De-cluttering in time for holiday entertaining? Here are five old, and in some cases, dated, items that you can recycle and put to work in other ways.
1. BUSINESS CARD BOOK: Now that networking has almost exclusively gone digital, use your old business card book for storing your extra buttons. Transfer any extra buttons from new clothing into the book. It will be a lot easier to find a specific button in this storage system than in a big jar or box filled with odd buttons.
2. CHRISTMAS CARDS: Be sure to save all the cards you receive this year in a folder. Next year, use the front cover of the card and cut around the design to make your own gift tags. Add a handwritten message, poke a hole in one corner, and use ribbon to attach the card to a gift. Festive and cost-effective!
3. MAGAZINE RACK: Next time you’re scouting a second hand store, look for a metal magazine rack – to use it to create some order in the pots and pans cupboard in the kitchen! Screw the rack onto the back of a cabinet door, and arrange your pot lids by size. This will free up cabinet space for stacking pots and pans, and make it easier to quickly find the lid you’re looking for.
4. MUFFIN PANS: Who hasn’t got an extra muffin pan in their oven drawer? Use it to help organize your junk drawer. Use a 6-cup muffin tin (which should easily fit in your drawer) and fill each muffin cup with a different item to bring organization to the junk drawer chaos – think paper clips, elastics, chip clips, etc. This idea also works great at a craft station, to separate smaller items while still keeping them stored together.
5. TIGHTS: Don’t throw out tights because they have a run in one leg. Instead, cut off the good leg and use it to contain rolls of wrapping paper – this will help stop your wrapping from unravelling, getting bent or ripped, and falling over.
