I was just wondering what you all tend to save that would normally be thrown out and what uses you put them too?

Cans, Bottles, Jars, So on so forth.

One thing I try not to throw away is Tortilla chip bags. Strong nicely sized and not greasy inside they can be used for many things when cleaned out.

Jars, cans, bottles and plastic containers with well-fitting lids are sacred around here because of their multiple uses.

Plastic bags, though we're moving more and more to reusable cloth bags.

Dryer lint, toilet paper/paper towel tubes, elastics and twist ties are on the list too.

Plastic shopping bags:
Trash can liners.
Handy way to throw in things for quick transport to a vehicle.

Packing materials:
Reuse for shipping items.
Use when storing items in the attic.

Two liter bottles:
Making ice/water storage.

Junk mail:
After shreding, it is good packing material.

Wire hangers:
Strong, stiff wire for many tasks.

Cat food cans and aluminum beverage bottles make absolutely great alcohol stoves -often with the most basic of tools.

All those wonderful plastic coated wires from DS's toy packages (cut them down to size for twist ties, or leave as is for larger ties). Invariably, these have plastic pieces with predrilled holes in them. I'm sure those can be used for something eventually.

Plastic coated tags, sized right, are a great base for making your own duct tape flat packs, and easier to come by sometimes than old gift cards.

Old gift cards (see above).

Assorted mint, candy, and medicine tins (need I say more).

Almost any container with a lid gets cleaned up and saved for use somewhere else. Plastic peanut butter jars make great all purpose containers.

We recycle cans and cardboard so there's usually plenty hiding around somewhere when needed for other uses.

The list goes on with what others have mentioned: wire hangars, plastic grocery bags, paper bags with attached handles, packing materials (especially bubble wrap - I used a bunch to wrap christmas decorations for storage in the attic).

Trooper, nice call on the shredded paper to be reused for packing material.

Cat food and tuna cans also make good coiled-cardboard + wax or grease Buddy Burners.

If you have some fat candles, they make good candleholders, esp if you push a short nail into the center from the bottom.

Larger cans can be used to collect berries and other edibles. Poke a hole in each side and make a wire handle to hang on a branch while you work, or even put it on your belt.

Regular vegetable cans can be perforated and turned into candle lanterns. Even if you can't read by them, they can mark the way to the privy in the dark.

Emptied and hung on strings from a post (in a cluster), they can warn of giant underground worms.

Shiny aluminum can lids can be hung on strings over a garden area to scare off birds.

Keep the young kids busy with a can/string 'telephone'.

Used to be able to bake bread in cans, does anyone know if it's safe to do so now?

Aluminum cans - if alcohol fuel is available, make a few alcohol stoves for the neighbors in a power outage.

Aluminum soda and beer cans with the tops and bottoms removed (depending on height) provide 30 or 43 sq inches of lightweight, shiny (reflective) sheet metal.

LOL! Gives me tremors just thinking about it.

Those odd plastic packaging they seal products in can be saved and reused as packing materials to fill space in a box. Wadded up newspaper, pages from magazines make good padding. Cardboard boxes, like cereal boxes, can be stored flat and then reassembled as boxes to fill empty spaces and keep fragile stuff from rattling around.

Cardboard boxes flattened and stacked, cheap paperbacks and phone books, get used as backstop materials for pellet gun shooting.

Papers run through a cross-cut shredder make good bedding for pet rodents. Stuffed into an old pillow case they make great filling for a dog bed.

A oddball survivor socks, what he gnomes leave behind, can be stuffed with dried lentils and peas and used as wrist rest in front of the keyboard, gunrests for shooting, no-mar furniture assembly mallet. A pound or two of lintels in a sock, or a couple bars of soap, quickly end encounters when applied firmly to a head without drawing blood.

Sew shut the arm and head holes on an old, faded and pin-holed tee shirt and you have a functional stuff-sack. Takes about a minute on sewing machine. Tie or sew on some lengths of light line and you get a light, cheap, disposable backpack.

The legs of pants make handy stuff sacks, gaiters, camp pillows after a few seconds on the sewing machine.

Mesh onion or citrus or potato bags are great for all sorts of stuff, I particualrly like them for tire chains. These are the heavier bags, not the paper thin ones.

Find a source of roadside billboard plastic sign film, AWSOME. Ususally used once and discarded. Some are heavy with mesh reinforced inbetween the layers. I have some some new VERY thin stuff, not near as nice.

Ironwood

Now that is a resouce I have never thought about. Thanks!