BLOG COMMENTS: New Year, Old Shirt, New Hankies What do you use to blow your nose? Since we have been trying to live more green, we have stopped buying tissue in boxes for our runny noses. For a long time, we were using our recycled toilet paper to catch the drips. Unfortunately, the toilet paper was pretty rough on our noses if we had a bad cold. My 4 year old often refused to use the toilet paper and would rather keep sucking snot back into her nose. So, we started using random old cloths. The old cloths worked great, but I still needed to find something even softer and more of it. One day, my husband said, “What do I do with all these old undershirts?” A light bulb went on and I said, “I have just the job for them!” His undershirts were stained, ripped, and mottled with holes, but they were very soft and there were so many, they would be just right for the job. I decided to make them into handkerchiefs. These would not be fancy by any means. In fact, my daughter helped cut some of them and it was a fun project for her! These hankies would be roughly cut squares with jagged edges, but I did not care. They would still look decent presented neatly in a basket. The hankies worked out great. They are much better to use than the rough toilet paper. No more nose rashes! I wash them on hot with ‘Bac-Out’ with our bath and kitchen towels. The above picture shows how I cut them up for anyone who wants to try this. It is always great to re-use what you have instead of buying anything new. You prevent landfill waste and don’t put demand on new resources. You can use many things to make hankies such as old flannel baby blankets or old sheets. Just make sure they are soft enough for your nose! Have other ideas of what to do with old T-shirts or to make soft hankies? Do share. -- Melinda Big News: GreenMoms Going Global! Signup for our GreenMoms newsletter on the Home Page if you'd like to know when we launch GreenMoms.com

Re: BLOG: New Year, Old Shirt, New Hankies

Wish I had this idea about 3 weeks ago...I've had such a terrible cold that my nose got so raw from tissues (even the "soft" kind) that I had no skin around the edges... even putting cream on it burned like the devil!

Oh perfect!
I always buy my husband new undershirts for Christmas and donate the old ones to charity. But I haven't donated them yet. I can't wait to try out the hanky idea. Having a toddler around the house guarantees a fair share of runny noses. Thanks for sharing your idea! Plus it will give me a chance to practice my embroidering!

Re: BLOG: New Year, Old Shirt, New Hankies

Another use for cut-up old t-shirt, Cleaning eyeglasses! From TheDailyGreen.com:

To do so, never use any soaps or anything that contains ammonia. Instead, run warm tap water over both sides of each lens to wash away the oo-and-goo that may have settled on them. Then proceed to clean them with a fifty-fifty mixture of white vinegar and distilled water in a spray bottle.

Also, never dry eyeglasses with anything that began as wood -- paper towels, toilet paper or tissue -- because they contain abrasives that'll scratch lenses. Instead, cut up an old t-shirt, or better yet, dry eyeglass lenses with silk from an old necktie. Remember to wash your homemade cleaning cloths often because the dust and dirt trapped within them will eventually scratch your lenses, too.

To Candice regarding hankies:
That would be nice to embroider the cut up t-shirts. Yours are going to look fantastic! Mine are pretty basic. I just cut them up and threw them in a pretty basket.

I love this idea! I have a few shirts I don't wear anymore that were from my pregnancy... I've been waiting for someone to get pregnant to give them away, but this is a cute idea...

embroidery would look really cute!

another idea is to make a toddler dress out of old T-shirts... I've made my daughter a PJ out of two old graphic T-shirts.

Here's where I got the idea:
http://indietutes.blogspot.com/2007/06/adult-tee-to-childs-dress-recon.html

Happy Sewing!!!

We recycle dad's worn out tshirts as paint shirts or sleeping shirts. They are soooooo big and fun - the arms come down to their hands and they look like robes, but my boys loved them. Easy to find, easy to wash, soft, and holey - the best.