More Adventures In Upcycling

I reached financial independence and semi-retired in my mid 40’s.   By any subjective measure I lead a pretty sweet life.

Sure, I followed the basic formula to reach FI – spend way less than you earn, invest the difference, and let compounding interest work its magic.  But a large part of my “secret sauce” to spending less is being mindful of the consumer waste that dominates our modern, throw-away culture, and fighting against it. 

I posted about a recent upcycling win this past summer when I made a few DIY battery packs to charge my phone and other devices from old Android phone batteries.  It was a hit, people loved reading about upcycling and the post did better than I could have hoped. 

So I thought heck, I do this stuff all the time.  Give your fans what they want (haha, that sounds douchy and pretentious…)  Regardless, here are more upcycling adventures and ideas to help you save money, reduce waste in the world, and flex your creative muscles.

 

Back In My Day…

One of my favorite classic Far Side cartoons is this one, where the old grey-beard caveman chastises the young cavemen about wasting the mammoth tail.  I try to approach life this way, to use every dang part of everything for something. 

Last spring my patio umbrella gave out.  The fabric had holes, the lifting pulley broke, and some of the hinges on the trellis arms were broken.  So I separated the fabric, cut it up, and made about 20 rags to clean my many bikes with.

Then the fun part.  I cut the thin wooden arms that hold up the fabric and made a trellis for my Clematis plant!

 

Another way to reuse the umbrella frame for gardening is shown here.  That method takes almost zero effort, just turn it upside down.  I spent an hour sawing the pieces and nailing them together, but it was well worth it and it came out great. 

The last part of the umbrella left was the main post.  I cut that into four pieces and made two sets of custom pull-up bars. 

By putting rope between them, I can swing these pull up bars over a tree branch or other object and quickly make a gymnast-like pull up station.  I frequently use them in the park behind my house.

 

One Word Son – “Plastics”

My house used to have old single pane windows.  They were drafty in winter so I would install plastic window insulation every year to keep my heating bills down.  If you’re not familiar, it’s basically shrink-wrap type plastic that you stick around the window frame and literally seal with a hair dryer. 

I eventually got new windows and one day I found an unused kit in my basement.  “Hmmm what can I do with this?”

 

After some research I found out the material is called “polycro” and is unusually tough for it’s weight.  Some folks in the ultra-lightweight backpacking community started making ground cloths for their tent floors with it, and even tarps. 

So I made a polycro tarp with the kit I had. 

You may laugh, but this thing is amazing!!  It literally weighs 6 ounces, a fraction of what a normal tarp this size would weigh.  And yes it’s tough.  This material stands up to way more than you’d think it would and is 100% waterproof. 

Here’s my polycro tarp deployed in 2016 as an extra rain shield above my tent in Colorado on one of my 14er climbing trips.

 

Those tie-offs are pulled tight and the tarp withstood high winds. If you think it won’t last I have news for you – I made that sucker in 2013 and have used it on probably more than 25 trips, and it’s still going strong.  No punctures.  Here it is on my backpacking trip just last month in Virginia, blocking my tent from the wind.

 

I also use a piece of polycro as a ground footprint to protect my tent’s floor instead of the one that came with it.  Mine weighs 1.5 ounces while the factory piece weighs 10 ounces. 

This stuff is amazing as a way to cut weight in your backpacking kit!  If you want to dork out and make your own there are plenty of resources online to help.  Although I used some slightly different materials this one is good.

 

Getting In Touch With My Inner Tube

I ride my bikes around 5000-6000 miles a year.  When you ride that much you’re going to get some punctures and go through some inner tubes.  I patch as many of my punctures as I can to get maximum life out of each tube, but some punctures are too big.  And some inner tubes just need to be retired after too many patches. 

What to do with old inner tubes?  Well, they’re really tough, so I’ve always used them to tie things into bundles.  The friction of the rubber holds knots really well.

But a few months back I saw some 1″ buckles in my toolbox from an old backpack, and got an idea. 

 

So I made some custom tie-downs for my bike! 

I used Gorilla Glue Gel (<-affiliate link) to secure the tube on the female buckle side.  I swear by this stuff – be sure to get the gel version, I find it’s much stronger than the regular Gorilla Glue.

 

I added an extra small piece of rubber from the tube to seal off the open part and it looks like this:

 

Here’s my custom DIY straps holding 30+ pounds of groceries to my bike.  They’re strong as crap and I’m sure they’ll last a long time.  It’s so much better than just tossing these tubes in the trash to end up in a landfill. 

 

After I made mine I found a dude online who made similar ones except he uses a zip tie to hold the tube on the female buckle side.  I don’t think that would be as strong and could possibly slip through.  But he walks you through with more pics so if you want to make some have a look. 

And here’s another example that uses much heavier duty buckles. 

Lastly, all tubes are not created equal and some brands are stronger than others.  In my experience Continental (<-affiliate link) and Bontrager are the strongest.  You can get the buckles online super cheap (<-affiliate link).

 

Somebody Stop Me

I have more but I’ll stop here.  I love upcycling and finding new uses for things that were not originally intended.  It saves me money, keeps stuff out of the landfill, and challenges my creativity. 

I hope this post gives you some upcycling ideas, so have at it!

*This article contains affiliate links. Using those links throws some change in my pocket at no additional cost to you. Here’s my disclosure.