Use a pizza cutter to cut up kids’ pancakes or waffles for breakfast.
“corncob holders” to encourage kids to spear fruit cocktail, cubes of ham or cheese, or other bite-sized foodstuffs.
Sculpey modeling clay for playing with instead of Play-Dough or any homemade flour-and-salt play-doughs. Takes years to dry out. Only comes in white and terra cotta, but it beats finding the stuff drying out within an hour of opening it.
I know I’ve had some other ideas like this recently - mostly kid-related. Will you share your re-invention ideas?
In my Navy Days we used duct tape called EB Green. It got it’s name from the Electric Boat Co. in Groton CT. The most common use in my command was to keep the newbies in line. We would tape them to just about anything, a chair, a file cabinet, I once saw someone taped to the conduit pipes in the basement of my command.
ahh, those were the days when hazing was tolerated.
Nowadays when I want to see a new use for something, I look to my 6yo daughter. She is bound to have some creative art project that involves beer caps, candy wrappers, and heaven knows what else. He, as long as she keeps it safe and obeys the laws of thermodynamics I’m cool with it.
There’s this dealey on my car, on the left hand side of the steeringwheel. I dunno what it’s for, but I’ve found that it can let people know I intend to change lanes.
I’d also add that JB Weld is awesome stuff, but they already know you’ll use it for everything, so it’s not really an unintended use.
Yeah, that JB Weld stuff is incredible. The hub on my friend’s ATV stripped out and he JB Welded it because we were on an extended trip and there were no dealers around with the proper parts to fix it. That was almost three years ago and the thing still works. Beats buying a new hub and axle…
I’m not surprised that JB Weld is so strong. If it’s anything like real welds, it’s stronger than the steel it’s holding together, technically, at least.
Pam is excellent for getting stickers off of glass. The oil dissolves the glue.
A Kitchen Aid Hand Mixer is most excellent for mixing paint.
Crisco is an excellent quickie lip balm and hand creme. It is a little greasy, but if you are working in the kitchen and doing alot of handwashing, it helps alot.
Baking Soda applied to shower walls and then spritzed with **vinegar **takes care of mildew and mold most effectively and naturally.
Beauty Secrets
Baking Soda is also an excellent facial scrub and cheapie toothpaste.
Olive Oil Not the cartoon character is excellent for older women’s skin (late 30’s onward, when the wrinkles start to show.) as a mosturizer. Get the Extra Virgin kind. It won’t clog pores. Just put a little drop on your hands, rub them together and apply to a clean face. I got this tip from some semi-upscale womens cosmetic line. Trying to hawk me a $15 bottle of Olive Oil Skin Formula.
Several female dopers have tried and recommend the wonders of Miracle Whip as a face mask and hand/body masque for softening. The plus side is you smell like a ham sandwich for 15-20 minutes.
We just moved into a new house, and the builder forgot to order the blinds. So, we had to come up with a way to have a little privacy, at least in certain rooms. We needed something to tape over the windows. Solution: Christmas wrapping paper. Cheap, opaque, abundantly available, and festive.
Psst. Sculpey’s available in all kindsa colors - including glow in the dark ! There’s even one that lets you make your own erasers! What I like best about it is that if I - I mean, the *kids *- come up with an inadvertent masterpiece, I can bake it and save it.
In automotive parts stores, you can find a product called CRC Brakleen. It’s used (as the name implies) for cleaning brake parts on cars. It will remove grease stains on garage floors/driveways like magic.
I bought a package of over-sized plastic clothes pins to use as bag clips. Much cheaper than real chip clips, and they work as well. I get out 5-6 and use them until enough of them get lost or broken, then get out a few more. I close everything from bags of pork rinds to the bag of frozen cauliflower I just got out moments ago of which I only used some.