In their cooked form, rice is great for making spam musubi, sushi, and other amazing meals. In their uncooked form, dry rice grains are unexpectedly useful for preventing your salt from clumping in your salt shaker, cleaning out the insides of weirdly-shaped, hard-to-wash containers, weighing down your unbaked pie crust, cleaning out your coffee grinder, and—if you act quickly enough—saving your wet cell phone from cell phone death.
Need to vacuum, but hate the smell your vacuum makes? Soak a cotton ball in your favorite essential oil and place in the vacuum bag. The next time you vacuum, the air in your living space will be filled with a much more pleasant smell.
We all know that distilled white vinegar is great as a general non-toxic cleaning solution and for deodorizing funky smelling rooms, but did you know that vinegar is also great for curing hiccups, deterring ants from invading your home, relieving jellyfish stings, and testing the alkalinity of your garden soil?
Got a bunch of T-shirts you need to get rid of? Depending on how nostalgic you are for your high school choir club shirt or rock concert tee from your college days, you can cut up your former threads into a dishrag or gym headband.
Using an inflated balloon, some string and glue, you can make yourself a hanging string ball ornament for your living space. Simply hang an inflated balloon upside-down from the ceiling, and then cover the hanging balloon with glue covered in string. Allow for the string to dry, and then carefully pop and remove the balloon.
Want to make your own DIY wall clock? Using just a drill, a craft knife, picture hangers, and a cheap clock kit, you can make your own creative and customized clock that will keep you on time and give some visually pleasing eye candy to your living space.
Whether you're a coffee fiend or beer enthusiast, having good coasters is necessary to prevent watermarks from forming on your tables. But instead of going out and buying a set, consider making some custom ones yourself that match you and your home's personality.
We've all heard that deep breathing exercises, calming music and a good night's sleep help relieve stress, but what are some other unconventional tips to help you feel more calm and relaxed during hectic times?
Mouthwash, the liquid concoction commonly used for giving the inside of your mouth a thorough cleaning after brushing, is also not surprisingly useful for making things clean and bacteria-free. Like minor cuts and wounds. Or your toilet bowl. Or your toothbrush. Or your garbage disposal. Or your super-smelly gym socks.
Kool-Aid, the flavored mix powder, commonly used to make sugary and fruity cold drinks in the summertime, is also unexpectedly useful around the home to clean your rusty dishwasher, remove rust stains from concrete, and check to see if your toilet tank is leaking.
Film canisters, remember those? Those black containers with the grey lids that used to contain... camera film?
Whether or not you have a feline companion at home, a bag of cat litter makes for a handy household staple that can help prevent grease fires, add traction to slippery icy steps, remove grease spots, preserve your fresh flowers, and clear algae from your backyard koi pond.
Want to make your homemade pancakes and waffles fluffier? To enjoy a restaurant-quality breakfast, simply replace liquids used in the recipe with club soda.
Mayonnaise is not exactly the healthiest thing in the world, but it makes for a great household and self-care item, from whitening your yellowing piano keys to adding shine and luster to your dry and brittle hair.
In addition to keeping your cold drink from turning lukewarm, ice cubes are also surprisingly useful for removing gum from your carpet, keeping your hollandaise sauce from curdling, skimming fat off your soup, and watering your hard-to-reach hanging plants.
In an ideal world, the art of gift-exchanging is a joyous, wonderful thing that makes both parties feel equally good. But as many of us already know, gift-giving is also an emotionally charged social minefield that can leave many of us feeling... awkward.
Giving a lot of gifts this year? Make your holiday presents even more unique for your recipient by adding a fun, personalized gift tag.
Decorating your Christmas tree does not have to be an expensive ordeal. You can easily make personalized, unique ornaments for your tree by using things lying around your home, like toilet paper tubes, paper towels, wine corks, old newspapers, CDs (remember those?), plastic water bottles, and even dry pasta.
With the help of a hot glue gun and other basic craft supplies, the iconic red and white candy cane sticks can be used to make candy cane vases, candy cane wreaths, and candy cane candle holders.
Forget those boring evergreen wreaths with the thick red ribbon and the pine cones that everyone else has hanging in their homes. Make your own DIY upcycled wreath using newspaper, paper shopping bags, cardboard coffee cup sleeves, toilet paper tubes, or even that trashy paperback novel you bought for a dime at the local thrift store that you're probably never going to read.
If you have a bunch of spare toilet paper tubes lying around, you're in luck this holiday season. With wrapping paper, a couple trinkets, and a pack of cracker snaps, you can make your very own Christmas crackers.
