I'm a cannibal. Are you?

[JUSTIFIED]

Patriot Lady and I have always been thrifty. We look for ways to save money without resorting to buying cheaply made products or poor quality services. One thing we've done for years, and we do more so now, is to cannibalize products before we throw them away. If we have something that we've repurposed until there's just nothing left to use we strip it of any usable parts before we throw it away.

For example:
-We take the laces out of shoes.
-We take screws, bolts, clamps, brackets etc..off anything we throw away.
-Every time I replace a light (and I've replaced a bunch over the years) I cannibalize every part that is re-usable, including some of the mounting parts that come with the new one that I might not need to install it. I've got a large tool box full of every light part and mounting accessory you can think of.
-I save any lumber, metal, etc...I think can be repurposed. I just had a new fence installed on the borders of my property (the old one didn't go out that far) and saved a large portion of the wood from the old one, plus several hundred deck screws. I left many of the posts from the original that are now well within my property lines and will use them and the old runners in various parts of the yard for trellises for various flowering vines, vine fruits, etc...

Especially these days, we look at everything with a much more critical eye before throwing it away to see if there's some way to re-use it or cannibalize it.

What kind of similar re-purposing or cannibalizing do you folks do?

[Gus14]

Same exact thing we do.
I even take bags that have broken down, cut them into various sized squares, melt down the edges (on nylon stuff), and save them for patches for other items that need repair.
I take the metal hooks off old work boots and use them for lacing points on moccasins I make.
We run our vehicles until they are used up...completely, then buy new. Before we take them to the scrapyard we pull everything that is still good. It gets a data sheet fixed to it then put in the barn in it's proper location. I have a collection of parts to keep most anything usable.
Any bad clothing, towels, washcloths, socks, underbritches, sheets, blankets, etc. get scrapped down according to need and usability. For example, if you have two blankets that are bad, you can probably make one good one and use the scrap pieces as anything from cleaning rags to ground cloths if you piece them together. 100% cotton T-shirt material makes excellent patches for black powder rifles.
You can take a work boot with the sole worn off and cut the whole bottom off. Then you line the inside with a piece of buckskin, wrap the boot around poke holes up the edge 1/4" in and spaced 1/16" apart, then do a running stitch up and down the two edges. Cut slits the width of a belt on one side (depending on witch way you want the pistol to go in) and pass a belt through it. Depending on the size of the boot, you could make a holster for a decent sized pistol. It may not be perfect but if you need to secure another weapon to you or your gear, it works.
We never throw anything away without giving it a once over. Hell, our chickens live in compete luxury. They have the infant swings, changing tables, and two cribs to sleep on/in. Their favorite place to lay eggs is in the seat of the infant swing.
In the cabin the back of the bar is a headboard from the old waterbed. It has the mirror and shelves that hold various bottles of things you find at camp. ;)
Yeah, everything has uses before it goes to the garbage pit. It amazes me how much wire people throw away only to go to the store to buy wire to set up a pair of speakers.

Craziness!

[JUSTIFIED]

Same exact thing we do.
I even take bags that have broken down, cut them into various sized squares, melt down the edges (on nylon stuff), and save them for patches for other items that need repair.
I take the metal hooks off old work boots and use them for lacing points on moccasins I make.
We run our vehicles until they are used up...completely, then buy new. Before we take them to the scrapyard we pull everything that is still good. It gets a data sheet fixed to it then put in the barn in it's proper location. I have a collection of parts to keep most anything usable.
Any bad clothing, towels, washcloths, socks, underbritches, sheets, blankets, etc. get scrapped down according to need and usability. For example, if you have two blankets that are bad, you can probably make one good one and use the scrap pieces as anything from cleaning rags to ground cloths if you piece them together. 100% cotton T-shirt material makes excellent patches for black powder rifles.
You can take a work boot with the sole worn off and cut the whole bottom off. Then you line the inside with a piece of buckskin, wrap the boot around poke holes up the edge 1/4" in and spaced 1/16" apart, then do a running stitch up and down the two edges. Cut slits the width of a belt on one side (depending on witch way you want the pistol to go in) and pass a belt through it. Depending on the size of the boot, you could make a holster for a decent sized pistol. It may not be perfect but if you need to secure another weapon to you or your gear, it works.
We never throw anything away without giving it a once over. Hell, our chickens live in compete luxury. They have the infant swings, changing tables, and two cribs to sleep on/in. Their favorite place to lay eggs is in the seat of the infant swing.
In the cabin the back of the bar is a headboard from the old waterbed. It has the mirror and shelves that hold various bottles of things you find at camp. ;)
Yeah, everything has uses before it goes to the garbage pit. It amazes me how much wire people throw away only to go to the store to buy wire to set up a pair of speakers.

