Stuff you regularly throw away that you'll regret post-SHTF?

[bluetick]

Old packrat here!

Use old pantyhose to tie up tomatoes or other veggies in the garden.

Empty coffee cans with plastic lids for storage of small items.

Metal lid removed from coffee can to cover knot holes in the barn to keep out mice.

Empty cat litter pails are great to fill with small pieces of wood/branches for kindling. Fill others with pinecones to use for fire starters. Put a lid back on an empty pail for an instant, portable stool to sit on.

Empty mayo jars to screw onto special "lids" to hold starter crumbles for chicks, ducklings.

Baling twine - can't have enough!

Aluminum pie tins - attach to a length of baling twine and hang in the breeze to scare wild bird scavengers from poultry feed.

Rubber bands, plastic bags, string, and twist ties - always handy.

Wire coat hangers - reshape to hang bird feeders or suet. Cut and bend to form a door hook.

Any and all lumber, windows and doors.

Stuff dryer lint into empty toilet paper cardboard tubes for firestarters.

 

[theoutlands]

What are we - as a country - going to miss that we regularly throw away, once TSHasHTF?

Everything.

Do you routinely make your own string/rope? Paper? Nails? Plastic containers?

Once TSHTF and manufacturing stops - to whatever degree - we'll be bemoaning our lack of X that we were just last week throwing out w/o a thought.

Thanks for the Stirling book recommendation - I'll hunt it down to go with "Dies The Fire" - an EXCELLENT post-SHTF book, if you can read past one of the two main groups being wiccan.

 

[RC]

Thanks for the Stirling book recommendation - I'll hunt it down to go with "Dies The Fire" - an EXCELLENT post-SHTF book, if you can read past one of the two main groups being wiccan.

I haven't read that yet, but Island in the Sea of Time (actually, a trilogy beginning with that book) is set in a parallel universe that began with the same event. The island of Nantucket (including the town dump) gets sent back to about 1000 AD, with just barely enough to get by (a visiting professor who just happened to know a little bit of some of the languages of the day, a machinist who just happened to be a student of the history of technology, etc.) You only have to suspend disbelief for the first couple of pages while they're actually sent back. After that, everything that happens seems very plausible.

 

[vulcan]

I have a weakness for scrap metal. I always grab the angle iron bed frames, made burglar window/door gates with them and some scrounged rebar. I find the best stuff in construction site dumpsters, I beam/pipes/plate/c channels cut offs. Sometimes I return with a small cutting torch to break up larger pieces.

A sixpack of beer often helps getting the OK from the contractor to root thru the dumpster

 

[Witness]

Aintitfunny;

Really cool, thanks for the ideas.

 

[tsk]

rryan

All those AOL cd's that came in the mail----I could probably roof a house with all the ones I've chunked.

Have you seen the really cute curtains made out of those cd's? JC Penney's sells them - they're really retro! Just hook the cd's together with small wire rings - in a matrix format with a rod across the top. They're really cute. They sell for quite a bit at the store. I'll bet you could make one for nothing. I'm saving my cd's for just that.

OR you can make picture frames/mirror frames out of them. Put some small christmas lights through the middle circle and bring out the prism colors. Really cool.

You could really decorate a whole room with them depending on your creativity!



tsk, tsk...

 

[marieb]

...or you can hang cd's in your fruit trees; and they will scare the birds away (especially if they are rap ;-0 )

 

[Christian for Israel]

among other things, i save the cardboard roll that toilet paper comes on. i use them as a mold for candles made from melting down the stubs of old candles.

also, the metal lid from coffee cans works great as a base for candles, not to mention as reflectors behind the flame.

 

[FREEBIRD]

"OLD 100% knit WOOL SWEATERS AND DRESSES. " And the best place find these little goodies are the thrift shops. Frequently I find wool sweaters that are already shrunk (because of improper care)---they often get relegated to the cheapest prices because who wants a shrunk-up sweater?

