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The Last Thing You Should Do with an Empty Toilet Paper Roll

Shifrah Combiths
Shifrah Combiths
With five children, Shifrah is learning a thing or two about how to keep a fairly organized and pretty clean house with a grateful heart in a way that leaves plenty of time for the people who matter most. Shifrah grew up in San Francisco, but has come to appreciate smaller town life in Tallahassee, Florida, which she now calls home. She's been writing professionally for twenty years and she loves lifestyle photography, memory keeping, gardening, reading, and going to the beach with her husband and children.
published Sep 24, 2023
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Credit: Kath Nash

The Instant Pot! Your blender! That new air fryer you just got! The number of kitchen gadgets we need to plug in has increased dramatically, even in just the last few years. Know what else has increased? The number of cords that go with them. Add in your phone, laptop, and AirPods, and you’ve got a whole tangled mess of electric cords! Most likely on your kitchen counter. But we’ve got the perfect solution to untangle you from that mess.

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Credit: Sarah Crowley

Use Empty Toilet Paper Tubes to Organize Electric Cords

The next time you finish up a roll of toilet paper, rather than toss that empty cardboard tube straight into the recycle bin, you should give it another life as a cord organizer! It turns out, a humble, empty toilet paper roll can make your cord situation so much better.

Here’s what you do: Wrap cords neatly and tuck them into an empty toilet paper tube. Then, just label the tube with the device it charges in order to take the guesswork out of identifying which cord goes with which item. You can even add colorful washi tape to spice it up! Nest your cord collection in a box or a kitchen drawer. This act of tidiness will help you locate exactly what you need, right when you need it.

Related: The Last Thing You Should Do with a Paper Towel Tube Before You Recycle It

In addition to corralling loose charging cables (and the extension cord for your slow cooker!) that might otherwise be cluttering your kitchen counter, you can also use toilet paper tubes to neaten up the cords that are still attached to your small kitchen appliances. Whether it’s the electric cord from your stand mixer or slow cooker, errant cords are messy and can make it hard to pull out appliances or put them away. Storing appliance cords inside toilet paper tubes gets them completely out of the way.

Do you have any smart ideas to reuse empty toilet paper tubes? Share your ideas in the comments below.

This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: The Last Thing You Should Do with an Empty Toilet Paper Roll

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