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| This is one week's worth of papers, so times that by 52 weeks in a year, and that's a lot of papers to find a use for,but I can do it,and I love the challenge. |
We get the Newspaper 6 days a week.The weekday papers and the Sunday paper. I could go on line to read what little I read, but Pop only had grammer school when he was young, and there was so much that he did not get to learn, so that is my way of helping him to educate himself as he reads.It is amazing how much of the paper he will read most days. I feel it keeps him enlightened on the world and community news while it is helping him to learn.He doesn't realize any of this,but that is why I keep the paper coming.It does get to be a lot of paper accumulated,but I have a way of using it that might not work for others.We have 5 acres of land, and it is riddled with sink holes.Our soil erodes away really bad,especially if it is not covered by grass or some type of vegetation.There are lots of spots on our property that are nothing but slab rock.Grass will not grow on it, and soil alone washes away quickly on those flat rocks.I have found that I can soak my paper in a bucket of water until it is saturated good.Layer it really thick over the rock areas or even low spots in the yard.Put a layer of wood chips or mulch of some kind,over that.Old dead garden or flower refuse will do.Spread a thin layer of dirt over that,and sew it in grass.You may have to repeat this process a few times.As the paper and organic matter decomposes,it will settle.But I never send my papers to recycle for this very reason. I have a little spot near my basement carport that I have been filling in this way. I added several layers of wetted down paper, a layer or two of wood refuse from the winter's wood pile,and dirt from my chicken compost pile.It makes a wonderful spot for growing tomatoes each year,right outside the door.
There are lots of other ways to utilize the papers,too. You could run the papers through a shredder to make nesting or bedding materials for the chickens and other animals.Some folks shred them to use as mulch around their garden plants.I have even wet them down whole,and layer them in mats under my tomatoes.They will keep the moisture in and the weeds down.I have even soaked my papers and used the slurried product for crafts. I tried mixing the slurried paper with cement mix in hopes of coming up with a product for making sculptures,but that experiment is not finalized yet.It is unreal, all of the different creative ways one can find to use up their newspapers.I hope just these few ideas can help others.I'm sure there are many other ways of utilizing them. Hopefully we will hear from some of the other bloggers,on their solutions to your problem with accumulated newspapers.
Good morning. I slipped over here from
ReplyDeleteFrugal Queen, because I agree with you comment about those our age who have always lived frugal. So glad I checked your blog.
My aunt lived in Japan after WWII. Her Japanese housekeepers would dampen sheets
of newspapers (not soaking wet), tear them into shreds while dropping them all over the carpets. The more paper the better. They would let the sit awhile and then sweep them up with a broom. I still do this from time to time. The ink in the paper attracts the dirt, etc., and brightens the color of the carpet. Plus, no dust in the air. Try it after you vacuum and see how much more it pulls up out of the carpet. I know it has worked for me for the last 55 years..especially when I didn't have a vacuum cleaner.
ML/Texas
We have sinkholes here on my farm too. Just the way it is in central KY! I will have to try the newspaper idea on the soft spots. Interesting comment about the newspaper helping to clean the carpet. Might have to try that too.
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