Frugal Home Recycling Ideas: Turn Trash into Treasure

Finding a home for everything seems to be my niche. If a product has a use, then I will find it. No I am not a trash collector, but a recycler. Frugal home recycling brings life to something that may sit in a landfill for year’s. Recycling brings something good from nothing. Using old tires for an obstacle course, or finding a great deal on a used Christmas ornament that I have wanted forever, is how I save.

Frugal home recycling can be done in many ways, and for many reasons. I try to recycle as much as I can. We do go through a lot of milk jugs, and they are useful for many projects. The plastic from milk jugs can be useful for making bird feeders, dog poop scoops, water carriers, and scoops. If I can make something instead of buying it, we usually try. 

Frugal Ways to Recycle Milk Jugs

One way to recycle milk jugs is too use them as planters. Drill some holes in the bottom, fill it with dirt and plant some petunia’s. Spray paint them different colors to be more creative. 

Another way is to use them for a watering system in a garden, or a water carrier for the winter. Our hose is put up in the winter, but we still have animals to water. My sons’ help by filling our wagon with milk jugs. Then one by one they bring them to me inside our mud room. I fill them in our wash sink and set them back in the wagon. Our process takes a little longer, but it works. 

I saved the milk jugs each week  for growing my seeds. Winter sowing is a project that I haven’t done in a while, but the milk jugs from Kroger work well for sowing seeds in the winter. 

Frugal Ways to Recycle Tires

When our van had new tires put on, I asked the tire place to put the old ones in the back. They quickly informed me that they would recycle them. I replied that was helpful, but I wanted them. Old tires can be used as flower planters’ or as an obstacle course for kids.

Over the years’ tires have been used for sand pits, flower gardens, chicken coop protectors and much more. As I mentioned above before you buy it see what can be recycled. 

Recycle Old Boards from Past Projects

My husband has now caught on to my frugal ways. As he is in restoration, sometimes he brings home old materials for projects on our homes. It is already bought and paid for by his company, but he knows that I can find a use for them.

One way that I reused old boards was too create boundaries and borders for the plants in my garden.

The other way I incorporated old boards into a frugal home recycling project was to let my kids have them.

They built a raft. They also used the leftover recycled milk jugs I saved and used them for flotation devices. 

I love to see what can be remade around the yard. Boards from my garden have been used to fix holes in the chicken coop, or make a new garden. We added a greenhouse a few years’ ago and the leftover materials were perfect for building a duck coop. 

Anything can be reused. Finding what it can be used for is the key. I keep a large box in my garage. In my recycling box on any given day you can find assorted lids, an oatmeal container, egg cartons, old vitamin bottles, boards, cardboard, string, shoestrings, buttons, wornout clothing, milk jugs, and toilet paper rolls. all of this has a use. 

My goal is to see what it can be used for in the future. Saving money means being creative. So many people have become rich from solving other peoples problems. In the reverse, can you make yourself rich by solving the problem? The money that is saved from recycling is worth it, and the product will be created to help you with your need. Remember the saying “Don’t buy it, fix it”, still stands true today. For more ways to save money as a frugal homemaker sign up for my newsletter.