Tuesday, July 14, 2026

How Far Is Too Far?

Last time A. went camping with the kids, he bought a sleeve of those big red Solo cups for the gallons of milk and lemonade he kept in the cooler. When he got home, I collected all of those and washed them to use again.

I used one of them on the Fourth of July to give the son home with me a very patriotic-looking watermelon slushie. After he finished his slushie, he started to throw the Solo cup away. I stopped him and told him I would wash it to use again. He was incredulous.

"Mom. Seriously? I have never heard of anyone re-using a Solo cup."

Really? I mean, is that really that strange? They're thick plastic! They're easy to wash! Why wouldn't you re-use it?

He was also shocked that I wash out Ziploc bags. And empty sour cream containers. The tray with top that A. brought home from a McDonald's breakfast. Pretty much any glass jars. And I sometimes save sheets of aluminum foil if they haven't gotten dirty, although I don't go so far as to wash those.

I even wash and re-use birthday candles.


These have been used I think twice and have at least one more use in them.

It never occurred to me that any of this was really that strange, but maybe it is. What do you* think? 

* Although I suspect that if you read here with any regularity, you are most likely also a re-user.

2 comments:

Kit said...

I don't know if it's strange, but I do those things too. I also wash and save any styrofoam trays I get from packages of meat. They're good for sending leftovers home with guests.

mbmom11 said...

I re-wash plastic straws and spoons from ice cream treats that we occasionally buy- I just reorganized my stash yesterday. I lost a few spoons when my kids took them in their lunchboxes for school, so I now keep any "disposable" ones we get. . It's funny, the boys remember to bring home the plastic spoons regularly, where my good spoons would disappear.
I do keep some glass jars, some plastic bags, ziplocs if they held dry stuff , and a few other things. Yogurt containers are good for small paint jobs. I don't wash out as much as I used to, but I think it's a smart move.