I always like the old suitcases I see in thrift stores, but they aren’t practical for today’s traveling needs. Well, here’s a great way to re-use them–turn them into a pet bed.

The idea comes from this Etsy site, Vintage Renaissance, where you can buy a pet bed just like the above for $70. It looks like they split the suitcase in half, glued stool legs to them (you can buy the legs in a hardware/craft store or take apart an old stool), and put a nice fluffy pillow inside for your cat or dog. What a great way to recycle.

As you can see, my Valentine’s Day roses are getting a bit peaked. I could throw them out, of course, but why would I do that when rose petals are so useful? So I will try rooting one of the white roses and then I will turn the rest of the roses into rose water.

Rose water is an insanely simple thing to make, and a great way to recycle the Valentine’s bouquet when it’s done. You end up with a great smelling, edible, soothing liquid that has all kinds of great uses. For example, you rose water can be used:

1. As A Skin Toner. Rose water is a natural, gentle, and free skin toner, great for sensitive skin.

2. To Make Linens Smell Nice. A spritz of rose water on lingerie, sheets, etc. can add an extra sweet-smelling touch. I have also heard of people ironing with rose water, although I have never tried it.

3. In The Bath. Put rose water directly in the bath or add it to bath salts.

4. In Desserts. Rose water is used in a lot of different desserts, from Rose Water Panna Cotta to Poached Pears in Rose Water to ice cream.

5. As A Drink. You can put it in cocktails (recipe coming soon) or put it in non-alcoholic drinks like lemonade.

OK, so how do you make rose water? Here’s the recipe:

Rose Water:

Ingredients:

3 handfuls of rose petals, roughly the petals from 1 dozen roses
1 liter water

Directions:

Put water and petals in a pot. Turn the stovetop to medium low heat and bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer the water on low heat, making sure to keep it under a boil, until the water has reduced by half and ther is a sweet rosey smell coming from the water.

Strain the petals from the water. Let the rose water cool and then transfer to an appropriate bottle for safe keeping. That’s it!

How do you use rose water?

ETA: It is possible there are pesticides on the roses, especially if they come from a florist. If this concerns you, do not eat the rose water.

This is just too awesome for words: The BookBook. It is a laptop case for your MacBook made out of a hardback leather book. I love this. Too bad I don’t have a MacBook and my laptop would never fit.

$80 from Twelve South.

Sassafras Creations on Etsy specializes in making jewelry out of old knitting needles. Some I like include the earrings, for $12:

The Knitting Needle Pendant–a perfect gift for a knitter you know–for $8:

And also these Cuff Bracelets, currently sold out, but maybe they’ll make some more:

This is a great way to use up that spare knitting needle you have lying around… (Via Recycled Crafts)

The other day at the post office, a woman in line behind me was telling another woman about her bathroom remodel. She then started talking about how she had to get rid of the original bathtub of the house, which sounded like an antique. Anyone who has ever looked knows how valuable antique bathtubs are, but this woman was apparently clueless and went on and on about how hard it was to get the bathtub to the dump.

“You took it to the dump?” the other woman said. “Oh no, you shouldn’t have done that! There are people who refurbish those bathtubs. I could have shown you where to donate it. They might have even paid you.”

“It was heavy,” the first woman said. “I wouldn’t have been able to get it to them.”

“You were able to get it to the dump!” the other woman pointed out.

Although I’m a fan of getting rid of clutter, I never throw things out. There is a fabulous world of second-hand buying out there that is great for both the environment and the pocketbook. This woman dragging what has morphed in my mind into a $22,000 clawfoot bathtub to the dump is the perfect example of the old adage, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Just because I don’t want it doesn’t mean someone else won’t.

When I am getting rid of something, I first think about whether I can sell it or not. Surprisingly often, the answer is yes. I have had a lot of luck selling through:

* my own yard sale/garage sale.

* Craigslist.com, especially in the case of electronics, furniture, and house supplies.

* Amazon.com, for books.

I’ve also tried selling through eBay, but didn’t like it. I tried selling clothes in consignment shops, but you make so little money and the shops are so picky, that it’s not really worth it. I used to sell CDs and DVDs for credit at record stores, but now that everything is going digital, that’s slowly going away.

For the things I can’t sell, I see if my friends or family want it. If they don’t, I give it to my local thrift store. If I have something large that I don’t want to haul, I have been known to put it on Craigslist’s free section and let someone else haul it away. There are other sources like Freecycle that have a similar service, although I haven’t used them. Lots of charities will pick things up too.

I have also looked up specific charities for specific items. There are charities that will take your old cell phone, that suit you never wear, your broken eye glasses, etc. Basically, there’s little reason to throw something out unless it’s completely broken. And even then, it can be recycled (e-waste recycling comes to mind).

Feel free to share any services that have worked for you when getting rid of your clutter.

I guess I am somewhat fascinated by Christmas wreaths right now. They can add a sense of elegance to your room or they can look completely tacky, depending on how they are made. And, since a wreath is a repeating pattern wrapped in a circle, you can make them out of practically anything.

Anyway, here are five Christmas wreaths out of recycled material that caught my eye:

1. Christmas Wreath From Recycled Newspaper.

Linaloo made this cool Christmas wreath by folding newspaper into German stars, also called Froebel Stern. She folded the stars and then glued them together.

It looks great. (Via Crafty Crafty)

2. Christmas Wreath From An Old Bicycle Wheel.

The tutorial for this wreath uses an old bicycle wheel as the bones for a more traditional-looking wreath. They simply wrapped a garland and led lights over the wheel and secured it with wire.

