Creative repurposing even before going "not new."

As I was picking up the doddy doodoo today...our first really nice, dry day of the year, it occurred to me that I was in a "not new" mode even before deciding to buy nothing new this year. My dog poop container is the offspring's old diaper "pail." (I obviously didn't have to think to far outside the box on this one). It works great...a lid to keep odors down and flies out and a handle to carry it all over the yard. As I was filling my birdfeeders, I also noticed former repurposing that was a bit more of a stretch: the insert from the old potty chair is now the scoop I use in my sunflower seed container. Can't recall what happened to the chair itself.

"Not new" take out containers.

This is not an original idea. Mother Earth News suggested bringing your own take out containers to the restaurant. What a brilliant idea! "Reduce/reuse" is always better than "recycle." Those styrofoam containers are leaky and take up too much room in the fridge. I'm going to put some Tupperware-type containers in the car now so I'll have them the next time we eat out. As I also learned from the article, plastics are not that cost effective to recycle, so best to try to avoid using disposable plastics. Wonder if the deli people would pack stuff in a bring-your-own container? All they'd have to do is zero out their scale before weighing. (Could be health concerns, I suppose.) Good news is, most other stuff (glass, paper, metal) is recycled at a considerable cost/energy/waste savings over making new.