What to Do With.......?

You can cut up the old clothes and make patchwork quilts with them, or bean bags for games.

Shoes can be painted in bright colors and used as planters that can be hung from a fence or placed artistically on steps outside.

Nonstick pans... no idea.

Bath towels are something we use until they're threadbare. If we can't use them in the bathroom, I'll use them to sop up a wet mess or as a temporary plug or to clean up paint spills or lay it out on the floor to catch something in anticipation of a drip.

You could use the shirts and towels as dishtowels, counter wiping, etc. The pans I would donate. Someone can use them. Jeans, put on freecycle or craigslist b/c a lot of people can use them for sewing. Denim is expensive, so it's likely to go fast. Shoes I would donate as well. Some kids just don't have them, so even worn is better than nothing.

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1. Donate to charities. If they can't be used in anyother way, the charities will sell them as rags to rag buyers.
2. Cut them off at the knees or higher and make shorts.
3. Donate them to charities. Some shoes that we think are too worn are shipped to poor areas of the world where any sort of shoe is a luxury.
4. Donate them to Goodwill, Salvation Army or Deseret Industries where if they aren't sold will be sold as scrap meta.
5. Cut them up for rags or donate them to charities or homeless shelters. The Salvation Army has housing units at some locations where they house those that want to quit being homeless. They are given a place to stay and clothes and are taught skills so they can hold a job and get back on their feet.

Thanks for caring enough to ask. Good luck to you and yours.

Jo W & 8kidsDad have my tactics down.
I either donate to somewhere that will take ANYTHING (the worn shoes), I cut off at the knees to make shorts out of holey jeans (OR stitch right across the tear, so they can wear them in the yard playing in winter), or make cleaning rags out of it.

My personal favorite are worn out socks... you know the ones... they aren't really white anymore, or they have hole in the toe, but are otherwise fine? I use those for dusting, then toss them in the trash after use (no getting chemically stuff in my washing machine that way!). Old towels get folded neatly on a shelf in the linen closet. They eventually find a use:
dog baths
cleaning up vomit (sick kids)
drying the freshly steamed floor
or my latest favorite: taking with me when I go run, so I can spread it out over the driver's seat of the car for my return drive home--no sweat on the seat!
They also come in handy if you are moving, as packing filler between breakables.

And yes, your local animal shelter or vets office (especially if they take in litters for "giveaway") can ALWAYS use clean but stained or old faded towels.

The pans, just go in the trash.

YOU GO JO W and 8kidsdad!!!! I usually do the same as these guys.

Old clothes: rags.
Girl's jeans torn at the knee: hello shorts or capris!
Old pans: great for mudpies or sandbox play.
Old towels: rags, OR donate to your local animal shelter, they need these BIG time.
Not sure about well worn kid's shoes?
Have you seen those clothing recycling bins outside your local churches? I think those items go to extremely poor places where people are happy to receive just about anything.

I save beat up clothes to mend less beat up clothes!

If it's just knees, and the rest fit? Shorts or patches!!!

Kid shoes that are unwearable I still put in the donation box. Unwearable items (and frankly, depending on the charity sometimes ALL clothes) are typically shredded and repurposed. Cotton, rubber, etc. DO CHECK WITH YOUR DONATION PEOPLE if you're donating "good" clothes. A lot of donation sites/orgs deconstruct EVERYTHING.

Pans? They're made of metal. They go in my recycle bin OR <grin> DRUMS!!! (sorry, I'm the mom that kept 2 sets of pots and pans... one set for cooking, the second set for toddlers to bang on).

Ugly towels? I need dog towels. Also car or cleaning towels. Also beach towels/ picnic seats. Also gym towels / sports towels. Also "packing" material (storage, shipping, disguising xmas presents, etc.). HINT: Many moons ago I started buy ridiculously expensive CREAM towels (we're talking $80 per bath towel). Well, the oldest are now 12 years old, and they're all perfect creamy WHITE (instead of how 'white' towels fade out to that blueish grey... 'cream' towels fade into white, and stay creamy white). Creamy white goes with everything, and they bleach... so no worry about stains. Because they're super high quality, they're in better condition -and have lasted 5 times as long- and my sister's towels she buys at bargain prices. My grandmother taught me the 'quality' trick when I was little. Cerain things, when you're willing /able to pay for quality, will literally last for generations. I actually own some of her towels that she paid a mint for in the 40's. They were used by her, her kids, us kids, and now my son's generation. Ditto sheets. Ditto furnishings. Ditto several other household things. They are NOT cheap, but we're talking 70+ years of use makes them dirt cheap over the long run.

Goodwill cuts clothes that are not wearable into shop rags and sells the shop rags by the bag.

Girls jeans with blown out knees can be patched or cut off into shorts. If you do not want to bother, you can freecycle them and there will be someone who sews who will use them.

I send my kids well worn shoes with them to summer camp and they throw them out at the end of camp.

I use my old non-stick pans for camping.

Faded bath towels can be freecycled or donated to animal shelters, or used as beach towels or pool towels or take to camp towels.

Most of those things will be taken if you post them on freecycle.org. My city started doing a "curb day" or "free day" each spring and fall where people can put out reusable items that would otherwise go in the garbage, and people can help themselves. It is surprising what gets taken.