3. Christmas Wreath From Old Sweaters.

This is actually an ornament you can purchase Dreaming Giggles Etsy site for $14, but of all the wreaths I saw using recycled sweaters, I like this look the best. From what I can tell, the sweaters were felted, cut into rectangles, and folded into squares. Then they were attached in a wreath, maybe by a wire going through the middle? Nice.

4. Christmas Wreath From Buttons.

Little Birds Handmade created this tiny wreath by hot gluing red buttons to a cardboard donut backed by decorative paper. It would be especially great in an unexpected place, like a bathroom or the end of a hallway.

5. Christmas Wreath From Coffee Sleeves.

If you drink a lot of take-out coffee, this is a great way to re-use the coffee sleeves–make a wreath out of them. Magpie and Cake cut a ring out of a cereal box and glued the cardboard “leaves” to it. You could do this idea with any kind of cardboard you have lying around. (Via Craft)

Three Men and a Lady has another inspired idea: make a cake plate out of recycled thrift store materials and give it as Christmas gifts. She simply glued some plates:

to some candlestick holders:

I love when people find good uses for the more ugly stuff in the thrift store. I’ve see tons of candlestick holders and plates at every thrift store I’ve been to, but I have never thought of putting them together before. Great idea.

Country Living has a how-to on how to take an old hardback book and turn it into a bag. You hollow the book out, line it with fabric, and add a handle.

It’s pretty cute, only it’s too bad there isn’t a way to close the purse. Maybe a zipper could be added to the top?

(Photo depicting 2 million plastic bottles - the number of bottles used in the US every 5 minutes.)

Since I started composting, I have become aware of how much plastic I use. Once I started separating my organic waste, and recycling all my paper, it became clear to me that every week I was basically throwing out a (plastic) garbage bag of mostly … plastic. Sure, there are other things in there, but the majority of actual garbage my husband and I produce is plastic. You know, things like bags, bottles, wrappings from meat or cheese, packaging, and so on.

So I was interested in ReadyMade’s Week Without Plastic experiment. Katherine Sharpe decided to try to not use plastic for a week, and quickly encountered how difficult that is. Here are some sample questions she asked during the experiment:

• Is the lid of my ‘I Am Not A Paper Cup’ made of silicone? Is silicone plastic? Are there any 100% plastic-free on-the-go coffee container options?
• Are rubber bands made of plastic?
• Are mason jars microwaveable? (The glass parts, not the metal lids.)
• What did meat used to be packaged in for sales and serving—before, say, World War II? When did plastic come in for meat? What is meat sold and stored in other countries?
• Is there any place in this city where I can buy some raw meat without its being packed in plastic?
• Are the little stickers on fruit made of plastic?
• How can I store vegetables and fruits in my refrigerator and not use plastic?
• Is there any viable alternative to plastic garbage-can liners for my kitchen?
• I buy a lot of foods like rice and nuts and beans that come in plastic bags. Are there ways to get and store these in other types of packaging?

And also:

• Why can I recycle #1 and #2 plastic containers, PET and HDPE, but not other kinds of plastics, even when they have chasing-arrow signs on them? Is there any place that recycles plastics #3 through #10?
• Does all the plastic that I put out at curbside actually get recycled? How “good” is plastic recycling, anyway?

All good questions, although someone needs to introduce her to butcher paper. Still, plastic is an environmental problem. For one thing, it takes a lot of energy to produce. For another, as mentioned above, only two types of plastics are recyclable (as far as I know)–#1 and #2, the tiny numbers you can find on the bottom of the container. Numbers 3-10 are not recyclable, which automatically makes them waste.

And finally, there is a garbage patch the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean–the marine litter tends to accumulate in one place. Most of that garbage is plastic. And that plastic will never disappear. It just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, which means fish are eating it along with plankton, which in turn means that plastic is entering the food chain. Also, plastic is increasingly strangling and killing sea life that gets tangled in it.

Depressing, right? Ugh. Anyway, the point is, I have been cutting back on plastic. I’m not extreme about it. After all, plastic is not a bad thing in and of itself–it is just overused. I don’t know how I would store food without it. However, I have noticed that over time, my consumption of plastic has lessened. It wasn’t hard at all. Here are some changes I made:

• I pick paper over plastic bags.

• I re-use plastic bags at least once (saves money).

• I have a re-usable drinking bottle for water (also saves money because I am drinking free tap water instead of paying for water).

• I re-use plastic tubs (saves money because I buy less Tupperware).

• I am slowly replacing all my plastic cooking implements with wooden or metal ones.

• When I make a food purchase, along with price and where the food came from, I now consider the packaging it comes in too.

Plastic is mind bogglingly commonplace. I mean, I am typing on a plastic keyboard right now. The pen sitting on the keyboard is also plastic. My phone is plastic. The heater beside me is plastic. So is my treadmill. And my fax machine. And my mouse. And the bottle of lotion on my desk… It really is amazing how much plastic is in our lives. It’s practically impossible to avoid. But I am still going to try to resist it where I can–at least when it comes to the easily disposable kind.

Check out these gorgeous glass panels made from recycled glass by Daniel Maher Stained Glass.

They are made from serving bowls, platters, lids, and jars, among other things. Here is one in a room:

The panels, which are hand-crafted, cost between $1,000-$4,000. But unlike other recycled glass products I’ve mentioned, those prices seem reasonable considering how beautifully done the panels are. (Via Apartment Therapy)