Last weekend I pondered the many uses of newspapers beyond reading them as my husband and I used a stack of old ones while washing windows at our house.
My mother taught me to wash windows with vinegar and water and to dry them with old newspapers to prevent streaking the window panes. She probably got this notion from her mother or from Heloise’s Hints (a newspaper column centered on household tips popular years ago). Old newspapers are better than cloth rags or paper towels as they don’t leave residue and instead, they leave the panes squeaky-clean and streak-free. Using old papers is a way of repurposing them as well as saving money on paper towels and saving time on washing out cloth rags. We used this method every summer while I was growing up in central Mississippi. When Mark and I married I carried this method into our own window washing. Lucky for me, he usually helps with this chore and is appreciative of the newspaper strategy.
Indeed, newspapers have numerous uses beyond their content of information. For example, their pages make great fire starters. Scrunch a few loose sheets, insert them between pieces of firewood and kindling in the fireplace and light an edge of the paper. The fire will slowly take a blaze and then cause the kindling to crackle as the burn begins.
Another use of old newspapers revolves around wrapping glassware, ceramics or other items that need protection from potential breakage. One might need to wrap chinaware or crystal in newspapers to protect them from chipping if packing for a move or for storage. It can be fun to empty boxes in an attic or storage room that have been packed away for years; in doing so, one can take a step back in time to read news events or look at photographs printed in the paper of what happened during the time period the items were stowed.
Newspapers make great barriers for projects that involve spray paint or any other messy tasks. They are good for lining an automobile’s cargo area when transporting flowers or plants to keep the soil off the car’s carpet. They are also good for lining shelves in storage sheds instead of spending money on expensive shelf liners. Newspapers are also good for lining bird cages, for creating puppy pads or for wrapping fish.
While we are thankful weekly newspapers are still around and provide both news content and subsequent household usefulness, the daily newspapers seem to be disappearing. The colorful comic section of old daily newspapers provided a great resource for wrapping presents. It used to be a barrel of fun to get a birthday gift wrapped in the funny papers! And what about using Silly Putty with those newspaper comics? Have you ever mimicked an image of a comic strip using Silly Putty? I’ll bet you have or that you know someone who has.
Finally, there’s my favorite use of old newspapers. It’s the clippings. Clippings of obituaries, high school sports photographs, wedding announcements and other life events are often found among the pages of family Bibles and books. Sometimes we stumble across them in desk drawers or in memorabilia boxes in our own homes or in the homes of loved ones. People used to clip these with the intention of placing them in scrapbooks; however, most often the clippings ended up in furniture drawers and became treasured discoveries for finders years later.
Whether you are reading one or repurposing one, a newspaper has its place. And if you are thinking of window washing, I suggest you start saving your old papers because they make great drying materials.
