Put it to good use.

In an effort to turbo boost our productivity my fourth post is "put it to good use."    I am amazed that if I step back for a bit of a review I can see things I didn't see before.   The big potted plant that is no longer thriving... there is another pot for my veggie container garden!   The cupboards full of beautiful tall preserving jars sitting EMPTY.   It too me watching this video on Prepsteaders, How to Prepare for Imminent War Part 5,  to realise I had an asset I was not putting to good use!   Sometimes I feel so silly not realising something is right there staring me right in the face that could be very helpful! 🤦

I have now filled all of my tallest preserving jars with dry goods.  There are over 100!  I have kept the next size down for actual preserving.  Each of my kitchen cupboards go to the ceiling so each cupboard looks like this...

I guess we all do it.  The space in the hallway that could easily fit shelves.  The old kids play house thatwould make an awesome chicken house.  The closet that has become a dumping ground,  the sewing machine that hasn't sewn a stitch in years.... right down to the vitamins that were purchased with good intentions but we never took them!   Here is one... if you put a shelf above the door frame of the inside of the toilet room you have a place to stack bulky packs of toilet paper.   Big space saver!  Here is another... if you use blocks or purchased bed risers you suddenly have an enormous space under each bed for storage that is completely out of sight.

This is a bit of an extension of "getting the ball rolling" as we might already have the first steps completed but we need to take some more to get things happening.   Maybe we would do some mending and sewing IF we had a little space to set up the machine.   Maybe we could start a veggie garden if we got some soil to fill our pots.   I am in the city right now with Mum so I have a good one.   There is an old iron bed head in the shed.  Maybe if I can get the home it would be an awesome trellis for my Spring Cucumbers!  

We might have handmaidens we don't use but with a session of reading the instructions they could be working for us!  This, I confess, is the case with an InstaPot my Dad gave me.   He actually gave it to me because he had the same problem haha!  So I will commit to learning to use it.   It could be another help in the kitchen.

What do you have around that could become an asset if put to good use? 

My Aunt shared showed me how she uses her wheelbarrow to start seedlings.  She puts enough good soil into the wheelbarrow and sows seeds into it.   When her seedlings are big enough she pushes the barrow to where she wants and transplants them into the garden.   My Mum parks her wheelbarrow near the car and fills it with her groceries.  Then pushes them to the front door.  A broken down wheelbarrow makes a beautiful herb garden.   So for a wheelbarrow alone there are many uses.    On the farm an old bath tub is an absolute gem that can be an animal trough,  a worm farm (perfect!) a planter or a duck pond.  I have my eye on a pink one that is cast iron and only the tractor could lift.   I am determined to get that one!   Even an old laundry basket is a good strawberry planter.    I once used a big dog house (from side of road) as a hen house for four chickens.   It was perfect!   

So this is the challenge... what do you have that can be put to good use?  We can think outside the square! I think between us we can come up with some clever ideas!  I especially love when we realise something we thought was useless is actually an asset.  Like with the shredded paper... I had access to masses but I just didn't understand it was good for the chicken nesting boxes,  great for the compost,  a layer in my raised garden beds,  a weed suppressant around my fruit trees...    silly me.   But now I never say no to shredded paper!

Sometimes we are sitting on a gold mine and don't even realise.   When we are trying to save,  grow more self sufficient,  built the pantry and garden,  a bit of ingenuity and inventiveness can really help!   This all might help us turn a little into a lot!   

I have a lot to report just from being in the city one day!  By Friday I hope to have taken enough photos to share some horror prices, shortages and also some really good ideas!   One thing I know is that when I get home I will be making a big batch of laundry liquid.  I saw laundry liquid for $34 for three litres.   I can make three years supply for that.  And I have the bottles... I might as well put them to good use! xxx