Recycling Zippers

As much as possible, if I'm not going to try to resell clothes that no longer fit, I try to reuse them in other ways. Everything from buttons to zippers are scavenged for later use. You'd be surprised how much those extra notions come in handy when you're working on a last-minute craft project!
A little cardigan of Breanna's had a stain on it which refused to budge despite my best efforts, so before tossing it I decided to take off the zipper which was perfectly reusable.

Use a nice sharp razor blades, lock the children in the closet until you're done, and carefully cut through the stitches that hold the zipper in place.
As soon as you've gotten a little bit of the zipper worked loose it's easy to separate it from the fabric by giving it a gentle tug and then a swipe with the razor blade at the revealed stitching.
Swipe away until your zipper is free!

(Hmmm, that doesn't sound quite right, does it.)