10 Uses for Newspaper

With the economy in shambles a large part of Americans are turning to couponing to save their families some money. It’s recommended that a family using coupons should purchase one Sunday paper for each member of their family. If you’re a family of 5 that’s a lot of extra newspaper that will probably find its way to the trash. Instead of throwing those newspapers away, I am going to give you 10 ways you can put them to great use.

1. Protect Your Workspace – My favorite use for old newspaper is protecting workspace when the children are doing arts and crafts. I find this to be one of the more common uses for old newspaper. By laying several layers down it protects the work surface if any accidents happen.

2. Kitty Litter – Shred the newspapers up, and use them for kitty litter. Using old newspapers for kitty litter is a great way to save money. You’re already purchasing newspapers so no need to also purchase kitty litter.

3. Pet Cage Lining – Line the birdcage with them. This makes keeping the cage easy. Simply grab one side and bring it inward like you are going to make a triangle. This will assure no bird poo or seeds fall out as you make your way to the trash.

4. Paper Mache – Do you have a birthday coming up? Newspapers have many uses when it comes to planning a birthday. You can make an awesome piñata with cereal box, flour, water, and some shredded newspapers. You could also blow up some balloons, and using your flour and water mix, wrap the balloons half way with the Paper Mache. Once it dries pop the balloon and paint your newly made dish.

5. Cleaning windows – spray your windows with some cleaner, and use a wadded up piece of newspaper to wipe off the cleaning solution. No need to use paper towels when newspapers work the best.

6. Wrap Glassware – Old newspapers are great for wrapping glass items. Whether you’re having a yard sale and selling a bunch of glass items, or you just want to put away from knick knacks you no longer want displayed in your home. Wrapping them before storing them will give them a little more added protection.

7. Gift Wrapping – Take the comic section from your Sunday paper and use it to wrap those gifts. Not only does it save you money, it makes your gift unique.

8. Fix Holes in the Walls – Do you have a hole in the wall? Stuff some newspaper in the wall and smooth over some wall patch. This helps you save the amount of plaster that you need to fix that hole.

9. Scrapbooking – One great thing about newspapers is all the letters. You can use the words, letters, and pictures to make great scrapbooking pages, or even collages. With school starting soon those class projects will be rolling out, this is a good time to save those newspapers.

10. Fire Starter – Winter will be here soon, if you have a fireplace old newspapers are great to get those fires going.

One can do so many things with old newspapers. Next time you get a Sunday paper sit the newspapers aside for an art project.