Use It Again!

Toothbrushes
    

My dentist  has always told me to change my toothbrush every six months. He is even nice enough to give me a new one every time I go for a cleaning (which is every six months).  Hubby, son, youngest daughter and I all live at home. That adds up to 8 toothbrushes a year. Now my doctor has always said that after you are sick you should throw out your toothbrush. So say at least one more per person. That makes 12 toothbrushes a year that we are using. They aren't broken. They are just used.

 Cutting down on our garbage is something I am always trying to do. We don't pay extra for garbage, it comes out of my taxes. I just don't like seeing everything go into the landfills. We only have so much room on planet Earth. So I try to find different uses for things.

I always run the toothbrushes thru the dishwasher. We don't want to be spreading germs all over while using them again.

Bathrooms have so many uses for old toothbrushes. Each bathroom has 3 under the sink, 1 for the sink, 1 for the toilet, and 1 for the shower. They are labeled so I know which is which. Cleaning the shower door frame or the grout between the tiles is always easier with a toothbrush.

Under the kitchen sink has some too. They work great on the space between my stove and counter top. Toothbrushes work great on the gaskets of my dishwasher and also cleaning the filter. Jars that have persistent glue residue get scrubbed with an old one.  Can't get to the bottom of a jar to clean it, try using a toothbrush. The edges around the faucet get more detailed cleaning with a toothbrush then my big scrub brush. My cheese grated has become sparkly again thanks to an old toothbrush.

In the laundry room you can always find one. Have you every splattered spaghetti sauce all over a shirt? Don't worry. An old toothbrush and some stain remover will fix that. Are we all washing our lint filters like we are supposed to? