Sock-A-Thon! What to do with old socks?

My creative fires were stocked by a new book I received called Stupid Sock Creatures by John Murphy.
His designs and the creatures he creates are amazing! But my packed schedule hasn't allowed me to play with any of the ideas he offers yet.

But the idea of using old socks destined for the dust rag pile for something more interesting got under my skin and I ran with it!
I have been looking for long boy socks for L and haven't been able to find anything appropriate. Don't get me wrong, I'm not above putting him in pink argyle if it's available, and I don't think it will hurt his budding masculinity at all. But every store in town was out of long socks! All they could offer me were acrylic leg warmers and tights, which I didn't think would fly too well...and I don't like having non-natural-fiber socks on, so why would I do that to him?

A flash of inspiration! I could make my own toddler sized leg warmers by cutting up my old socks!
Now that 2-3 inch gap of skin between his socks and pants won't get chapped by the winter winds.

NEXT IDEA: CAT TOY!
I bought a new bag of catnip at the Park Slope Co-Op for $.25 - his old stuff was too old and he wasn't getting any pleasure out of year-old herbage. I took the remaining toe portion of said socks and tied the catnip into the toe for a cheap, fun cat toy!
Our cat, The Boy Named Sue, was pretty psyched!

FINAL IDEA: STYLISH CUT GLOVES!
Young hip girls around the city and Bob Cratchit from The Christmas Carol, can all be seen wearing these cute gloves with the fingers cut out - well make your own for free!
Just cut a little hole in the side of a sock for your thumb, then cut straight across the toe to let your fingers out the top - instant hipness!


Anyone else have some great sock ideas? Alex

Big Box Stores Closing - Great Opportunities!

With medium- and big-box stores shutting their doors all over the country
(see: http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1549783.html?mi_rss=Business), I had some ideas for what to do with all that empty floor-space:

- homeless shelters
- employ the unemployed to tear them down and return that land to arable farm-land and community gardens
- convert them into schools
- free day care centers
- community co-op style fitness centers with Wii, Dance Dance Revolution, and good old jump-ropes! Employ a few local teens to provide DJ services.

That's just a start - anyone else have any bright ideas?

Alex

Choose to Re-Use!

I love freebies - even better, I like walking down the streets of Brooklyn and finding great free stuff that I can use at home - call me a FREEGAN!
There are other ways to get free goods that you can use that don't involve walking the chilly streets of Gotham:

http://www.gigoit.org/index.php - a neat new site that offers an easy way to give and get free goods from other recycle-minded locals

or

www.freecycle.org (their motto - "changing the world, one gift at a time")

Give, get, recycle and save!

Best, Alex

Another thought on smaller amounts

My last blog was about saving money and supplies, illustrated by my experiment with using less dish soap. I took that idea and tried it with everything else in my house this weekend - lotion (watered down a little in the bottle), shampoo and conditioner (same) as well as laundry detergent. All successful!
I think the manufacturers recommend a certain amount of their product per use partly so you'll use up their product faster and need to buy more...when I read how much shampoo I was "supposed" to use each time, I realized it was a sham...literally!

A WORD OF WARNING: Do NOT try this with cat food! I tried giving our cat, The Boy Named Sue, less than the package recommended for a cat his weight and I found out this didn't work for him - at 2am...when he was sitting on my chest meowing for food. Give kitty all he wants.

Pump up the savings on dish washing liquid

Last week I bought a new bottle of Ecover Dish Washing Liquid because it was on mega-sale and I like that the product is non-toxic. When I got it home I noticed a problem. It was a huge bottle and pretty unwieldy to manage while washing dishes with wet hands. I was using huge amounts of detergent because every time I tipped it over onto my sponge it would gush everywhere!

So, to save detergent and my patience, I fished out a little empty pump bottle from the recycling bin that had previously held an electrolyte concentrate I use in my water. Most people have some sort of reusable pump bottle in their home that would work - even an old lotion pump bottle that you rinse out is fine. I filled up the little pumper and put the huge bottle under the sink - problem solved!

I realized that I'm using much less soap than before - even from other brands of large bottles like Seventh Generation that come in smaller bottles. It looks like this one bottle of dish liquid is going to last at least a month at this rate - pretty good savings!
(pat self on back)

Your Home Eco-Nomics Instructor,
Alex

FREE clog buster?

OMG - and I don't use that expression too often - why didn't I try this AGES ago?

I have a very clogged shower drain - actually, it's clogged more than 50% of the time. I have spent many, many dollars on "natural" enzyme products to clear that drain, and it usually takes more than one bottle of the stuff to get the gunk moving.

So what finally worked...for free?

BOILING WATER!

Yes, cheap, easy, sooooo green and it worked fast! I boiled a whole pot of water, poured it down the drain and now that sucker is clear!

Happy New Clear Year!
Alex