All The Frugal Ladies Personal finance with a feminine touch
Recycling is one of the best ways to save money while also reducing your carbon footprint.
Not only does it reduce needless expenditure and waste, both of which can contribute to pollution, but it also encourages a more creative, as it involves taking old objects and either reusing them as is or repurposing them.
It’s a great habit to teach yourself as well as your friends and loved ones.
To help you get started, here are some common household items that are perfect for recycling.
Printer ink cartridges
Printer ink cartridges can be expensive, and since they’re a consumable commodity where you need to constantly rebuy them when they’re spent or run out, the accumulating expense can easily strain any budget.
There’s also the fact that each spent ink cartridge ends up in a landfill somewhere, contributing to our ever-increasing garbage pollution problem.
To save on money as well as to save the environment, use remanufactured printer ink cartridges instead.
These are essentially old ink carts that have been disassembled, cleaned, reassembled and then refilled according to original manufacturer specifications – so they’re just as good as new.
The best part is that they’re sold much more cheaply, especially on specialty websites.
Old or damaged devices
Instead of tossing out damaged devices or tools, have them repaired instead!
There are many service centers and experts all over that specialize in repairing devices like drones or other complicated gadgetry. Whatever the repair fee, it’s easily going to be much more affordable than buying new.
Just like recycling printer ink cartridges, repairing devices also helps cut down on our burgeoning e-waste problem.
Teabags
Don’t toss out your teabag after making just one cup of tea with it. Instead, place it on a saucer or an airtight container and use it again for another cup in a later time.
By doing so your current tea supply should last you for considerably longer. You can also open up your used tea bags and use the leaves inside as fertilizer for your plants.
Roasted chicken/turkey/beef bones
Tossing out the bones from these delicious meat types after they’ve been picked clean during dinner is an awful waste. Instead, boil them in water along with some aromatic vegetables and spices until they dissolve.
Now you have an excellent stock that you can use for soups, stews, and other recipes.
Aluminum foil
Aluminum foil should only be used once. However, if you’re interested in saving money, you can simply rinse the sheet with hot soapy water after use.
Plastic food containers from ice cream and butter products
Don’t throw these away either! They’re made of quality stuff that can last for quite a long time. Use them to store food, tools, or other miscellaneous objects.
They also make for great airtight containers that you can use to store frozen meat in your freezer.
Egg shells
Crush egg shells into powder and spread it around your plants for fertilizer.
If you keep grass-eating tortoises or reptiles as pets, dusting their feed with crushed egg shells can also serve to supplement their diet with calcium.
Plastic drink bottles
PET bottles can be recycled into all sorts of things, from plant pots, water pitchers and even watering cans.
If you’d rather not exert the effort in converting them into usable items, however, you can just take them to your recycling center and possibly earn a bit of money in doing so.
Broken crayons
Broken crayons can be melted in the oven or over a stove to mold new crayons. You can even use them as paint for an art project.
Be careful with the fire however.
Bread crusts
Toast bread crusts into croutons, or save them in a bag to feed them to birds or ducks in your local park.
By recycling common household objects rather than simply tossing them in the trash, you can save money as well as help ease the strain that our environment is currently suffering under.
Thanks to Freepik for the featured image.
