Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Uses For Newspapers Part 2

Continuing from part 1 last week, here are some more ways that I have used newspapers as well as ideas that I like, or plan to start using.

Housetraining a puppy or dog.  Actually this is something my mom has always done, laid down newspapers for her dogs in the house.  Her current dog is no different.  He does go outside, but also potties in the house.

Paper mache --  Lots of fun and messy things you can make as a family project.  Making pinatas is the most popular.  We've made large Easter eggs for decoration as well.  Simply mix flour and water into a thin mixture.  Dip the newspaper strips until they are soaked, form them around your creation (usually blown up balloons), and let it dry once done.  If you are making something around a balloon, use a pin to poke and pop the balloon inside once it's done.

Fire Starter-- Lots of times we have just used rolled up newspaper to get our camping fire started if there is no kindling around or if the wood is a little damp.  At one time we went all out making little stoves  with rolls of paper inside cans such as tuna cans, which were then coated in parafin.  Not newspaper related, but you can also use cardboard egg cartons, fill each egg hole with dryer lent, and then cover with parafin.  You then have small fire starters.

Try:
Messy dinner? Newspaper’s a classic tablecloth when boiled shrimp, lobster or watermelon’s on the menu.  We always lay out newspapers when we carve pumpkins, so I'm not sure why I've never thought of using it for other messy type foods.

Smelly fridge? Line a shelf with newspaper overnight. The newspaper will absorb the odours. A piece in the vegetable drawer will keep your produce dry.  Keep the refrigerator vegetable drawer dry and free of smells. Line the bottom with newspaper.  I didn't think of this either and we have one drawer in the fridge in particular that will now be lined with newspaper.  That's the drawer where we keep the fresh fruits and veggies.

Germinating seeds for your spring garden? Spread ‘em between damp sheets of newspaper.  In school we did this in damp paper towels.  It hadn't crossed my mind to try using wet newspapers.  I heard from a friend that we needed to germinate the seeds before we planted them in the little pots this year, and that was probably why we weren't successful.  Here's to next year and doing it right!

 Sources:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/21-uses-for-newspaper-once-you-50121
http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/101-new-uses-for-everyday-things/10-new-uses-for-newspaper
http://www.wisebread.com/17-ways-to-use-old-newspaper

This site has loads of art and craft ideas that involve both newspapers and magazines:  https://www.buzzfeed.com/chanelparks/awesome-magazine-newspaper-crafts?utm_term=.hx4EqVW5l#.deBza8MjL

Images courtesy of pixabay.

Frugal Friday with Marsha -- Uses For Newspapers Part 1

Many Ways to Recycle Your Newspapers!
I guess I've had newspapers on my mind all day. First of all, I needed to renew my subscription. Secondly, I was reading a book on being self sufficient that mentioned using newspapers in your compost pile. Thirdly, I came home and started tearing some of my newspapers up. More on the 3rd one later in this post.

It made me think that there has to be so many ways to recycle newspaper other than just throwing them in your recycle bin. I've been doing some research and want to share my favorite ways.

Enjoy and I hope you learn some things and get inspired too!

Use Newspaper in place of cat litter.
When we had our cat declawed, we were told to use torn up newspaper in his litter box for 10 days (or buy the Yesterday’s News litter that they sell). I used the torn up newspapers. Once the 10 days was over though, we went back to the litter, both regular and scoopable.
A few months ago as a way to save money, I went back to tearing up the newspapers to use in place of litter. I remembered how well it worked when we had to use it before. I have plenty of newspapers laying around, that was for sure…..and I still do!

The newspapers soak up the urine very nicely and are a natural odor absorber as well. It’s super easy to clean the litter boxes too!



Wrap Tomatoes to Ripen Them
Summer before last the tomatoes really took off in our garden……but not until we were on top of frost. My husband got the advice from a farmer to wrap them individually in newspaper and put them in a box in a dark place. We did just that…wrapped each one individually, placed them in stacks of 3 in two boxes. we placed them in a dark room in the basement.
Each week we checked them, taking out the ones that had turned red and putting the green ones back in. Within 3 weeks all tomatoes had ripened and we were able to save over 6 lbs of tomatoes that we would have lost to frost otherwise!

Pack Breakables and Delicates
I’ve always used newspapers to wrap glassware and other breakables when packing them away.
I do recycle the wrapping from the previous year, and use new newspapers when I re-pack the items. An example is all the Christmas decorations that we just put away this week.
There is one things to make note of. When wrapping dishes for an extended time, they will pick up the newsprint and have to be washed well before using them to eat.



Clean Glass
This one has never made sense to me…how does newspaper clean glass without leaving newsprint? I still have no clue, but I do know it works! Over the years I have always used crumpled up newspaper to clean the glass on pictures hanging in my house.
When I worked at a motel as a housekeeper we used newspapers (and vinegar) to clean windows and mirrors.
Just use your normal glass cleaner with crumpled up newspaper. As I mentioned above you can use a mixture of half vinegar and half water. This is both natural and economical!

Kids Scoop Page
Our local newspapers offers a Kids Scoop page in each Monday’s newspaper.
This is a learning page. Even though it’s geared towards grade school children, I still had my teenager do them. They were put in her “away from home” school work folder. They give her a break from text books, are fun, and are educational.  Although she is grown up and we no longer homeschool, the grandchildren love these pages.  They are nice to keep in the folder in the van to help keep them busy on long rides or long waits in the van.

The Kids Scoop page sitting in front of me is about wants and needs. It starts off with a definition of both. It has pictures for the child to mark whether these items are a want or a need. Some of the pictures include socks, a comb, skateboard, television. One assignment on the page is to go through the newspapers and cut out pictures of things and then glue them in the wants, or the needs column.
Also included is a vocabulary builder, which is a different word each week. This week’s word is survive.
Puzzles are always part of the page including a word search, a word scramble, etc.

Weave Newspaper Strips Into Baskets
This is something I’ve not tried, but I am intrigued with the thought of giving it a try.
I want to try making the circular newspaper basket shown on this page: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Basket

There are some who sell baskets made with newspapers on etsy.  Check out this page!  https://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?q=recycled+newspaper+baskets

Stay tuned next week as I will continue this post to part 2.

Images courtesy of pixabay.

SIS-Shares in Squidoo--Homesteading

First of all I want to say to all Mom's out there:


Glitter Graphics, Mother's Day Glitter Graphics


Now on to the Shares in Squidoo blog hop :) Hosted by Ruth, please click the button and hop along with us.



This week I want to share an interest of mine, which is homesteading. There are loads of lenses on squidoo sharing journeys and methods. I am sharing a few of those today.

Living the Off-the-Grid Good Life by lensmaster RenaissanceWoman2010

Off the Grid Myth-Busting by lensmaster RenaissanceWoman2010

Homesteading by lensmaster steveffeo

The Wild Homestead Blog by lensmaster ss834

Homesteading-Living Off Grid by lensmaster WhiteOak50


For my own lens share today, I will share my Uses for Newspapers lens. It's along the lines of homesteading in ways to re-use newspapers for other purposes.

Until next week,