Being a pack rat has it's advantages...

[new2woodwrk]

While some may say I'm close to being a hoarder, actually I like to consider myself a thrifty pack rat

Some advantages to being a thrifty pack rack include helping the environment in some small way.  By saving odds and ends obtained from various products and situations, I'm doing my part to help keep the landfills small.

Here are a few things I save that I get to re-use in my shop and around the house and yard...

Wire ties - Lots of products come with wire ties. All that is needed is a small screw driver to pry the locking end up enough to salvage the tie rather than cutting them and throwing them in the trash.

Wire wraps - you know those wirey, plastic coated ties that come around breads and things. I save them, put them in a plastic jar (I don't allow glass in my garage/shop, all containers are clear or see through plastic). I then re-use them to tie up various wires, cords and the like around the shop

Plastic Containers - speaking of plastic containers, we save lots of these. The clear ones (like mayo jars) we use in the shop to store screws, nails, bolts, grommets and more... We also use them in the kitchen for storing and freezing food stuffs

Brown paper packing paper - I get a lot of this when I order things online.  It also comes in very large sheets. I have a roll of this paper I use to cover my main workbench for glue ups, but I also have smaller tables/benches and use the sheets I get for these smaller benches and tables

Bubble wrap - I've been saving this stuff for years. Mostly I use it for packing things in containers for storage, but also for shipping things I sell. It also works really well for keeping paintings/framed pictures from getting damaged either when storing them or when shipping them or when undergoing construction/painting to wrap up and protect!

Glass Jars - We do a lot of cooking and freezing at our house, and we use quite a bit of low fat oil. Rather than pouring the oil down the sink, we strain the oil with cheesecloth and save it in jars (the only thing we save glass jars for is this). We can get multiple uses out of the oil and when it gets burned we throw away the whole jar. We don't have room for a compost or we would add it to the compost. We use the glass instead of plastic because glass will break down where plastic does not and glass is better in the landfills

Plastic Bags - Not only the resealable ones you buy, but also the ones that products are sent  in as well. I re-use these in the shop and for selling items, storing items and mixing things

Pallet Wood - I know lots of woodworkers cringe at re-using pallet wood for various reasons, but I use it for lots of things. I've made my french cleats out of them, I've glued them together to make clocks and rolling tool carts, I've used them after the hurricane to keep all our valuables off the ground in the yard and covered with tarps so as not to ruin anything, and now we're about to use more as flooring in our new portable garage! They really come in handy. I have a special tool I use to break down a pallet which I can do in 15 mins or less.

Hard Drives - So whenever we have a computer fail, I pull out the hard drive, attach a usb connector to it and use it for external storage.  While storage drives are very inexpensive at the moment, the pricing does vary periodically so having these connected to working computers is an easy back up solution for all our 'puters (of which we currently have 7 in full time use)

Basically, whenever I find something or think of something that I can re-use at some point I try to save it.

I post this thinking may others can benefit from my thrifty pack rat ways or perhaps you have things you save or uses for things I haven't mentioned?

Thanks as always in advance for reading...

Edited January 19, 2020 by new2woodwrk

[OCtoolguy]

5 hours ago, new2woodwrk said:

While some may say I'm close to being a hoarder, actually I like to consider myself a thrifty pack rat

Some advantages to being a thrifty pack rack include helping the environment in some small way.  By saving odds and ends obtained from various products and situations, I'm doing my part to help keep the landfills small.

Here are a few things I save that I get to re-use in my shop and around the house and yard...

Wire ties - Lots of products come with wire ties. All that is needed is a small screw driver to pry the locking end up enough to salvage the tie rather than cutting them and throwing them in the trash.

Wire wraps - you know those wirey, plastic coated ties that come around breads and things. I save them, put them in a plastic jar (I don't allow glass in my garage/shop, all containers are clear or see through plastic). I then re-use them to tie up various wires, cords and the like around the shop

Plastic Containers - speaking of plastic containers, we save lots of these. The clear ones (like mayo jars) we use in the shop to store screws, nails, bolts, grommets and more... We also use them in the kitchen for storing and freezing food stuffs

Brown paper packing paper - I get a lot of this when I order things online.  It also comes in very large sheets. I have a roll of this paper I use to cover my main workbench for glue ups, but I also have smaller tables/benches and use the sheets I get for these smaller benches and tables

Bubble wrap - I've been saving this stuff for years. Mostly I use it for packing things in containers for storage, but also for shipping things I sell. It also works really well for keeping paintings/framed pictures from getting damaged either when storing them or when shipping them or when undergoing construction/painting to wrap up and protect!

Glass Jars - We do a lot of cooking and freezing at our house, and we use quite a bit of low fat oil. Rather than pouring the oil down the sink, we strain the oil with cheesecloth and save it in jars (the only thing we save glass jars for is this). We can get multiple uses out of the oil and when it gets burned we throw away the whole jar. We don't have room for a compost or we would add it to the compost. We use the glass instead of plastic because glass will break down where plastic does not and glass is better in the landfills

Plastic Bags - Not only the resealable ones you buy, but also the ones that products are sent  in as well. I re-use these in the shop and for selling items, storing items and mixing things

Pallet Wood - I know lots of woodworkers cringe at re-using pallet wood for various reasons, but I use it for lots of things. I've made my french cleats out of them, I've glued them together to make clocks and rolling tool carts, I've used them after the hurricane to keep all our valuables off the ground in the yard and covered with tarps so as not to ruin anything, and now we're about to use more as flooring in our new portable garage! They really come in handy. I have a special tool I use to break down a pallet which I can do in 15 mins or less.

Hard Drives - So whenever we have a computer fail, I pull out the hard drive, attach a usb connector to it and use it for external storage.  While storage drives are very inexpensive at the moment, the pricing does vary periodically so having these connected to working computers is an easy back up solution for all our 'puters (of which we currently have 7 in full time use)

Basically, whenever I find something or think of something that I can re-use at some point I try to save it.

I post this thinking may others can benefit from my thrifty pack rat ways or perhaps you have things you save or uses for things I haven't mentioned?

Thanks as always in advance for reading...

I WAS very much like you until we decided to sell out and go on the road. What we kept fit in a 6 x 8 storage unit. Now, we live in a mobile home with almost zero extra storage space. I do manage to "pack-rat" some stuff and find a place in my little shop to hide it until I can find a use. Mostly wood now. I also have a bunch of old hard drives and quite a collection of the little ones that come out of laptops. I use them the same way you do. My Dad used to kiddingly say, I have a ball of string made up of pieces too short to save. The same goes for tin foil. My folks lived through the depression so that's probably not too far off the truth. He passed the habit down to me. I can't stand to "waste" anything. Except time that is. I manage to waste a lot of that.