Finding Projects for Upcycling

Sometimes it can be difficult finding a great upcycling project.  For me, I have about five projects in progress at any one time.  That could be why I keep things out and it always looks like a mess for my husband.  My wheels have been turning about upcycling and creating since I was about 4 years old!  What can you upcycle at age 4?  Ha!  Barbie’s house was a playground for upcycling!  We would look at everything, and I mean everything, for possibilities!  Sock hangers off of new socks  became Barbie’s clothing hangers, empty thread spools became great bases for Barbie’s coffee tables and cardboard could be made into anything from Barbie’s refrigerator to a beautiful dresser mirror. 

     

One of my favorite stories my Mother would tell was when her mother made clothing for her, her siblings and her cousins for school.  In the early years, Grandma would buy fabric from the store, create her own pattern and sew the fabric into the cutest dresses for all the girls.  When they made it to high school, they needed something a little more grown up and pencil skirts were in style.  Grandma came up with a way to keep the girls in style, but yet, save money. She would cut down Grandpa’s gaberdine pants and restyle them into the smartest pencil skirts around.  The girls were tastefully in style.

Today, we must change our mindset about how we see abundance around us.  Over production in the last several decades has made it easy for us to dispose of things so we’ll buy more, more, more.  Finding upcycling projects should be easy! If you’re stuck, here’s a handy list of places I’ve gotten excellent things to upcycle for little to no money.

1.     The closet:  Surely you have clothing that needs to be tossed.  Think about reusing them.  Cut the buttons off, remake the garment or cut into strips for t-shirt yarn.  There’s a million ideas out there on how to upcycle denim.  While you’re at it, check out those cupboards and drawers too.

2.     Packaging:  Almost every day, we receive packaging in some way.  It could be cardboard, plastic bubble wrap or paper stuffing.  It might be a plastic container or egg carton. Take a hard look at what you can reuse and remake.  You may find out you can hack that cute decorative piece you found online by simply using the free supplies you get on a daily basis.

3.     Mail:  I’ve seen some awesome basket weaving, bead making and paper mâché created from reused mail and newspaper.  You can use it in mulch or mulch it down yourself to make a new hand-made paper for crafts. Don’t overlook the paper that flows into your home.

4.     Yard Sales:  With today’s technology, you can find local sale sites on Facebook all over the place.  If you can’t find one, make one!  You can pick up some cash by selling the things you don’t want and, who knows, you may find just the thing you’ve been looking for!  I’ve found some awesome pieces to work with for very low prices!

5.     Goodwill:  Next to buying locally, the Goodwill, Salvation Army and second-hand shops are the bomb!  You just never know what’s going to come in next.  My favorite thing to buy is 100% cotton top sheets with a beautiful pattern.  I have several projects ideas for my sheet stash!

6.     Live Auction:  My all-time favorite place to find projects is a good old-fashioned live auction!  There’s always excitement in the air and the stuff goes cheap!  The problem with auctions is overbuying!  Within a year, you can have a ton of cool stuff to work with.  It’s awesome! I’m getting ready to redo my $3 China hutch Mr. Amazing bought for me last year.  He’s the best auction buyer ever!  He put me into a Cadillac that only cost $175!!!  I’m driving in style and feel so wonderful that there’s no car payments and only minimal car insurance.  I could go on and on about the deals from live auctions!  If you overdo it and find yourself with way too much stuff, just have a live auction of your own to get rid of the excess.  Fun!

7.     Trashcan:  Ummm, okay, I kinda don’t like the idea of dumpster diving….but I can’t dispute that it’s one of the best places to find great stuff!  The best trash can is the one near the recent live auction.  You’d be surprised at what people leave behind.  When we went back to pick up the Cadillac from that extate auction, the lawn of the house was littered with a bunch of unwanted stuff.  I’ve made over $200 off of that particular bunch of free stuff and a bunch of first-edition books.  Caching!  Do that all year long and you’ve got a wonderful and easy side hustle.  Don’t overlook the big trash bins behind stores. I personally haven’t looked, but I hear they're good and have lot's of new stuff that's slightly damaged - perfect for upcycling.

8.     Nature:  Oh my goodness!  Nature is the best place to find some unique and wonderful materials for projects.  Some of my favorites are seashells, rocks, branches, grapevine and brooms weed.  God gave us some beautiful art!  We just have to open our eyes.

9.     Family/Friends:  Most people have that one person, like a grandparent, or aunt or uncle.  For me, my father-in-law has everything!  In his younger days, he would do house repairs and whenever he replaced doors, the owner would give him the old doors.  Then as his personal ministry, he would give the doors to people who didn’t have doors at all!  So sweet!  Anyway, he collected way more doors than he could give away and actually has some pretty cool architectural salvage.  He is more than willing to give me anything my heart desires.

If you know someone that hangs on to things, you might just be in the right place at the right time when friends or family are cleaning out their house.  Help them out and they may give you something in return.  Maybe they don't keep everything, so keep an eye out of things they want to throw away and offer to take it off their hands. Don't ask them for things they are keeping; that would be rude!  But, the things their hauling to the trash bin are fair game.  It’s always a great idea to keep things from going to the dump ground.

10.City-wide Cleanup Day:  Here in Coalgate, OK, we have a city-wide cleanup day.  People clean out their big stuff, putting it on the curb.  So, since it's sitting there to be picked up from the city workers, I have been known to go around and look for something that can be upcycled.  Maybe half of a piece of furniture is useable and will go with half of something I already have. I'm not the type of person to go around and do this, but when I do, I get a partner to go with me.  We don't really want to be seen picking up peoples trash!  haha  But when we do, we try to work quickly usually squealing at the cheap thrill of trying not to get caught!  We revel in the unbelievable scores, laughing the whole way!  Here's one of my favorites.

So there ya go! Ten great ways to find materials for some new projects.  Hey, maybe you don’t want to mess with all those extra things around your house.  That’s okay, you can always turn your attention to yourself and do a big upcycling project of the grandest kind!  Remake yourself by taking an interest in doing what’s best for your health and frame of mind.  Peptalk is a great way to get started with that project!

We live in abundance, Peeps!  Use it!