What 'off label' use have you made for stuff around your house? Like a lot of people

[applegrove]

I use a Lee valley wood file to grate cheese and zest lemons (the long thin grater you can now find it kitchen stores). I use my tv wand to scratch my back. I use wet swiffer sweeper mopping refils as cloths to clean the tub, toilet and sink (one goes a long way) and also to clean my shoes and feet on hot summer days. An old door is my desktop and it is the perfect length for all my computer gizmos.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. I just repurposed a swing-seat frame..

It's now an awesome bean trellis

[yellowcanine]

2. I have an old fashioned bed pan that I use to hold sea shells. Very tasteful.

If I do say so myself.

[applegrove]

3. LOL!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

8. No, you can't use a bed pan for sea shells

unless you post a photo.

Too good.

[yellowcanine]

13. Eh. I don't have one but will try to remedy that tonight.

Will have to be discreet though. The wife will be sure to ask what I am doing if she sees me taking a pic of the sea shell bedpan. She might think I am demented and need to be put into an institution. And she might be right.

[deucemagnet]

23. LOL! That reminds me of "Demolition Man".

"What are the three seashells for?"

[HopeHoops]

4. My wife stacked clementine trays to store our potato crop - worked great!

[av8rdave]

5. A paper clip makes a great reset tool for a router

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. And good for opening stubborn cd drive trays

But I don't know if these count. I think the devices were designed around paper clips.

[yellowcanine]

16. I have heard of CD drive trays being used as cup holders.

They tend to break if you do that though. Bummer.

[yellowcanine]

14. Also for cleaning out earwax. A twofer. I keep one in the keyboard holder for that purpose.

[MadrasT]

6. 56 quart Sterilite plastic containers (with no lid)...

...make great high sided litter boxes for the cats. Much less cat litter scattered around on the floor than if you use the conventional ones, and nobody "misses" and sprays over the edge of the box by accident.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

11. I use a shallower one under the kitchen sink to protect against leak damage.

I can still store things in it, too.

[yellowcanine]

15. My kitties would scatter litter everywhere jumping out of that box.

I would flip that box over, cut a door in it, and set it over a standard litter box. Much more kitty accessible that way. We do this with cardboard boxes and throw them away when they get too grungy.

[mucifer]

33. My cat communicated that to me. I had winter salt in a container in the basement.

He said to me "thanks Mucifer, for that wonderful second bathroom". So I now put kitty litter in there.

[riderinthestorm]

9. I use a door as a dining room table! It's from an old schoolhouse, complete with nicks and nudges

just the most beautiful, dark oak wood! I meant to strip it and re-finish it but never got around to it in the first few months. I had purchased a cheapo set of metal legs from Ikea and the glass top and somehow it works the way it is. I get rave reviews by everyone who sees it and 4 years later it's exactly the same as the day I hastily assembled it.

My daughter wanted sleek, low dressers in a long line. We couldn't find anything that had big enough drawers for a teenage girl until she spotted wooden lateral filing cabinets at officemax. So those are her dressers, it looks very cool. She put pillows along the wall and her friends actually sit on them.

[yellowcanine]

17. Doesn't the doorknob kind of get in the way?

[riderinthestorm]

26. I had this special plate made, it has a huge hole in the middle to accomodate the door knob.

Kinda sucks with gravy since it oozes out around the hole in the middle but luckily for me, my husband's a really fast eater! He'll lick that stuff up around the knob and keep it clean for me. Anything he misses, I let the dogs at it to ensure it's sterilized. It does look a little grungy under there now that you mention it, but c'est la vie. For holidays I simply throw a table cloth over the whole thing and while the knob looks like a huge boner stuck up into the table top, it works.

I never seat guests there of course. The doorknob seat is always for my husband and the dogs..... simpler that way.

[Denninmi]

10. Gold Bond Medicated Anti-Itch Powder makes a fantastic ...

fungicide and insecticide in the garden. The zinc oxide powder that is the main ingredient is anti-fungal, and the talc, menthol, and eucalyptol kill insects such as aphids.

But, don't pay $5 for the name-brand stuff, go to the dollar store and pick up their generic version, works just as well.

I use it on all kinds of things, and it works great -- controls powdery mildew on squash, roses, lilacs, etc. Also helps to repel chewing critters like rabbits, I guess they dislike the taste and smell. I've never found it to harm anything. You do, of course, have to re-apply after every rain, because it washes off. I don't think there would be any long-term toxicity issues from zinc build-up in the soil unless you used it very heavily for a long period.

[cliffordu]

12. I want to start "The society for the misuse of stuff"

Just to punish the color inside the lines peeps.

[yellowcanine]

18. This should be called the Red Green Discussion Thread.

[applegrove]

20. I love Red Green.

[WolverineDG]

22. If women don't find you handsome

they should at least find you handy.



dg

[laundry_queen]

36. LOL!

Red Green was awesome.

[LeftinOH]

19. I use my old rowing maching to pile laundry on top of it...

..I guess that doesn't really count, though.

[ScreamingMeemie]

21. I used a wire hanger, just today, to fix my Oreck!

Saved a trip to the distributor!

[trof]

24. What's a tv wand?

[trof]

25. Pam, or any cooking spray, makes a pretty good shoe polish.

If the shoes are just dull and not scuffed.
A light spritz and buff with a soft shoe brush.
SHINY!

[kcass1954]

35. Spray a little Pam on a squeaky door hinge.

(Caught my kid doing this after he was grounded for coming home too late. He got nailed because the front door woke me up.)

[dimbear]

27. My computer table started life as a reed organ around 1880.

Whoever built it didn't see that coming. Betcha.

[applegrove]

28. Mine was a door to a cubboard in what had been a whorehouse 100 years ago I think.

[frogmarch]

29. A leftover piece of PVC pipe to make

a great-sounding low D Irish whistle, and much-larger-in-diameter sections of PVC to make castle towers for a tabletop knights-and-dragon diorama. (My husband is quite the handyman, so there's always lots of leftover stuff for me to use for my craft projects.) I cemented real stones from my flowerbeds onto the towers, and now the towers are almost too heavy for me to lift. But they look cool.

[pa28]

30. Use pledge to polish mirrors.

When I was taking flying lessons my instructor told me it worked best on airplane transparancies and I thought he was trying to play some prank. Not so.

Use it on your cheap household mirrors and suddenly the reflection is better than reality. Best off label use of a product ever IMO.

[IcyPeas]

31. brake fluid to get rid of scratches on my car

really, a guy at the Nissan dealership taught me this. rub it on with a cloth (you have to rub a bit) (like nail polish remover and it will not ruin the clear coat) and then wash it with soap and water then some wax.... and it looks great.

[JitterbugPerfume]

32. my oldest daughter has a favorite wine bottle

she wants her ashes put in . She said when her husband goes someplace he has to take her with him ,right on the front seat of the car beside him. I don't know how well he will manage that when he goes on the Harley though.My Robin is a real hoot!


He will do it too!

[Sea-Dog]

34. I USE MY TUMMY FLUFF AS A COTTON PAD