This week’s Tuesday Tip is something I’m borrowing from Tightwad: repurpose clipboards for photo and illustration frames and holders. I don’t use clipboards very often, but I seem to have a few laying around my house. I wouldn’t necessarily say they are an archaic office supply quite yet, but they are probably heading in that direction for many industries. So, what should you do with your old clipboards? 

Tip # 29:  Display beautiful works of art!

Save money on framing supplies!

• Don’t purchase frames if it’s a photo or illustration that will eventually be put in an album. Save money and reuse clipboards!

Reuse, repurpose, reduce…

• Instead of throwing those clipboards away, display your kid’s artwork. Less trash is less trash!
• Clip up vacation photos around your desk or kitchen. You may have further plans for your current photos, like putting them in an album or scrapbook, but displaying them for a short while is a great way to share your experience.
  
• Use clipboards to get motivated! Have a looming goal you want to complete? A drawing of something you want to build or create? Clip it up and display it where you will be sitting most often.

I got this great tip from Tightwad, who got this creative idea from Back Garage. Have you ever thought of a clever way to reuse office supplies?

This week’s Tuesday Tip is wash your laundry in cold water. My job doesn’t require me to get very dirty, at least not normally (unless you want to count dirty little hands touching me!) So my clothes usually are lightly worn and don’t require much more than a cold wash using my home-made laundry detergent.

Tip # 28: Wash your laundry in cold water.

Cold Water Costs Less

• Though I still must pay for the water and electricity, I don’t have the added expense of gas to heat the water. I save a few bucks by washing most of my laundry items in cold water.
• Cold water plus detergent, even home-made, washes lightly used clothing just fine. It also is less harsh on fabric, meaning your clothes should last longer than washing them in scolding hot water.

Cold Water Washes are better on the Environment

• Using less hot water means using less gas. Conserving gas means there’s more for future generations.
• Less wear and tear on your clothing means a longer life-span; again conservation is an important factor for helping our planet retain its resources.
  

Do you wash your clothing in cold water? If not, what keeps you from trying cold water washes?

Tuesday Tips, Just Another Great Post from Little House. I'm so humble.

This week’s Tuesday Tip, save your tin cans and donate them to teachers. Can’t recycle your tin cans? Hate throwing away excess trash? Instead, rinse them out and donate them to a local school or your kid’s teacher. It’s pretty amazing how many uses a tin can has inside a classroom.

Tip #27: Reuse your tin cans by donating them to schools.

• Pencil holders. Teacher’s either purchase pencil boxes for their students or make them out of cardboard that usually gets torn up by the end of the first semester. Instead, using tin cans that are a more durable and inexpensive alternative.
• Inexpensive art projects. Tin cans can also be used for art projects; gift containers, parts of animal murals, book report canisters, you name it I can probably think of a way to use them.
• Holders of all kinds. Push pins, paper clips, magnets, band-aids, erasers, crayons…I can go on and on. The bottom line is that tin cans make great containers, especially if you have plastic snap tops that fit the opening.

Less waste is less waste.

• Repurposing items means less trash is filling up our landfills. Tin cans last for practically ever! Teacher’s can use them year after year (unless, of course they went home in an art project!).
• I’m pretty sure tin can’t be recycled. So just reuse it! Just be sure you’ve rinsed out the can, cut away any sharp parts, and pulled off the label.

Tuesday Tips, Just Another Great Post from Little House. I'm so humble.

This week’s Tuesday Tip, reduce your paper use and print double-sided. How many times have you accidentally printed out the wrong thing? Or forgot to set your printer to print out only one page and accidentally printed out two or  more? Instead of throwing away those extra copies, turn them right-side up and reuse the paper. Or, use the unprinted areas for note paper.

Tip #26: Reuse the back-side of your print outs.

• Reprint on the backside. My laser printer easily accepts reused paper into it’s paper tray. If I accidentally print out the wrong thing or an extra page, I turn it right-side up and place it back in the tray. (You might need to test your printer out for which direction to place the paper).
• Use the bottom part of a print out for note paper. Many times, my print out is only half a page long. Instead of neglecting the blank bottom part, tear it off and use it as note paper.

Using more of the paper you already have saves trees and creates less waste.

• The less paper you use, the less waste is created. Less waste equals a reduced carbon footprint. No need to clog up our landfills with unused paper!
• Though most paper is recycled, using less of it means fewer trees were harmed. Why use more than you need? Use less, buy less, then fewer trees are needed for pulp. Every little bit helps!

Tuesday Tips, Just Another Great Post from Little House. I'm so humble.

This week’s Tuesday Tip, pick up trash at your local park or favorite camp site. It often blows my mind how an entire bag of fast food can end up on the ground at my favorite campground. People should feel privileged to experience the great outdoors instead of trashing it. This weekend while camping, my husband and I walked around the camp site and picked up a small bag of trash. I felt like the little bit we did was good for the park.

Tip #25: Make it a challenge; pick up 20 pieces of garbage at your favorite outdoor hang-out.

• Keep our parks clean. The cleaner our parks are kept, the longer they’ll be accessible to the future generations. I don’t have kids (yet), but I do see the value in preserving our parks and forests for future generations to enjoy. Picking up trash and placing it in the dumpster is a simple step towards cleaner parks.
• Keep our park fees low. Just think, if we all dropped our trash on the ground and didn’t pick up after ourselves, more park rangers and maintenance people would need to be hired. While this may be good for the economy, park budgets are usually the first to be “cut” out of the budget (so no new jobs are formed.) Making up for this expense would either mean closing the park or raising the entrance or camp site fees. I don’t know about you, but I’m already paying $20 a night to camp at my favorite site!
• Use this as an inexpensive exercise activity or game. Keep the kids moving and make trash pick-up a game. Of course, you might want to set some safety rules before you begin; like don’t pick up sharp objects, glass, or toilet paper – that still leaves plenty of things they can pick up, like bottle caps and candy wrappers! The first one to collect 20 trash items gets to choose dessert (or something to that effect!)

A clean environment is a healthier environment.

• One less plastic bag or chip bag is better for the environment. Instead of watching the refuse flow down the stream only to get caught up in a tree branch, make it one less item that will become a catch-all for garbage.