Preparing to Build a Homemade Worm Bin

You're going to have to do some shopping and general collecting of items before you actually build a bin. 

You'll need to purchase:

• two matching 10-gallon totes, not clear ones as worms are light sensitive, don't forget a lid
• one will be the actual worm bin, the other a catch bin for potential leakage -- don't worry, it's just a precaution to prevent worm drowning as overfeeding is the initial tendency
• Sterilite brand at Big Lots are blue
• Rubbermaid brand at Target are purple
• a drill with various bits, if you don't have one already. Or borrow one from your neighbor.
• a small garden cultivator
• spray bottle for misting
• the cultivator and bottle aren't necessary for building the bin, but will be handy later. Do some one-stop shopping.

You'll need to save up some:

• paper, cut* into strips or pieces about 1"
• newspaper
• phone books
• grocery bags
• egg cartons
• shredded bills and old checks
• cardboard tubes from paper towel or toilet paper
• used paper towel or napkins (not saturated with chemicals such as 409 from wiping down the stove-top)
• pizza boxes or equivalent cardboard
• avoid anything glossy!
• water
• plastic 2L juice bottles or equivalent to elevate your worm bin over the catch bin
• vegetarian food, preferably old and chopped
• the smaller the food, the quicker the worms can eat it

If you've opted to purchase worms, you can round up your materials while you wait for the worms to arrive.

Oh, and how much dry paper products will you need? About enough to fill both bins when cut into strips or pieces.

*A paper cutter is extremely handy, especially if you have tendonitis like me.  Using scissors or tearing by hand two boxes of paper all at once is almost a nightmare, I'll be honest. And any three-year-old you might have handy will get tired fairly quick when put to this task.  Those wee ones just don't have much stamina. Fortunately, I scored a paper cutter for $5 at the Costa Mesa swapmeet.