One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The perfect proverb to keep in mind when it comes to reusing items around your home. What once was seen as rubbish or clutter, could actually end up being just the thing you needed to help clean up your home. Don’t believe me? Take a look at your old tissue boxes.
The humble tissue box, I’ve recently discovered, has a multitude of secret uses beyond simply helping us through a cold – many of which actually help to keep your home more tidy and organised. Here are all the reuses that truly turn your trash into organisational treasure.
Plastic bag dispenser
There really isn’t a greater source of mess and clutter than plastic bags. We pick them up at the supermarket when caught without our bag-for-lifes, so we keep them under the sink or piled up in the cupboard out of guilt and the assurance that we will use them again eventually.
These instincts are good, but the execution could be greatly improved. And we can do so with the introduction of one simple item. Save yourself some much needed space and make it much easier to grab a bag on your way out by storing your plastic bags in an old tissue box.
Naturally, the bigger the better, but the natural structure of the box makes it a great dispenser for plastic bags. Simply fold or crunch the bags up and pop them inside, then pull out when need be via the hole. It’s just like how you would normally use the box, except instead of tissues, you’ll be pulling out a shopping bag that’s no longer cluttering up your space.
Holding yarn
Whether you’re a knitter or mad for crocheting, as fun as these hobbies may be, we can all admit they come with a certain level of baggage. It doesn’t take much for a ball of yarn or wool to get messy and out of control, but it also doesn’t take a lot to wrangle them either – in fact, it might only take your old tissue box.
What to read next
Don’t waste your money on fancy yarn bowls when a tissue box is able to achieve the exact same thing. All you need to do is simply pop your ball of yarn into the box, and either pull your working strand through the top built-in hole or feed it through a hole you created on the side. No more tangles for you!
Drawer dividers
Drawer dividers are another thing we need not spend money on. There are so many household items that can be repurposed into the perfect way to organise your drawers, tissue boxes being one of them.
You can simply cut the top off a tissue box so it fits neatly inside a drawer, or slice it in half to create a more flexible organiser that can be adjusted to suit the space. Combine several boxes or cut one in half to create multiple sections for your organiser.
If you’re tempted to give this hack a go, just bear in mind that tissue boxes are made from fairly thin cardboard, so they’re best used in areas that stay clean and dry, as any exposure to moisture will quickly cause them to deteriorate.
Desk organiser
Tissue boxes are lightweight and flexible, but still have a certain sturdy structure to them, which to me is what makes them perfect for all kinds of organising. One kind being finally gathering and organising all your desk clutter.
This trick does work better with the larger rectangular shaped tissue boxes, as opposed to the cube shaped smaller ones. Start by cutting the top off an empty tissue box. If you’d prefer a shallower organiser, trim the sides down to around 2 inches high using scissors or a craft knife. Next, as a sneaky way to reuse some more would-be rubbish, glue empty toilet roll or kitchen roll tubes inside the box to create sturdy compartments for pens and pencils. To give it a neater look, cover the outside with wrapping paper, scrapbook paper or decorative tape to disguise the original packaging if not to your taste. Once it’s dry, use the different sections to keep everything from highlighters and paperclips to sticky notes and charging cables neatly organised.
Lint bin
When I first heard this trick, I thought it was utterly random, but now I can safely say I’ve come round to the thinking that it’s utterly genius. Often we can all be a bit lazy with the lint pulled from our tumble dryers, right? It never seems to get emptied because we can’t be bothered to take it all the way to the bin (at least I hope that’s not just me?).
Emptying your lint tray is essential for avoiding a fire hazard, so make this essential task a little less annoying by adding a tissue box to the top of your tumble dryer and use it as a handy place to collect dryer lint. The plastic opening helps keep the lint contained, preventing it from sticking to your hands or drifting around the room. Once you’ve built up a decent amount, simply empty it in the proper bin, one trip versus dozens – that’s a win in my books!
Car bin
Repeat after me: the storage pockets in your car doors are not bins. I know, it’s a difficult truth to accept, but it’s one worth embracing if you want to avoid mystery smells and sticky bits permanently taking up residence in your car. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience.
The problem is that those little compartments rarely get emptied, let alone properly cleaned, making them the perfect place for old receipts, sweet wrappers and half-forgotten parking tickets to pile up. Instead, turn an empty tissue box into a dedicated car bin.
Just like the laundry lint hack, simply place the tissue box in a door pocket, the footwell or even the glove compartment if you’d rather keep it out of sight (just don’t forget about it). Then use the opening to drop in any wrappers, receipts or other bits of rubbish as you go. A full tissue box is much harder to ignore than a few stray bits of litter scattered around your car, which means you’re far more likely to empty it regularly.
Gift tags
Get crafty with your old tissue boxes. So many of them these days actually have pretty stylish designs and patterns, so why waste them. You can turn them into pretty jazzy book marks, a great DIY job to do with kids or, for the grown-ups, you can make your own entirely free supply of gift tags.
Break down your empty tissue boxes until they’re easier to handle, then cut out small shapes – you can use anything from simple squares and circles to the more jazzy hearts and flowers. Just make sure you leave enough room to write on the back. Use a whole punch and some string or ribbon to complete the tag and fasten to your next gift as you see fit. A fun personal and sustainable touch!
