TURNING OLD INTO GOLD

PUBLISHED BY  JIMINEY MAGAZINE

A 2010 study, published in the scientific journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, used linguistic analysis software to measure the way 60 individuals discussed their homes. Women who described their living spaces as ‘cluttered’ or full of ‘unfinished projects’ were more likely to be depressed and fatigued than the women who described their homes as ‘restful’ and ‘restorative’. The researchers also found that women with cluttered homes expressed higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

All my loved ones are extremely obsessive-compulsive, unlike me! I am extremely lazy when it comes to organizing or clearing up. However, when you love your home, you DO want to do things to make it cleaner and more organized. That being said, I started making a list of what we could do to de-clutter without having to throwing things away by recycling them.

Mismatched Socks –

All of us have a few of these! I don’t know and seriously have not figured out why I keep some as well! It usually happens during travel or sometimes a mix up at the laundry, so unless you are being extremely fashion forward or rocking the streets of Korea and Japan, here are a few things that can help de-clutter that sock draw and recycle them as well;

– Cut them up, put a piece of elastic inside and make your own DIY

scrunchie! You can never have too many of them.

– Fill them with rice and tie up the sock and you’ve got yourself

a homemade stress ball.

– Keep them to protect or cushion breakable items whilst packing

your suitcase. You can also put your expensive shoes in one sock

each, to prevent any scratching.

– Use them to make a neck pillow! Just fill old socks with beans or

rice and you can microwave these for a few minutes before you

use them to help melt away all that stress.

– Use them as a decorative cover around a plant pot, coffee mug or

even a pencil stand, just cut off the toe portion and you’re good

to go.

Mismatched Jewelry –

You know that box full of jewelry that’s in the

the back end of your drawer, the ones you never wear, either

one earring missing or a stone fallen off a pendant or even a ring that

has been destroyed but you have too many memories connected to

them and can’t see them go! Here are a few ways to recycle, make

sure you are de-cluttering that drawer and at the same time not

getting rid of those precious memories.

– Bejeweled Bookmarks! – Just add the jeweled piece to a strip

of ribbon and you have a gorgeous bookmark that is better

than anything,
can buy in a store.

– Beaded Sandals – Remove the beads from their strands and then sew them onto your sandals. This is a great DIY if you have old beaded jewelry that has been broken and you want to preserve the beads.

– Cocktail Rings – Grab those old brooches or large pendants and turn them into creative and unique cocktail rings. You can use your imagination to create any size or style of ring that you want. Just glue your pieces onto a blank ring and you’re all set. You just cut ribbon long enough to fit around your cloth napkins and glue the ends of the ribbon together. Once it dries, just pin a vintage brooch to the ribbon or you can use a large pendant or the top of an old cocktail ring, depending on the style that you want and the jewelry you have on hand.

– You can bedazzle your planters or anything else around the house with that old vintage jewelry. Use this method to make all of your terra cotta planters or vases look much more expensive than they really are. Just choose the pieces that you want to repurpose and then start gluing them onto your planter in whatever designs you choose. You could turn ordinary plastic bowls and planters into amazing pieces with some vintage jewelry.

– Expired or dried-up Nail Polish

Once we finally round up all of those old school bottles, it may seem as though the garbage can is beckoning, but there are some inspiring and downright practical ways to make the most of yesterday’s nail paint as long as they’re used with proper cross-ventilation.

– Jazz up or just revamp Christmas and other holiday ornaments – remember, beads and glitter stick quite well to a wet coat of nail polish.

– Empty bottles can be cleaned out with a non-toxic paint thinner (such as Torpedoed Natural) and then repurposed as miniature flower vases, craft storage containers for beads, rhinestones, glitter,etc.

– Loose eye shadow is tough to use and it does fall all over the face .  We women still love it because somehow we find it looks better than the other types. Loose eye shadow is otherwise difficult to carry around while you are traveling, but not if you use an empty nail polish bottle to store it. Yes, your empty nail polish bottle can serve as an ideal storage for the loose eye shadow.

– An empty nail polish bottle. You can fill it with anything you want like beads or confetti. Use a paper funnel to make a neat pour. I put in some sand that I gathered a small amount from a recent beach trip. Close the top with a small craft cork {seal with glue to avoid accidents} and add a chain (attach to the bottle with a piece of wire)

– Old combs or brushes – We have plenty of these, some received as gifts, some with a broken tooth, and just the extras we keep around in case we lose one? Combs and brushes can actually really be useful when used in these ways!

– Donate it to your pet, they love being combed! My dog runs up to me whenever she sees me with a comb in my hand!  In case you don’t have one, then give it to an animal shelter!

– You can also donate them to a school or kindergarten for the children’s art projects. They can learn to make patterns in paint by dragging a comb over a piece of paper with wet paint on it, or make “airbrush art”.

– Old hairbrushes with soft bristles can also be used to scrub down buckets and reused as cleaning appliances.

– Bristle brushes can also be used to help brush dirt/dust off clothes just before you step out.

– Old Shoes – There’s a small tear, or the fabric is a bit frayed, some repairable damage but given you so many good years! Yes, we all have that friend who loves their shoes more than you  . Here are some tips for the shoe lovers, some de-cluttering and recycling ideas, which just may be fun.

– Pinterest is full of great ideas for turning shoes into cute wall hangings. I love the idea of hanging up a pair of flip flops and balancing a well-sized plant pot into the toe thong so flowers bloom from the sandal.

– HGTV shows you an awesomely kitschy idea that up cycles as many pairs of heels as you need to all at once! Attach the shoes to a plank of wood so the heel sticks out and up and hang it on your wall. Use those heels to hang coats, towels, your bathrobe or scarves!

– Some people like to copper their baby’s first pair of shoes for display, but Handmade Harbor has another idea for mamas who are also seamstresses! We love this adorable pincushion idea because of how it looks ! Also because it’s sturdy enough to place just about anywhere while you pin and sew.

I hate the idea of any of these items ending up in the landfill and there is no reason they have to. I totally understand the temptation to just put things in the bin so they are out of sight but donating what you can to people and organizations in need, is one of the privileges of our blessed life.