One Old Bed Sheet = Less Plastic Packaging and DIY crafts

If you have an old sheet and a pair of scissors, you’ve got the tools you need to reduce the amount of plastic packaging you use in your kitchen and bathroom!

This was an old bed sheet. It was a well-loved sheet, passed on to me by my first roommate in Cairo 15 years ago. She had inherited it from a friend who had left Egypt the year before. It was a lovely sheet – so soft and comfortable – and we enjoyed it as a bed sheet for years. Eventually it ripped, but I still refused to throw it out. I used it as a dust cover on the many storage boxes in my house (I have no cupboards to speak of). And then I read a suggestion in Beth Terry’s book How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too . She recommends cutting up old sheets to use as paper towels in the kitchen. This, of course, eliminates the need to purchase paper towels packaged in plastic. So I grabbed my scissors and cut this old sheet into squares – some large, some small. You may be amazed at the variety of uses you can get out of one old sheet. Here’s how we use them in our house:

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  As a replacement for facial tissue, I use the small squares as handkerchiefs.

  
  


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  As a replacement for cotton swabs, I use the sheet to clean out my ears.

  
  


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  As a replacement for paper kitchen towels, I use the larger squares to:

  
  
  
  
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    drain oil from fried food

    
    
  
  
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    dry homemade pasta on

    
    
  
  
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    dry washed salad greens

    
    
  
  
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    wipe up spills

    
    
  
  
  
  

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  As a replacement for plastic wrap, I dampen the cloth squares and use them to wrap dough in as it rests.

  
  

One old bet sheet has gone a long way in my house! And has seriously reduced the amount of plastic I use. I no longer buy kitchen towels (in plastic packaging) or plastic wrap.

There are many other creative and practical ways to reuse and repurpose old sheets – from making yarn to dresses to rugs. This list of 20 Ways to Reuse Old Bed Sheets is a good place to start if you’re looking for ideas.

Have you repurposed old bed sheets? Do you have any tips to share? What other uses are there around the house for cut-up old bed sheets?

Refuse ~ Reduce ~ Reuse ~ Recycle

* This post was originally published here on Plastic Free Tuesday. *

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