------------------------------------------------------------------------
"...it's next to your half buried bathtub with the virgin Mary statute in it? Blends right in to the yard decor.... "

I thought I was the only one who knew about "Our Lady of the Bathtub." I don't know where you're from but I figure it for a Midwestern thing.

 

[ofuzzy1]

The paperwork to start a chapter for Packrat's Anynomous, I know left them somewhere near that pile.

 

[Walrus Whisperer]

I thought of another one- I only throw bags out that have a hole in them. If Hubby only knew how many I really have! Thank goodness they pack down tightly into one of their own. (I'm talking about those plastic ones you get from the grocery/department stores.)

 

[psychonautbuddy]

phone books. non-glossy paper just the right size to turn into toilet paper once all the real stuff is gone....

I was begining to wonder when in this post someone would mention this! I have about a dozen phone books, or about 5000 wipes = 3+ man-years-of-swipes.

Psychonautbuddy

 

[SmartAZ]

Those PITA foam "Peanuts" that are used in shipping. I can't bear to toss them... I see "insulation" every time I look at them.

I recommend you don't think about them. Styrofoam burns like gasoline, although if it's entirely surfaced with something else the fire code rating is as good as the something else. When you figure the cost of containing your peanuts, you might as well buy new insulation.

In the 70s there was a fad of dome building. Then the faddists discovered styrofoam and reveled in their new artistic freedom. A magazine editor got concerned about his readers and ran tests on the fire resistance. Every test was terminated (which means burned out) in six minutes.

 

[Cag3db1rd]

plastic tv dinner dishes. both adult and child size. they're handy for putting together premade meals for my daughter- just put food in them, foil them, and stick them in the freezer.

 

[Christian for Israel]

plastic bread bags are great for storage and work well with bag sealers. i've used them to freeze water for ice blocks. i also store reloading brass in them. i just got done loading a bunch of ammo for fleataxi and i'll just hand him the bag. it beats giving him the butter tub i use to hold the brass while processing it.

dryer lint works great as pillow or quilt stuffing. a quick quilt can be made by sandwiching a yard sale blanket and a bunch of dryer lint between a couple of old sheets.

old socks can be cut lengthwise and used as rags. i use them as patches for cleaning my guns and as permanent toilet paper (keep a bucket of bleach water in the bathroom. after use toss the rag in the bucket. when full, wash and return to the bathroom). old condiment bottles (catsup, mustard) are great to hold cleaning fluids or liquid fertilizer. mayonaise jars make good storage or drink glasses. old pringles canisters make good storage and can be used as expedient ventilation conduit (think expedient air filter while in a safe room).

someone threw out a bicycle the other day. the frame was bad so instead of fixing it i salvaged the cables, chain, brake pads, inner tubes, tires, spokes, etc. i'm sure i'll find a use for the stuff, if only to add to my bike's emergency kit.

laundromats are great places to find empty bleach and detergent bottles. bleach bottles are great water containers and plastic detergent bottles work good for many things including emergency gas cans. once used dryer sheets will still work a few more times and are great polishing cloths. dryer lint is available in abundance and if the place has a dry cleaners attached to it, ask about 5 gal buckets their detergents come in. they aren't food grade but are great for storing stuff including non-potable water for washing, etc.

old pots and pans are good for melting non-food items like wax (for candles), or mixing up some chemicals (like paint or stain). i use them for melting bulk lead when making ingots for my bullet mold. plastic shopping bags with holes can be repaired with a bag sealer and used as garbage can liners.

we have several discarded filing cabinets (the lateral kind, with doors instead of drawers) that we use for storage, most are metal and lock, making them more secure than regular shelves. my reloading bench is made of a couple of small cable spools stacked and screwed together. it's portable, which is good as we live in a one bedroom apartment. best of all, everything mounts to the round top and i can simply turn it to get to the necessary tool.

mil surp ammo cans are great. i have several that used to hold a couple of 120mm cannon shells. they're about 3 ft long x 15 inches wide x 6 inches thick. the cans open on one end. one of these is bolted to the underside of my van (so it doesn't take up inside storage) and has chain, tow strap, come-a-long, etc inside. if anyone has ever used an entrenching tool, they know they're not the greatest tool when digging a lot. so i took the head from an old shovel and drove a 2 ft length of 3/4" water pipe into the handle socket and welded it in place. the pipe is threaded on top and there is another piece of pipe (3 ft long) with a coupling on the bottom that can be added giving me a full sized shovel. the handle end is wrapped with nylon rope for a grip (and to keep me from freezing my hands in cold weather). broken down this whole thing fits inside that box and is available if i get stuck. in the event the box is inaccessable due to the vehicle being sunk in the ground i can use my regular e-tool to get to it.