1. trash
2. shorts
3. trash
4. trash
5. husband

1. Rags (dusting, wiping up spills, re-oiling old furniture, etc)
2. Google "Purse Made of Jeans" and go from there. Or donate them to a friend/seamstress who would enjoy making purses. Or give them away on craigslist. Some seamstress wants your jeans!
PURSE: http://www.celebrity-fashion.net/wp-content/uploads/ebay.JPG
OTHER IDEA: http://www.recycleyourjeans.com/aboutus.html
There's an organization that makes shoes for children in Africa I believe. My MOPS group cut fabric for them to make moccasins out of jeans. I will try to find out the name of the organization and will repost and PM you their name.

3. Me? I'd toss them.

4. Pans - we put in our metal recycling bin that we take to scrap yard every 6 months to a year.

5. Use them up till they're TERRIBLE, then use them as rags.

ADDED - Found a website for donating shoes. Friend told me this was also the site for making the moccasins for children out of jeans, but I can't find that on here. Will keep searching for you!
http://www.soles4souls.org/about/ Soles 4 souls.org!

Well, old, worn-out clothes can be cut up for paint rags.

Girls' jeans can sometimes be transformed into cutoffs for hacking around the house in. Some artistic women use scraps of denim in their quilt-making.

Kids' shoes? Not sure. You might see if the thrift store will still take them.

Non-stick pans? I don't have any now, but when I did and the non-stick wore out, I used pan spray in them and kept using them.

Towels? I have a whole shelf of old bath towels in my cupboard! I use them for cleaning large messes (like VERY dirty dogs!), for when I need an extra hair-drying towel, for when we take a car trip, for when the grandchildren come over and we run out of "real" towels. I don't know how I did without them all those years!

What I can recycle (like the metal in a pan), I do. Pants can become rags or shorts. Old clothes can be rags or play clothes.Towels can go to a vet or pet shelter. Old shoes just get tossed.

1. use as rags or throw in garbage
2. cut off and make into shorts
3. there are some organizations that recycle sneakers, I've see a few donation boxes - if not I throw them away
4. n/a
5. I use them for camping. If not I donate them to the humane society.

We use old t-shirts as rags. Kids shoes unfortunately get throw out - I don't believe in recycling shoes. Non-stick pans also get thrown out. Bath towels are used until they tear - who cares if they're faded. After that, they also become rags.

As for the jeans, if they can be cut-off for shorts, I do that. Otherwise I throw them away. Still haven't found a use for old denim.

I do the same as Jo W. and 8kidsdad, but one other thing you can do with the towels is take them to a local vet's office. They always need extra towels. :)

My husband uses old clothes for oil rags in the garage. We use old towels to dry the cars when we wash them (or for the dogs). Pants torn at the knee can be used for cutoff shorts. Worn shoes can be used to play in the mud, in the yard, yard work, etc. Old pans I toss out, that non-stick coating is toxic to ingest when it starts peeling away.

I take all my slightly worn towels and blankets to an animal shelter.

Girls jeans can be cut into shorts and worn again or donated if they are cut neatly.

I don't use teflon pans. I'm afraid of the health risks.

I donate kids shoes and slightly used toys to an organization in an inner city.

I usually throw them all away, except for the towels. We use those in the garage for "garage-y" things, and to wipe down the car after we wash it. And if the shoes are well worn, we use those for yard work, then we pitch them. I guess we are not so "green" in our house.

I would throw everything away except for the towels which I would use for rags.

FYI-if the nonstick surface of the pans are scratched they are not safe to use by anyone.

I worked in the garbage and recycling industry for around 4 years and some recycling facilities will take clothing items. If the pans are *completely* metal (no plastic, rubber, etc.), they can be tossed into your recycling bin in most areas. Call your garbage hauler and ask for recommendations in your area or look up the Solid Waste Department in your city.

Also - if you're able to... you could turn the jean into shorts... just cut off above the holes and hem the bottoms... maybe you could sell or reuse for a younger kid then?

1. - rags or garbage (ask about recycling).
2. donate - kids like torn at the knee or used to anyway. If can't donate then use as rags. Great for car wash (cut zipper or other metal objects off though.)
3. garbage (I am not sure about recycling but you might call the recycling place and ask.)
4. garbage - - very toxic to cook with so if you are buying new please not non-stick pans.
5. rags - they make excellent rags.

N.

Old clothes can always be donated to Value Village, as far as I know. If they can't be sold, they ship them to Africa. Call to confirm?

The jeans could be made into cut off shorts?? Or, if you can sew possibly skirst?

The towels can also go to Value Village and same with the shoes..

1. They get torn up and used as rags. Lots of times I will use them to wipe up stuff I don't want to rinse off, so they take the place of paper towels and get thrown out then.
2. They become shorts.
3. I throw out old worn shoes.
4. I don't use non stick pans, and my cast iron ones will last many many generations.
5. I use bath towels until they fall apart. Then see #1.

I usually offer anything I'm going to throw out on my area free cycle first. It's amazing what people can repurpose. The jeans I would turn into cutoffs or see if there are cute knee patches that could be used on them.