Simple Green Ideas

What can kids do on a rainy day? Something that doesn’t involve X-Box or Playstation or TV!

One of the banes of modern shopping is the ubiquitous polystyrene try.

Food comes like this…

You get left with this…

What to do?

I used to wash them and most would finish up in the ‘junk box’ along with all sorts of other knick-knacks.

On a rainy day I’d get out the junk box, sellotape, glue, paints, etc set it on the veranda and tell the kids to get to it and use their imaginations.

They’d come up with all sorts of weird and wonderful things.

Like this…

The result of imagination

Simple Green Ideas

Most households today have old PC cases from ex-PCs.

What to do with them?

Here’s a crazy idea for the bar…

Using your imagination, there’s always a way.

Change the World Wednesday – 3rd Dec

Small is away, but, I am going to try to keep CTWW alive.

A small challenge this week as we head for the silly season.

Christmas has become a time for spending, it has lost its original meaning. Today Christmas is all about commercialism; making you buy unwanted stuff as presents.

My challenge:

Avoid the commercialism this Christmas. Don’t shop for presents.

or

If you must shop for presents, consider the green impact, the safe ingredients.

Here’s my plan.

Many of us have old stuff at home. Yesterday I touched on kitchen stuff in Simple Green Ideas post. Today, I am suggesting old sports stuff.

Most of us have stuff like this cluttering up the place

It would be a rare family that did not have at least one sportsman in the house, most households finnish up with used sport gear tucked away in closets and nooks around the house.

Try some arty ideas as presents…

Old tennis rackets

A golf club bottle opener

Use your imagination for whatever sports gear you have around.

Try to avoid commercialism this Chritmas.

If you have other ideas, share them, leave a comment.

Simple Green Ideas

Feeling arty?

Got a box/chest/old drawer in the attic/shed/junk room full of these.

Grandma’s kitchen utensils

Think outside the box. Try something arty/new/different…

Instead of buying Christmas presents; make your own.

Get away from commercialism this Christmas.

Simple Green Ideas

It’s close to Halloween…

Who doesn’t have some of these in the house?

Empty jars

Or some of these cluttering up a corner?

Try something new this year.

Jar lanterns

Bottle pumpkins

Both images from Pintrest.

Or string some little lamps in old milk or juice containers…

Plastic lanterns

Or… if you don’t like my ideas, have a look at StyleMotivation for some more simple decorating ideas

Simple Green Ideas

Some simple green ideas from the kitchen.

Hideaway trays for small bits and pieces

Source: Lushome

Now go and have a look at 9 more ways to use stuff and save space. So simple.

Simple Green Ideas

Most households today have one of these…

Old PC case

Here’s a simple idea for your daughter.

A house for Barbie

What other ideas can you come up with?

Simple Green Ideas

Another home-grown idea this week.

Got some old jars around, preferably a little ornamental?

Old marmalade jar

Some metallic bronze oil paint…

Old gold jar, not finished yet

It will become a present with a ribbon of some sort around the neck for my daughter. Even at nearly eight, she already has quite a collection of earings and ear studs.

I get these jars all the time with imported jams and the like, because Brazilian jam is crap.

 

Simple Green Ideas

This is more of a repurpose. It’s also a personal effort.

Many of us have plants growing around the yard, in pots, tins, whatever.

Plants in odd tins

I began to get so many for the yard, that I did this…

My plants on the street & Kitty

I used them to make a barrier on the footpath (sidewalk for our American cousins) to prevent vehicles parking there.

Parking on footpaths is epidemic in Brazil, illegal, but everyone does it.

My fear is that the continual weight of cars, and if some idiot parks a truck there, will break the thin unreinforced concrete.

I have another almost ready to add.

The stones are the type used to make the old style roads here, you can find them around the streets. I do and carry them home to repurpose…

The Siamese type cat is the one that is in the process of adopting me. Kitty (pronounced Kitchy in Portuguese) has a belly full of paws and claws, and decided that my place and me are better than her current situation. Last night she got brave enough to jump up on the sofa for the first time while I was watching TV for a stroke. I feed her because she started coming here to steal Clorinha’s food, and I have guessed that she is not getting enough at home to feed both her and her extra baggage.

I realise that such a display on the footpath would be frowned on, if not illegal, in parts of the world where you would have neighbours and/or councils who would order their removal; which is why I live in Brazil and not the First World, my neighbours think it’s lovely despite the crappy looking tins. I am waiting for someone to offer me leftover paint… that I will recycle.

Ponder… why do Americans call it a sidewalk and not a footpath? I walk on my feet, not my side!

Simple Green Ideas

I love rustic.

Got boxes?

Here’s a couple of ideas.