Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Packaging AltUse Promotion continues

Do you extra have bubblewrap? Packaging material AltUse


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Stylish Purse AltUse

Be an AltUse fashionista. Create a stylist purse with this vinyl banner AltUse


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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Gardening

Fall gardening suggestions. Make an AltUse border for a flower bed with Glass Bottles


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Monday, September 28, 2009

AltUse Snow Scraper

Thinking about the coming winter? Cassette tape case AltUse to remove snow from your car windows







Sunday, September 27, 2009

Another Packaging Material AltUse

AltUse for air pillow bags. Packaging material you might otherwise throw in the trash 



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Clean Up Clutter AltUse

Clean up clutter, magazine AltUse mail bin


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Saturday, September 26, 2009

Crafts - Grass Head

Looking for craft activities? Plastic container AltUse to create a Grass Head



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Friday, September 25, 2009

AltUse for Newspaper Bags

Do you receive a daily newspaper? AltUse for the newspaper plastic bag sleeve





Packaging Material Garage Band AltUse

Are you in a garage band? Packing box AltUse to insulate your garage door


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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Book Ends

Love to read? Make AltUse book ends with packing boxes


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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Gardening with Styrofoam AltUse

What to do with packaging peanuts? Styrofoam packaging peanuts AltUse for your garden


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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

AltUse Storage Container

Wrapping Paper Tube Spice Rack
I have used the small, hard, empty wrapping paper rolls to create a spice rack in my kitchen drawer.


  1. Cut roll to fit snugly in drawer horizontally.
  2. The spices then can be leaned up against the roll so that when the drawer is opened you see all of the spice bottles lined up.

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Mother Jones Covers AltUse - September 22, 2009



Mother Jones

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5 Creative Uses for: Coffee Filters

—Image courtesy AltUse.com
A few weeks back, I posted about alternative uses for coffee. If you have extra coffee, chances are you also occasionally have extra filters. The reuse gurus over at AltUse.com have done it again with these brilliant ideas. Use filters to:
1. Filter cork out of wine. Place an unbleached filter over your glass and before you pour the wine. Minimal impact to taste.
2. Stop a razor nick from bleeding. Tear off a small piece of filter and cover the nick. Stems bleeding fast.
3. Clean windows. Use filters instead of paper towels. Picks up dirt and dust without leaving lint behind.
4. Absorb food grease. Durable filters soak up excess oil without disintegrating. Works for bacon, pizza, french fries, or any of your other favorite greasy foods. Bonus: After frying, pour leftover oil through a coffee filter, then use it again.
5. Line house plants: Prevent soil seepage by placing a coffee filter in the bottom of a plant pot.

Use Milk Cartons to Create Grass Plugs

Grass Plugs for your Garden
Grow Grass Plugs to patch your yard in paper half gallon milk containers.




  1. Cut your half gallon milk containers lengthwise through the round plastic spout. Now you have two halfs.
  2. Put potting soil or better yet soil that you have made in your backyard from composed kitchen vegetable waste.
  3. Soak the soil well with water so the container feels heavy. Spinkle grass seed over the surface and gentle press the seed into the wet soil.
  4. Slip a plastic newspaper sleeve around the half milk carton and then set the container outside in a partial sun area. After about 5 days start to check it and see if it needs more water. After the grass sprouts and grows about an inch of two, take off the plastic bag and keep the soil moist. 
After about 30 days you have a grass plug to patch your lawn. When you pull out weeds, use the plug to patch the hole. When your dog urinates and grass dies, replace it with the grass plug!



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Monday, September 21, 2009

Carpet AltUse - Shoe Keeper

Transform Carpet Scraps Into Designer Shoe Keeper


Tricycle, Inc.'s "Ample Sample" competition gives designers another chance to transform carpet samples into something useful, beautiful, or just downright cool. The 2009 Ample Sample Winner is Wuthichai Leelavoravong's "Shoe Keeper."

Instructions:

1) Measure on the back side and cut the carpet tile in half with a knife;

2) Measure and cut the carpet tile as shown in the picture (see instructions link with graphics). Then fold the carpet tile at the red line;

3) Clip the folder carpet tile with a binder clip on each side. Then, use two small nails to hang the finished piece on the wall;

Note: It is possible to create multiple pieces and group them in many different ways.

