In two weeks, I will be flying 1500 miles to be in NH with my family for Christmas. The last time I was there, the zipper on the main compartment of the Samsonite suitcase (which I have had since the 10th grade) completely broke on the morning that I flew back to MS. TSA helpfully strapped my suitcase closed, and I made it back to MS without losing anything from my luggage. I then promptly blocked the somewhat shameful experience out of my mind until it resurfaced about three days ago when I started thinking about what I needed to pack for the next trip to NH. I went into panic mode for a little while, wondering how I was going to purchase a decent suitcase on such short notice and ridiculing myself for not being more prepared. I prayed that God would not punish me for my inactivity by making me fly home with my old nasty suitcase and that He would help me find a new one in time. Thankfully, while visiting a holiday craft fair, I came across a booth selling some relatively cheap but very cute luggage sets. I purchased an incredibly tacky brown and teal damask suitcase, duffel, and train case and returned home, satisfied with my purchase and feeling as though all was well in my world...
...until the question arose: What to do with my old suitcase?
It is taking up precious closet real estate in my tiny, almost storage-space-less house. Its broken zipper mocks me every time I go into the closet. "What are you going to do with me? You can't put me in the trash. 100,000 years from now someone is going to dig me up and think about what a wasteful person you must have been. Muahahahaha!"
Obviously, this suitcase situation is making me a little bit insane. I tried turning to the internet, the saving grace of every inane question which my overstimulated brain can formulate. I was extremely disappointed to find posts such as this as the main hits on my google search:
And this, when I googled about recycling my old coffeemaker as well:
Why do some people have such a horrible attitude about recycling? Americans spend so much time working to earn money so that they can purchase everything that they want, a privilege that the other 90% of the world does not and will not ever have, and then, when they are finished with these things that they so desperately needed to have, they
throw
them
away,
as though they never cared anything for the items in the first place.
I have always been of the opinion that everything can be reused as something else. Most of the things on my "American Desires" list include projects that I can make myself out of old wine bottles, cardboard boxes, milk cartons, plastic bags... you get the point. I find it both fun and funky to decorate my house with the reused items. I have a handbag, sewn by my friend Dan, that was made out of an old pair of his pants. I planted an indoor tabletop garden in some old, broken mugs that I bought when I first went to college. I make yarn out of plastic bags, and then knit them into new, sturdy bags (that can be recycled when they break!). Anything that cannot be turned into something else gets recycled. Anything that can't be recycled goes into the trash, and I have limited my trash output to about one small bag per week.
Some might say that I am just doing these things to make myself "feel better," and that might be part of it, but I really enjoy the satisfaction that comes from recycling and upcycling. It saves me from having to spend a lot of money purchasing mass produced items, and much of my stuff is unique, since it was handmade!
Anyway, back to the suitcase dilemma. I did visit a great website, earth911.com, where I found a ton of ideas for recycling, reusing, and purchasing earth-friendly items, but nothing about suitcases. Finally, I found a post about turning an old suitcase into a bed for your pet. While my suitcase is not nearly this stylish, it will make a nice place for my dog to rest. I can also store dog supplies in the top pocket. Perhaps it will keep her from getting my couch all hairy.
So, what about you? Have you turned an old suitcase into something cool? I would love to hear about it!
