Tell More Than your top tips for reusing everyday items around the house - £250 voucher prize draw NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

More Than would like to find out Mumsnetters' top tips for using everyday items in imaginative and unconventional ways around the home to make life that little bit easier.

Here's what More Than have to say, "Life can be full of little frustrations. At MORE TH>N we want to help, and that's why we love collecting and sharing all sorts of tips and tricks that make life that little bit easier. We like to think of them as 'helping hands', those clever ideas you never knew you needed to know. We're always on the look-out for more great hints to share, so if you've got a top tip, let us know."

For inspiration, watch the video clip below and then share your top tips on this thread.

What do you think of the suggestions given in the video? Which, if any, would you try out? Do you already use some of these ideas around the house already? Have you got any to add? Maybe you use a rubber band around paint pots to scrape excess paint onto from your paint brush? Or, do you use magnets to make sure your bag of crisps stay sealed? Whatever it is, we'd love to hear about it.

Everyone who adds their thoughts to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Amazon voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

yes i loved the video i love little gems of tips like that, i didnt know the paper cupcake to keep the bugs out! A few tips of mine are:
I use the old squeezy bottle from hair dye kits - i clean out with soapy water very well and then put a disinfectant mix in it and squeeze so a jet of disinfectant gets into the sink overflows and cleans them out well.

When our son was young we used to make wrapping paper by painting the reverse of wallpaper which was left over - it made good thick paper that was personal for presents and cost next to nothing and he loved slapping the paint about!
I use old tights (clean)! to strain older house paint, and they are also good for using for cleaning the bathroom as they are non-abrasive but used with a bathroom cleaner they cut through soap scum easily.
I wash almost any kind of wipes like face wipes, surface wipes, in the washing machine with my mans workwear wash and then i use these as disposable cloths for really dirty jobs like the dreaded dog poo on shoes etc.

Toothbrush to clean bathroom
Bulldog clips to keep chargers and plugs in check.
A little bit if customising to luggage so I can spot it easily.
Pegs to close packets in the cuboard
Old jars and tins as pen holders
Or jar to hold screws ect in the garage .
Use kitchen roll in nerds to help keep wires less tangled behind appliances .....eg tv DVD player wii and sky box lol

I use old toothbrushes to clean hard to get to areas, like the rim of taps and plug holes.
Clear nail varnish for small holes in tights, to stop the hole developing.
I always use old carrier bags for rubbish, especially emptying the bathroom bin.
I use old jam jars to empty packets of sweets and treats into, looks lovely and means the kids (and me) don't eat the whole packet at once! We just pick a couple from the jar :)

I keep empty milk cartons, the large plastic ones, once washed and dried they make fabulous storage containers. You can easily see what's inside, add a label easily if you need to, or you can colour code things by the lids; green, red, orange, blue. Even better you can easily pour the contents out. With the variety of sizes, 1 pint, 2 pint, 4 pints, 6 pints, it's easy to have one to sort all storage needs. In fact, I've never been so organised!

The peg to hold a nail tip is genius, can't believe I hadn't thought of that one as I'm always whacking my fingers! I also use pegs loads for other things, they are very useful.

Egg box as disposable paint holder for different coloured paints
Hoover for dealing with large spiders you can't bear to handle
Cut lemonade bottles in half for cloches and to protect your lettuces from slugs
Hang creased clothes or crumpled suit in the bathroom while you shower, the creases drop out or are easier to iron
Buy old picture frames from charity shops, remove and throw away the glass, paint in bright colour and let your kids frame their fave artwork for their rooms.

Don't think I've got much on the above, but
pegs to keep bags of pea etc closed in the freezer.
Coloured ribbons round chargers to help you identify what charges what.
Old purse and the freebe credit cards you get sent as toy purse for kids
Charity bags that come through the door and you have nothing to recycle as bin bags.
shopping bags as bin liners

Old toothbrush for cleaning jewellery
Chipped bowls for pet food bowls
Old sheets for rags
Jars for storing nails
...

