Top 10 Tips to Reuse Lint

You all know by now that I have a cheap bastard for a husband. He is always following me around the house turning off lights leaving me to work in the dark, making our thermostat so cold our pipes freeze, taking me out to eat at buffets and any place he has a buy-one-get-one-free coupon. Because of this, I'm always looking for new frugal, money saving tips to keep my marriage strong and healthy, because I'm a good wife.

My friend Ellen at Sisterhood of the Sensible Mom recently brought a pin on Pinterest to my attention and suggested I take a look. It was called "Reusing Dryer Lint - Frugal Tips."

Hmmm. That sounded interesting. While I've never heard the Hubs complain outright about the amount of lint we waste every year, I thought he might appreciate my proactive approach to saving. When I clicked the link, imagine my surprise to find a fun craft you can do with your children and dryer lint. You can make a sock puppet and shove it full of dryer lint as the stuffing. Yay!!! (Did the sarcasm font work there? Sometimes it doesn't always work.)

Now, my other friend, Robyn, at Hollow Tree Ventures noticed something interesting, "Hey, they promised you tipS, but really there is only one. Surely there are other things you can do with your dryer lint besides stuff a sock?"

You know what? She was absolutely right. Think of all the people who can't make a sock puppet and yet they want to reuse their dryer lint too! So, a bunch of us put our heads together and thought long and hard about other uses for dryer lint this is what we came up with:



1. A sock puppet is crafty, but bracelets are better. - Kim, Let Me Start By Saying


2. Homemade cotton pads to remove your make up. - Rebecca, Frugalista Blog



3. Make a playmate for you ... or a friend. - Karen, Baby Sideburns



4. I've lusted after one of those chic flip-open iPhone cases for a long time but couldn't afford it.  But I made one out of my dryer lint and now no one can tell the difference! - Suzanne, Toulouse and Tonic



5. Trouble at work? No problem. Just make a lint voodoo doll. - Kim


6. Go green with your gift giving - instead of polluting Mother Earth with tissue paper, substitute festive lint balls in your gift bags! Saving the planet is a present for everyone's future. - Robyn



7. Make shit shapes and leave them in places where people wouldn't want to find gray turds. Perfect faux turds when wet. - Susan, Divine Secrets of a Domestic Diva


8. My kids wanted a cat, but they are so darn messy. I tried papier mache, but that didn't fool my little geniuses. Dryer lint to the rescue! Bonus realistic hair balls. - Ellen



9. Take the dog to the groomer and shave him down after the kids got gum stuck in his fur? Or just use scissors and cut the gum out of the one spot and repurpose the old dryer lint as a dog toupee? Perfect. Totes Natural. - Susan


10. Save a fortune on tampons. - Karen



Surely there are more that we've forgotten. What are your ideas for reusing your lint?

Here is mine: Bunch wet lint together in your hand and use to wash windows or any other hard surface. - Jen
(Picture unavailable because I'm on vacation and I forgot to upload my picture before I left. Trust me, it's not that great. These others are so much better, because I suck at creative lint masterpieces.) 

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33 comments:

tamck said...

This is totally hillarious, I love it! :D

(I have just recently found your blog and I must say I was hooked right away!)

Unknown said...

I'm feeling terrible. My 4yo is coloring right now, wasting crayons when she could be crafting with the dryer lint I threw out this morning. I'm what's wrong with America.

spymay said...

Funny! I will save lint and use it as a fire starter when we do bonfires or camping. That stuff is super flammable.It's a good reason to keep your vents clean.

Kim Bongiorno at Let Me Start By Saying said...

LONG LIVE LINT!

RachRiot said...

I made my husband a super cool lint hipster beard and myself a matching lady merkin.

Cheesehead Forever said...

I've always saved it as a campfire starter Who knew i could have been using it as a feminine hygiene product?

Anonymous said...

Am I weird for thinking that bracelet is kinda cute (minus the hair stinking out of it)?

Domestic Diva said...

Dying. Was waiting for someone to make a merkin!

LA Botchar said...

Oh dear....I've been putting it in my compost bin. now I am wondering if I am destroying Mother Earth by mistake, and should have been stuffing my pillows back into shape.
Excusez -- gotta go Google.

Navy Hawk said...

Funny. But I use it as a fire starter for camp. You put the lint in an egg carton then pour melted wax on it ( I use broken crayons), when you need to use it, just crack off a piece, and you have wonderful fire starters (yes I am a Girl Guide)!

Meg said...

If you put it outside in the springtime the birds will use it feather their nests (or so I have heard).

Wendy White Van said...

Dafuq's a merkin?

Wendy White Van said...

I promise to consider this idea. If spring decides to start. Ever. Seriously! Oh, AND I don't completely spazz out and forget. Yeah, that too.

RobynHTV said...

Can you believe I almost threw out some lint AND some old yoga pants, until I realized I could use lint to plug up the holes and tears in my pants? I think I just invented double recycling!

Anonymous said...

Merkin -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin

menopausal mama said...

Faux turds. Best. Idea. Ever.

RachRiot said...

Thank you! C'mon people!

Lin said...

LOL LOL LOL LOL

schambers said...

One of our friends made some beautiful paper out of her dryer lint. Sadly when she looked closely at it, it was full of little curlies from her lady garden.

Unknown said...

Bwahahhahahhaaaa!

Unknown said...

I'm cringing at the lintpon. I think that and the faux poop will be something I'll never be able to erase from my mind.

Unknown said...

If it works as a tampon, I'm sure it would be just as good as a sanitary pad; Or rather than looking at a kid with snot candles coming out of their nose, you could give them two bits of lint to shove up their nose as "nostril plugs"; Don't buy chicken fillets to give you extra cleavage - just shove some lint in there - so much fluffier; When the kids come to you for the 1000th time saying "I'm hungry" give them a lint snack. Seriously - the possibilities are endless.

Kim Bongiorno at Let Me Start By Saying said...

I strive for cuteness when making lint accessories.

Anonymous said...

Hilarious!!!!!!

Unknown said...

I have really thin hair. I'm thinking I could use it as a weave or one of those fake pony tails... So many possibilities!

Unknown said...

HYSTERICAL!

tiffanie said...

Introducing my 100% natural line of underwear made from 100% recycled lint..wear'em, wash'em, retrieve'em from the lint tray ready to wear again....

Anonymous said...

Oh my God, the lintpon! This is the best thing I've ever seen, you're a band of merry geniuses.

TracyontheRocks said...

Make them into earmuffs! stash some in the glovebox for emergency TP! I'm stopping before I think of something worse...

Amanda Dearest said...

Okay, at the risk of sounding totally lame here- I actually use dryer lint for fire starter in my wood stove. Burns so much slower than paper!

Amanda Dearest said...

Dryer lint makes for fabulous cloth diapers- twice as ecofresh friendly as the original cothies. Also, doubles as baby wipes!

Tucked under your armpits, dryer lint not only acts as 'fresh linen' scented deodorant, but doubles as super absorbant sweat pads. Also great for boob sweat!

Sarah @ BTL said...

I'm new here, your blog made me laugh, a lot. I'll be back.

Danielle said...

Someone at work made their own fire starter logs using toilet paper rolls stuffed with lint. She even painted the rolls to make them look pretty, even though they were going to be burned!! Why not just throw the lint into the fireplace I guess. Also, I've heard of throwing lint outside in the spring/summer, and birds use it to build a nest.

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