3 Answers

a. I do use a brick inside of my commode, I learned this little trick only 10 years ago.

b. If I  cook fries or something in oil that does not turn it yellow or brown or leave a strong flavour I'll reuse it instead of pouring it out  after one use.

c. Fast food restaurants seem to load people up on condiments especially ketchup. I know how to live poor. I save them up and then I add them all to my ketchup bottle instead of trashing the packets.

d. Soap slithers. I do not throw them away. When we open a new bar of soap I stick the previous soap slither to the new bar. I love to do this especially when they are different colours because I think it looks really neat.  Roy laughs at me because he cant get the two to stick together. Years of practice, LOL!

e.   Toothpaste.  I use every drop of toothpaste.  When it becomes impossible to squeeze out another drop, I take the scissors and cut along the side of the toothpaste tube, open it up and run my toothbrush along the inside of the tube.

f.  Toothbrush. I use my old toothbrushes to clean around faucets and other hard to reach places.

g. Plastic bottles.  Most plastic bottles look like a flower at the bottom.  I cut the bottoms off the plastic bottles to save them for craft projects.  You can also make a broom from 2 liter and three liter plastic bottles and I plan to make a broom soon.

How to make a broom from plastic soda bottles>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZZIFK3A-FI

Crafts with plastic soda bottles>>http://www.diyncrafts.com/4870/home/20-fun-creative-crafts-plastic-soda-bottles/2

This is all I can think of for now, but if anything else crosses my mind I'll add it to my answer later.

Don't leave appliances on "standby", it really does make a difference.

"Conservation" in Wikipedia is a vast subject...I do the best I can with what I have. I save everything that is re-useable and file it with the same materials...it is a cleaning and sorting process. Food waste goes to the chickens or as trail food for hitch-hickers. Plastic in all forms is saved, separated, cleaned and sorted into bins for recycling. I save cardboard, lawn clippings, metals of all kinds, plastics, used and/or broken appliances, wire, rope, string, paper, etc,etc. Yup, I save it all. On rare occasions when my stash of recyclables gets a bit over-whelming....I'll take some stuff to the folks who pay for the return of bottles and cans. I usually buy junk from them that may be useful in my projects. I make many things like bird-houses, hand tools, valves, pumps, electronic printed circuit boards, electronic gadgets, heaters, welder applications, laser applications, small jet engines, and toys...of course....jewelry, hearing aids, dog repellers, and nothing dangerous or hazardous...safety first.

The vast number of things that can be produced from trash is endless. The objective for me is to do what I like to do...money is not so important as to require my employment. Hydroponic gardening with compost recycling is too easy to not do.

Trash to art is an undeniable winner and there are ways to live tax free also. Soap is made from lye and oils. There are thousands of sites on the net having to do with soap making. My OL makes soap profitable when she isn't just giving it away to friends...its hers to work with.