4) Pull the strip that is already cut out and insert a pair of shoe inside.


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To learn more about this contest and Tricyle, Inc, visit www.tricycleinc.com








Sunday, September 20, 2009

Cowboy Boots and AltUse

Weekend cowboy? Boots out of shape? AltUse to restore the shape to your boots


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Cat Play Toy AltUse

Love your cat? Show your cat a great time with this AltUse ribbon play toy.




Saturday, September 19, 2009

Camping Altuse to keep small items together in cooler

Use a mesh produce bag to store small items
When camping for several days, you'll have lots of small quantities of foods and condiments to keep in the cooler. Use mesh produce bags to make them easy to find while still allowing them to chill properly in the cooler.


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Friday, September 18, 2009

Use a 6-pack bottle holder to organize your cosmetics!

Plans on watching football and drinking a six pack of beer? AltUse for the six pack bottle holder .
  1. Use decorative contact paper to cover the drink holder
  2. Lay each side of the drink holder down onto the underside of the contact paper and trace with a pencil.
  3. Cut each shape out with an exacto knife and carefully peel and stick on to the drink holder.
  4. Decorate as wanted otherwise (with stickers, glitter glue, shape cutouts, etc.).
Place makeup brushes, hair brushes, hair products, etc in empty drink spaces!







Thursday, September 17, 2009

Fix a Squeaky Door

Use olive oil to fix squeaky door.
Use a rag or cotton swab to apply olive oil to the top of a problematic hinge in your home or automobile.
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Remove Pilling From Sweaters




Use velcro to easily remove pills from a soft sweater.
Use the rough side of a piece of velcro to gently pull of pills from a sweater


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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Newspapers and Pillowcase AltUse

Use newspapers and pillowcase as temporary ironing board
Stack newspapers, slip into pillowcase, and make it as level as possible. Use as temporary ironing board.pillowcase, and make it as level as possible. Use as temporary ironing board.


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Gardening Ashes make great compost

As civilizations that have towns around volcanoes have known for ages, ashes are great for growing plants. If you have a wood stove or a fire pit, you can mix the ashes with your compost to enrich your soil.

If you are using the compost to grow food, make sure you are careful of what you are burning, as you won't want plastic residues or other chemicals to get into your compost.









AltUse Covered by Mother Jones Tuesday 9/15/2009

5 Creative Uses For: Honey

— By Kiera Butler | Tue September 15, 2009 4:00 AM PST

—Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Don't let honey lurk in your cabinet, quietly crystalizing while you forget about it. Instead,AltUse.com suggests using it to:

1. Soothe a sore throat: Instead of a teabag, add honey and lemon to hot water. Or, if you're feeling brave, mix 1/2 c. vinegar and 1/4 c. honey and gargle. Both solutions work like a cough drop.

2. Clear up acne: Apply a little honey to a blemish and cover with a band-aid. Works best overnight.

3. Condition your hair: Add one tablespoon of plain honey to two teaspoons of oilive oil. Place the mixture in the microwave for 15 seconds or until warm. Rub the mixture into your hair, wrap in a wet towel, and leave on for 20 minutes. Shampoo normally, but lather well to get olive oil out.

4. Dress a wound: In a pinch, honey works as a mild antiseptic. Apply it to to the wound and cover with a band-aid.

5. Exfoliate your skin: Honey crystallized? Use it like a facial scrub to get rid of dead skin. Rinse off with water.

Read More At:
http://tinyurl.com/otla2y

Monday, September 14, 2009

Foam and Bubble Wrap AltUse Ideas

Everyone loves bubble wrap - See the AltUse ideas for packing material 



Wine Bottle AltUse

Great weekend leave you with empty bottles of wine? AltUse Flower Vase -


Any old glass bottle works very well as a flower vase. To add a decorative touch, you can paint the outside or use a hot glue gun to decorate with old jewels or beads.


Read More About the Flower Vase AltUse



Sunday, September 13, 2009

Turn computer into Aquarium

Turn computer into Aquarium

Posted using ShareThis

Keep you brown bag lunch cool and fresh

Keeping things cold 


Use old plastic bottles to keep items cold or provide a tasty treat


Need to keep your kids lunches cold?

1) Fill a used 12 oz plastic bottle half way with water and freeze.

