Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle

I was just talking to Hubby about how we need to get some extra storage for Ellie’s closet, but I we can’t really afford to buy what we need to organize it right now.  We were discussing ways to do this when a thought popped into my head.  I remembered how my mom used to go to the stores she shopped in frequently and ask for any old cardboard displays they may be getting rid of.  Most of the time they would happily give them to her.  I’m talking about the point of purchase displays you see at the end of isles or sitting out in open areas that are normally there to showcase a specific item.

She would take these displays home, paint them, and use them in our closets and utility room to store various items.  I could totally do that!  Since these displays come in a variety of sizes I could use them to store things like Ellie’s shoes, socks, etc.  I think tomorrow I might stop by a few stores and ask around to see if any of them have any of these old displays they would be willing to give me.  Most of the time the stores just throw them into the trash anyway, and I’m offering to reuse and recycle them.  We always have a few cans of old paint around the house, so I can easily paint them so they don’t stick out like a sore thumb either!

My mom also used to go to a fabric store and ask for the old cardboard rolls that the fabric came on.  The store was happy to give them to her, and my mom used them for all sorts of things.  The rolls were huge, and she used two of them to make towers where my stuffed animals hung for years.  It was very easy to do.  She drilled two holes in one end of the tube and looped rope through it.  Then she drilled holes down the tubes and inserted plastic hooks to clip our stuffed animals.  She hung them up in two corners of my room attaching the rope to a hook in the ceiling, and my stuffed animals lived there until I grew out of the stuffed animal phase.  I think I might have to try that, too.