes.

Someone on one of these forums (Sorry to them, I can't remember who it was) said that those cheap stacking storage bins make good nests. I was looking for some yesterday. That store didn't have any big enough for chickens but I did get a small one for my Call Duck. Put it in a dark corner and she was sitting in it this morning (looks like she pushed most of the shavings out, we'll have to see where that goes).

I've also turned an old cupboard into a breeding pen. Just laid it on it's back so the door is on the top. Bit of wire on the sides and voila.

auntieevil wrote:
Pallets, well here's another long list.... My friend built his 24 by 30 barn with them.

Our place used to belong to a supply sergeant in the army. Instead of sending old ammuniton crates to the dump, he sent them here. My barn and chicken coop were built out of ammunition crates. Don't know how long he must have spent pulling staples.

I use empty cup of soup's or to go coffee cups to start my vegy plants in, they work awesome.

Prairie Chick wrote:I use empty cup of soup's or to go coffee cups to start my vegy plants in, they work awesome.

You know what I have done several years in a row now is use newspaper to make your own biodegradable peat pots. Pick a tin can of the size you're wanting for pots, and simply roll newspaper around them, folding the bottom over and pressing hard so it stays. The walls should have two or three layers of paper. When planting the whole unit goes into the garden.

For the river and lake fisherman out there. Instead of buying a floater (those inflatable tubes that you still have to kick to move around) take a vest style life jacket, invert it, and wear it like a giant diaper. You'll float about belly level.

And if you catch that really big one and crap your pants, well, you're not polluting the river or lake you're in...

Hillbilly wrote:For the river and lake fisherman out there. Instead of buying a floater (those inflatable tubes that you still have to kick to move around) take a vest style life jacket, invert it, and wear it like a giant diaper. You'll float about belly level.

And if you catch that really big one and crap your pants, well, you're not polluting the river or lake you're in...

What a hillbilly.

Hillbilly, I'd pay to see you floating upside down along a river with your feet sticking straight in the air and a life jacket strapped to your butt. Hope you have a helmet on so you don't bang your noodle on any river rocks as you bob your way towards the rapids.

GOod job, Hillbilly! Kids: Do NOT try this stunt at home! Performed by unsupervised Hillbilly with little regard for his own life.

Hillbilly wrote:take a vest style life jacket, invert it, and wear it like a giant diaper.

I do this every time I go boating. I'm aquaphobic but can't seem to stay out of the water in summer so this is a lifesaver. Literally.