There’s no need to anyone to buy one of these things new now, the thrift stores are literally overflowing with them. Any brand you could want is here 🙄

My vanilla bean came in a sturdy container and I didn't want to throw it away. It sat for a while, but I figured out what it's perfect for. Its slim size fits great in bags for on-the-go medicine. And my ibuprofen is lightly vanilla scented. It's lovely.

It's organized so well it's turned into a liminal anticonsumption hellscape.

Creative Re Use stores are specialized thrift stores for art supplies. They divert craft materials from the landfill and support local artists. Here we have an amazing “pay what you can” store as well as one just for teachers and educators. Folks can donate supplies to them as well and they also host craft making events.

Edit: Please do not name or link to your local store as this breaks rule #7 🙁 Your comment will be removed by the mods 🙁 Feel free to share more generally if you also love your local one or the great supplies you have gotten there. Sorry for immediately causing everyone to break one of our sub rules! I don't want this post to get locked for excessive rule violations.

Edit #2: Here are a few directories to help https://www.sadieseasongoods.com/creative-reuse-centers/ and https://www.reuseresources.org/find-a-center.html and https://swoodsonsays.com/a-creative-reuse-center-near-me-map-resource/

Edit #3: If you love your local creative re-use store, I highly recommend posting about it in your local subreddit to spread awareness instead. The more people in your area who know about the re-use store, the better for your local community. Please don't name stores here.

Surely in this modern world of Robots, 'aware' computers & self-driving cars, we can think of better use for 3 tons of wood offcuts, than burying it?
This is from a flooring company, who do this every couple of weeks (or more); which equates to a minimum of 78 tons a year, from a single small business, with only a handful of staff.
Imagine the scale of waste worldwide!

I'm not sure about you, but I save the plastic bags that sheet sets come in. So far I've found a few uses, from organizing camping supplies to a DIY clear concert bag. But today I found a new use!

These appliances, while often used, are located next to the stove (off camera to the left) and my crappy apartment vent hood does not vent outside, it just blows out into the kitchen. Having 2 cats and no forced air system, you can imagine how much dust and hair accumulates, and the grossness has been hard to keep up with.

So, I deep cleaned these appliances and found appropriately sized bags to cover them with. It will be much easier to wipe down or replace this cover instead of scrubbing every nook and cranny on the appliances.

ETA I meant to ask, how do YOU use these bags?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/magazine/used-books-music-ethics.html

I refuse to get a new one because it still works perfectly fine; it just looks a little less pretty than when I recieved it. I got it in middle school when I was 15 (25 now) from my best friend. Its a spirited away wallet from Hot Topic.

Hey all, I was helping someone clean their house realized after using one of these wet pads, it’s gonna take like 3-4 of them to clean the entire floor. And the pads themselves dry up pretty quick. So I rigged it using a rag, warm water and soap then wrunged out the water. Rinse and repeat, I felt like it cleaned it better and will use this method if I didn’t have a mop and bucket. Plus it saves the headache of the strong smell if you’re sensitive to fragrances☺️

TLDR: where can I recycle or donate water bottles? Many of them are Stanley’s or Yeti stainless steel. I have about 60 bottles so far.

My local gym has been throwing away their lost & found items every week. So I’ve offered to start collecting those items and repurposing them however I can.
The majority of the clothes that I collect are washed and donated to local centers.
And many of the gym items will eventually be donated to local schools or summer camps.
But I have no clue what to do with all of these bottles and cups.

I’m open to suggestions, please and thank you.

EDIT: hey guys, just wanted to say thank you for all of the suggestions. I’m glad I did this. You have all been really helpful. I am going to divide up the bottles based off of brand and quality.
Some will be donated to a summer camp just outside of Nashville. Some are going to be donated to my kid’s school as extra bottles for their sports teams. And the rest are going to be placed outside of a homeless encampment nearby. If I continue to get as many cups and bottles, as I have been, I’ll probably collect, wash, and distribute once every three months.

Why get a new one when I can use this entire one first?

It's too small to sharpen so I have to use a razor blade!

I thought this group may find this funny and frustrating.

There is a house up the street from my that encourages people to paint rocks or find cool rocks and put them in their flower garden. I’m 90% sure it’s so there don’t have to use mulch or other rocks, but it’s really cute and people love it. Each fall the family packs up all the rocks and keeps them inside throughout the winter. Then each spring they put out all the rocks again and encourage more.

I was telling my sister about this and how my son and I planned to go search for rocks this weekend, so we could paint our own to add to the collection.

A few hours later she sends me a picture of 5 rocks we can paint. I said “wow where did you find those?” She said “I ordered them for same day pick up”

Y’all she paid $10 for rocks! Not even special rocks. Regular grey rocks. She said it is worth it to save time because now we don’t have to go searching for them.

I wanted to scream the point is to search for rocks and decorate them. It’s a fun, almost free activity for kids to get them outdoors and creative.

How the fuck is Planned Obselescence legally ok?!

Everything is pure dogshit these days, and there seems to be zero fucks given. $5000 appliances that die in months, devices that could easily have removable batteries, cell phone "updates" that slow them down, don't even get me started on vacuum cleaners over my years as an adult. It's shit, and the companies that do this shit intentionally need to be put out of business while their execs are jailed criminally.

It's not even new, light bulb makers got together and created the Phoebus Cartel over 100 years ago to reduce average light bulb lifespans that were rapidly increasing to 2500 hours, fireball to 1000 hours, then they would police that shit and FINE companies for making better lightbulbs. I'm not making that shit up.

Dystopian bullshit. The Amish were onto something.

My husband created this box maze in less than 24 hours after we realized it would be raining for my son's birthday party. He hid treasures inside and created a "hide n seek treasure hunt". It was a massive hit and cost barely anything but time. Appliance boxes for free, one roll of duct tape.

I'll go first. I do not use cleaning products for shower or bathtubs. I was surprised to get this trick from a family friend who is an interior designer for very wealthy clients. After you shower or bathe, stand in the shower/bath to dry off. While the stall/tub is still damp from hot water, use your towel to thoroughly wipe it down. This not only prevents build up from water, soap, and body oils, it keeps the surfaces polished and sparkling clean.

I discovered flat-weave "Turkish" towels many years ago and they work even better for this than the fluffy ones--add fluffy towels to things I do not need.

As an immigrant here in Germany, one of my favourite things is the culture of “zu verschenken” or “to giveaway” where people will take things they don’t need anymore and leave them in a box outside their apartment labelled “zu verschenken”. It’s not classed as “dumping”.

Also, if you have bigger items to throw away, you just put them on the street and notify the city and they will come to collect it after a few days, but in the mean time, people can come and take what they want.

We have gotten so much good stuff off the street this year way, it saves us money, it saves things going in the trash, and it creates this real sharing culture where it kind of feels like we’re all just borrowing stuff then putting it out for someone else to use when we don’t need it anymore.

Photos show some of the things we’ve gotten.

Shown: Velcro fold up play house, 2 different chairs, fun magnets, kids books, glass bowl thing, kids play kitchen, kids storage shelf with boxes and also the pink kids vacuum, fridge magnet and glass jar we use for dog treats 🥳

My city (Zurich, Switzerland) started a new project a few weeks ago, a second-hand shop where everything is free. You can bring in stuff you no longer use and/or take anything you need for free. They also have a repair hub on site and a place to leave old phones and laptops for recycling. The place is funded and run by the city. I think it‘s a really neat idea and thought I‘d share. (Image from the city‘s website)