In my last post I confessed to saving a couple of really raw materials --- so raw, in fact, that it's difficult to imagine how exactly I might use at least one of them (metal lampshades). This time I'm revealing a couple of things I save (or collect) for their obvious utility, regardless of whether I actually capitalize on that utility (i.e., use them).

These and the other type of saved items highlight the dilemma faced by all city-dwelling up-cyclers: the potential for joyous transformation or economic/ecological conscious practice versus space to live and work in. With regard to the first set of items, the balance is out-of-whack, with the items clogging up space while I figure out how to use them. This second set of items needs management but doesn't yet pose a serious threat to my habitable space.

The reason these items don't pose a threat to habitable space is in part because they're relatively few in one case, and because I have actually used them to good effect in the other case. They are just too obviously potentially useful (and/or even joyously transformative -- the categories are not mutually exclusive) to toss. They just are. Specifically, these items are:

1. Popsicle sticks, and

2. Baby-food jars

Popsicle sticks are great for scooping, dolling, propping, and stopping (among other things for sure). And you can use them to make neat boxes. Every one of the sticks in my collection comes from a popsicle I actually ate.

I really like popsicles.

Who can argue against the utility of baby-food jars for storing all manner of tiny things? No one. You can also use them to make neat things, perhaps, for example, snow globes.

My collections of popsicle sticks and baby-food jars were sitting in a box collecting dust and verging on becoming a threat to my habitable space until I brought them together to write this post. I did it for the sake of a photo but liked their pairing so much that I kept it.

Now my jars have a use and my popsicle sticks are within easy reach for creative or mechanical purposes. No more threat to habitable space. Yay.

Until next time --

Linda

Purty Bird