# Items you use that were not its intended purpose. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 23, 2007, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012 "2007-12-23T09:40:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/21 "2007-12-23T16:13:09Z")
I noticed a lot of pro photographers using translucent plastic caps on their flashes to diffuse the light when shooting portraits and thought I’d try it myself. So I went to the nearby photo shop and found some. Thirty freaking dollars?!? :eek: Then I noticed the little plastic cups we using for refrigerating leftover baby food are exactly the same shape, size and translucency. A bit of scotch tape and you’re all set. Price? 10 for $3. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/22 "2007-12-23T17:31:02Z")
Word of advice for Q-tip users. Do **NOT** use them to clean out your ears - I have a work colleague whose wife is an occupational nurse, she has also worked in schools, these things as far as she is concerned are the work of the devil when used this way, stuff happens, things go wrong etc. Apart from the risk of introducing or spreading infection from one ear to another, there is also a significant risk if permanent damage. Ah,but you’d stop if it was hurtin now wouldn’t you ? Yet every year plenty of folk don’t notice until its too late ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/23 "2007-12-23T19:28:40Z")
A curled steel wire in my drill makes for an excellent high-powered mixer. Perfect for making the fomiest, light-as-a-feather batter. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/24 "2007-12-23T19:48:53Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] I use my electric leaf blower/vac to assist in mopping the floors. [/QUOTE] That must be…loud. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/25 "2007-12-23T19:54:36Z")
[QUOTE=casdave] Word of advice for Q-tip users. Do **NOT** use them to clean out your ears - I have a work colleague whose wife is an occupational nurse, she has also worked in schools, these things as far as she is concerned are the work of the devil when used this way, stuff happens, things go wrong etc. Apart from the risk of introducing or spreading infection from one ear to another, there is also a significant risk if permanent damage. Ah,but you’d stop if it was hurtin now wouldn’t you ? Yet every year plenty of folk don’t notice until its too late [/QUOTE] Thanks for the words of warning. What can I say? I’m a punk; a wild man; a rebel. I laugh at danger. I live on the edge, daddy-o; it’s just the way I am. “Live fast and leave a clean-eared corpse” is my motto. I wouldn’t know how to clean my ears safely if I tried. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/26 "2007-12-23T20:03:47Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/27 "2007-12-23T20:06:34Z")
[QUOTE=Autolycus] … [/QUOTE] This is the best post you have ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/28 "2007-12-23T20:10:59Z")
I use a dollar-store fingernail brush to wash my veggies. I keep a beer mug on the kitchen table to hold my teaspoons. They don’t live in the drawer like the other spoons. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/29 "2007-12-23T20:13:59Z")
Nursing pads make good coffee filters. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/30 "2007-12-23T20:17:57Z")
[QUOTE=coffeecat] Nursing pads make good coffee filters. [/QUOTE] I don’t want to know what “nursing pads” are, do I? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/31 "2007-12-23T20:20:21Z")
We use the little net bags from washing up tablet packs with our local Cub Pack… if you attach them to the belt loops they keep change, chewing gum, marbles etc etc safe. ---
**Author:** ![coffinjumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@coffinjumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffinjumper)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/32 "2007-12-23T20:23:54Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] I don’t want to know what “nursing pads” are, do I? [/QUOTE] If that post is any indication, I say yes. 😉 They’re just pads nursing mothers place in their bras to stop visable leaking. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/33 "2007-12-23T20:27:13Z")
[QUOTE=casdave] Word of advice for Q-tip users. Do **NOT** use them to clean out your ears - I have a work colleague whose wife is an occupational nurse, she has also worked in schools, these things as far as she is concerned are the work of the devil when used this way, stuff happens, things go wrong etc. Apart from the risk of introducing or spreading infection from one ear to another, there is also a significant risk if permanent damage. Ah,but you’d stop if it was hurtin now wouldn’t you ? Yet every year plenty of folk don’t notice until its too late [/QUOTE] Whilst I’m willing to accept all this, could you please tell me how I’m supposed to clean my ears without using Q-tips? I’m struggling to think of an alternative, other than just having filthy ears. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/34 "2007-12-23T22:15:08Z")
Well, before you consider using Q-Tips for your ears again, at least read [**Paul in Saudi’s** thread here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=433275&highlight=Q-Tip) The image he burned into my brain ensures that a Q-Tip will never get near my ears again. _shudder_ Now I just use the tip of my short, blunt, clean fingernail to get out as much wax as I can. If it feels like there’s more than I can reach and it’s getting bothersome, then I’ll use an ear cleaning kit to get it out. If it isn’t bothersome then I just leave it be. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/35 "2007-12-23T23:18:40Z")
I’ve used my Jeep as a garden tractor, my motorcycle as a trencher and Fiat transmission parts as paint mixers. I pretty much am always using stuff in ways not dreamed of by the manufacturers. I’m kinda known as a “McGyver” dude, on steroids. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/36 "2007-12-23T23:21:18Z")
[QUOTE=Tikki] The image he burned into my brain ensures that a Q-Tip will never get near my ears again. _shudder_ [/QUOTE] It is alleged that some deaf folks poke a hole in the eardrum with a needle, take a drag off a smoke, hold their noise and send smoke out their ears. Sometimes late at night I pray that this is merely an Urban Legend. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/37 "2007-12-23T23:25:19Z")
[QUOTE=Illuminatiprimus] Whilst I’m willing to accept all this, could you please tell me how I’m supposed to clean my ears without using Q-tips? I’m struggling to think of an alternative, other than just having filthy ears. [/QUOTE] And a corollary question is just what we SHOULD be doing with these hundreds of otherwise useless Q-tips. While they seem about right for ears – a cruel hoax, I’m sure – they don’t seem of much use for any of my other orifices. Really, it’s certainly not an adequate substitute for a gerbil. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/38 "2007-12-23T23:36:00Z")
[QUOTE=missbunny] I do that too - buying brushes at the art store is _much_ cheaper than buying them at a makeup counter. And there is a much wider selection. [/QUOTE] Golden Taklon rocks! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/39 "2007-12-23T23:37:29Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] And a corollary question is just what we SHOULD be doing with these hundreds of otherwise useless Q-tips. [/QUOTE] They make excellent weapons for [Star Trek action figures.](http://www.startrek.com/imageuploads/200303/tos-034-spock-prepares-for-his/320x240.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012/40 "2007-12-24T00:14:02Z")
[QUOTE=casdave] Word of advice for Q-tip users. Do **NOT** use them to clean out your ears [/QUOTE] But that’s what they’re _for_! Next you’ll be telling us not to use a toothbrush to clean our teeth! I clean my ears daily with Q-tips (or the storebrand equivalent thereof), and I will continue to do so. Because that’s just the kind of guy I am. A rebel. A wild man. I live life on the edge and don’t play by the rules. Danger is my middle name. You can have my Q-tips when you pry them from my cold, dead ears. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/items-you-use-that-were-not-its-intended-purpose/431012.md?page=3)