Have I finally flipped

I don't use tea bags once never mind reusing them!

I have to admit Rose that I do not care for builders tea - but a twice used tea bag isn't that weak!

We refill our used gin bottles with sloe gin or blackberry brandy. We did plant a black grape last year and it produced nice grapes this Autumn - we had to fight the black birds for them though. I'm optimistically saving tights to make grape protectors next year.

use for wine bottles please!!!!!
Plant a grape and make your own wine, decanted into recycled bottles!

Otherwise recycle and it does get used for road building, endlessly making more glass bottles and jars etc.

(Doesn't everyone use one tea bag to two/three cups?)

Only if you like gnat's piss pee Nfk

I've started a path made from wine and beer bottles. You need to fill them with soil before you invert them (which is laborious unless you have a bottle cutter to slice off the top of the bottle). It's not slippery and the bottles haven't cracked or broken BUT it is a slow process. Pinterest have some fantastic ideas for using bottles in the garden.

use for wine bottles please!!!!! I am a v v keen gardener and want to use them somehow in an amusing way. My veggie garden is open annually in aid of the church and I need a new way each year to entertain the visitors. (One year was a French theme and I put a scarecrow in a hammock, with a Gauloise in his mouth, a navy beret, and he was reading a French newspaper - some visitors got the shock of their life when they got close enough to realise it was not a man.

stansgran. I made a jigsaw of one of my favourite pictures from The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries - A Mon Seul Desir meaning to my soul desire. DH thought it was daft but did buy me a small replica from Lindisfarne which I love.

.....Edging a flower bed, no chopping required.......

Stansgran you have reminded me of a table lamp we had for years made out of a wine bottle, they were all the rage then. For reasons best known to himself DH used to have a "Bottle Chopper". He used it to chop up bottles and make them into something useful? Anyway, if they still make them it would be an answer to your Plymouth bottle query. Not sure what you could turn them into, let me have a think......

I think I've found my spiritual home.
I kept the name tapes and unpicked and reused them.
you are never poor if you have a button box.
I store bought carriers neatly rolled up in Tesco ? Cardboard bottle carriers.
All the garden quilts for throwing over seats and benches (to make them comfy) have been made from DH ' s old shirts.
One tea bag makes at least two cups of tea- I use Assam ,take the tea bag out and reheat tea in the microwave throughout the day so it isn't stewed.
I Only darn wool socks but in a contrasting colour . It's the most soothing occupation I know of.
I've just made a band sampler using only leftover embroidery silks not permitting myself to cut thread off skeins with labels on which is a bit excessive even in my eyes.
I don't do old clothes for dusters as I think microfibre cloths are brilliant.
We drink Plymouth gin (only in the evening) and the bottles are very chunky and attractive but I can't think of any use for them.
I once made a lamp out of a courvoisier liqueur bottle cadged from a crepe seller in a street market
in Paris. The shade was made with coarse string wrapped round it. It was much admired.
I'm on a roll here. We had little money and blank walls in our first home so I used a jigsaw stuck on a board(it was from the Tres riches heures du duc de Berry and again was much admired) as a picture over the fireplace.
I love this thread.

Few drops of water in washing up liquid and shampoo bottles to eek out the last bit. Drop of vinegar in salad cream, shake the bottle and the last bit comes out. I use my darning mushroom quite a lot, doesn't everyone. Brilliant idea about using tights as plant ties, I will give that a go.

Definitely get two to three cuppas from one tea bag. good to know I'm not the only one.

I'm also careful about switching off unnecessary lights and not using too many black plastic sacks. I always press the rubbish down.

Never darned socks, done the sheet thing and it has never occurred to me to reverse a shirt collar, but it does sound like a good idea.

DH gets shirts from work as part of corporate dress and shirts are good quality fabric. Is it easy to reverse a collar?

(Doesn't everyone use one tea bag to two/three cups?)

Like darning socks, I don't think sides-to-middles and reversing shirt collars works too well with the thinner modern materials. I did think of reversing the collar on one of DHs favourite shirts - but the whole shirt had got really thin. Old fashioned cotton shirts were thicker. (At least at my level of society!)

rosequartz I once posted about 'sides to middling' on a previous post and yes I did it a few times but I too always felt the seam! I did it on the DC's beds. We princesses cannot cope with peas under the mattress or seams in the middle of sheets!!

Granarchist Yes two or three cups from the same teabag but not all at once. It's only for me though.

And what about cutting the end of toothpaste tubes to squeeze the last bits out? You can get up to 4 extra cleans that way!

Does anyone still do 'sides to middle' with worn sheets?

I can remember DM doing that, and I never liked them as I always felt the seam!

Yes Grandma2213 - I had seen one before because we hard to darn at school - but it was a bit of a nerve really!!! I never did use the skill. She also regularly unwound old jerseys to reknit. I admit I often make one teabag do two or even three cups (at the same time).

We try to reuse and recycle as much as we can, but my DHs Auntie took the biscuit at a funeral we were attending. The funeral tea was at a relatives house and had been prepared and covered with tin-foil before the funeral took place. When we returned to the house for the funeral tea Auntie took it upon herself to remove all the tinfoil. We thought that she was just trying to help. She then asked the bereaved wife if she has a bag for the tinfoil. Glances were exchanged and Auntie got the bag, filled it with the tinfoil and put it into her handbag. She then during the after funeral chat went on in great length to tell everyone that she would wash, iron and reuse the tinfoil as she didn't like wasting things. Talk about embarrassment!!

Jaxi I had forgotten about turning frayed collars. Luckily DSs and DGSs don't wear shirts that often or I'd be doing that too!

Granarchist did you use one of those wooden mushrooms for putting inside the socks for darning? My mother had one. I wonder what happened to it.

winifred01 My Mum used her old knickers for dusters (and washed them out). I never knew you could buy dusters till I was an adult! I still use cut up old sheets, towels and tea towels for cleaning floors, dusting and polishing (not that I do much of any these days!)

Bijou I use cut up tights for tying up plants too.

I am beginning to realise how tight green I have always been!

I have to laugh as I do nearly all the above mentioned saving things and am so glad that I am not alone.
I dry any larger bags over a (sadly empty) champagne bottle which is a good use for something kept as a 'happy memory reminder'.
I use home made cotton shopping bags which are easily washed and made from (fit for purpose) left over material from projects or useable bits from previously enjoyed clothing. Some folk used to be a bit sniffy about my bags but I have recently been asked for a pattern and instructions so clearly things are changing! I also have a super wicker shopping basket which I have had for many years and is very useful for heavy items.

Over the kitchen tap Claudia - or the spaghetti jar!

I notice that in my Tesco's 'bagless' delivery I am still getting about eight or so free plastic bags so my supply is not being depleted.

I would definitely wash them out and reuse them. Also, where else would one put them other than the washing line outside to drip dry!

I make my own bread, slice it and then put it in the freezer. I always wash the freezer bags, and I still have one with the date 2004 written on it! Must have saved a fortune!