You know the ones I'm talking about: the 5-gallon buckets that you use for an assortment of things. Lowe's and Home Depot sell them for under $5. I see people throwing them out all the time. Heck, even restaurants and delis compile a bunch of them and throw them away.
If you only knew how useful or fun they are, maybe you'd might dumpster dive a little too.
image source
Here is a list of seven things you can do with those buckets. I've put them in order from EASY, using little to no effort, to Here's a supply list - have fun and be patient.
You'll never look at 5-gallon buckets the same again!
Keep in mind that even the ones with cracks and holes have some use.
1. Bucket Pong
This is a great game for hot summer days and friendly for all ages.
You need a minimum of 12 buckets, but ideally 20 for this lawn version of bucket pong.
Think beer pong with buckets.
Obviously, you’re not going to fill your buckets with beer - *or maybe you will?
Set your buckets like bowling pins and fill 1/4- to 1/2-way with water. If you get the ball in the opposing team’s bucket, it gets dumped on them. Fun, right?
Momtastic has another version to play - and she includes pictures.
Image source
2. Garden
Bucket gardens are awesome!
I have a bucket garden and I've yielded tomatoes, blueberries, and a bunch of cooking herbs like oregano, parsley, basil. I've even used my buckets to start lemon trees and avocado trees, so once they're hardy enough, I can transplant them in their permanent home.
Here's a video I did for one of my old blogs: Budget Badass. Um... just ignore the patreon stuff at the end. I haven't visited patreon since I've found #Steemit
More reasons why bucket gardens are great
- Great for small spaces
- Mobile so you can bring them indoors in the cold season - or hot season, depending on your plants and zone)
- They are deep enough for root plants like carrots, beets, potatoes and onions
- No worries about planting something next to the wrong thing and affecting the pH, potassium, or nitrogen in the soil.
Oh, and if you don't like Lowe's blue or Home Depot orange, some of you creative people can decorate your buckets. I'm partial to taking old rope and wrapping the buckets so it has kind of an old pier look to it.
3. Camp Toilet
Have you ever gone on long trips with small children? Holy gotta go, Batman!
Whether you're traveling or roughing it in the woods...or maybe your plumbing took a dump and you don't have running water at the house. This is a humble, cost effective way of going to the loo so you're not hanging your butt over some guardrail. Yeah, I've had to do that on a random highway a time or two in my youth.
I found this on YouTube. Grant Thompson actually puts together a great “bug-out” bucket for emergencies.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you find yourself in a position where you are using a camp toilet, invest in quality trash liners - trust me on this! The last thing you want is pee and poo leakage. It gets everywhere!
4. Washer
Whether your camping or storms took out your electricity - or maybe you simply don't have a washer and dryer, here is a great idea for washing small amounts of clothes without killing your hands on a wash board.
TinyHouseListings has one version of the washing machine that works effectively. If I ever get around to making my own video, I may post this again, but i nthe meantime, watch how easy this is.
5. Nesting box for chickens
I don't have chickens yet, but my goal is to have a few hens for fresh eggs and home-raised chickens by next year!
Chickens love their own nesting space and these buckets provide it.
There are a few reasons you may want your nesting boxes off the ground:
- Eggs are easier to collect.
- Keeps them off the ground to easily clean the coop
So... you may have to build a rack system.
Here’s a great article with image source by Thomas Byres on How to Raise Backyard Chickens Easily.
6. Water feature
I LOVE THIS
I simply love the sound of moving water and this appeals to me on so many levels.
This video is pretty awesome by HowToLou
Now, I’ll be honest - this project is probably a bit more involved than I was thinking but I can’t find a video with the fountain idea I’ve got in my head. You know what that means, right? I’ll have to make my own video one of these days.
7. Air Conditioner
What a cool concept! (pun intended)
DesertSun02 really puts together a great solar powered air conditioner - so not only is your investment in supplies low, you're not even using traditional electricity! How great would this be to have a little cool spot when you're camping in the woods or sweating in your room because the A/C is broken?
Final thoughts
Do yourself and the environment a favor and keep these 5-gallon buckets out of the landfills.
My neighbor had about 8 buckets that he was going to throw out because he had no use for them. Are you kidding me?
"I'll take them if you're gonna throw them out anyway."
Well, my husband thought I was nuts dragging home old dirty buckets but once I repurposed them for my garden, but my husband and neighbor were pretty impressed.
Old buckets are everywhere. People store them in their garage, in the basement, or on the side of the house. Restaurants and delis are always accumulating buckets because that's what the pickles and kraut, and a whole lot of products get delivered in.
{Freecycle.org](http://www.freecycle.org) is dedicated to keeping all their listings FREE; their initiative is to keep items that can be recycled or repurposed out of the landfills.
Sure, you can buy a bucket for under $5 but it’s so much better when you get them for free.
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Meredith Loughran blogs at ScribblingBandits.com | Follow her on Twitter & SnapChat or LinkedIn