 

[lectrickitty]

Baby food jars (they're starting to use little square plastic containers now)
Feed sacks
candle jars
old curtains
old clothes

 

[theoutlands]

Those #10 cans make good
1) feed scoops
2) egg gathering baskets
3) harvest buckets for picking berries
4) catching nails and screws when salvaging lumber

Those are just the main things we tend to use them for. I'm sure I could come up with others if I sat and thought about it for a while.

LadyH

 

[dirtdigger]

Rolled up newspaper placed in an empty paper towel cardboard for a fire starter. Garnet Girl's idea.

 

[kelee877]

one thing I collect I know this will sound gross...and is only intended for emergencies is (and I am the only that smokes in my house) is the cgig butts...I ziplock and freze and every once in awhile i take all the tobacco out and this is in a plastic container in the small freezer...i have stocked alot tubs of tobacco also...and rolling papers..

the plastic clips from the end of bread..
fondue pots(5 now) and the fuel

basically anything I can get my hands on for preps...I have tons of space now that I have most of canned foods hidden behind all my dresser drawers...between all of the dresses I manged to get about 300-350 cans of food hidden and the solar panel(invertor) all my meds and tin foil...lots of macaroni...and alot of smaller items...so now I have a ton of space in the pantry again

 

[Cag3db1rd]

night driver, that is a darn fine idea... I have probably 1/2 a dozen tents laying around, I never thought to use them as a STORAGE place. Muy Bueno!!!

I learned the hard way that nylon tents will become brittle and disintegrate in sunlight. I've had it happen to two tents already. If at all possible, make sure you are using canvas tents. they may be harder to find and heavier, but they will outlast any other tents out there.

 

[LA Woman]

My Grandmother died this past December. She was 84. She lived through the Great Depression in a very rural (and impoverished) part of Louisiana. Though my Grandfather built up a very successful Plumbing/Heating/ Contracting business early in their marriage, and their net worth was well over 8 digits......she still clipped coupons, went to the day old bakery, had 2 deep freezes for her backyard grown vegetables. My Mother and Aunts cleaned out her kitchen cabinets and drawers. They found over 150 plastic butter containers, 2 drawers of rubber bands, 1 drawer of plastic bread bag tie tabs and 2 years worth of daily newspapers and monthly magazines (for kindlin'). There were countless drawers and cabinets filled with outdated appliances and electronics that she kept on principle alone as she had newer versions of the same.

I can't remember her ever throwing away anything that could be used over. If she wiped water off of the kitchen counter, she'd dry the paper towel on the sink to be used later.

Kind of the right mentality to have right now.

 

[Just a Nurse 2]

I've used milk bags as vacuum sealer bags ... great for heating up a meals worth of spaghetti sauce without messing up the pot!

 

[Christian for Israel]

and their net worth was well over 10 digits......

ten digits...a billion dollars?

 

[LA Woman]

ten digits...a billion dollars?

Sorry....just 8. My brain is not firing on all cylinders today. Obviously, I'll never make it to 8 digits, much less 10.

 

[Christian for Israel]

oh...ok, that sounds more reasonable. still though, i'll bet that all her stored stuff would have been worth more than her money if the stuff hit the fan.....

 

[LA Woman]

oh...ok, that sounds more reasonable. still though, i'll bet that all her stored stuff would have been worth more than her money if the stuff hit the fan.....

Probably. She wasn't a doomer or a prepper.....she just knew that money wasn't real. She saw that firsthand and she just lived her life knowing that.