'Tis the season to get crafty with maple leaves. Rather than buying fake maple leaves from the craft store, save real-life maple leaves you find on the ground outdoors using one of the following preservation techniques below.
Don't toss out those cardboard tubes just yet. Whenever you have one leftover from a roll of paper towels, toilet paper, or wrapping paper, hang on to it, because it's got some great DIY potential.
Need a broom and a dust pan to clean up your living space? Look no further than your recycling bin and upcycle some of your empty drink containers to make new cleaning tools for your home.
Now that the weather is colder and drier than usual, you may be using Chapstick more frequently to moisturize your dry lips. Did you know that you can also use Chapstick on dry elbows, dry cuticles, dry knuckles, and even the ends of your hair?
Before you rake up the maple leaves on your driveway, how about grabbing a couple of the newer ones to make yourself a maple leaf rose?
When it comes to common household items with a million practical uses, baking soda reigns supreme. We all know that baking soda is great for deodorizing stinky things, whitening your teeth, and helping with clean-up around the house, but did you know about the other weirdly unexpected and esoteric uses for baking soda?
Paper towels are great for absorbing your kitchen spills, but did you know that they're also perfect for cooking bacon in the microwave? Simply place bacon side-by-side on a layer of two paper towels and place two more paper towels on top of the bacon. Zap in the microwave at 1-minute interval for 3-4 minutes until desired crispiness is reached. No greasy pan-cleaning to worry about afterwards.
Plain yellow mustard, most commonly used for adding an extra zing of flavor to your ballpark hot dog, also contains potent medicinal properties that is perfect for relieving your sore throat, relaxing your sore back muscles and decreasing the intensity of your headache.
Sick of using potatoes as side dishes for your dinner meal? Left in their uncooked form, raw potatoes have a variety of weirdly practical uses, from aiding you in removing a broken light bulb from its fixture to keeping your ski goggles clear in the cold weather. A raw potato can also help with your floral arrangement, add new life to your beat-up shoes, and absorb the excess salt from your overly salted soup and stews.
While it is common knowledge that peanut butter can help ease chewed-up gum out of your hair, what happens if you don't have any peanut butter—or you have somehow gotten gum stuck on your shoes, clothes, or carpet?
Just dried a load of laundry? Don't throw away that used fabric softener sheet just yet. You can repurpose a used sheet for a variety of practical uses around the home, such as picking up pet hair from your furniture, deodorizing your gym bag, removing static cling from your stockings, and adding shine to your mirrors and toaster.
Want to reduce the overwhelming smell of paint from a newly painted room? Slice up some raw onions, place them in a bowl of water, and leave them in the room overnight.
A single paper clip can go a long way. Having just one of these ubiquitous office supplies can make you a smartphone mount, replace your broken zipper tab, scratch your lottery ticket, and eject the CD from your stuck DVD drive.
Bored of using your bottle of dishwashing soap for just washing dishes? You're in luck. Not surprisingly, the soapy liquid commonly used for removing stubborn food build-up from your eating utensils can also be used as a general cleaner for washing windows, removing clothing and carpet stains, and cleaning your blender without taking it apart. For more unusual uses, dishwashing liquid is surprisingly useful for prepping your nails before a manicure and can even be used to kill fleas.
Other than something you can place on the floor as an ironic reference to a bygone era when a banana peel fall was considered to be the height of comedic gold, banana peels have many weirdly useful applications for your beauty regimen, the maintenance of your leather couch, the health of your backyard garden, and more.
What can you do with your egg cartons after you are done using up all the eggs? The compartmentalized spaces used for storing eggs are also perfect to use as seed starters, DIY candle makers, paint palettes, and for storing similarly fragile or round objects like Christmas ornaments and golf balls. The sturdy, lightweight material of styrofoam egg cartons are also ideal to use as cheap packing material and an alternative to packing peanuts.
The best thing since the creation of bread may just be... sliced bread. Soft bread slices have the perfect absorbent texture for picking up tiny pieces of broken glass, gently cleaning dust off your precious oil paintings, and even safely removing splinters from your finger when soaked with milk and taped to your skin with a bandage.
Though it may seem like sacrilege for some to use butter for something other than to flavor your food with delicious buttery goodness, butter has many other surprisingly practical uses, like keeping your hard cheeses mold-free or helping you swallow your pills.
Just like soda pop, beer has many strangely useful and non-drinkable uses that can be pretty handy around the house and garden, in the kitchen, and even for your beauty routine. Beer bath, anyone?
