Selfsufficientish.com

Hi
A Micul is an object that MIght Come in Useful Later. Odd shaped bits of plastic, metal parts of deconstructed objects, fabric remanants and anything else that gets stored in the garage, loft or under the bed just in case they MIGHT COME IN USEFUL LATER.

But do you ever actually use them for anything? Let us know how long you've had it and what you actually used it for.

I have a few to start us off:

1. Two old saucepans that had lost their non-stick coating. Kept in the garden shed for over 4 years just in case. Cleaned out and used for boiling up the chooks scraps. When cold I put them straight in the hen house for them to help themselves.

2. An empty 9-litre plastic emulsion paint tub. Again in the garden shed for at least 2 years. It's had various uses as a bucket but is now my indoor wormery. A small hole punched in the bottom to drain off liquid and some tiny holes in the top to let the air in. The worms seem to love it.

3. Paper bags that originally held sugar and flour. Too messy to stick in the paper recycling and too good to burn or compost. Kept in the laundry room for several months. Now used in the kitchen to hold the few scraps (the ones that don't go in the chooks saucepan) until they can be put in the wormery. The only problem with this is that if the bottoms get wet then they go a bit mouldy which brings me on to:

4. A plastic fruit punnet from the supermarket. Just the right size to sit the bag in 3 inside until it goes in the wormery. Stops the mouldy bottom being in touch with the work surface and prevents it falling over and depositing the contents into your cooking.

5. A metal TV stand on casters. One of the casters is a bit dodgy and won't take any weight. The new TV is too big. It was sitting in my mother's garage for years but when she moved I wouldn't let her throw it out. Now used as staging in the conservatory for raising seeds. Newly sown seeds sit on the lower levels and migrate upwards towards the light as they germinate. In mild weather the whole thing gets wheeled outside for hardening off.

6. Old emulsion pots. Cleaned and painted and used as planters. Some were this years' and some were several years old.

7. A particularly sturdy platic squeezy bubble bath bottle kicking around the bathroom long after empty. Now used to hold the liquid output of the wormery. It has a nozzle that can be used to direct the liquid under the leaves of house plants right down to the roots. No worries about it splashing everywhere.

Ah yes well timed I used a couple today.

8. Some wire meshing, cut with pliers and made into bird feeders.
9. Tyres and earth left from last year when I grew potatoes in tyres. Used as single tyres with earth in them to grow herbs, I thought that as you can get away with using less than perfect soil they will grow ok. Will have to wait and see.
10. I keep all my cottage cheese cartons and use them to store things in the fridge. A frigde runs more effectively if there is less moisture in it so they are ideal.

11 big ol saucepan is now a sheep water trough
12 fruit punnet is now holding toilet roll tubes with parsnips sown in
13 saved all my yogurt/cream/cottage cheese etc pots and are now plant pots
14 horrible bag that came free with a magazine is now a peg bag
15 battered loaf tin is now a planter
i'm sure there are lots of others - i am a hoarder and its a huge sense of satisfaction when that useful item finally gets its use

16. Old notched knives which are not good enough for the kitchen are great to use in the garden.
17. Zips from torn clothing taken out and saved just in case.
18. Jars - useful for storing seeds and other things so you can easily see what they are.
19. Chipped plates and saucers are useful as houseplant stands.
20. Buckets etc with broken handles can be used as plant pots.

21. A terracotta planter with no hole in the bottom is now a water bowl for the chooks.

22. Old measuring jugs get given to my husband for whatever he needs them for when tinkering in his barn.

23. Old t-shirts and boxer shirts get used by him for wiping up spills of oils or chemicals or whatever he does when tinkering in his barn.

24. Old pallets are now gates into the chicken run and the vegetable garden.

plastic tubs and punnets etc reused as mentioned previously (won't give them another number)

25. Old duvets and cushions and even old woolly socks have been used as insulation and pushed into all the nooks and crannies to keep out the drafts!

26. Large 5 litre clear water bottles are going to make great cloches for my pumpkins, cucumbers etc when first planted out.

27. The old skirting board ripped out of the bathroom, and some old chicken wire buried in the undergrowth at the back of the garden has now been transformed with lots of nails and some enthusiasm into a new fence and gate to terrier proof the vegetable garden.

9ball wrote:27. The old skirting board ripped out of the bathroom, and some old chicken wire buried in the undergrowth at the back of the garden has now been transformed with lots of nails and some enthusiasm into a new fence and gate to terrier proof the vegetable garden.

Update :) The fence has remained terrier proof for roughly 4 hours. I've caught them plodding around the other side of it, but they looked at me like I'm a mad man when I called them and waited for me to open the gate before they left, so I have no idea how they got in. Little buggers.

9ball wrote:

9ball wrote:27. The old skirting board ripped out of the bathroom, and some old chicken wire buried in the undergrowth at the back of the garden has now been transformed with lots of nails and some enthusiasm into a new fence and gate to terrier proof the vegetable garden.

Update :) The fence has remained terrier proof for roughly 4 hours. I've caught them plodding around the other side of it, but they looked at me like I'm a mad man when I called them and waited for me to open the gate before they left, so I have no idea how they got in. Little buggers.

Note to self. Must stop reading this forum at work. I keep bursting out laughing and my colleagues are all convinced I'm completely mad.

28. Chicken wire used first for the aviary, then under the fect to puppy-proof it, and is now waiting to be nailed to the fence ofr beans/squash to grow up.

29. old clothing gets cut up and either deconstructed, or given to the ratties for nesting/bedding material.

30. Old bras are waiting for the melons (ha!) and squash to grow so they can be used to support the fruit.

31. old fence panels got cut up and made into planting troughs.

32. offcuts of carpet are used for hair-dying sessions

33. Offcuts of wallpaper get reused for scrapbooking/card making.

34. A polystyrene base from a supermarket pizza - the type with a slightly raised rim has been used under a pot outside to stop all the water running away.

35. Managed to get hold of an old supermarket trolley (legally) which is great for storing firewood. When it's empty I simply wheel it up to the log store, fill it up and wheel it back.

36. Water buckets that sheep and goats have butted into submission. Now useful as pots forplanting tatties, tomatoes and climbing beans.

37. Lids of mineral lick buckets - useful under buckets (see 36.) to prevent water from running off.

38. Large mineral lick tubs - useful for anything from washing to planting trees which haven't found their final location in the garden yet.

39. Feed bags - used to cover roof of goat shed.

40. Same feed bags - well, same type, anyway - used for planting more tatties!

41. Wellies with holes in - planted up (not with tatties this time, but flowers).

42. Door of washing machine: the glass bit makes a brilliant salad bowl; alternatively, a planter for hyacinths and the like.

43. Towel roll holder (from work): although not a flat bottom, used as windowsill planters.

44. I had a couple of plant pots outside and wanted a saucer to stand under each. Then I found a couple of "disposable" bbq's that some friends had brought round a couple of years ago. Perfect!