Bucket Ideas?

Stiffchick · #1 09/18/12, 05:35 AM

Hi Everyone!

Currently my husband is working cleaning pools. We get about 2-3 five gallon buckets a week when he is done using the chemicals inside. We use one every week or so to clean the cat litter boxes, but the others are just piling up in the yard.

I dont feel confident about using them for food, or food products. They previously held chlorine tablets. We wash them, but they still smell.

I for the life of me cannot figure out what else I can use these buckets for. I feel guilty everytime I look at them and they are not being used. We currently do not have a farm. just me and him and our pets in a house in the suburbs of Phoenix.

Does anyone have some suggestions? Any would be appreciated. I dont want them to end up in a landfill, at least not before they are thouroughly used.

Thank you!

Alice In TX/MO · #2 09/18/12, 05:54 AM

Look on the bottom to see what kind of plastic they are and recycle.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-h...lastics-460321

gilberte · #3 09/18/12, 06:13 AM

We only get about one a year with our pool. If you leave them out in the sun, uncovered, the chlorine odor will dissapate. List them on CL, lots of folks looking for buckets. Or recycle.

Mid Tn Mama · #4 09/18/12, 06:26 AM

Trade them on craigslist for what you DO need: seeds, topsoil, fruit trees--you get it. Someone has more than they need of that stuff and NEED a bucket.

I know of a woman who trades seedlings (which she grows for zero dollars) for good potting soil, which she would have to buy. It's a win, win.

**clovis** · #5 09/18/12, 06:28 AM

Do you have the lids too? People love having lids.

I'd give them away on CL, or trade them for something.

Stiffchick · #6 09/18/12, 06:34 AM

Oh yes, they have lids! very nice locking lids. I have never thought of bartering them! What wonderful Ideas, I knew you all would come up with something! Thank you.

meanwhile · #7 09/18/12, 07:03 AM

They can be used to store nails, cat litter, most anything in the barns. We use buckets that size to hold kindling. We break sticks and stand them up in the buckets (no lids) and stack in the wood shed. We also use them to break or split fat-pine for kindling. Stand up the split pine pieces in the buckets and stack in wood shed.

Steve L. · #8 09/18/12, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stiffchick

...I dont feel confident about using them for food, or food products. They previously held chlorine tablets...

So, do you not "feel confident" about swimming in these pools?

fantasymaker · #9 09/18/12, 07:28 AM

Flower pots? Bird houses?

Ken Scharabok · #10 09/18/12, 07:28 AM

I don't know how people farmed or homesteaded before the 5-gallon plastic bucket became available. Next time you are in say Wal-Mart, check out their prices on buckets and lids. Should be near the paint section.

When I added shelves to a storage building I specifically spaced them to take the height of a bucket. Great for storing electic fence accessories.

There are various accessories available for them, such as a tool storage apron which goes around the top and a padded seat.

I use two to bring in a 50-lb bag of shelled corn. Evens out the load.

featherbottoms · #11 09/18/12, 08:55 AM

Ken is right, have you priced buckets and lids lately? Used to be able to get them for free in the bakery at different grocery stores but that's getting harder to do now. The local grocery store in our town saves them all for one person. Couldn't even get 1 bucket a while back.

Last year I bought some of the silver mylar bags that fit inside a 5 gallon bucket and used some sheetrock mud buckets to store all kinds of things. Granted, that stuff doesn't smell. In your case I would just air the buckets out a few days and then store whatever I wanted, including food items, in the bags with the bags in the buckets. Add a desiccant, close the tops of the bags really good and seal the lids. I'd think if something is in the mylar bag that it wouldn't absorb the odor of the chlorine.

I wouldn't give away or trade all my buckets.

solidwoods · #12 09/18/12, 09:07 AM

You would be amazed at the number of people that want buckets.
Invent a BSF harvesting composter using the bucket as the core.
Looks like the best one on the mkt is almost $200.
jim

greg_n_ga · #13 09/18/12, 10:06 AM

I wish I could get my hands on some of the ones with locking (screw on) lids like those. I get 5 gallon buckets from a local painter when I need a few !! Very handy for a lot of stuff !!

PD-Riverman · #14 09/18/12, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stiffchick

Hi Everyone!

Currently my husband is working cleaning pools. We get about 2-3 five gallon buckets a week when he is done using the chemicals inside. We use one every week or so to clean the cat litter boxes, but the others are just piling up in the yard.

I dont feel confident about using them for food, or food products. They previously held chlorine tablets. We wash them, but they still smell.

I for the life of me cannot figure out what else I can use these buckets for. I feel guilty everytime I look at them and they are not being used. We currently do not have a farm. just me and him and our pets in a house in the suburbs of Phoenix.

Does anyone have some suggestions? Any would be appreciated. I dont want them to end up in a landfill, at least not before they are thouroughly used.

Thank you!

I use this from tractor supply to clean big barrels then air dry them for a few days. I mix enough for a barrel, let it sit for a few hours then transfer the liquid to another barrel etc to save on mixing. I still would not use the buckets to store food but they should be good around the farm etc.

Protank Liquid Cleaner, 1 qt. - 4201797 | Tractor Supply Company

Ken Scharabok · #15 09/18/12, 12:28 PM

Most of my buckets come from hydraulic oil. Drain off any remaining oil into another container. Then add dishwashing detergent and fill with water to top. After setting for a couple of days that water is poured off and the inside scrubbed with dishwater detergent again. When rinsed out, no particular oil smell.

grannygardner · #16 09/18/12, 12:28 PM

I get the chlorine buckets that are taller than a five gallon bucket from friends who own a pool company. I wash them good with vinegar, then set them in the sun for a few days until the odor dissipates. I use one in the laundry room to store my homemade laundry soap. I planted tomatoes and peppers in six of them this year and had good luck with the plants. We have several in the storage shed with all kinds of items stored in them.

Dusky Beauty · #17 09/18/12, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grannygardner

I get the chlorine buckets that are taller than a five gallon bucket from friends who own a pool company. I wash them good with vinegar, then set them in the sun for a few days until the odor dissipates. I use one in the laundry room to store my homemade laundry soap. I planted tomatoes and peppers in six of them this year and had good luck with the plants. We have several in the storage shed with all kinds of items stored in them.

When I had a pool, I was too concerned about chemicals leeching into soil to use them for a potted food garden, and didn't want to poison my livestock either.

I used them with the lids for storing non eating items like cat litter, tools and tack, but unless someone knows enough about chemistry to lay my fears to rest I still wouldn't let them come into any contact with a substance intended to be ingested.

dancingfatcat · #18 09/18/12, 06:08 PM

Here's an idea...........sorry, I don't know how to post pictures

Vertical Bucket Ladder Herb Garden

dancingfatcat · #19 09/18/12, 06:20 PM

Or maybe make a fountain using one?
DIY backyard fountain- complete with tutorial! « Hip House Girl

jwal10 · #20 09/18/12, 06:22 PM

Build a chicken feeder on the cheep by Linda Slate Issue #119

I have the yellow trays that fit inside a 5 gallon bucket and buy a lid that is padded, makes a nice stool and I have nails, sheetrock screws, electrical wire nuts, etc in them. My storage shed shelves hold them 1 deep and 4 high....James