# Things that you reuse that others might recycle or trash **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 3, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496 "2019-03-03T19:40:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/21 "2019-03-04T03:37:16Z")
Coffee cans. I save 'em all. Metal. Plastic. Cardboard. Some with handles, some without. I use them to store flour, sugar, nuts & bolts, birdseed. In fact I kinda ran out of ideas of what to do with them but I still keep saving them till I find a use for them. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/22 "2019-03-04T03:46:49Z")
Coffee cans are my weakness, too. If you buy stuff at a big box store, or if you shop at a place that has bins of stuff you scoop into a plastic bag, then coffee cans are mandatory. I remember trying to SAVE coffee cans for a pantry-cleaning project. Well, Mister Helpful discovered the cans, saw that they were empty, and figured if HE didn’t need the damned things, they needed to be thrown away. One time it was my husband playing Mister Helpful, the second time it was my son. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/23 "2019-03-04T03:47:05Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Coffee cans. I save 'em all. Metal. Plastic. Cardboard. Some with handles, some without. I use them to store flour, sugar, nuts & bolts, birdseed. In fact I kinda ran out of ideas of what to do with them but I still keep saving them till I find a use for them. Any ideas? Coins, cookies, plants, silverware for camping, catfood, christmas ornaments, small projects, drill bits,googly eyes. I could go on and on. And of course coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/24 "2019-03-04T03:55:44Z")
Ah yes, coins! I do use them for change too. Forgot to mention that. And I also use the plastic ones for holding the johnny mop behind the toilet. Googly eyes?!! LOL ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/25 "2019-03-04T04:33:57Z")
Prescription pill bottles. Needed a fuse for the car; where to put the rest of the 4-pk? Want to take sweetener to the BBQ joint in case they don’t have any; how to carry several packs? Pill bott in the cargo shorts pocket. Moving the household across town/state/country; where to put the nails from the pictures without losing them in The Huge Mayo Jar o’Nails[sup]TM[/sup]? Yup. 1000-and-1 uses. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/26 "2019-03-04T04:45:25Z")
Don’t tell the U-haul people, but we’ve had the same box of wrapping paper for 22 years and better than a dozen moves; it’s pretty rugged stuff. Flatten it out, back in the box, into the closet. Repeat. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/27 "2019-03-04T04:47:01Z")
Jokes ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/28 "2019-03-04T05:09:13Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Coffee cans. I save 'em all. Metal. Plastic. Cardboard. Some with handles, some without. I use them to store flour, sugar, nuts & bolts, birdseed. In fact I kinda ran out of ideas of what to do with them but I still keep saving them till I find a use for them. Any ideas? Decorate them and fill them with cookies for holiday gifts! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/29 "2019-03-04T06:21:21Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Prescription pill bottles. Needed a fuse for the car; where to put the rest of the 4-pk? Want to take sweetener to the BBQ joint in case they don’t have any; how to carry several packs? Pill bott in the cargo shorts pocket. Moving the household across town/state/country; where to put the nails from the pictures without losing them in The Huge Mayo Jar o’Nails[sup]TM[/sup]? Yup. 1000-and-1 uses. I totally forgot my massive collection of pill bottles. And, I too have The Huge Jar o’ Nails and Screws. Sick, sick I tell you. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/30 "2019-03-04T06:49:51Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Those poly bags that clothes and pills are sent in when you order online. They’re easy to store and I use them when I sell clothes on eBay. > > I also save boxes I get when I order stuff online. Mostly I end up using them as boxes to ship stuff I sell online but of course I’ve found many other uses. Although, I was getting so much stuff shipped to me I ended up breaking down and recycling half or more of the boxes. > > Oh I also save packing paper. I use it for packing paper. Or some of it I use to clean the windows if it’s the right weight. I also take some of it and twist it into paper “sticks” to use for starting bonfires. Me too! Right now, I have several stacks of broken-down boxes, used when I ship magazines, sheet music, and thin softcover books to stiffen the envelope, and the non-broken down boxes are full of bubble wrap and other plastic. If I’m at Target, JoAnn’s, etc. and see that plastic packing material, they are almost always happy to give it to me. I also recycle my prescription bottles by removing the labels and rinsing them out, and give them to people who do beading and other craft work with small and/or sharp items. