Cool Uses For Ordinary Things

More Than Just Candles: 12 Practical, Surprising Uses for Beeswax

Beeswax is a natural wax produced by honeybees and can also be used for your home. Commonly associated with making your own DIY candles, beeswax is the perfect DIY product for making your own lip balm, non-toxic crayons, mustache wax, and more.

How To: 6 Unexpected Beauty, Health, & Home Uses for Rice Water

Rice water refers to the cloudy water that is leftover after washing rice in a bowl, or the excess water drained from a pot used for cooking rice in boiling water. Whichever method you prefer, rice water can be saved in a separate container once cooled, then used for a number of beauty, health, and home uses.

How To: 15 Uses for Household Bleach

Commonly associated with cleaning and disinfecting items around the home, bleach can also be used as a water sterilization method in an emergency situation when you do not have access to clean, running water. Simply add 6 drops of bleach to a gallon of water and wait for 30 minutes before drinking.

How To: 15 Surprising Things You Can Make in a Crockpot

While crockpots are commonly used for making soups and stews or for slow-cooking meats, they are also surprisingly useful for making other foods that you may not associate with a slow cooker, such as brownies, bread, cheesecake, fruit butters, and even yogurt.

How To: 7 More Unexpected Uses for Epsom Salt

If you ever want to try rebooting your car batteries before calling a towing service, make a solution out of 1 ounce of epsom salt dissolved in warm water, and apply the solution to the battery cell before starting your car.

How To: 11 More Weird & Wonderful Uses for Magnets

Other than displaying your favorite take-out menus on your refrigerator, magnets can be used in a number of surprisingly useful ways around the home.

How To: 7 Non-Shower Uses for Shower Curtains

Shower curtains and shower curtain liners are great for making sure that your bathroom floor doesn't collect water, but eventually you'll want to replace them. When you do, the old one can be repurposed for a number of practical uses around the house and outdoors.

How To: 8 Awesome Uses for Plastic Drinking Straws

If you ever accidentally drop pieces of cork into your newly opened wine bottle, you can use a plastic drinking straw to fish them out. Simply place the straw over the cork piece and close the other end of the straw with your finger to create a suction that sucks the cork out of the wine.

How To: 21 Awesome Uses for Lint Rollers

Other than the expected task of removing lint from clothing, lint rollers are a great tool to have around the house for a wide variety of cleaning and non-cleaning uses.

How To: 12 Household Uses for Borax

Originally discovered in dry lake beds in Tibet, borax is a mineral and a salt of boric acid, and is usually sold in white powder form in drugstores. Like baking soda, borax has many household cleaning uses, and can also be used to get rid of insects and pests from your living space.

How To: 11 Awesome Uses for Hydrogen Peroxide

Commonly found in the medicine aisle in grocery stores near the bandages, hydrogen peroxide is best known for disinfecting wounds, but it's also extremely useful for a number of cleaning and health uses, such as removing sweat and blood stains from clothes, disinfecting cutting boards, removing bacteria from your produce before consumption, and more.

How To: 11 Extraordinary Uses for Alka-Seltzer Effervescent Tablets

Got a clogged kitchen sink? Before you reach for the plunger, see if you can fix the problem using Alka-Seltzer tablets and white vinegar.

How To: 7 Weirdly Practical Uses for Party Balloons

If you ever need to wash your beanie and need some sort of hat mould to retain the shape of the fabric while it is drying, blow up a party balloon until it is about the size of your head. Place the beanie on top of the balloon until it dries.

How To: 12 Things Plastic Wrap Is Good For (Besides Just Sealing Food)

Don't you hate it when the ice cream in your freezer loses its soft, smooth textures and has ice crystals all over its surface? Prevent this from happening by covering the ice cream in the carton with a sheet of plastic wrap before closing the lid tightly.

How To: 7 Things Pumice Stones Are Good for Besides Feet

Need to scrub stubborn mineral deposits from your toilet bowl or leftover food gunk from your oven rack? Use a pumice stone, which will remove hardened material from the surface without leaving behind a scratch.

How To: 11 Clever Things You Can Use an Ordinary Bar of Soap For

Hate the feeling of dirt beneath your fingernails after gardening? Rather than digging out the dirt afterwards, take a preventive measure by digging your fingernails into a bar of soap, which will keep them clean and wash out easily afterwards.

How To: 12 Extraordinary Uses for Apple Cider Vinegar

Are your teeth starting to look a little on the yellow side? Try rubbing apple cider vinegar directly on them before rinsing with water. It's a super quick way to whiten teeth on the spot.

How To: 11 Delicious Culinary Uses for Muffin Tins Besides Just Cupcakes & Muffins

Using a metal or silicone muffin tin, you can bake, freeze, or whip up a wide variety of snacks, appetizers, and desserts that aren't just cupcakes and muffins.

How To: 6 Useful Things You Can Do with Leftover, Undrinkable Red Wine

Too much leftover red wine after a big party? Rather than forcing yourself to drink everything before the flavor goes bad or pouring it down the drain, save some for non-drinking household and beauty uses, such as trapping fruit flies, marinating steak, and conditioning your skin.

How To: 7 Slick Uses for Castor Oil

If your beloved fern houseplant is looking limp, make a tonic out of 1 tablespoon castor oil, 1 tablespoon baby oil, and 4 cups lukewarm water. Feed your fern with 1 tablespoon of the tonic followed by a normal amount of plain water once a day for several days until your fern starts looking healthy again.

How To: 9 Things Disposable Diapers Are Good for Besides Poop

Need to keep your beloved houseplant alive while you're on vacation? Repot the plant with a disposable diaper at the bottom of the flowerpot before covering with soil; the diaper will help retain soil moisture at the bottom, which will keep your plant properly hydrated for a good window of time while you're gone.

