Monday Free Write/ Monthly Upcycle Project: Why I Love To Upcycle and An Easy Way To Get Started!

Well normally I just post my Monday Free Write on Mondays, but since October is a special month and ends on a Monday, I thought that it would be fun to combine the two. In a sort of special tale about why I love upcycling and probably the easiest (and probably one of the best!) upcycling projects, I've come across yet!

So here we go.

I guess by now its no secret that I love upcycling. I'm not sure how I first learned about it or how I officially got started. It probably was while I was watching home improvement shows on tv or probably during my first ventures on Pinterest. And that was all it really took I was hooked. I just fell in love with idea of turning trash into useful items. (And yes you can make artwork too, I just haven't gotten an inspiration for that yet)

I think I really love upcycling most of all because it makes me feel like I'm doing something to help the environment. Whether you want to believe in climate change or not (that's your choice!), the truth of the matter is that we all make way to much trash. And we should be treating the Earth better. And as much as I would like to put solar shingles on my house or drive an electric car, I can't afford to do either of these.

What I can afford to do is upcycle my trash. And for the most part the upcycling projects I pick can be created with ordinary household products. And honestly I love every part of it. Whether it be following somebody else's instructions or trying to make something myself. 

I honestly think the worst part of upcycling is getting started. There are so many upcycling projects on Pinterest alone that its overwhelming just looking at them. And if you're like me, you'll get anxiety from all the projects and move on to something else. So to make it easier, below I've laid out a super easy upcycling project to help get you started.

The Project:

Upcycle Containers into Useful Storage Containers

inspiration from
Home Talk

Results

Okay before we start if you search Pinterest for Upcycle Containers you'll find a whole lot of ideas that are completely finished and you would never guess what they started out as. I just haven't gotten around to beautifying mine yet. I plan too, but I just don't know how I want them to look yet.

So I guess the best place to start is at the idea that started it all. I drink at least a cup of coffee everyday. So over the course of a month I usually go through at least one big coffee container (and if the smaller ones are on sale, probably a couple of those instead). 

So if I started saving my containers at the beginning of the year, I would have had enough for all my cooking needs. Instead I started about mid July (and made the mistake of letting Mike buy coffee in September and he brought the wrong kind and it didn't match.)

Instead I just have these four. And I'm still slowly moving all baking supplies into them. For now the big one has flour and two of the little ones have powdered sugar and the other has baking soda.

So while it may not look like much now. Its a start and give it another six months and it'll be perfect.

More importantly after saving my coffee containers I began to look at different containers and how they too couple be useful after the original product was used up. And really I had to look no further than all the baby cereal containers I had.

I'm not sure why we had so many containers. Or why we had big containers and small ones, but I just went with and I knew both sizes would be useful. Overall I was drawn to the easy pour top.

I knew the bigger containers would be useful for holding rice and dry beans and whatever else I have in the pantry that needs to be poured. 

And I found that the smaller ones fit perfectly into my diaper bag. And I found,  with the wide opening and pour spout top, that it was not only easy to get snacks in, but easy for Blue to get snacks out as well.

After that I was fully in the swing of saving containers. I already went over how I cleaned off some glass jelly jars and decorated them for my vanity earlier this month, but I thought they were worth another mention here. Because its another easy was to upcycle a container and use it somewhere besides the kitchen and because glass containers are expensive, but if you upcycle your glass jars, you're almost getting a two for one deal.

And then I decided to do something a little crazy with a container. I initially saved my pasta sauce mason jar to store my coconut oil shave scrub in, but when Mike used it for a cup it throw me for a loop. I didn't think we were "white trash" enough to be using mason jars for trash. But then I read this article from Rose Gerber titled What Happened When I Brought a Reusable Cup to Starbucks for a Week. And it really made me think. Maybe using a mason jar as a cup wasn't just a "white trash" idea. Maybe since I saved it from the trash, that I could use it announce my hippie status. (A more mainstream 2010's ecofriendly hippie; less 60's free love and full of drugs hippie).

So I've using it for about two weeks now. And for the first week and a half, I was asked at least once day if I had moonshine in it. (It was always just water.), which was truly annoying and frustrating, but now people are just accepting it as my cup.

And I've really enjoyed using it. I wish it was a little taller so the straw would just fit in it instead of having to bend it when I close it, but other than that I love using it. I can easily switch from water to coffee and back again all with quick rinse first.

Here it is at work in my cabinet at work (and a brief look inside my expo cabinet with heat lights and spray cleaner in the background!) with my own personal blend of coffee, chocolate sauce and half and half. (I started drinking it to cut down on my caffeine intake while pregnant and now I just like drinking it at work).

And here it is by my side as I work on the blog. Having a twist on cap means I don't have to worry about spills and can keep it on the couch with me while I work!

And really the possibilities are endless. So get out there and start upcycling!