REUSE IT!: Shredding Paper ---> Scratch Paper and Bookmarks

I was shredding some paperwork that I didn't need anymore.

Shredding can be hard work. But what happens to the unused part of the paper? It goes through the shredder regardless, when it could've been used for something else. Plus, the shredder works hard to shred every piece of paper that you would feed into it--the last thing you want to do is overwork it, and have it overheat on you.

FOR THE RECORD: The paper examples showed in the visuals are from some of the essays (drafts) that I would write during my time in school. I was shredding drafts that I no longer needed. (That's all part of being a writer, keeping drafts and discarding them for something better.)

SCRATCH PAPER

Now, I'm a writer, and I would jot down any ideas whenever they would come to mind. I also have a habit of writing grocery lists every time I go to the market to buy groceries. I even write To-Do lists--imagine that! But the thing is, I don't see myself going to the store just to buy a small pad of sticky notes that will only run out eventually.

So given that I don't want to waste paper, I decided to look through some of the paper that I want to shred, and cut off the blank, unused parts of the paper into small but sufficiently-sized scratch paper.

This way, not only are you reusing paper, but you're also indulging your inner-writer: jotting down ideas, keeping lists, etc.

DISCLAIMER: Adults are allowed to handle the scissors.

BOOKMARKS

I'm also an avid reader. Every time I start reading a book, I can't help but pick up a small piece of paper and use it as a bookmark. NEVER WOULD I EVER buy a bookmark at a store--I would use that kind of money to save up for a puppet friend for either Serena

or our bookworm Dylan!

So going back to the paper that we want to shred--cutting off a small rectangular portion of some paper that we want to shred…

that would be a bookmark that I would use.

It's nothing fancy, but it's doable.

Once you cut and separate the unused parts of the papers that you want to shred, the labor would be less time-consuming, and it would be less stress on your shredder--again, the last thing you want is for your shredder to die on you from too much labor.

Also, ANOTHER DISCLAIMER: Cutting the paper with scissors should be done moderately, so that you can avoid carpal tunnel in the hands.

So, this was something that I was fiddling with when I was shredding paper, because trust me--having a lot of papers is a lot to handle, especially when you're a writer trying to make note of everything that you want to put in a story. That's me: the busy writer.
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So yeah, this was my first segment of REUSE IT! I'll probably do another one of these in the future, because when I start constructing projects (arts-and-crafts wise). Part of my inspiration for this segment came from Noel Macneal's book Box! Castles, Kitchens, and Other Cardboard Creations for Kids.

He had some good ideas on how to reuse stuff to create something new or to make it more effective in its use.
So, in the future, another segment of REUSE IT! will come soon on this blog.