by Erin Steeley

Created on: May 22, 2010   Last Updated: May 23, 2010

You have a pile of old clothing that is stained and completely unwearable, what can you do with them? These clothes are still extremely useful and can be kept out the trash can if you use little bit of creativity impracticality. The first step is to wash all of these to make sure that they are basically clean. Then, take a sturdy pair of scissors and cut the old clothing into large strips or sections. These will make excellent cleaning rags that can be used all over the house and in the garage. Put an old laundry basket in your pantry to store them in. You can also keep a container of them in the garage for checking the oil with, wiping out spills and other related uses.

If you love to sew, you can take the clothing and cut out the sections that are not stained. These can be cut into varying shapes and sewn into a quilt. If used imaginatively, the different materials will make a beautiful design. When cut into small strips, the clothing can also be made into rag rugs.

For the economically minded, if you have an old pair of jeans that have reached this state, they are still very useful to you. Take your old razor blades that have become dull and use the jeans to resharpen.

Run the blade 10 to 20 times in the opposite direction that you shave on the pants leg and then do the same thing in the opposite direction the same number of times.

Your blades will become like new and you will be able to reuse them over and over again. The jeans serve as a kind of "strop," similar to what a barber uses to sharpen a shaving razor.

Stained jeans can also be turned into a holder. You can sew up the bottom of a leg that you cut off from the jeans and then seal the top edging so that it doesn't fray. You can then push down in the leg the plastic bags that you get from your local store. They will be kept in one place and will be easy to find when you need them.

Old, stained clothing that is unwearable can have a number of varying uses if you open your mind and use your imagination. There are limitless possibilities to recycle these items and keep them from ending up in your local landfill.

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