Silly thread for those of us who have been around the block, but useful for those that haven't! (QT: Dryer lint is a very combustable material, and you should empty the lint trap every time you use the dryer + check the vent and tube for clogs on a regular basis.) 1)Fire starter: lint in a TP tube 2)Nest material for our feathered friends 3)Perfect base for homemade paper 4)compost addition 5)tell me more!

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), March 26, 2001

Answers

If you hang your clothes on a line, what happens to the lint? When I do use the dryer I put the lint in the worm bins.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), March 26, 2001.

Gosh.... i wish i could remember the magazine i read the article on by a lady who made crafts from dryer lint. In fact whatever it was she made was in big demand too as she had to ask her neighbors and folks in her church. it may have been countryside, not sure.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 26, 2001.

all my lint blows away with the wind. When I dry my laundry. Never owned a dryer. But what about stuffing for homemade toys? Or putit in the chicken's nest boxes? ( maybe they would try to eat it)?

-- michelle (tsjheath@ainop.com), March 26, 2001.

Spin it. Use it alone to make a novelty thread or card it in with other fibers to make a mix.

-- Maggie's Farm (elemon@peacehealth.org), March 27, 2001.

It's not a very good nesting material for birds; it gets soaked in the rain.

Some people are using cotton dryer lint to make art papers for greeting cards, etc.... Some folks are even selling their dryer lint on eBay for this purpose (I don't know if they're getting buyers tho!)

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), March 27, 2001.

the best use i have found for my lint is to make fire starters out of it. just pack it tightly in a cardboard egg carton and pour melted wax (saved from candles) in over the lint, cool and let wax harden again then tear off into 12 individual little fire starters. this works really good, and for me has eliminated the need for all the paper balls. teresa

-- teresa d. (t1noodles@aol.com), March 27, 2001.

Hey, I like the fire starter idea, since we have a woodstove, but I don't own a dryer - so much for that idea. I love hanging my clothes outside in good weather and on a line over the woodstove in winter.

-- Laura Frohmader (buksnort@mwt.net), March 27, 2001.

Well Laura, try dipping pine cones in wax!!! They look really pretty stacked in a nice basket sitting on the floor next to the stove. Also, if you use scented wax from candle leftovers, they make the room smell good.

-- teresa d (t1noodles@aol.com), March 27, 2001.

If its even a single degree above zero, my clothes are outside. But, when I had a dryer, since I don't by blend or synthetic clothing, I used the lint to stuff pin cushions and such like. If the fibers are natural, AND you don't use dryer sheets, they won't burn any more than the fiber would in a garment. But... Its those blasted chemicals - they burn worse than wildfire. Also - if packed really tight, they burn far less...

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), March 27, 2001.

and let's not forget belly button lint, for those with innys. ??? spell checker was no help with that one.

-- jz (oz49us@yahoo.com), March 27, 2001.

Kathy, You can mix it with water and press it flat to make homemade paper. Pretty cool and it is multicolored as well! Sincerely, Ernest http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks

-- Ernest in the Ozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), March 29, 2001.

A friend was telling me today of a 12 year old girl that was on the Jay Leno show. She has been saving lint since she was 3 years old. She didn't know WHY she saved it, she just did! She now has her mom wash clothes separately so she can get different colors. She makes stationery and when she writes someone a letter, she uses the sheets she's made and pressed seeds into them. She tells her friends to plant the letter after reading it so they can have some pretty flowers.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), March 30, 2001.

We use it like cotton inside of tp tubes, sprayed with tick pesticide. What this accomplishes: you put these out in the forest on the edge of the clearings inside of hollow logs, burrows etc. Mice come in and find it and make nests of it, and the deer ticks (where most lymes disease comes from) attached to the field mice, come in contact with it and are killed by it. Just a little trick of the trade. Cotton will do the same, but the lint's free. Just FYI

-- Action Dude (theactiondude@yahoo.com), March 30, 2001.