Last October we pulled a few of our favorite ideas from Real Simple's book 869 New Uses for Old Things. The book is full of great tips for rethinking and reusing items around the home. Here are 11 more particularly suited to this time of the year! (My favorite? The garden hose rack for storing Christmas tree lights!)
- Apple container: to store fragile holiday ornaments.
- Aluminum foil: twist foil into links to make sparkly garland for a homemade party decoration.
- Branches: to make an instant holiday centerpiece or spruce up a wrapped gift.
- Candy canes: to create sweet cupcake toppers.
- Chalk: to slow tarnish on the good silverware, tie up a few pieces of chalk in cheesecloth and store them with cutlery to absorb moisture.
- Floss (unwaxed): to truss a turkey or a chicken (if you forgot to pick up twine).
- Garden hose rack: to streamline your holiday decorating. Wrap strings of lights around the rack so they stay tangle-free.
- Ink pad: avoid licking stamps when holiday-card season arrives. Replace a dried-out ink pad with a damp sponge and use it to seal envelopes and affix stamps.
- Nutcracker: use to twist off a stuck cap. A nutcracker lends extra gripping power when you're dealing with stubborn tops of soda bottles.
- Raisins: to restore bubbles to champagne. Drop a raisin (or three) into near-flat sparkling wine to release any last bubbles.
- Umbrella stand: use to contain gift-wrapping supplies.
See more at New Uses for Old Things, and buy the book at Amazon ($17.99).
(Images: Real Simple. Originally published 2010-12-01)
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I hadn't heard of no. 5 before, and no. 7 is brilliant!
I kind of feel like the garden hose rack for lights idea is a bit over-the-top. It seems like an expensive way to store lights 11 months of the year, even if you do have a happy hour or two unwinding the lights. Also, how many strings would they hold?
I'd suggest some kind of cardboard or wooden spool. Unless, of course, you've got a few extra hose racks just collecting dust.
Oops -- the rest are, of course, pretty brilliant. Don't mean to be a nitpicking downer. :-)
The hose rack is a great idea and we have used it for storing the outdoor lights...keeps them tangle free and easy to put back up the next year!
Thanks for the other ideas too!