Lint: Save Money & Recycle

Guest Writer:  Ruth Morse

I have a couple of very important questions.  These are not profound, earth shattering questions.  The answers won't help bring world peace.  They won't find a cure for a catastrophic illness.
But this particular subject BUGS ME!  And I offer some helpful hints  on how to recycle your lint, many different things you can do with it.

Are you ready for the questions?  Here we go....

Question #1:  Where does all that lint in the dryer come from??

I understand lint after drying a load of fluffy bath towels.  Or brand new sweatshirts.  Or even sweaters.
But, it's always there, no matter what was in the load!

I mean, these might be Jim's well-used Land's End tee shirts.  I washed them last week!  How come they produced more lint this week?  Jim doesn't WORK in a lint factory.  I'm beginning to think we LIVE in one.  I don't see lint in the air.  I don't find it on the floor.  The only place it appears is in the dryer filter.  What gives?

Short pause while ya'll ponder that question.

Question #2:  Is there any good use for lint?

Walmart and JoAnn's sell big bags of poly-fill.  Is that just glorified lint?  Are there hoards of people saving  their dryer lint to sell?  Is this a home-based business opportunity that I have overlooked?

Out of curiosity, I just googled "uses for dryer lint."  There were 40,600 hits!  Obviously, I have been throwing away a valuable resource.

Want to know what some of them said?  Brace Yourself.

• Use it as packing material when you ship a present.  I don't know how you are going to explain that to Aunt Minerva, but give it a try.
• Spin it like wool into thread and use it to weave, crochet or knit.  Please don't send me a scarf made out of this stuff.
• Use as mulch around your plants to protect them in cold weather.  Huh?  Some people must have higher quality, better looking lint than we do.
• Use it carefully because it is highly flammable.  Which leads to another use:  fire starters.  Stuff a bunch in an egg carton, pour melted paraffin over the mess.  They say you can just break off a chunk and throw it into the fireplace or fire pit to get your wood going.  I suppose you'd better use a cardboard egg carton, unless you enjoy melting foam fumes along with burning lint fumes.

Once I got to the disclaimer about lint being flammable, I lost all interest in molding, stuffing, creating, gluing, or bedazzling my old tired lint.

And that leads to the one serious suggestion in this whole post:  clean your lint filter every time you use the dryer.  Routinely check the vent opening outside the house (editor's note:  Wha???) for accumulating lint. (Editor's note:  Yikes)  If possible, clean the entire dryer hose annually.
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...and one more thing......
uh, I'll get back to you when I remember it.
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The Cheap Senior Citizen is a Guest Writer who occasionally shares helpful hints she has learned through her experience.
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