When I was a child my family had milk delivered to our home from a local dairy. Every week a driver would bring milk in glass bottles and place them in the wooden box on our front step. The first cup of milk out of the bottle always tasted heavenly!
Unfortunately, those days are long gone. I now live in a somewhat urban area. I don’t have a clue where the nearest cow lives, but I’m pretty sure I’d have to drive a distance to find it. Thus, I get my milk at the grocery store. Instead of glass bottles, it’s packaged in plastic containers. I’d love to reuse some of these jugs instead of tossing all of them into the recycle bin.
Ways to Reuse Plastic Milk Jugs
- Cut the tops off of milk jugs and use the jugs as planters for vegetable or flower plants. This can save a lot of space because the jugs can hang from their handles.
From smallkitchengarden.net. 
From myheirloomseeds.blogspot.com. - Cut the bottom and handle off of a milk jug to create an extension for your faucet. This will move the water flow forward so kiddos can reach it and you can easily fill containers.
From haleystudio.com. - Make a few snips and attach some Velcro to milk jugs to form compact storage containers or small gift boxes.
From sherbetblossom.com. 
From craftycorner.co.za. - Cut out some flower or leaf shapes from milk jugs to form flower lights or votive holders.
From recreationsproject.wordpress.com. 
From blissbloomblog.com. - Cut the tops off of milk jugs to create simple storage containers for toys.
From themaskedmommy.blogspot.com. - Use scissors to fashion a milk jug into a scoop for animal feed, potting soil, grass seed, etc.
From frugalliving.about.com. - Cut a hole in the side of a milk jug and suspend it from a tree branch to create a simple birdfeeder.
From kidoozy.com.
For additional ideas, visit OF THE HEARTH’s Pinterest page. I think it’ll be a while before I toss another milk jug into the recycle bin!
Do you reuse plastic milk jugs? Please share in the comments section about how you do this.
Shared on the following link-ups:
From House to Home, Wholehearted Wednesdays & Domestically Divine Tuesday.
Now I wish we drank milk!!! I bet I can do some of these with the two liter bottles I have stored up from my husband’s diet soda addiction… (I hate it, but since he’s buying and drinking them anyway, I figure I might as well use them!)
When I was looking for ways to reuse the milk jugs, I saw many projects that used 2-liter bottles. Search on any search engine (or on Pinterest) and you’ll find numerous ideas!
We have a huge chest freezer and when it’s not packed full of food, we fill the space by freezing water in milk jugs. This helps the freezer be more energy efficient (full freezers don’t have to work as hard to stay cold).
That’s great! I’ve heard others recommend this strategy before. In addition to helping the freezer stay cold, it’s a useful disaster preparedness strategy. If you were to lose electricity, your food would stay frozen longer and you’d have the extra water on hand.
Thanks for featuring our milk bottle flower lights! Great ideas here.
You’re welcome! I loved the flower lights idea.