I'm a firm advocate of the extended uses for clothes pins and binder clips! We already use several of these applications here at home. Why buy special tools, when these already-in-the-house tools work just fine? I find the "chip clip" to be large and bulky to store, for example, so why store one? I've used one or both of these in the garden (not directly on plants, of course), in the car to keep things in place, etc. I've even attached a note to our dog's collar with a binder clip and sent him off to fetch his 'Dad' from the garage! The point here is: never understimate humble tools...specifically, binder clips and clothes pins.
Cool Ideas for Clothespins and Binder Clips
Photo: Clearly Ambiguous
When I need to get things dealt with and out of the way, these are two of the things I reach for most often. They’re cheap, small, relatively easy to find no matter what country I’m in, and incredibly versatile, as you’ll see below.
Chip Clips
I’ve been given a few of the expensive ones over the years, but I can’t recall ever purchasing one. I always use the wooden clothespins for closing up chips and other food bags I don’t have twist-ties for. Binder clips from the office supply store work great, especially for larger, bulkier bags. While the expensive kind pictured below works fine, you can easily substitute with the above ideas for a greatly reduced cost.
Drying Rubber Gloves
Picked this one up when I was house-sitting in Jordan. Instead of setting aside a crock with an upside down wooden spoon to collect all the water and get messy, find an extra nail / cup hook / edge of a wire shelf / whatever and clip your rubber cleaning gloves by the longest finger. The water can drain out onto a water proof surface or onto a dry cloth to be used for cleaning later.
An Art Clothesline
This can be used in classrooms, children’s rooms, or just as a cool el cheapo idea for the home office or funky apartment.
Communications Center for the Fridge
Place a magnet on the back and use to clip notes, lists, etc.
Project Clamp
This is a great use for the old stained ones. Clamp together things you are gluing when working on smaller, more delicate projects.
Curtain Hook Alternative
This is appropriate for a cottage theme or for a laundry room / kitchen. Have fun with denim curtains or ones made from antique flour sacks. I have some neat colored Khmer head wraps from Cambodia that are going in the new kitchen when we build. Tie-dye or funky ethnic fabrics would also work, depending on the look you are going for. What I like about this idea is that it works great with another cheapskate curtain hanging idea...using string, wire, or cable instead of an expensive rod.
Recipe Card Holder
Just clip the card to edge of an open container, cup hook, or the bottom of a curtain...anywhere that will be in visual range of where you are mixing things up. If you are using binder clips, you only need to turn them upside down. How cool is that?
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Lamp Shade
Now I wouldn’t have come up with this one on my own, that’s for sure. But here’s a link to an article showing how someone put together a lamp cover from wooden clothespins and an old wire tomato cage from the garden. It puts some fairly interesting patterns on the wall when you are done. Looks like something a teen would have fun making for their room. (I’d personally trim down those tall open wire ends, but I guess that’s personal preference.)
Toothpaste Tube Clip
I love using the clips to hold the rolled down tubes. It keeps all the extra from going back up into the tube and getting wasted. You also don’t have to spend time while you’re bleary-eyed in the morning squeezing the extra back down to the bottom again.
Pair Organizers
Need to keep socks, mittens, and gloves paired up while they dry? These work great for winter wet-clothes management.
Poster, Painting, or Light Tapestry Hangers
These are really fun for the funky apartment, loft, or decked-out dorm room. Check out the picture below for some colorful inspiration!
Garbage Can Sanity
Tired of the large bag slipping down into the can? Use two or more large binder clips to secure the bag to the edges of the container. Problem solved!
Organizing Small Table Linens
Finding it a bit annoying to have sets of fabric napkins and placemats slip-sliding all over the linen closet or drawer? Clip your sets together with clothespins or binder clips when you store them.
A Cheapskate's Money Clip
Got loads of cash? (Hey, it can happen.) If you are on a trip or need to carry lots of small bills, binder clips are a great way to organize your paper currency. Just flip the ends down after you clip it on!
Technical Support at the Ironing Board
Having trouble with pleats or ironing a hem in place prior to stitching? Grab a clothespin or two. You'll be back in business in no time.
Know of any other cool uses for clothespins? I’d love to hear about them. Keep those ideas coming!
