Your trash, a teacher's treasure

Despite it being in my genes (both my parents, and to some extent my brother, do this) I'm not a natural pack rat. Rather, I prefer to purge stuff, which can go awry especially when I'm cleaning out the files on my hard drive. More than once, I've made my computer unusable because I accidentally deleted something vital. Thanks goodness for factory restore and flash drive storage.

But I've realized that being a teacher means stocking up on certain things like a nuclear fallout waiting to happen. The more expensive items - books, P.E. equipment, organizing storage - I'll probably accumulate slower and more deliberately than things like paper towel tubes and 2 liter soda bottles. I started hoarding cereal boxes and the like about a year ago and now my closet is full to bursting of what some people might describe as kindling.

One of the most useful things I've collected are magazines and mail order catalogs. These are great for collages and other projects that require a lot of glossy, color photographs and pictures. However, some of the magazines are just not child-friendly (what is the commonality between fashion and naked people? aren't fashion magazines supposed to advertise clothing??). And I don't want to recycle them simply because I have such a volume of them, and it'll seem like such a waste of good material.

Hence, the table made of magazines as pictured above. No glue or other fastening materials needed. Just magazines and about 20 minutes in front of 30 Rock last night, plus some tips from here, and I've got myself a new little round stand. Of course it's not the most permanent piece of furniture on the planet, but it is surprisingly sturdy and there's nothing at Ikea that can do better.

I haven't decided what to do with it yet. Although there is a potted plant sitting on top of a wooden file cabinet which I would like to re-commission. The file cabinet, not the plant. The stand made of magazines can be the plant's new home.

Point is, there are all sorts of cool DIY things one can do with trash. It just takes a little creativity and patience. And really effective google search words.