We will definitely be using the keyring on the zip - cheap jeans always go at the zip! Will remember the other tips as well. My tips:

If you have leftover wax from a scented candle or one of those scented wax discs, when you've finished with it, put it in an 'orphan sock' (ie when the washer has eaten the other one) & put the sock in with your clean laundry. Keeps it smelling nice & stops the wax getting on your clothes.

Pierce a hole (or several) in the lid of an empty plastic pop bottle. Use to mix & spray weedkiller, pesticide, or watered down Jeyes fluid (slug deterrent). Good if you can't afford separate watering cans for each different type of chemical. Obviously, throw the bottle away straight after use.

Re-use plastic shopping bags as small bin liners. (especially good for the nappy bin which must be emptied daily.)

Another one who reuses plastic bags as liners for bins.

Use boxes for crafting (e.g. cornflake boxes, egg boxes, catalogues for sticking). keeps the children amused for ages. :)

I collect all the kitchen towel cardboard tubes, margarine & ice-cream tubs, cardboard boxes etc. for the kids to occupy themselves with.

great ideas!!

pegs are great for opened bags.
use loo roll holders as little prsent boxes.stencil a semi circle shape onto each end (cd helps for neat shape)then score and bend inwards to make the ends.there u have it a cute little gift box.

egg boxes for jewelery.
find a nice branch/twig support it to a weight at the bottom and use to hang ur necklaces.

use the cutlery holder trays u get for crafts...pencils,crayons,paintbrushes seperater

The other thing I always do (which my younger self would have been at) is reuse bread bags as sandwich bags.....always...much to the chagrin of my DCs!

Yes, pegs are brilliant for closing opened packets and if you were to open our chest freezer you'd see lots used to secure open bags of frozen veggies too....

I use Lyle's Golden Syrup and Treacle tins to grow herbs on the window sill - I love the iconic design and you just have to bang a few holes in the bottom of the tin and fill with compost. I liked the painting nail varnish on key tops to identify them - simple but very useful!

We also use empty plastic milk bottles for many things - you can cut the top off and because they have a handle, they are good for mixing up paint or cleaning your dirty paint brushes in etc Empty fizzy drink bottles are similarly used as temporary containers for liquids that you wouldn't want mussing up your nice china.

Some great tips here.
I especially like the one with rubber bands on the hanger - silly I know but if I knew it earlier it could help me save a lot of money
We are already using nail varnish to mark the keys - simply because some of them are the same and with colours it is easier to tell them apart.

We use old shoe boxes as a storage boxes, after they are decorated by kids using old fabric, left over wrapping paper or just paint or coloured pencils

We also turn all our old, unwanted cotton t-shirts into cleaning cloths (ones which aren't good for charity donation) and use cotton socks which developed holes as a polishing cloths - they really work well

Our suitcases are customised with ribbons or smiley faces painted on them. One tip I would add is if the filter breaks in the spout of your kettle, use a square tea bag (you can make a cuppa first) then when its dried out make a tiny hole to get the tea out and use that to replace the filter. I did that about 3 years ago and its lasted longer than the original filter!

I have struggled to think of anything intelligent to add as a tip. Things tend to get well used here.

But what I would love are tips for reusing out of date technology or appliances that no longer work.

We have a printer that doesn't work sitting around as I don't want to throw it away. Ditto old microwaves. We have broken TWO now and I would have loved a helpful suggestion about how I could reuse a broken microwave.

The ribbon on the suitcase thing is very sensible, but it's a good idea per se, not just a good idea for left over ribbon. A plastic bag on the handle is just as effective.

The teabag kettle filter tip is good though, so is the plastic bags as bin liners, but I thought everyone did that anyway.

Oooooh, got one. Bags given at conferences with a pad of paper, pen and promotional literature in are quite good as spare clothes bags for the childminder.

