There was a saying during World War II, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. ” The same holds true today for modern homesteaders, only we tend to say, “reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle.”

The basic premise is first to reduce our reliance on materials that would ordinarily end up in the landfill by purchasing products with less packaging and reusing or recycling the packaging on those products that do have it.

Homesteaders have an advantage in this because our grocery stores come from our own property, but we still have feed sacks and some commercial purchases to make at the local grocer. Continue reading →