Luggage On Line

Cleaning out closets: any tips for reusing the items pulled out of closets during spring cleaning?

I'd love to read your ideas for reusing the things we store in our closets; I know I can toss or donate things, but I'm interested in finding new purposes for some of our 'old stuff'.

For example: I use old button down shirts that are worn, torn, or stained beyond repair as aprons or covers when doing 'dirty work'.

This article gave me a few ideas for reusing old clothing, like using mismatched socks as shoe covers when packing shoes in luggage for traveling.
"At the End of Your Robe: 10 Tips for Making the Most of Your Closet Misfits"
By Julie Greene, 2:03 pm February 20, 2009
RecessionWire

http://www.recessionwire.com/2009/02/20/at-the-end-of-your-robe-10-tips-for-making-the-most-of-your-closet-misfits/

I've used old tube socks as ice-grippers in the winter. I turned them inside out and cut off the toe and pull them over my shoes. The terry-cloth part will grip the ice better than commercial ice-grips for shoes. Every once in a while I have to pull them up, that's OK and better than falling.***** I use old socks to clean the oven or other dirty jobs.***** Old socks make good outside faucet covers, layer several over the faucet before covering it with the foam cover before the winter freeze*****A spare sock with no holes can be filled with catnip (I grow my own, very easy to grow and reseeds) and tie and knot and throw it at the cat. *****I've taken an old terry bath robe and cut it up into squares and zig-zagged the edges and used them for dish and cleaning cloths.***** I used old knee-high socks on my daughter when she was little, made good leggings pulled up high. *****The legs of old denim jeans make good patches for other jeans, although you need a heavy-duty machine to sew them.***** Also have made big living room pillows from denim, my brother-in-law loved to lay in front of the tv and lay on one. ***** Old denim makes good oven mitts, hot pads, and have made a childrens puppet from one, using a hot-mitt design. ***** I've seen some cute quilts made from teen's collection of T-shirts, the front logos were cut out and framed with a solid color and sewed together. ***** I've cut strips my old sheets and clothing and used the strips to tie up bundles of onions to dry (had 30 bundles one year when I was garden-crazy) Use the strips to tie a planted tree to a stake or tie up vines.*****Cut off the buttons and save them. Use them to replace other buttons or to embellish hand-made throw pillows, childrens dresses (cut in the middle of posies), as a stuffed animal eye and other arts and crafts*****Keep an old out-of-style coat or jacket in your winter emergency bag in the trunk of your car, may come in handy if you get stranded and who cares if it is out of style in that case*****Usually the skirt of a dress doesn't wear out as quickly and the bodice, it can be cut off and made into children's play clothes or even doll clothes****Old sweaters can be unraveled and the yarn used again for mittens or neck scarves*****Children's worn out clothes can be used for a memory quilt. A little sunbonnet girl can be made out of the pieces of fabrics, and will bring back some memories when the girl is a grown woman***Something else, you can make draft-stoppers out of tubes of fabric and fill with sand), they are expensive to buy but cheap and easily made. Thought of something else that is kind of a cute idea. If you have some shoes or boots that are out-of-style or too worn to wear, you can put dirt in them and make a unique flower planter, flowers like geraniums, ivy or petunias.

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