Until I learned of some great uses for twist ties, I had always thrown them away. Every pack of food/sandwich bags comes with a sheet of twist ties and I never ever use them for sealing the bags. I keep a whole pile of them in a bag because I know lots of uses for twist ties. How many of these do you know?
One of the best uses for twist ties is to get you out of a fix or two. If you ever need a temporary fix for a fashion glitch then look around for a twist tie. When a zipper pull is gone or a button pops, use a strong and bendable twist tie to hold it all together until you get home. You can even use them in place of a broken shoelace.
Gardeners can find plenty of ways to use twist ties. I never buy special nursery/plant twists because I save up free twist ties I get from ordinary products I buy. Use twist ties to train plants and vines – just remember to leave them loose so as to not strangle the shoot.
Knitters can also find some handy uses for twist ties. You can wrap a tie round the end of your needle to stop the stitches slipping off when you’re not working on your item. And, you can also use them to keep pairs of knitting pins together.
Every home has a workspace and entertainment center where cables and cords are used and often they’re an entangled mess or trip you up, plus it’s just not safe and looks bad. Why spend silly money on fancy-schmancy cable organizers when armed with a fistful of twist ties, you can get everything ship-shape for practically nothing? And if you’re uber-organized and have amassed a collection of different colored twist ties, you can even color code your cable organization so everything for one appliance/equipment is kept together and is easily visible.
Did you guess that one of the uses of twist ties is for cleaning out your small appliances? Twist ties are ideal for removing crumbs from toasters, whiskers from razors, and gunk from between the tiles on keyboards, among others. Use anywhere there are recesses no other tool gets into – remember to always turn appliances off first.
If you have a purse that is a bottomless pit, you probably find yourself fumbling around in the dark every time you need your pen. The sensible answer is to bundle 2-3 pens together with a twist tie. This means you have something bigger to find and you also won’t be let down if one pen runs out.
No self respecting list of “uses for” is complete without including tips for the holidays. Twist ties are great for securing decorations on a tree, attaching items to homemade wreaths, and they can be used for making homemade bows and other wrapping decorations.
The ways to use twist ties go much further than those mentioned here. A twist tie can come in handy on anything that can be secured on a “ring,” such as keys and washers. You can thread them through the punch holes in paper to keep an assignment together. How many more ways do you know?