Creative Ways to Reuse "Disposable" Items

CDs/DVDs and their cases

Along with organizing cables and toting bagels, both borked and discarded CD- and DVD-Rs and the spindles they came in can find second lives:

-"The (spindle) covers can be turned upside-down and used as small tabletop bins as well (especially the 50 and 100-packs)."
-"An outer plastic container from a 50-spindle of CDs or DVDs makes a great desk pen or craft tool holder if you tuck toilet-paper tubes into it."

Dryer sheets

We've long been fans of the pan-cleaning, shoe de-stink-ifying, anti-static dusting squares, and our readers have even more novel uses for them:

-"Used dryer sheets will clean your iron - just run the iron over it on medium heat."
-"Stick used dryer sheets into drawers to keep clothing smelling nice."

Plastic containers

-"Plastic yogurt containers make great starter pots for seedlings."
-"... The Stonyfield quart-sized yogurt containers are marked as dishwasher safe. We make our own chicken stock, and freeze it in those yogurt containers."—skyesong.
"The plastic bags that newspapers are delivered in make for a great umbrella bag.
-"Plastic Chinese food containers: store miscellaneous parts in my garage."
-"I sell and trade a lot of used books, so I cut up the heavy plastic wrap from the cases of bottled water and use it as a waterproof liner for shipping. I use brown paper cut from grocery bags for the outer wrapper."

Odds and ends

-"2 wine corks can make a quick and easy laptop stand."
-"I save those pop-up tissue boxes for the car. They make great trash receptacles and it is easy to tell when they are full."
-"I have saved every twist-tie I've come into contact with, and I end up re-using every one. Keep your pens together in your bag. Ear bud cables organized at the gym. Chip clips. Shower curtain rings. Any tech cable that's snaking around the room. Half of that single-serve bag of coffee."