I will preface this post with a confession. The story that illustrates my ingenuity and resourcefulness predates my commitment to reducing plastic and I did eventually replace my homemade item with a plastic one.

Back when I lived on a property that has partly forested, I had the crappy little plastic arm that lifts up the chain inside the toilet tank break. Rather than go to the store 40 miles away for a new crappy plastic arm, I looked around in the back yard for a branch that would make a suitable replacement. It actually worked quite well. I did not count the flushes, there were probably less than 10,000. I think it was eventually replaced for social reasons rather than practical ones.