From Trash to Treasure

By Chirag Sharma

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With the escalating economy, cost-saving ideas are always welcome! And when they have the added benefit of enhancing your home and hearth, you can have individualistic, beautifully turned out exclusive and useful items.

There are several common items around the home that we chuck into the bin almost unthinkingly – empty powder dabbas, disposable containers from the restaurant, soft drink bottles, used matchboxes, and innumerable pamphlets that come with our daily newspaper among other things.

Here are a few ideas that we have. Take a go…

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Pamphlets in the daily newspaper: The best thing about these papers is that they are pretty colourful. Equip yourself with some glue and starting diagonally at one edge, start rolling the paper between your thumb and index finger until you get a smooth long paper pipe. Seal the edges with glue. Move on to the making the next one and the next till you make at least 10-12 such paper pipes. Now, fetch a notebook cover – cardboard or if you wish, some thick card paper – cut it in your desired shape – oval, round, square; and using the glue, paste all the paper pipes neatly side by side on the card board, taking care that they sit closely together. Cut off the part that extends beyond your card shape. Using a ribbon or a pretty edging from an old sari or dupatta, line the card paper along its edges, finishing the product. You have just made a beautiful place mat! Similarly you could try making other stuff too - a photo frame perhaps?! For maintenance, use a clean dry old toothbrush to keep it free of dust and when it begins to dull and look pathetic, simply chuck it and make a new one!

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Corrupt floppies and CDs: Purchase some good-looking stickers – of the latest cartoon characters, or pretty flora that might catch your eye. Stick them neatly in the center of the floppy or the CD and use as coasters!! They can be easily washed and wiped dry. Don’t worry –the stickers do not come off easily and the coasters seem to last forever – sometimes forcing you to chuck them because it’s time you got something new!

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Used glass jars: Many a time, peanut butter, chocolate spread and the like come in glass jars that are capped with a plastic cover. The glass jars have varied colourful motifs on them or sometimes are even plain but the common element is that they can pass off as interesting drinking glasses; when empty, throw away the plastic covers, remove the wrap and clean the jar thoroughly. Use these to serve your kiddo’s friends with cool lemonade – they will enjoy the basic fact that each one‘s glass is different!!

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Outgrown Blue Jeans: When your little one has outgrown his pair of jeans – here’s what u can do - turn it into a trendy bag for your teenager! Cut off the length of the jean up to say about 3 inches from the crotch. Turn it inside out and sew the bottoms individually. Fit the waist of the jean with a looped button or a zip as convenient. Then using an old cotton belt, or better still the remaining part of the cut-off denim legs, make a braided belt and attach it to the sides, hooked on to the belt loops or run it through the belt loops and use it as a drawstring – in which case u need not sew any zip or button at the top! Your tote bag is ready!

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