Additional photo credits: Jeniphur99, Kylemac, Salt Fork, Tea Girl, Jazzmasterson, L. Marie, Gideon Strauss, The Real Janelle, Dano
Best of Wise Bread
Having the dog carry a message is a fabulous idea! I can honestly say I never would have come up with that one on my own. Thanks!
I work in a call center - and I use a binder clip to secure my headset cord to my belt. It's stronger and more durable than the flimsy plastic clips most headsets have. I look cord through one of the handles on the binder clip and it works like a charm. Been using this for the last three years.
Thanks, Brian! I'm sure work at home folks everywhere are thanking you for your cool tip! It's a good one, for sure.
Thanks for taking the time to post.
Hang up a wall calender with binder clips. This lets you change pages, refer back to previous months, etc. without that little hole at the top ripping by about the 4th month into the year.
Nipple Clamps!
Like these:
http://www.stockroom.com/Chrome-Mini-Clothespin-Nipple-Clamps-P578.aspx
I never would have thought of that one either, Fiona . . . chuckle . . . snort . . . thanks for posting. Have a great day.
I use binder clips to attach my shopping list that's on an index card (see also the famous "hipsterPDA") on the left sleeve of my jacket or shirt while checking off items I already have put in my shopping cart. So I have my left hand still available to hold things like my portable video player or cellular while shopping.
An extension idea to your recipe holder idea...
Use the clips in the same manner to hold up a full sized piece of paper while typing.
Although I have used a commercial paper holder for this, I like yout idea much better. Thanks to your idea - I got rid of mine, and now use the binder clips to hold the bottom, and let the top of the paper rest against my speakers (which are already on my desk anyway). These saves me from having an extra item on my desk, that I only use on rare occasion.
That's definitely taking it to the next level. The paper doesn't fall over and curl, even with the speakers to lean against? Of course, I don't have speakers, so I'll have to get creative with how I might try this out. I have a bunch of curriculum to type up in the next month or so, so this could come in handy.
So far, I haven't noticed anything less-than-satisfactory about using the binder clips. It works fine, even when using just one piece of paper. And, I must say, I am loving not having that extra thing on my desk anymore.
Thanks again for the idea prompt.
I saw a teacher who had hotmelt glued clothes pins to her wall to hang papers to display. I figured I could do one better, so I sanded down the inside of the clothes pins so I could just stick a stiff piece of paper or a poster up high on my classroom wall. By making the entrance more angled, I don't have to push on the handles to get them into the pins.
You know, that's really funny, because I just sketched out a classroom version of ideas for these things. However, I didn't think of the idea you mentioned.
Good one! Especially in places where the humidity is really high and tape adhesive doesn't last very long.
Thanks for stopping by.
When I was in 7th grade, I made a little note holder out of a clothespin, a dowel, and a little block of wood. Basically we had to drill a little hole in the pin and in the block and then put the dowel in the block and the pin. There was another little wood part cut into a half-circle that was glued to the middle of the dowel as well. I know this sounds really confusing, but the end result (after paint) was a little message holder that looked like a bird! The pin was the beak, the half-circle the body, etc. I know my mom still uses it for messages. I made it about 12 years ago! I wish I had a picture...
1.
Just recently, I made a nice addition to my office desk:
I combined a plastic rail binder clip with two normal binder clips with their loops as the feet (see recipe holder) to make a cheap business card holder/index card holder, which I placed behind my PC keyboard and use it to remind me of (up to ten) urgent to-do items, that are written on small pieces of index cards or heavier paper and are hold up by the rail binder clip.
As the metal binder clips I use are magnetic, I sometimes put the whole thing on to small neodym magnets on a brushed steel board.
2.
I sometimes found it annoying to lose the towel wrapped around me after a bath. A bigger binder clip, that can hold two towel layers fixes this problem easily.
I was always annoyed, when the lid of a boiling pot closes the pot completely instead of leaving the pot a bit open. Now, when I cook potatoes, rice or pasta, I attach a binder clip to the pot and it prevents the sliding down of the lid.
Also, a binder clip helped me out, when I had to fix a broken table tennis net, when the original straining mechanism didn't work. With a binder clip, I could bring the original tension to the net cord.
That's great, Porree. Definitely two useful ideas. I just love these things. They can fix so many problems.
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