There's some really good tips. I love the cupcake case over the glass. Could use different colours for each child too. I really need to put rubber bands on my hangers too; I get really fed up of them falling off. And using a cassette case as a stand is ingenious!

My tip is to put used loo rolls in an old shoe box to store pens/pencils in the house. Get the children to paint them and it looks fab.

I keep all my plastic containers and they get used for storing everything. The classic being plastic take-away cartons for leftovers. I love getting the tins of christmas biscuits as these make great containers for cakes and they look lovely. Any item with a duel purpose is good with me.

I use old jam jars for pens and pencils - nice ones like bonne maman

Loving all these tips! Particularly like the peg/nail one in the video.

We keep an empty jam jar and lid to drain fat into when cooking, makes meals healthier and stops the drain getting clogged. Bit gross but worth doing!

Turn a pair of towelling sports socks inside out and put one on each hand, making one slightly damp. Use to dust ornaments, books, shelves etc with dry hand. Quick and easy. The dry one picks up the dust and any sticky marks can be wiped with the damp hand and dried with the other. When dirty throw in the washing machine and grab another pair!

Many things we do have been mentioned, but hopefully there are a few new ideas here. I am a terrible horder. I hate throwing nice boxes/containers out so I have to find ways of using them!
I like many others use old toothbrushes for cleaning around taps and other difficult places.
I have an old paintbrush of the kids (artist type) in the kitchen for cleaning the bottom of narrow vases and cut glass.
Rubber bands (the mail is always fastened with one) are put around kitchen cupboard doorknobs (so we can always find them) then used for opening tight bottle tops and jar lids.
Biscuit tins are reused as cake tins, biscuit tins, or for small toys, letters, all sorts of things
Same with nice chocolate tins or boxes, they become containers for jewellery, buttons, lego figures, gift cards, pencils, pens, felt tips, treasures!
Ends of candles are melted down, then with new wicks (12 for £1 on ebay for my last ones) I make nice stripy new ones with the melted wax in the old glass containers.....some interesting scents!
The glass jars from gu puds I use for making new puds, tea light holders, small animal food and water pots, paint and water pots, dips......I'm open to suggestions on these as they seem to be taking over. (I only buy them when reduced or on offer but still have loads)
The bottom of lemonade bottles and milk bottles make good covers for protecting individual plant/seedlings like sunflowers.

We reuse the carrier bags as bin bags if we haven't got any black bags. We use the glass the Nutella comes in as drinking glasses. Reuse old toothbrushes for cleaning trainers, reuse things like toilet roll holder, and my 4year old makes things with them.

I liked the rubber band ideas and the clothes peg for the nail, would try those.

We have done chopping up Christmas cards to make gift tags, and we now save jam jars for homemade jam.

I also reused two baby sippy cups (the Avent ones), with the spout bit removed - so just the cup and the ring bit at the top - to make water holders for painting, as they spill less easily than beakers and make good brush holders when not being used.

The kids made birdfeeders out of old plastic milkbottles, but I wouldn't say they worked very well!

I'm sure there are more, but can't think of them just now... must go and read everyone else's ideas now!

I use rubber gloves to open really stiff jars - the extra friction makes all the difference. (If they are really unopenable, piercing the lid with a bottle opener releases the vacuum and then you can open with ease, but you do have to decant into a tupperware tub afterwards if it's a jar of pickles or something, or the lid rusts...)

One of those hanging shoe racks - the clear plastic kind, we use - over the back of the cellar or understairs cupboard door is perfect for cleaning bottles. Mr Sheen, Cif etc all fit in neatly. It stops that godawful jumble under the sink and makes room for washing powders etc, plus you can see what you're running low on. And it's out of easy toddler reach, too, if you add a small bolt to the door a reasonable height up. I was always ending up with 4 unopened mildew removers and no descaler, before.

Use old toothbrushes for cleaning jewellery
Any gift boxes are always kept and either reused for same thing or used for storing things.
Old pants for dusters!