How To: 7 Surprisingly Practical Uses for Vicks VapoRub Ointment

Need to fake a few stage tears for your next starring role? Apply a thin layer of Vicks VapoRub underneath your eyes right before you go on stage to generate excess moisture that can help create faux teardrops.

How To: 12 Reasons Why You Should Have Baby Oil at Home

Paper shredder not working like it used to? Soak several pieces of paper in baby oil and run them through the shredder, which will help lubricate the blades and make them run smoothly for future shredding purposes.

More Than Just Ice: 20 Alternative Uses for Ice Cube Trays

If you have ice cube trays lying around in your refrigerator and chilling your drinks with ice cubes is not a huge priority for you, you can still make use of these handy kitchen tools in a number of useful ways, both edible and non-edible.

How To: 12 Crafty & Cool Uses for Empty Cereal Boxes

Here is more reason to eat cereal for breakfast. Once you have an empty cereal box on hand, you can use it as a DIY magazine organizer, emergency cupcake transport, cutting mat for arts and crafts, DIY holiday gift box and more.

How To: 9 Useful Things You Can Do with a Turkey Baster Besides the Obvious

Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away, but it's definitely not too early to pull out that turkey baster hiding in your kitchen drawer. There are many things you can do with it besides baste a roasting turkey.

How To: 8 Non-Baking Uses for Cupcake Liners

Do you hate bringing drinks outdoors because of the possibility of leaves, bugs and other debris flying into your cup? Solve this annoying problem by placing a cupcake liner over the opening of your cup when you are not drinking it. Mission accomplished.

How To: 12 Reasons Why Golf Tees Are Good for More Than Just Golfing

Even if you never plan on visiting a golf course for the rest of your life, it's still a good idea to have a few golf tees lying around the house. You never know when you might need to replace a small cap, stake a picnic blanket to the ground on a windy day, and (assuming that they are clean and new) hold a thick sandwich together.

How To: 15 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Throw Out Your Old Socks

Need to give yourself a super-cheap back massage? Place a few tennis balls inside a long sock, tie the end, and place the sock on the floor. Then, lie down and roll your back against the sock to relieve your sore back muscles.

How To: 12 Unconventional Uses for Disposable Chopsticks

If your love for Chinese takeout has left you with a pile of unused disposable chopsticks in your kitchen drawer, then you're in luck. In addition to being a very versatile eating utensil for pretty much any cuisine, chopsticks also come in handy for eating Cheetos without getting cheesy dust all over your fingers, pitting cherries, skewering food, stirring drinks, cleaning out dirt from hard-to-reach spaces, and more.

How To: 9 Clever Reuses for Your Leaky Gardening Hose

Gardening hose starting to leak? Don't throw it out just yet. Cut it up into smaller lengths and slice it open to use the hose as a protective barrier for outdoor electrical cords, or as added grip on a metal paint can handle.

How To: 7 Great Things Black Pepper Can Be Used for Besides Cooking

Like table salt, black pepper has its unexpectedly handy uses that goes beyond seasoning your meals at the dining table. You can use black pepper to keep ants from invading your home, drive away bugs from eating your delicious garden vegetables, temporarily fix a radiator leak, and even stop bleeding on a minor wound.

How To: 8 Things You Can Use Shaving Cream For Besides Shaving

If you want to prevent your bathroom mirror from fogging up in the morning, simply rub shaving cream all over the surface before hopping into the shower.

How To: 20 Non-Cooking Uses for Olive Oil

If you ever run out of shaving cream in the morning, just step over from your bathroom to the kitchen and use olive oil as a substitute. Not only does it save you a future trip to the drug store, it also helps moisturize your skin.

How To: 7 Bright Ideas for Old Light Bulbs

If you can't stand the idea of tying a birthday present with a wrinkled piece of ribbon, all you need is a slightly warm light bulb that hasn't been lit for more than five minutes. Simply run the length of the wrinkled ribbon across the top of the warm light bulb until the wrinkles go away, saving you the time of finding your iron and ironing board.

No Dish Washing Required: 17 Ingenious Uses for Kitchen Sponges

Commonly used for washing and scrubbing dirty dishes, the ubiquitous kitchen sponge can also be used to sprout seeds, loosen wallpaper, remove oil leaks, deodorize your fridge, and more.

How To: 14 Clever, Non-Crafty Uses for Popsicle Sticks

If you ever need an emergency finger splint for a broken or sprained finger, use a popsicle stick. Wrap medical tape around your broken finger to the side of a popsicle stick until you can receive proper medical attention.

How To: 12 Handy Uses for Clothespins

Originally invented by the Shaker community in the 1700s, clothespins are incredibly useful for hanging wet clothing on a clothesline, but also can be used to organize your cable cords, keep your pair of socks together, hold down the used end of your toothpaste tube, and decrease the possibility of you accidentally hammering your finger while pounding down on a nail.

How To: 15 Super-Practical Uses for Petroleum Jelly

In 1859, 22-year-old chemist Robert A. Chesebrough accidentally discovered petroleum jelly when he visited a working oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Oil workers complained of a gooey substance referred to as "rod wax" which kept getting into the machinery and slowing them down. Chesebrough noticed that oil workers also smeared this same substance on their burn marks or dry skin to help speed the healing process.

How To: 7 Medicinal and Household Uses for Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne peppers are great for spicing up your bland cooking, but did you know that they can also prevent frostbite? If you ever need to keep your feet warm during a long snow hike or skiing adventure, add a little bit of cayenne pepper powder to the bottom of your socks.