38 New Uses For Common Household Clutter

From the impact of municipal solid waste and methane gas on the environment to the impact of household clutter on mental health, there’s no doubt that waste and clutter affect our lives every day. 

But taking that first step toward upcycling and downsizing can feel like crossing a canyon!

This helpful guide will teach you how to achieve a sustainable lifestyle by reusing household items in creative ways. 

Everything can have another use; it’s just a case of thinking outside the box. Try some of these ideas and get your old items working for you again.

From glass jars to wine bottles, we’ll share how these 38 seemingly ordinary pieces of waste can be repurposed.

We’ll also reveal how SelfStorage.com can help keep your life decluttered once you’ve upcycled those old things.

Creative Solutions for Reusing Household Items in the Kitchen

1. Paper Plates: Put paper plates between your non-stick pans, fine china, or glass dishes to stop them from getting scratched when in storage.
2. Mustard and Soy Sauce Packets: Put to-go sauce packets in a ziplock bag and store them in the freezer, and use them as mini ice packs you can slip inside lunch boxes and plastic containers on the go. 
3. Supermarket Bottle Carrier: Turn these cardboard bottle carriers into a condiment kit, with your salt, pepper, mustard, and ketchup in the slots. You can mount it on the pantry door for spice organization, or slip mason jars into the carrier’s cardboard tubes/compartments and use it as a portable picnic set. 
4. Mousepad: Home chefs can use non-plastic mousepads as hot pads for resting hot pans on. You can also put mousepads under plant pots and pet food bowls to stop them from sliding.
5. Plastic Easter Egg Toys: Use plastic eggs to make handy snack storage containers for packed lunches. They make a great alternative to plastic ziplock bags for portioning nuts, candies, or vitamins.
6. Tongs: Tongs make a handy lemon or orange squeezer for when you need juice. You can also use them to reach items on high shelves or to hold nails in place when you’re hanging pictures, so you don’t risk bashing your thumb.
7. Cupcake Wrappers: Combine cupcake wrappers with a rubber band to create a lid for mason jars to protect your homemade jams, pickles, and fermented foods projects.
8. Ice Cube Tray: Ice trays make a great snack tray for small children — drop in some fruit, seeds, and nuts, and let them munch! You can also freeze herbs in olive oil or portions of coconut oil for a grab-and-go cooking solution.

DIY Storage Ideas For Common Household Items

1. Old Glasses Cases: Hard glasses cases work great as storage boxes for jewelry, drill bits, and small hardware, or charging cables and earbuds, especially when you’re traveling. 
2. Picture Frame: Insert a piece of colored paper into a picture frame to use as a vanity tray. Use washi tape or decorative wrapping paper for a custom look, and add stick-on letters for labeling.
3. Soap Case: A hard plastic soap case can protect a digital camera in your luggage when traveling, store SD cards, phone chargers, and small electronics.
4. Cassette Case: Use an old tape case as a storage container for your earbuds, an emergency sewing kit, a travel tea bag storage container, or to organize paper clips and office supplies.
5. Contact Lens Case: Old contact lens cases are a handy way to store travel portions of pills or vitamins. 
6. Napkin Holder: Napkin holders make a great holder for paper bags, bills, or letters that you have yet to deal with. One cheap DIY home project you can try is turning a napkin holder into a wall-mounted mail organizer with screws or an adhesive strip. You can also store tablets and e-readers in a napkin holder. 
7. Cardboard Wine Box: Stand a wine box up the tall way, and it becomes a shoe organizer. 
8. Funnels: Use funnels to store balls of twine, ribbon, or yarn. Run the thread out of the hole at the bottom for easy access. 
9. Tin Cans: Stand your utensils in tin cans to help tidy up your kitchen. Make it fly with spray paint. Use coffee cans to store larger utensils.
10. Wine Bottles: Insert them in your boots to keep your favorite footwear upright and in shape. Empty bottles make unique water carafes for dinner parties, and you can store them in a DIY wine rack when not in use. 

Reuse Household Items for Cleaning

11. Coffee Filters: Unused coffee filters make excellent mirror or glass cleaners, as they do not leave lint or residue. You can use them as dusting cloths for electronics or keep them in your car for wiping down the inside of your windshields before using your windshield cover.
12. Shaving Brush: Old shaving brushes make a nice soft duster for the tops of books, carved furniture, and other items. Once cleaned, dried, and upcycled, these post-makeover bathroom brushes are great for dusting lampshades and delicate interior designer pieces, or for reaching into keyboard crevices
13. Flip Flops: Clean flip flops can be used as an alternative to disposable lint rollers. Hold the flip-flop in your hand, rub the upholstery to cause pet hair to ball up, making it easy to remove. They’ll work on car seats, carpet stairs, and bed sheets, too. 
14. Pantyhose: Cut one pantyhose leg off, stretch the toe over your vacuum cleaner nozzle, and use it to find small items, earring backs, drill bits, or screws you may have lost. If you’re a creative, pantyhose are a go-to for textile recycling art/decoration projects.
15. Cosmetics Brushes: Old makeup brushes are also effective as keyboard cleaners. They’re also gentle enough for dusting camera lenses, electronics, and jewelry.

