Everyone has a mug or two that goes unused in their kitchen. For me, there are mugs with milestone birthdays printed on them, mugs to celebrate weddings and countless decorative mugs that are far too delicate for the dishwasher. In any case, my cabinet is filled, front-to-back with mugs, 80% of which go unused.
This is a common sight, and a frustrating one if you’re short on space. Even if you have a chipped mug, it feels wasteful to send it to landfill. The good news is there are ways to repurpose your unwanted mugs. Here are some of our favourites, so you can finally claim back your kitchen cabinets.
1. Organise your utensils
Fed up with fishing around the cutlery drawer as look for your favourite spatula? A mug can easily hold your trusted utensils, ready to grab when needed from your kitchen counter.
If you find your mug slides around and you want to secure it, you can always stick some rubber feet to the base for extra grip.
2. Fashion a cute plant pot
There’s no reason your mug can’t function as a mini plant pot for your garden; if it’s cracked or stained, that only adds to the decor!
All kinds of smaller plants would fit and grow well in an unwanted mug; petunias, primroses and miniature roses would all look great, but you need to make sure there’s adequate drainage – ideally by drilling a hole in the bottom of the mug. That’s easier said than done for most of us, so instead, I’d keep the plant in its plastic pot, place that in the mug, and then empty out the excess water when required.
Mugs are also ideal for succulents and herbs, if you want to keep them indoors.
3. Create a mosaic
If you’re feeling creative and your mug is cracked and beyond saving, you can always break it up (carefully) and use the pieces to create your own mosaic.
Wear gloves, long-sleeved clothes and protective eyewear before breaking up your mug. For a controlled method, we’d recommend wrapping the mug in a towel before carefully tapping at it with a hammer, increasing pressure as needed. Once it’s broken into parts, you can arrange and glue them together on your chosen base (a similar-sized plastic plant pot might work well and fit the curved pieces). Be sure to wear protective gloves throughout.
4. Find it a new home
If you want to get rid of mugs that you have no use for, you can always donate them. You could offer them to your local church, which often hosts events for the community, or a local soup kitchen or shelter may make good use of them. And there’s always charity shops. Seeing that mugs usually aren’t recyclable, these are all preferable to landfill.
5. Make an office pencil pot
I can’t get through this list without mentioning the go-to solution: the pencil pot. If your home office lacks a desk organiser, and you can never find a pen when you need one, a trusty mug could be the answer. It adds a little personality to the space and can also hold nail files, rulers and whatever else you might need.
6. Use it as a bathroom container
Many long-handled items in the bathroom would sit nicely in a mug. In terms of makeup, there are brushes and eye pencils as well as mascara. For myself, there are endless amounts of cotton earbuds that are impossible to remove from the initial cardboard box without making a huge mess.
Whether you’d prefer to display such items or not, a mug will keep them together and give you easy access when needed (you can lift them all out of the cabinet at once, rather than fishing them out individually).
7. Have a designated cake mug
Just because it’s done serving you tea doesn’t mean your mug is finished in the kitchen! If it’s still in working condition and microwave-safe, why not try out some baking and designate it your ‘cake mug’?
There’s plenty of desserts that call for microwaving batter directly in a mug. One of my favourites at GH is this Chocolate Orange Mug Cake Recipe – and it takes less than two minutes to cook!
Mug storage solutions
