New Uses For Old Toothbrushes

I’ve never thought of Daphne as a baker, but when she hosted girls’ night last week, her treat was ice cream served up in custom-baked cookie bowls. They had a wonderful perfect bowl shape and we wondered how she managed it. We were all surprised by her secret. She rolled out her cookie dough as usual, but then used a larger jar lid to cut out the rounds. Then she just turned her muffin tin upside down and formed the the cookies over the muffin holes instead of inside them. I’ve tried making cookie bowls inside muffin tins before, and they are always too thick and don’t form up nicely. These looked like they’d come straight out of a bakery and were just right for holding a serving of ice cream!

Our ladies’ night has become not just a night out to catch up on everyone’s news, but our hostesses have started choosing topics to share our re-use ideas. Everyone in our neighbourhood has really taking becoming environmentally-friendly seriously and I’m sure our ladies’ nights have helped. Sometimes its just a matter of changing how you look at things. 

Daphne’s topic this week was how to reuse worn toothbrushes. We all admitted that we hated to throw them away, so it was fun to share all the things we reuse them for. Some of the ideas I’ve thought of myself, but other ideas were things I had never considered, but I sure will from now on!

First, I always run the toothbrushes through the dishwasher to sterilize them. It’s not a bad idea to do that once in a while even before they are ready to be replaced just to get some of that old gunk out from when the kids don’t rinse their brushes out well.

I have spare old toothbrushes in each bathroom that we use as fingernail brushes when washing our hands. They work better than the commercial fingernail brushes because they are easier to handle, especially for the smaller kids. I also keep one in my bathroom in my makeup box and use it as an eyebrow brush to soften the line after I’ve used an eyebrow pencil.

The other thing I have done is after running them through the dishwasher, (if they still have a little tooth-brushing life in them) is I write each person’s name on the handle and keep a spare set of them in the glove compartment. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve gone someplace overnight and always SOMEONE has forgotten their toothbrush.

Alice said she does something similar in that she has a toiletries kit that she leaves in her suitcase and she just puts one of her old toothbrushes in that for when she travels. That way, she never forgets it.

She also said that in her cleaning toolbox she always keeps a couple because they are useful for all kinds of cleaning. For instance, a dry toothbrush is great for cleaning window screens. The bristles are soft enough that they don’t damage the screens and you can loosen the dust out of the holes easily and then use a vacuum to clean the loose dust up.

Ellen says she keeps an old toothbrush in a cleaning bucket under every sink. It works great for scrubbing around the hinges of the toilet seat that’s hard to clean with a rag or the edges of the faucet where soap scum accumulates. A toothbrush is also a perfect tool for cleaning the grout between tiles.

In the kitchen, not only is the toothbrush useful for getting dirt out from around the edges of the sink, but is also handy for getting stains off of the strainer basket.

Velda says she keeps a spare toothbrush for cleaning jewellery with. As a matter of fact, she says she used a little toothpaste on her rings scrubs them with the brush. After rinsing in hot water, they just sparkle. She showed us her rings and sure enough, they looked like they had just come from the jewellers. She told us that a toothbrush is also perfect for cleaning the dirt that accumulates at the base of combs.

Velda’s other tip was that she uses a toothbrush for cleaning the tread of her running shoes or boots when they get mud in them. That one was really a good idea because I really hate it when the mud dries between the tread of your shoes!

Daphne said that she keeps a couple of old toothbrushes in her craft box with her paint supplies. Toothbrushes work great for making spatter designs when you’re painting. You just dip the toothbrush in a little watered-down paint and use run your thumb over the toothbrush aimed at whatever you are splattering. Since Daphne does a lot of tole painting and I noticed the snow on her winter scenes, I now know how she does that!

My MIL said that she keeps one toothbrush in her kitchen utensils drawer to take the silk off of corn cobs. She said she also just throws it in the dishwasher after she uses it to wash it up and keep it clean. That was another idea I’d never thought of before, but I’ll bet it works great. Getting the silk off of corn cobs is always a pain!

It was another fun ladies’s night and we each went home with some new ideas to incorporate into our own households!