How To Reuse Everyday Items Around the House

16. Rubber Bands: Twist a rubber band around door handles and cross it over a latch to keep a door from closing and locking a child or pet in a room. Rubber bands can also secure extension cords and keep rolled papers and documents organized.
17. Comb: Use to untangle things such as the fringe on a rug or to clean vacuum brushes. If you don’t mind staining the comb permanently, you can use it as a texture paint brush for DIY & Craft projects. 
18. Velcro: Use velcro to stop things from sliding, such as rugs or cushions. You also attach your remote controls to end tables or coffee tables with extra velcro so they don’t get lost. 
19. Empty Tissue Box: Don’t let plastic bags and cardboard boxes clutter take over your home. Tissue boxes make a handy bag dispenser for plastic grocery bags or ziplock bags, with your bags available to grab from the hole in the top.
20. Wine Corks: Slice wine corks up with a utility knife and stick them to the inside of cupboard doors to stop them banging noisily when they shut. You can also make diffuser stick holders by hollowing the cork out.
21. Turkey Baster: You can use a turkey baster to freshen flowers by sucking out the old water from a vase of blooms. You can also water hard-to-reach and narrow plant pots with fresh water. A turkey baster allows you to add vegetable oil to salad dressing while you mix them, for enhanced emulsification. 

Reuse Household Items Outdoors as Garden Tools and Plant Pots

22. Cheese Shaker: This makes a handy garden tool for spreading diatomaceous earth, distributing seeds, or as a plant fertilizer dispenser. Label your garden shaker clearly to avoid fertilizing your pasta!
23. Salt Shaker: These DIY backyard garden ideas work great for salt shakers as well. Salt shakers can also double up as a seed shaker for spreading seeds across your soil. While you’re in the mood for reusing household items as garden tools, try poking holes in recycled plastic bottles for watering, or using egg cartons as biodegradable seed starters.
24. Tea and Coffee Tins: Use tea tins and coffee cans as plant pots for small succulents, or start a DIY herb garden by filling them with soil. Use any leftover coffee grounds as fertilizer.
25. Compact Discs: Pin old CDs up around your garden as reflectors to help you find the way to your front door at night. You can also hang CDs from the branches of fruit and avocado trees to keep birds from nesting.

Reusing Personal Items as Organization Hacks

26. Shower Caps: Cover your shoes with shower caps to prevent your suitcase from getting dirty when going on vacation. You can also use shower caps to cover food bowls during picnics to avoid soiling your picnic blankets.
27. Drinking Straws: Thread necklaces through plastic straws to stop them from tangling when in storage. Replace plastic straws with reusable alternatives like metal straws.
28. Tennis Balls: Fill a long tube sock with tennis balls, and massage your back as if you were drying off after a shower. Throw a tennis ball in the dryer to fluff your blankets, mattress covers, and bed sheets.
29. Paper Clips: Organize your junk drawer by using paper clips to help put on bracelets by using the clip to bring the hook closer to the clasp. They also make zipper pull replacements if your zipper lever gets separated from its base. 
30. Spare Buttons: You can use spare buttons for storing earring pairs by running the earring poles or hooks through the button holes and attaching the backs.

How to Reuse Household Items: Using SelfStorage.com to Maintain your Sustainable Lifestyle

So now you know how to reuse household items by applying these classic green living tips, some of which go back to the resourcefulness that came out of the necessities of the Great Depression. 

Remember, you don’t have to employ all of these environmental hacks to lead a more sustainable lifestyle and reduce municipal solid waste. Just start with one project today from these 38 new uses for old things.

If you’re just getting started on your DIY journey, remember: it’s okay to take things one step at a time. Many of these changes are beginner-friendly. Start by assessing your needs. 

For example, maybe you need a duster for your computer keyboard. If an old makeup or shaving brush is sitting around, build some confidence in your ability to upcycle by cleaning it, drying it out thoroughly, and dusting the keyboard off. That’s it, you broke the seal!

But once you’ve employed all the green living tips you need to, how do you keep the decluttering train rolling? For starters, you can check out our guide to downsizing your home to reduce the cost of living. We’ll show you how to go through your belongings, room by room, and declutter as you go.  

Self-storage can be your DIY secret weapon, giving you the flexibility and space to store your crafting tools, or even to make a DIY workshop. Find a storage solution that fits your project timeline and budget. 

After you’ve decluttered, you can use our storage unit guide to figure out the sizes and amenities you need. Just enter your zip code into our signature SelfStorage.com unit locator tool to find the storage unit size and amenities you need.

Sources

38 Alternative Uses for Unused Household Items – CashNetUSA Blog