Creative Kimpire: Passion For Repurpose

I started Christmas shopping yesterday…well, officially, since I went to an actual store. I bought stuff online a couple of times already. Anyway, this post isn’t about Christmas shopping (except to say that everyone should take a nice hard look at all the things we have and use that observation to think about what we “need” to buy. Does your kid really need a bazillion new toys? I doubt it. Give em a box, they’ll love it, I swear! 😉) but I wanted to share with you the super cool erasers I bought while I was out and that sparked my desire to write a Passion for Repurpose piece (insert fanfare music here! Duh duh duh duh!)

So a couple of weeks ago I decided I needed a solution to a ridiculous first world problem: my salt and pepper shakers kept falling over in the basket we keep on the table with napkins in it *GASP*. I know, it’s terrible. I wanted something to sit them in and the pepper filler container was the perfect fit. Now, the pepper wasn’t exactly empty…but that was okay because we had two pepper containers so I just dumped it in the second one. Good thing companies don’t ever fill their containers and give you your money’s worth 😂🙄. I will paint it at some point but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I started my Master’s program last week so I’m adjusting to school life again.

This next repurpose is something I did a long time ago, like 2-3 years ago but I recently got them out and wanted to share with you all. I realize that most people probably don’t have quite the cookie cutter collection I have, and honestly, for the amount of times I make cookies in one year I should really purge them. But I won’t because these cookie cutters belonged to my Grandma, who had a matching set to the ones we had growing up that my brother took for his kids. So when you have a huge cookie cutter collection, you need storage solutions. The containers that dishwasher tabs come in are perfect for this task. You can leave them plain or fancy them up with some duct tape and a slightly crooked label. Normally I would fix it but I don’t see them enough to care. By the way, I realize I said fancy and duct tape in the same sentence. What can I say, I have high standards 🤷🏻‍♀️😉

Some of you may have seen my recent post on FB about now being a good time to stock up on sunscreen for next year (and my warning about how skin cancer is one of the most common cancers in young adults!). I bought several bottles and they sat in my bathroom in the way of my drawers for a couple of weeks until I finally got a bright idea about how to store them. I’ve been collecting Starbucks Been There series mugs for our travel destinations this year and they come in a nice box that’s sturdy. I decided to put them to good use storing my sunscreen. They fit perfectly behind my lotion and perfume bins in my bathroom 👍🏻

The next hack is one I’ve shown you before but it has now migrated out of the kitchen. Parmesan cheese lids fit perfectly on Mason jars and are great for well, lots of things. I use them at work for fine motor play for tots but they’re great for other things, too. I believe I showed you my rice storage before but they’re also great for candy and out of the kitchen, I saw this one on Pinterest: hot glue sticks!

Also in the craft room, we have a tennis ball container for holding shower curtain hooks (yes, I realize most of you don’t have a collection of shower curtain hooks but maybe you should cuz I use them all the time..just sayin’!), and glass yogurt cups for miscellaneous supplies. The Yopliat Oui brand is what comes in glass jars. The yogurt is delicious and you get awesome jars for a buck, win win!

The cotton swab container is one of my favorites and I may or may not buy them for the sole purpose of reusing the container. They’re not good for cleaning your ears (although, if you read the packaging, you aren’t supposed to use them to clean your ears) but they work great for wiping up smeared eyeliner 👁👁.

Here’s another tip: if you have a coffee cup that is adorable but not the least bit insulated and it gives you first degree burns if you try to hold it with hot liquid in it, and it also matches your living room decor…pop a chapstick (mandatory for every room in my house) and a remote in it and call it organized.

For those things that you can’t find another purpose there’s always the recycling bin. This is the system I have set up in our trash closet. A shelf each for paper products, plastics, glass, and metals. The bags show about 2 weeks worth of recycling that I dropped off last Saturday morning. Look how much didn’t go to a landfill. That’s quite a bit!

If you all promise you’re going to try to be more mindful of your habits and attempt to be less wasteful I’ll show you pics of my puppers. You promise? Okay, I knew I could count on you 😉.

Soph has been really into cuddling lately: Sansa, me, Philip, probably anyone else who would touch her. She constantly wants attention and is going through a selfish phase (now all I can think of is Kirstie Alley in Look Who’s Talking yelling at her boyfriend that she was cheating with) and thinks she can get up on your lap anytime she wants. If we’re sitting at the table she’ll try to get between the table and me and lay on me. If I’m trying to do schoolwork on my laptop, she lays on it. She hogs the entire bed. I actually took a pic of her in bed this morning when I got up but it was kinda dark and you can’t see very well. She stretched completely across my side in my spot and was kicking Philip on the other side 🤭 She also intentionally knocks my phone out of my hand if she wants attention 😡. That dog is something else. Sansa is so good. To be honest, Soph sets a really low bar for her but she’s fantastic anyway. She’s into catching lately. She brings you a ball and wants you to toss it up so she can catch it. She’s been back to her pre-Sophie self lately so maybe she’s finally come to terms with having a new sister. I mean, it took her 7.5 months but she made it and that’s all that counts 🤷🏻‍♀️