Turning labelling on its environmental ear

Along with thinking waaahhhyyyy too much about what everything around me means, I spend lots of energy on finding ways to re-use common products.

My motivation is not all planet-motivated, though that's a much more trendy way to position it these days. I have been an ardent re-purposer of things since far before it became trendy.

I don't aim to brag, as this quirk is partly also motivated by my overly practical - some have said neurotic - need to put everything to good use.

Finally, it's been more motivated of late by my commitment to simplifying my life; my system involves not bringing any more stuff into our home. This year I proclaimed "Make the most of what you already have" to be my mission statement for '07. It's a spiritual mantra, but I also mean it literally.

Prodded on by debt and lack of free time (I have a 3-year-old - nuff said?), I need to cut down on the cash I spend on stuff it turns out I usually don't need - hence the word "already".

That toddler I mentioned brings with her the need to manage a whole other whack of stuff besides my own. So, I am simplifying and - with an attitude of gratitude - making the most of what is already here.

And so to the point...
In a roundabout way, this brings me back to the title and its photo.

One of the ways I re-use or re-purpose things is by finding creative ways to re-use product packaging.

Since so many more types of product now enter my home - the kid again! - I have more colourful options from which to choose. So I'm finding new re-uses, too.

The Hello Kitty bookmark above is but one example. It's torn from the insert on her Size 3 underwear (of which she currently goes through scores per week). I also use the rigid cardboard box illustrations as "buddies" for my daughter; we laminate or stand them up for her to act out little plays with. Or, we give them to her to draw, colour or put stickers onto.

Thumbing the nose at - or propagating - the Brandish Invasion?

I once saw a 60-minutes about a guy in the U.S. who had written to every marketing company he could, in order to begin receiving sacks of junk post. The segment took you through the time he spent writing to these firms, and walked you through his shed, where he kept most of his "winnings." Only at the very end did we find out that by guaranteeing this mail he had secured all his home heating material for that winter - and then we pan to him feeding flyers into his woodstove (you almost can hear the maniacal laughter in the background).

So my little revolt is not quite at that level. And indeed, I might feel rather smug at having thumbed my nose at the product's original makers by ripping its package into fragments of its former likeness.

But then, you could also argue that I am only working to further propagate the company's brand - and even placing the product in unexpected, and therefore, effective, places.

But either way, I still think it's better than sticking it in the recycling bin.