Slow February

Last year I followed Christine at Slow Living Essentials for an end of the month recap.  This year I decided to do something different and recap at the end of each month what I was able to save from ending up in landfills.  This month was truly a slow month for finding things tossed out, but that’s not to say I didn’t find any thing.

First up was the chair I showed you yesterday.  It is being delivered in the morning to my son and his wife to complete their dining room.

Their wish was for 4 chairs and with 3 I found near the end of summer they have chairs that were made just for them.

While they insisted on paying me, we finally settled on $20 for the lot which is a much better bargain than if they had bought all new chairs to suit their tastes.

 

 

I have also saved 3 paint cans this month.  The first I showed you earlier this week. I am using it as a planter to start Cosmo flower seeds in.  My grandson helped me plant them and was excited to see they are already sprouting in the window.

I’ve had several large bags of cardboard delivered to me, rather than toss in the recycling bins.  I’ve cut them down and am using them for crafts for the children rather than buying construction or other paper.

I also shared with you a VHS cabinet that was changed into a bookshelf for my eldest grand daughter.  I used the left over paint from her bedroom trim, a 50 cent bedskirt I found at a yard sale and pages from her coloring book to personalize the cabinet.  She is currently using the skirted shelves for her dolls to play house in as well as storing her books on it.

A quick sewing project gave the little ones an apron each from the scrap bag of fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finished off two chairs that were found last month and showed them to you.

When people drop off magazines, I usually take them to the library to share.  Now and then I find one that has such amazing artwork in it that I clip out the pictures and reuse them.  This month I updated a plastic light switch cover that I had been sorely tempted to toss in the garbage.  It  had been covered with adhesive and paint by cleaning it up and decoupaging one of the pictures I found in a magazine it’s a favorite of everyone who stops by.

I saved a pillow that my ex nearly ruined with his snuff by cleaning with hydrogen peroxide which removed the stains wonderfully.

The unexpected section of a 1 by 4 piece of unfinished wood and some twigs along with leftover milk paint became a coat rack for the little ones to reach on their own.

I was able to give new life to a storage ottoman by adding reinforcement to the sides with shims and then added a more comfortable top using the filling from a torn couch cushion and left over fabric from another project.

I also dug out my scraps of aida cloth for cross stitch and have started to make small ornaments for next Christmas to use these up.

My grandson brought me a small water bottle that he told me we need to make something out of it so it doesn’t go into the garbage.  I love when kids learn to love the process of repurposing. I finally decided what I will do with this last night.  I’ll show you in a few days, but I will be creating a toy robot for him from it.

And finally for the month of February, I showed you the glass spaghetti jar with one of the photos from a magazine that I use for my baking soda dispenser for washing my dishes.

An old spaghetti jar with holes punched in the top and a pretty picture from a magazine is a lovely way to hold my baking soda for kitchen cleaning.

 

March is off to a good start.  I received 2 more chairs today which need a lot of attention.

 

Life isn’t all about work, while I do find restoring things to be fun, in the morning I will be celebrating my youngest grand daughter’s second birthday.  I’m sure it will be a fun day, her mother’s best friend hand made a pinata for the little ones to enjoy.  Her gifts are packed and ready to take in one of the bags I made for just such an occasion and I have to say it looks much better than wrapping paper any day.  The individual gifts are wrapped in saved tissue paper from Christmas I collected rather than toss away.

Did you have goals for February?  How did you fare meeting them?

 

 

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