Ways To Transform Household Items To Make Them More Useful

Households contain all sorts of objects that are incredibly useful…if only we knew the creative ways to repurpose them and put them to good use. Many people have an overly literal idea of how to use things. A bread tag is merely for a bag of bread, clothes hangers are just for hanging clothes, etc.

But if you ask your grandparents, they will tell you about the multipurpose uses of many things you have sitting around the house, and there is a whole world of additional uses just waiting to be explored. Read on for four clever hacks for regular household items that you will find to be useful in totally different contexts than they were originally created. 

Bread Tags Will Help You Find The End Of A Tape Roll

You may never have realized that after you finish a loaf of bread, you should save the tag because it has many more uses than keeping the bread wrapped up. One of the best uses for a bread tag, in fact a better use than its original use, is putting it at the end of a roll of tape.

Tape can be a lifesaver, sometimes literally, but there is the big frustration around it when you have to pick endlessly at the end of it to get some tape out. First you have to find the end, then you need nails to pick at it, then you might get some sticky residue on your nails because you picked at it. None of this is pleasant or as simple as it should be, but the bread tag makes it a cinch. Just put it on the end, and you won’t have to look for it or have to pick at it next time you need tape. 

Use Vicks To Unblock Your System In The Shower

Vicks VapoRub bills itself as having many uses related to colds, from applying topically for instant relief to even inhaling it with steam. However, there are even unlisted uses for the cold relief product, and you can unblock your nose and ears in the shower with it if you know this great hack. 

Boil a liter of water and then mix two tablespoons of Vicks into it until it fully dissolves. Once you have that solution made, you freeze it in an ice tray. Save the ice for when you are feeling all clogged up and want to get it all out in the shower. You don’t need any sort of inhaler or diffuser or anything fancy. You just take one of those Vicks infused ice cubes and put it on the floor in the shower, and when the hot water hits it the steam will unblock your system.

Use Department Store Hangers As Clips For Food Bags

Some people can never seem to have too many clothes hangers, and for them a fancy one given to them by a department store when they buy something is a nice addition to their collection and will be put to good use. Many people, though, have a surplus already, and any additional hangers they acquire will go to waste, including the fancy clipped ones.

If you are in that second boat, fret not, because the fancy clip hangers can be taken apart and the clips can be put to good use. Just take the clips off and the next time you have a bag of food that needs to be folded and sealed up, the clips will come in handy. They are especially useful when traveling, and in contrast to the many people who have a surplus of hangers, everybody always seems to have a shortage of clips, especially when they most need them.

A Faster Microwaving Method

Microwaves revolutionized the way we heat food, getting our leftovers from cold to hot in record time. And yet, we get used to our technological advancements so quickly, and the time it takes to get our food hot in the microwave still feels like an eternity, especially as we lose our minds watching the plate spin and the timer run down. Even worse is when you have multiple plates of food to heat. With this hack, you can once again revolutionize your re-heating and do it in roughly half the time.

If you have two plates, rather than doing them separately, you can actually stack the plates and do them together. Make space in the middle of one of the plates and put a cup there. Then, put the second plate on top of the cup. Take care that the plate on the cup is well balanced, as one spilled plate will make you forget all the time you’ve saved from dozens of other successful time-saving efforts.