Are you up to your ears in leaves? If your yard is home to numerous trees, you might find yourself overwhelmed with leaves this fall season. So what exactly can you do with all of those leaves, other than rake them? Well the good news is they do have a few fun uses! Take a peek at these 5 creative ways to use fallen leaves, in ways that are both fun and frugal!
1. Craft a scarecrow.
Fallen leaves are perfect for stuffing and filling scarecrows. Save leaves so when you are ready to craft your scarecrow, you have plenty to create the body, legs, arms, and of course, head. Leaves make perfect stuffing material and fill up the scarecrow nicely.
2. Make giant yard pumpkins.
Buy orange yard waste bags found at your local home improvement store or Amazon. Some are plain orange while others might have the pumpkin faces already on them. No worries if you can’t find any with faces, you can always add your own with a black marker. Simply fill the bags up with leaves, then tie the top for yard pumpkins that make the perfect outdoor fall décor.
3. Craft spooky ghosts.
Take white trash bags and fill the bottom with a handful of leaves. Twist the bag and tie it to create a round head shape. You can use a black marker to draw the face of a ghost directly onto the bag, and then add string for hanging. Place the ghost in a tree or porch for a spooky effect.
4. Make spooky yard spiders.
Take a black trash bag and fill it with fallen leaves. You can then use white paper to craft eyes and attach them with craft glue. Painted PVC piping can make legs as well as long cardboard tubes or even pool noodles. How spooky would these be to see in your yard around Halloween!
5. Create a leaf fort.
Find a large cardboard box that can be used as the fort’s main foundation. Cut a square to enter. Spray the box with spray adhesive and apply the leaves to the outside of the box. One or two layers is sufficient. When you are done you should not be able to see the box and it will look like the entire piece is made from leaves.
Did you ever think that leaves could provide so much fun? Start raking up those fall leaves and then give these fun ideas a try and see all the ways you can put those fallen leaves to use. You are sure to enjoy lots of family fun with very little cost to you.
Get your outdoor fun underway with these easy homemade fire starters using items you have on hand! Perfect for the backyard bonfire or the weekend campfire!
Don’t throw out that dryer lint quite yet! These homemade fire starters will put that lint to use and two more items you most likely have on hand already! Really, all you need is some lint, toilet paper rolls and wax paper. They’re ridiculously easy AND are a great way to “recycle” materials you already have.
Here’s how to make Homemade Fire Starters:
MATERIALS
Dryer lint
Toilet paper/paper towel rolls
Wax paper
Scissors
DIRECTIONS
1. Remove the lint from your dryer lint trap 2. Cut your paper towel rolls into thirds or leave toilet paper rolls whole 3. Stuff your paper rolls with the dryer lint, but don’t pack it in too tight 4. Cut a 6″ piece of wax paper 5. Place your paper roll in the center, wrap the long sides over each other and twist the ends 6. Trim the ends of your wax paper if you’d like
TO USE: place one of your fire starters under a few pieces of kindling and light the end of your wax paper
One aspect of the frugal lifestyle is using things you already have on hand, even if they don’t work perfectly for the task. Rather than running to the store to buy something (and most likely spending a bundle), you could try improvising by using something you already own. It’s amazing how much stuff we already have to work with, once we’re able to train ourselves to stop running to the store for every thing we think we “need”.
In today’s post I hope to help spark creativity and give you new ideas for looking at the things you already own in a new way. With the ultimate goal, of course, making you rethink your normal spending habits.
Is there something you need right now, that you were planning to buy, that you could possibly create a solution for using something you already have?
I rounded up 25 amazing and creative new uses for old things. I am very inspired by these upcycling ideas, and I hope that you will be too!
Doesn’t it seem as though everyone has an abundance of egg cartons around the home? The typical family can easily go through a dozen eggs in a week, leaving you with an empty carton to recycle. But before you give that old egg carton the heave ho, take a look below at 7 creative uses for egg cartons that you can try! You may never look at egg cartons the same way again.
7 Creative Uses for Egg Cartons
1. Make seed starters.
Poke a hole in the bottom of each compartment, fill with soil, and add a seed. They are the perfect seed starters! If you use cardboard egg cartons, the cups can be planted directly in the ground when ready.
2. Sort office supplies.
Cut away the bottom half of the egg carton and use it to sort office supplies. The little cups are great for storing safety pins, paper clips, push pins and more.
3. Add them to sensory tables.
Cut the compartment into tiny cups and add them to sensory tables for kids to use as cups and pouring devices. They also work great in kiddie pools and sandboxes.
4. Sort your jewelry.
Cut the compartment half and use it to keep jewelry sorted. It is great for holding small pieces (such as earrings) and keeps them from becoming lost or damaged.
5. Make suet balls.
Mix some birdseed and bacon grease into a mixing bowl and spoon into the compartments. Press it in and freeze until solid. Pop the suet balls out and place outside for birds to dine on. They will love them.
6. Craft a sorting game.
Give children a variety of colored chips, marbles, or scraps of paper and allow them to sort the colors into the various compartments. You can also have them sort according to size or shape if you wish.
7. Save them for packaging cushion.
Foam egg cartons are great for storing breakable items such as holiday ornaments. You can also place the entire cartons in between valuables (for example plates, china, and other breakables) when packing.
Bonus: Use them to make egg carton flowers! This is fun for the kids and you! Take a look at all these great ideas I found on Pinterest!
Did you ever think an old egg carton could be so valuable? Give these tips a try for breathing a new life into your empty egg cartons and see how great they can be. Chances are, you won’t need to go any further than your own recycling bin. 🙂
How do you like to reuse your empty egg cartons? Let me know in the comments below!
We love foaming hand soap at our house. I find it lasts quite a long time and washes off hands easily. Which is great for my daughters, who love to wash their hands, but doesn’t always take the time to rinse all the soap off of her hands.
However, purchasing foaming soap refills can get quite expensive. But if you know how to mix up your own DIY foaming hand soap refill, you can save a ton! Especially if you go through lots of soap like we do at our house. 🙂
All you need to make your own DIY Foaming Hand Soap refill is four things:
SUPPLIES:
Foaming soap dispenser (You can use an empty soap bottle if you have one)