2) In the morning fill the other half with juice and place in the lunch box.

Your lunch will still be cold and y
ou will have a delicious drink to go with it.



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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Bathtub and Sink Cleaner - AltUse for Baking Soda


You can have a fabulously clean bath tub and sink by utlizing white vinegar and baking soda.

1)Turn on the shower and wet the tub.

2)Sprinkle the baking soda over the entire tub and take your white vinegar and spray it all over the bath tub.

3)Do the same with your sink.

The mixture of the two will generate an active fizzle that allows you to clean stains naturally.



Friday, September 11, 2009

Clean Car Headlights

Days are getting shorter again. Brighten your car headlight beam using car wax


Thursday, September 10, 2009

Aspirin AltUse Facial

Brighten your day up with an AltUse aspirin facial. Read more at about aging skin care at Skin Care

Bruise Healing with Toothpaste AltUse

No Lie. Football workout got you bruised up? AltUse bruise relief with toothpaste

Read More about Bruise Healing

  

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Inhabitat September 9, 2009 - First Algae-Powered Car Attempts to Cross US on 25 Gallons by Ariel Schwartz


September 9, 2009

First Algae-Powered Car Attempts to Cross US on 25 Gallons

by Ariel Schwartz




sustainable design, green design, transportation, algaeus, josh tickell, rebecca harrell, green crude, fuel
Just yesterday San Francisco saw the unveiling of the world’s first algae fuel-powered vehicle, dubbed the Algaeus. The plug-in hybrid car, which is a Prius tricked out with a nickel metal hydride battery and a plug, runs on green crude from Sapphire Energy — no modifications to the gasoline engine necessary. The set-up is so effective, according to FUEL producer Rebecca Harrell, that the Algaeus can run on approximately 25 gallonsfrom coast to coast!
sustainable design, green design, transportation, algaeus, josh tickell, rebecca harrell, green crude, fuel
“Powering our cars with algae-based fuel could be the next Apollo mission.” That’s what Rebecca Harrell, co-founder of the Veggie Van Organization and producer of the upcoming film FUEL, told me yesterday in front of San Francisco’s City Hall. Over the next 10 days she’ll be joined by Fuel director and Veggie Van Organization cofounder Josh Tickell as they take the Algaeus, along with a caravan of other green energy vehicles (including the Veggie Van and the biodiesel-powered big green energy bus), on a cross-country road trip. “It hit us that we needed to drive the car across the country,” Harrell said. “People think of algae fuel as this long-term, far off thing. But seeing is believing.”
And of course, the cross-country tour will also serve to promote FUEL, a film about America’s ongoing dependence on foreign oil. Unlike many environmentally-themed films that serve up upsetting bits of information without offering concrete solutions (An Inconvenient Truth, anyone?), FUEL discusses the ways that we can transition away from oil right now. “What’s important for everyday people is information. People don’t say ‘Can you give me something else to be scared about?’ They say, ‘How can I get my car to run on algae fuel?’, Tickell explained.
algaeus, josh tickell, rebecca harrell, green crude, fuel
Green crude won’t be sold at your local gas station any time soon — Sapphire Energy is ramping up production of algae-based jet fuel this year, with plans to produce 2 million gallons of algae-based diesel fuel each year in the next two years–but eventually the company expects that green crude will be cost-competitive with fossil fuels. And while the Algaeus only runs on a 5% blend of algae fuel, Harrell and Tickell hope that the vehicle can prove to consumers that green fuel solutions are on the horizon. “Up until now the environmental movement has been reactionary. We have no discourse about energy,” Tickell said.” And we want to shift that.”
FUEL will be released in New York City, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Washington DC on September 18th.
All photos by Ariel Schwartz

Ziploc AltUse

Play NFL football? Need an ice pack for an injury? Want wrinkle free clothes? 





Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Toothpaste tube appear empty? Not a problem.

Empty Tubes Of Last Remaining Contents 
Wooden pencil can help remove products from tubes
Use a wood pencil to get the last remaining drops out of a tube. With the rising costs of toothpaste, creams, ointments, hair products, adhesives, icings and other products in tubes you want to get every bit out. Lay a pencil across the end and press down as you roll the tube up and over the pencil. As you use the product keep pressing the pencil down and rolling to squeeze out all product. Slide pencil out for reuse when finished.