Anyone who has gone to the local farmer’s market, knows about the baskets that the fruit and sometimes veggies come in. Most of the time they are in the berries that you will buy in the local grocery store. These baskets often get thrown away without a thought about it. Don’t throw these away, the next time you go and buy something, recycle them and get yourself more organized without having to buy new container to do it. Here are some great uses for these little baskets.

• Soap Holder- Get suction cups with hooks and these are handy little baskets to hold your soaps and small items when in the shower.

• Brush Cleaner- Put the small baskets inside clean margarine tubs and they will clean your paint brushes.

• Packet Organizer- Can put these in your cupboard and they can hold your spices and loose tea bags keeping your organized.

• Bubbles- Fill a bucket, large enough to dip the berry basket into, with water and liquid soap. Dip the basket into the bucket and gently wave in the air.

• Protect Your Bulbs- When planting in the garden plant these baskets, preferably the mesh ones, and keep your bulbs from being eaten by rodents.

• Dishwasher Basket- Put the small things like pet food lids, baby bottle caps, etc. into these baskets on the top rack of your dishwasher.

Today many of you will be tearing into gifts to see what great things you got from those who love you. But what about all that wrapping paper that everyone used, what will happen with it. Well, I am going to share some great tips on what you can do to recycle that used wrapping paper.

• Make paper bows from recycled wrapping paper to use as decorations for future gifts. All Free Crafts will show you how.

• At LoveToKnow Origami, there are several ideas for how to recycle wrapping paper into fun crafts. Use wrapping paper to fold an origami envelope to use when sending a handmade greeting card. You can also fold a small gift box to use for storing spare change, candy, or small trinkets.

• Cut small scraps of wrapping paper into narrow strips, then roll them around a pencil to create your own paper beads. The LoveToKnow Crafts slide show tutorial How to Make Paper Beads explains this process in greater detail.

• Fill a clear glass ornament with rolled bits of wrapping paper as described in the LoveToKnow Crafts Christmas Craft Ornaments tutorial.

• Cover a piece of cardboard with wrapping paper, then use it to mat a favorite photo. This is a simple way to make festive wall art for your home.

• Instead of paying top dollar for decorative storage containers from a department store, decoupage pretty wrapping paper onto an old shoe box to make a place for storing photos, letters, and other keepsakes.

• If you’re not worried about archival safety, one of the most fun wrapping paper crafts is to glue wrapping paper to a card stock background to use as the basis for your next scrapbook layout.

I was thinking the other day about high school and some of the things that we used to wear. That is when I first saw a seatbelt from a car turned into a belt. I was then thinking about how hard it would be to make them because it would be something I think my younger brother would enjoy, especially since he is very into cars. When I researched it, there where several ways to make them but it didn’t sound too hard so I tried it. It took a few times of trying to get them to turn out but I finally did get something that turned out to be a great belt. These are a great gift idea for anyone who either wears belts or likes cars, plus you are reusing something that would have otherwise just sat around in a junkyard.

Do you have thousands of chopsticks laying around the house or just like the look of chopsticks. Then this is the product for you. These chopstick handbags are a great gift idea as well. You will be able to feel good about having recycled thousands of chopsticks while having a great looking accessory as well. Recycling and buying recycled good is a great way to help out the planet while being able to have new things at the same time. This is definitely something that will have people asking you where you got it from.

Yoghurt pots are notoriously difficult to recycle. Yoghurt pots are made from polystyrene, which is a plastic that is not typically recycled. Since you can’t recycle yoghurt pots, here are some suggestions on how you can reuse them.

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If you want to find a use for an empty tissue box, here’s a simple idea that will help you get more use from it. Just use the issue box as a plastic bag dispenser!

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Have you got something at home you want to recycle, but have no idea how to recycle it? Have you got old coffee bags to recycle? Perhaps you have some old broken belts you want to reuse? How do I reuse old cork? These questions and more are answered at RecycleThis.co.uk.

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You’ve heard about ebooks and text book renting for students, and of course using your local library, but how about a simple book and magazine swap at your place of work?

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If you end up with a stack of business cards for whatever reason, there’s another way you can reuse them before you recycle them.

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Recycling is all well and good, but if you can reuse something, that’s even better. Rehased Clothes is a clever concept where people can exchange fashionable and attractive clothes with other like-minded individuals.

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