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/31 "2019-03-04T08:57:08Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Prescription pill bottles. Needed a fuse for the car; where to put the rest of the 4-pk? Want to take sweetener to the BBQ joint in case they don’t have any; how to carry several packs? Pill bott in the cargo shorts pocket. Moving the household across town/state/country; where to put the nails from the pictures without losing them in The Huge Mayo Jar o’Nails[sup]TM[/sup]? Yup. 1000-and-1 uses. Ok, I gotta confess. Until digital replaced film completely, my thing was the little plastic cannisters individual rolls of film (usually 35mm) came in. Mostly used for matches in my camping kit bag. The odd few bits of small hardware and fasteners and for storing cigarette butts while hiking (both mine and those I found). ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/32 "2019-03-04T09:13:00Z")
We have a bunch of baby food jars from decades ago, filled with nails, screws, buttons, and other weird stuff. You never know when you might need a screw or a button. But in decades I have almost never successfully found an appropriate button when I needed one, and about the same track record for the screws. Everything new that needs screws comes with screws. Sometimes even extra screws (they go in the baby food jars). We also have a few metal 35mm film cannister thingies. There is stuff in there that rattles. I don’t even know. I also used to buy Altoids just to have Altoids tins to put stuff in. Like, a do-it-yourself sewing kit to fit in my purse. I have some earbuds in one so they don’t get tangled up in my pocket. I have a hiking survival kit in one. Before Altoids, there were Sucrets boxes. I still have one of those with hairpins in it. The plastic Sucrets boxes just didn’t cut it, but now they are tin again. I need to stock up… ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/33 "2019-03-04T09:18:08Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > We have a bunch of baby food jars from decades ago, filled with nails, screws, buttons, and other weird stuff. You never know when you might need a screw or a button. But in decades I have almost never successfully found an appropriate button when I needed one, and about the same track record for the screws. Everything new that needs screws comes with screws. Sometimes even extra screws (they go in the baby food jars). > > We also have a few metal 35mm film cannister thingies. There is stuff in there that rattles. I don’t even know. > > I also used to buy Altoids just to have Altoids tins to put stuff in. Like, a do-it-yourself sewing kit to fit in my purse. I have some earbuds in one so they don’t get tangled up in my pocket. I have a hiking survival kit in one. > > Before Altoids, there were Sucrets boxes. I still have one of those with hairpins in it. The plastic Sucrets boxes just didn’t cut it, but now they are tin again. I need to stock up… You are ‘so’ my favorite person. I have a Bayer Aspirin tin. 100 years old, maybe? Well, it could be. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/34 "2019-03-04T09:20:49Z")
Who has a tin bandaid box? Me. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/35 "2019-03-04T11:46:13Z")
The small plastic jars that my supplements come in. I use them for all sorts of things. And hundreds of 35mm film canisters. I fill them with pennies and use them to weigh down my art work while it tries. Oh, and my 2002 PT Cruiser. I love the car and hope it outlives me. My husband says he’d put ME on his list. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/36 "2019-03-04T11:56:31Z")
The inside flap of the box that frozen lasagna comes packaged in; I tear them off and use them for writing down shopping lists and such since it’s just the right size. I always have a little pile of the things on the kitchen counter. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/37 "2019-03-04T12:18:15Z")
Chopsticks. I use chopsticks for foods that are chopstickable. I rinse and reuse them. Been using the same pair (disposable bamboo) at work for years, while at home my gf has convinced me to use “nice” ones. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/38 "2019-03-04T15:06:23Z")
I mostly wear white ankle socks (because cargo shorts) and they last quite a long time. When they get too inelastic or so holey they belong in Church, they go into **The Rag Bag**. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/39 "2019-03-04T15:16:00Z")
Toothbrushes; something small needs scrubbing sometime, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496/40 "2019-03-04T15:29:34Z")
Expired credit cards and depleted gift cards. I use them as scrapers: excellent for dirty pans (esp useful for pans with nonstick coating) and for any other surface that would be scratched by a metal scraper, such as glass or formica. They’re also good glue spreaders. And in a pinch, you can scrape ice from your car windows. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-reuse-that-others-might-recycle-or-trash/830496.md?page=3)