“Ordinary” means “nothing special” — and we are used to looking at our surroundings in a normal and not special way. Yet sometimes we are able to find hidden qualities in items we’ve deemed to be “ordinary.”
We love to take a creative look at simple things. And we’ve decided to share these 28 findings with you of how to turn the ordinary into something helpful.
Tennis ball
To relax your neck muscles and release tension from hard work or stress — just lie down on a flat surface and place a tennis ball under the center of your neck. Rest on it for about 10-15 minutes.
After that, move the ball from side to side with your neck. This will stimulate the acupressure points on your neck and help your muscles rest by applying pressure to the “knots” made by physical or nervous tension.
Baby wipes
Just like any other type of wet wipes these are awesome for cleaning hands, but you can also use them on:
- phone, tablet, and laptop screens.
- purse linings that get sticky.
- faucets and sinks.
- marble. Since baby wipes are really soft, they don’t damage the integrity of the marble.
Vegetable/coffee cans
Colorful and dense — you can use coffee or vegetable cans to store pens, pencils, or other household items, like cutlery.
You can also use them as baking dishes — remove the paper and apply warm water to remove the glue. They have a unique form and heat up evenly because of the tin.
Cream of tartar
Did you ever think that cream of tartar would be useful outside of a Friday night soirée? Just mix it up with a little of baking soda to clean up stains inside your used coffee or tea pots.
Scrub the inside of the pot with the mixture and a non-abrasive tool. Rinse well!
Newspapers
Use a newspaper to make a broom:
- roll it up;
- cut one of the ends length-wise;
- use one sheet as a scoop.
Or use balled-up sheets to stuff wet shoes with so they don’t absorb moisture.
Pantyhose
Old pantyhose makes a wonderful storage for vegetables, especially onions. You can also easily use it as a garden-stake tie.
Just be sure to wash it before you use it!
Ice cube trays
Ice cube trays can make a great holder for:
- earrings.
- bobby pins.
- cufflinks.
- rings.
Toothpaste
You can use a regular tube of toothpaste for multiple purposes, like:
- cleaning silver.
- soothing skin by placing toothpaste on blemishes.
- cleaning chrome (with a wet sponge).
- washing your hands with it to destroy cooking smells, like onion or fish.
Rubber bands
Rubber bands can be easily used around the house.
- To open a stubborn jar — put rubber bands around the lid to give you a better grip.
- Wrap a gift with rubber bands, instead of ribbon, to give a small gift a dash of modern decor and color.
- Tighten up wobbly items to the rack of a dishwasher, so they don’t break.
Paper clips
Paper clips can be used outside of the office to:
- mark meat at a barbeque. By sticking washed metal paper clips you can easily separate your pork from your beef.
- find the end of the scotch tape. Just tape a paper clip to it.
- To give space behind a button. Just put the paper clip between the button and the fabric before sewing it on, then take it out when you’re done — this way the button will button better, because it has a little space.
Powdered lemon drink
To clean your dishwasher take:
- 1/4 c of lemon or orange drink;
- put it in a dishwasher instead of a pod;
- put some on the particularly rusty parts;
- run the machine on the long cycle.
Citric acid will help you give your dishwasher a new look from the inside.
Post-its
And finally, Post-its can be used in many different ways, like:
- making an easy navigation system, by sticking your destination address to the steering wheel of your car.
- marking containers inside the drawers.
- cleaning up your keyboard from crumbs and dust with sticky parts of the post-it.
- drawing Xs and Os on several pieces of post-its to make a game of tick-tack-toe for kids when they are stuck in your office or if you’re stuck in a traffic jam.