How to re-use Household Goods

Reusing household goods is a great way of saving money and reducing waste. Here is a list of some great ways to repurpose old or broken items around your home.

Have you ever broken a plate or a dish that has sentimental value? Why not glue it back together using a coloured glue and make a feature out of the brake. Sadly it won’t be oven proof any more, but it will look good sitting on a sideboard or on the wall. Broken dishes can be turned into mosaic tiles to cover anything you can think of or how about using them instead of gravel in the garden.

The fabric from old umbrellas can be turned into bags for your shopping. With a little sewing you will get a really lightweight bag. The fabric can also be remade into a mini parachute for children to play with or a rain coat for your dog.

Melting down broken crayons and leaving to cool in a small plastic container will give you new usable crayons. Melting down crayons and mixing with a melted down candle will give you a great new and brightly coloured candle.

Broken jewellery can be remade into really great and individual new pieces. You’ll need a few jewellery making tools and these can be bought from a craft shop. Another idea for broken jewellery is to attach a magnet to the back and you will have a beautiful new magnet for the fridge. You can also attach a screw to the back of an old broach to make a cupboard door handle.

Old CDs can be broken up and attached like mosaic tiles to lots of different surfaces from table tops to mirror frames or onto old christmas baubles.

Broken chairs can be turned into many new objects. The backs can become clothes hangers, two broken chairs can become a bench or a chair with broken legs can become a swing for the garden.

If you can bare to rip up old books then why not try creating floating shelves with them. Add a couple of handles and you have a carrier for pens or create storage boxes out of the covers and spines.

There are hundreds of ways to reuse old and broken household items and these were just a few examples to get your imaginative juices flowing.