Part 4 - The Laundry Room - 101 New Uses for Everyday Items

A few surprising spins on utility-room essentials can give you new appreciation for laundry day.

The Laundry Room

Bleach Bottle

Pick up a scoop. Cut diagonally across the middle of an empty, clean bottle and use the half with the handle to scoop up fertilizer, rock salt, or pet waste.

See your garden grow. Slice the bottom off an empty, clean jug to make a miniature greenhouse for seedlings. (Place the bottle open-side down over the plants.)

Start a home gym. Fill two empty bottles with sand and use as dumbbells.

Keep them afloat. Tie empty bottles together to use as buoys or to mark the deep part of a swimming area.

Speak up. Cut off the bottle’s base to make a megaphone for refereeing pickup soccer games in the park.

Wire Hanger

Hold your hoses. Use a wire cutter to snip a hanger into a few six-inch lengths. Bend each one into an arch, then use them as “staples” for keeping a soaker hose in place in flower beds.

Reach new heights. Untwist a hanger and use it to adjust out-of-reach air-conditioner vents. Also good for retrieving objects that have slipped between the stove or the refrigerator and cabinets.

Make a utility strainer. Pull the hanger into a roughly round shape, cover it with a panty-hose leg, and use it to strain anything you wouldn’t want to put through your kitchen colander.

Bend one into a giant bubble wand for kids (of all ages). (Use one part dish detergent and one part water to make your own bubble solution.)

Remove static cling. To prevent sticky situations, run the long side of a wire hanger over a skirt, or between your skirt and panty hose or slip.

Laundry Basket

Have a beach picnic. Tote items to the shore in the basket, then flip it over and use it as a table. Hose the basket off when you get home and it’s ready to go back to wash-day duty.

Serve drinks al fresco. Line the basket with a trash bag and fill with ice to make a cooler for impromptu parties.

Tame the sprinkler. Store a coiled garden hose in a basket; stash sprinklers, nozzles, and other attachments in the middle of the coil.

Protect plants. Place a laundry basket upside down over delicate plants during a rain- or hailstorm.

Clothespins

Hold that thought. Use a couple of pins to keep cookbooks open while you follow recipes.

Track your towels. If you have houseguests, write their names (and yours) on separate clothespins, then attach each clothespin to the appropriate towel to avoid mix-ups when all the towels are hanging in one bathroom.

Support your stems. Clothespins can support vines and climbing plants in the garden. Just make sure the stems pass through the holes in the pins.

Make clips for displaying recipes and to-do lists. Glue a magnet to the back of a clothespin and stick it to the refrigerator or stove hood.

Use as place-card holders or to keep napkins and plastic utensils together at a backyard barbecue. Spray-paint them bright colors for a fun, summery look.