Craziness!

That is impressive that you make your own moccasins and holsters and use re-furbished items to do it! We do the same with clothing and blankets. Yep. string, rope, wire, tools, everything electrical or plumbing we keep.

We save our feed sacks in case we lose trash service and have to cart off our burn barrel remants. That's what we did when we lived in the country. We save all paper for fire starters. Great use for that headboard! Ours get relegated to the garden for trellises.

We've been bad about buying and selling cars instead of running the wheels off them but we're doing better...chuckle...Our main car is an 07 and my work truck is an 02. Both have a lot of years left in them since I'm blocks from work and we don't travel much anymore.

Just like you, we are amazed at how wasteful people are these days. Most in the last couple of generations have never had to go without so they don't appreciate the value of what they have.

That's funny about your chickens! Great stuff Gus! You are definitely a cannibal!

[tarheel]

Definitely a cannibal, save anything I could put firestarters or matches in, Altoids tins, pill bottles, etc...baling twine off of hay bales for misc projects (cheaper than paracord), and I scrap out old buildings for the lumber and steel panels.

[miked2345]

Wow... All these years I thought I was a pack-rat.. Now I find out I'm a cannibal !!! :cool:

[JUSTIFIED]

Wow... All these years I thought I was a pack-rat.. Now I find out I'm a cannibal !!! :cool:

Hey, it's cool to be a cannibal!...chuckle...

[JUSTIFIED]

Definitely a cannibal, save anything I could put firestarters or matches in, Altoids tins, pill bottles, etc...baling twine off of hay bales for misc projects (cheaper than paracord), and I scrap out old buildings for the lumber and steel panels.

It's amazing what you can repurpose if you use some imagination.

[rice paddy daddy]

Ya'll been looking in my barn and workshop, huh?

[JUSTIFIED]

Ya'll been looking in my barn and workshop, huh?

I won't tell...if we can come to your bol when the shtf!....chuckle...

[kappydell]

i do same as my grandmother & mother did - save buttons, jeans zippers, (nowdays, any metal zippers) from clothes that are too worn to be rags; then I cut them into gun cleaning squares (the underwear) or strips to crochet into bags, mats, totes, or slippers. If the old material is from work clothes, I cut any pieces large enough to be used as patches and reinforce knees of work pants. (for those that do not sew, a little 'wonder-under' makes any patch an iron on patch...) From long sleeve shirts with worn elbows come short sleeved ones...ditto pant out in the knee becoming shorts...my quilts are more utilitarian than pretty, but they still keep you warm; and old blankets have dozens of uses. So do old vinyl tablecloths (excellent book covers, for one...). Wool sweaters get un-raveled, the wool steamed to take out the kinks, then "re-purposed" into new knitted items. Dad taught me never to throw out scrap lumber, old tools, screws or good nails. Good thing my room mate is a pack rat too, or I'd be in deep trouble! The Depression, then WWII left its mark on my parents, who (bless them) taught us to be self-reliant and frugal.

[EX121]

If you already have a bunch of rags, and cleaning patches, you can use some of the old clothing to braid rugs. I don't save as much stuff as I used to since moving into town. We still have boxes of stuff under the beds and in the closets.

[Bama]

I am fortunate to live on my family homestead of four generations. I was taught to save and re use everything at a early age. Not only do I gather and stock old hardware, lumber, metal, clothes, parts, fence, etc, I have a wealth of things stored in barns, sheds ,& gulleys, left by my greatgrand parents. I am constantly looking through years of material just to keep a mental inventory of my inheritance of cannibalism.

[kappydell]

my husband used to joke that in a PAW the junk man (a la Sanford & Son) would be the new hardware tycoon...parts is parts, ya' know?

[JUSTIFIED]

my husband used to joke that in a PAW the junk man (a la Sanford & Son) would be the new hardware tycoon...parts is parts, ya' know?

Fred would make out like a bandit because he was the ultimate cannibal!...chuckle...."Hear dat Elizbeth? I'm comin' ta join ya, honey!"

[MustangGal]

That was my thought... EXACTLY!