I always loved the “New Uses for Old Things” section of Real Simple magazine. That’s where I learned to store and hang my ribbon spools on a wire hanger and to use an ice cube to smooth out caulk.
Speaking of ice cubes, I bought a brand new ice cube tray at Goodwill Wadsworth for 40 cents. Here are 5 new uses that don’t have anything to do with making ice.
1. PERSONAL PAINT TRAY – All of our jars of paint slowly became varying shades of brown over time as the kids would mindlessly dip their brush from the purple jar, to the green jar, to the blue jar. Separating the paint into the ice cube tray may not prevent mixing of colors, but at least the whole jar won’t turn brown. Plus I can add water on the other side of the tray for easy brush cleaning. Which I am sure they will be very diligent about cleaning their brushes between each paint dip.
2. JUNK DRAWER ORGANIZATION – Organize Batteries, clips, loose change, rubber bands, staples, keys, twist ties, and safety pins. Use a bunch of trays if you have a lot of junk!
3. SNACK TRAY – Café O’Play in Stow, Ohio provides their kids lunches in metal muffin trays. The kids LOVED it so I adapted that idea and used the ice cube tray for small snacks like raisins, cereal, nuts, carrots, pretzels, and candy.
4. JEWELRY ORGANIZATION – This may not be the most beautiful thing to display on your dresser top, but tuck it inside your drawer and use it to separate earrings, rings and bracelets.
5. A TRANSPORT VEHICLE FOR LEGO GUYS – I haven’t shown this idea to the boys yet, but when I do I can guarantee I will never get the ice cube tray back. This could be a boat in both the bath tub and the kiddie pool, or it could be a bus, a train, a rollercoaster, a rocket ship, or an airplane.
Happy Thrifting,
Katie
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