27 Creative Uses for Everyday Items

Everyone, especially busy moms, need shortcuts and smart tricks, now known as “hacks” to make life easier. I put these ideas together from things that have worked around my very busy household with 5 kids and a husband. I’m also a prepper and have worked on having a prepared home and family — which just adds to my To Do list!

These are great!

1.  Put a wet clean sponge in a zip lock bag and keep in the freezer for a non-drippy ice pack. This same sponge in a bag could also be used to keep food cold in a lunch box.

2.  Slice a pool noodle length wise and wrap on legs and edges of furniture, outdoor poles and walkers for the elderly. This will prevent bumps on toddlers, kids and cuts on fragile elderly skin.

3.  Put hanging shoe holders inside all of your closet doors. They hold bathroom items, office supplies, cleaners, toys, emergency items and shoes!

4.  Keep those plastic pant hangers when purchasing clothes. Use them to hold purses, hats, scarves and other items in your closet. They keep things off the ground, save space and are free.

5.  Can’t find a good long handled kitchen brush to clean water bottles and other containers with? Buy a toilet brush! Get one where the bristles are rounded at the end.

6.  Put money in a small envelope and then place in a sanitary napkin wrapper. No one will ever suspect that there is money inside.

7.  In a pinch, you can use metal pots, pans and baking dishes to make ice. The metal will help freeze the water faster, and you determine the size of cubes you want when you break up the large piece of ice. Large chunks or ice frozen in a bundt pan works well in punch bowls.

8.  Pin a safety pin or two inside the straps of your bras and in your key chains. In an emergency, you will have one handy.

9.  Upload your user manuals onto a cloud. You can obtain the digital version of the manual from the manufactures website. You’ll be able to access these anywhere that you have a wifi connection, and there’s no personal information floating around that you wouldn’t want someone to access.

10. If you have broken glass on the floor, use white bread to get the small pieces up. Blot around the floor and the glass will stick to the bread.

11. Clean your BBQ grill with a cut onion. It will help remove food and leave some flavor on the grill.

12. Save prescription containers, plastic gum containers (like Mentos, Ice Cubes) and use them to hold small items that get lost or tangled in your purse. They are great to hold earbuds, small first aid kit, loose change, etc. Don’t forget to put them in your glove compartment too.

13. Keep emergency cash in between your phone and its case.

14. Use dishwashing gloves to open difficult jars.

15. Line taco shells with a lettuce leaf. If the shells break you won’t lose your filling.

16. Use utensil trays in other rooms in the house. They are great for jewelry, sewing notions, hair items, make up, craft drawers, office desk drawers and small items on the work bench in the garage.

17. Use dryer sheets everywhere! Under the car seats, linen closets, air ducts, dresser drawers, empty suitcases… the possibilities are endless.

18. Schedule your families’ doctor, dentist, and other appointments during their birth month. It will help you remember when to schedule the appointments!

19. Keep grocery bags in old tissue boxes. They hold more than you think!

20. Don’t throw away old socks. They are great to dust with. Put them on your hands and easily clean blinds and other odd shaped things.

21. Tiny octopus type hair clips are great for holding rolled up earbud cords.

22. Always keep some gallon size zip lock bags in your vehicle. From trash to vomit, it will contain most messes. Zip the top and drive to the nearest trash can.

23. In desperate need of a ruler? A dollar bill is about 6 inches long. The tiles in most stores are 12 X 12.

24. Use your camera to take pictures of items while you are taking them apart. It makes it easier to put them back together.

25. Use an apple corer on potatoes. You have perfectly shaped wedges.

26. Use a shower caddy in the truck of your vehicle to hold funnels, oil, antifreeze and rags.

27. Line the shelves of the refrigerator with wax paper or the press and seal type paper. It makes clean up easy!