Sunday, November 29, 2015

Repurposing Old T-shirts

     We strongly believe in reusing and repurposing items.  We live on a fixed income and make do a lot of the time.   One way we save money is by not buying tissues.  Instead I make "sneeze rags" from old t-shirts.  I have all of our friends and neighbors give us their old t-shirts they would normally trash and I cut them up into sneeze rags and "personal cloths".

    A personal cloth is a fancy way of saying emergency TP.  If we ever run out of toilet paper, we will use these instead.  They are cut out of super soft t-shirt material and would be used in place of toilet paper.  I always keep a big supply of toilet paper on hand but if we should get snowed in or some other emergency should happen, I like having other options.  And for those of you saying "gross" or what have you, it is no different to me than having to wash out a cloth diaper which I have done many times.

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A t-shirt given to us by a friend.  Their child had outgrown it and it did not fit anyone in our household either.

      The "sneeze rags" we have been using exclusively in our home for over a year.  I just fill up a coffee can with them and if you need one, you use it and when you are done, put it into the dirty clothes hamper.  Again, no different than washing a hankie.  :-)

    When it comes to making these, the older and more worn the t-shirt, the better and softer it is.  I start off by cutting off the neck area of the t-shirt and the sleeves.

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Remove the neck area and the sleeves.


    Next, cut a strip of fabric that is about the same size as a normal tissue.  Sometimes I make them a bit longer and sometimes I cut them square like a handkerchief.  Just cut them as you like.  Be sure to cut off the hems and any rough area.

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One of the sneeze rags.


  I usually cut up the front of the t-shirt and use them for sneeze rags and I cut up the back of the t-shirts for personal cloths.  The personal cloths I cut up a bit larger.  Generally I cut the personal cloths about the width of a wash cloth and about 12" long.

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One of our personal cloths.


   From a youth large t-shirt I generally can make 5 personal cloths and 6 sneeze rags.  I just cut them up as I watch a movie or in between doing stuff on FB or online.  I store the sneeze rags in a large coffee can in each bedroom and in the living room and the personal cloths I store in large coffee cans and keep them under the sink in each bathroom.

I also make my own Homemade Air Freshener that is even better than Febreze!!!!

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4 comments:

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. I sure appreciate it.

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  2. I would like to try this! Is it a must to use a glass spray bottle? I have plastic ones already.

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