25 Everyday Products That Have Strange Alternate Uses
You can build an entire house out of binder clips.
We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a share of sales from the links on this page.
We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about the everyday products that they've found odd alternate uses for. Here are some of the clever solutions they've come up with:
1. Tame wrinkled fabrics using a flat iron.
"I iron everything with my straighteners."
"Works on most fabrics (the cheaper the better) and it's useful for traveling or when you’re running late in the morning."
Get a cheap-but-good one on Amazon for $21.
2. Blot your face with disposable toilet seat covers — they work just as well as their expensive counterparts.
"Before you go and spend money on those oil drying sheets, a (CLEAN) public toilet seat cover works just as well and it’s free."
Get some in a travel pack from Amazon for $11.
Or:
"Coffee filters work the same, and are less gross to think about putting on your face."
3. Use a salad spinner to spin your hand-wash-only laundry dry.
—Taylor B, Facebook
Get one from Amazon for $30.
5. Use an electric blender to whip up textured paint for your walls.
"3D painting. I whip paint with an electric blender (like you would whip cream with), then I put it into a piping bag and squeeze it out. Makes for really nice home decor once finished."
Get an immersion blender for $28.
6. Soak burnt dishes and pans in laundry detergent to clean off baked-on grime like magic.
7. Bend up a bobby pin to make a bookmark when you're in a pinch.
"They stay in place and you can use it to keep your hair out of your eyes while you're reading! I use the bumpy side on the page I’m on."
Get a whole lot of them on Amazon for $4.
8. Use kitchen shears to cut pizza more effectively than using a circle cutter.
9. Wipe up grimy dishes easily with some dryer sheets.
"They clean the heck out of anything grimy or greasy. Dirty bathtubs, showers, stoves and mini blinds. It cuts right through the dirt, with no cleaner and no water."
Get a box of them on Amazon for $9.
10. Leave a sock full of cat litter in your car to keep your windows from fogging up.
11. Remove eye makeup with cheap baby wipes.
"I use baby wipes to remove eye makeup. They work really well and are way less expensive."
Get a pack of six on Amazon for $11.
12. Add Goldfish crackers to chowder to make it cheesy and even more delicious.
"Sometimes I use Goldfish crackers instead of oyster crackers to make my chowder cheesy while maintaining the soup’s nautical theme. I mean, I suppose you can use Cheez-Its in a pinch, if you tell yourself they’re the board that Rose floats on from Titanic, but I don’t think you’d be fooling anybody."
Get a whole carton of them from Amazon for $9.
13. Run out of bobby pins? Use a paper clip to get the job done just as well.
14. Complete a killer breakfast by waffle ironing hashbrowns.
"Peel, cheese-grate the potatoes, squeeze out extra juice, toss with a little flour, spices, and a whipped egg. Then put it all in the waffle iron until crispy and golden brown."
Get one from Amazon for $23.
15. Get some tights, and when they are at the end of their life, cut them up to make hair bands.
16. Hair frizz getting out of control? Rub dryer sheets on your hair to take out the static.
"I wipe my hair with dryer sheets if it’s all static frizzy from being too dry in the winter."
Get a box from Amazon for $9.
17. Tame your charging cables and cords with binder clips.
"I use binder clips to keep my computer/electronic cords tidy and accessible. I string them through the handles, and then clip on the edge of a desk/table. Great for phone chargers next to your bed."
Get a box of them for $0.45!
18. Rub toothpaste on car scuff marks to buff them out.
"My car seems to be a magnet for people hitting it in parking lots and not leaving a note. Don’t have enough money to go out and get paint remover? USE TOOTHPASTE. You think I’m joking? Try it yourself. It gets off paint transfer and buffs out scuffs like a dream."
Get a twinpack from Amazon for $6.
19. Or use binder clips to guard your razor blades from getting dull during travel.
"I use a binder clip to cover the blades on my razor every time I travel."
"Add a pack of silica gel (free in a shoe box and other places) and stop your blades from rusting."
Get a box of them for $0.45!
20. Stop your jean zippers from running away by looping a keychain ring around the zipper and top button.
"I use a key ring on a pair of pants where the zipper wont stay up. I hook the key ring onto the zipper, zip it up, hook the key ring around the top part, and then close my pants. Keeps them up and you can't even see the key ring really. :) You’re welcome."
Get a whole box of them on Amazon for $6.
21. Spray WD-40 on sticker residue from old bumper stickers to remove it.
"WD-40 to remove old decal sticky stuff from car windows or bumpers."
—Horace Hellcat, Facebook
Get a two-pack from Amazon for $10.
22. Hang bottles on a shower rod to clean up the area under your sink.
Get one on Amazon for $15.
23. Repel pesky mosquitos with dryer sheets.
"When camping, instead of using bug spray to repel mosquitoes (ew, chemicals!), rub your arms, legs, and clothes down with dryer sheets! Works incredibly well."
Get a box from Amazon for $9.
24. Use plastic wrap to waterproof a cast.
"Glad Press & Seal wrap works great if you need to wrap a cast or bandage in order to shower or keep dry through swimming."
Get a box from Amazon for $13.
Make sure to follow the BuzzFeed Community on Facebook and Twitter for your chance to be featured in similar BuzzFeed posts!
The comments used in this post have been edited for length and clarity.