In the age of the dryer, your old clothespins are probably doing little more than collecting dust. Many people have said goodbye to their old drying racks and those who haven’t don’t always use pins to hang their clothes up to dry. So it’s a good thing there are many other ways to use your old clothespins:
1. Pot stand
To begin, break 24 of your old pins in two. Get rid of the metal portion and place a line of glue along one side. The thinner side will face the center and once stuck together, they will naturally begin to form a circle.
2. Cable stripper
For this trick, you’ll need to remove the blade from a pencil sharpener and attach it to the clothespin with the blade facing inward. Place a cable in the space between the two ends and twist the pin to cut through the outermost layer. This is very helpful if you have something to solder.
3. Knife
Glue the blade to the flat side of one half of a clothespin. Then glue the second half on top of it so that the two flat sides are touching. Now you have a tiny craft knife. Be careful — the blade is sharp!
4. Scraper
Using a box cutter, you can carefully make an indentation in the end of a clothespin and place a blade in it. This works as a miniature scraper to remove dirt or buildup from surfaces or pick out gum from the bottom of your shoe.
5. Cord winder
Untangling headphone cords can be a nightmare. To prevent the headache and damage to your headphones, glue two pins to one another facing opposite directions. Place the end of the cord in the hole on one of the pins and wrap the rest of the cord through the middle. You can fasten the ear buds in the opposite hole.
6. Coaster
Glue the slanted ends of two halves together. Repeat this 8 times and then glue all of the pieces together to create a perfect coaster for your drinks.
7. Bracelet
And what are you going to do with all those extra metal bits? Connect them and create a bracelet, of course! If you wind colorful threads through the metal, it will look even better!
Watch the following video for a step-by-step guide for each of the tricks:
So now you know what to do with those old clothespins cluttering up the laundry room. And it doesn’t stop here: you could also use old clothespins to hang photos, to mark calendar dates, or as an unconventional way to hold up your hair!
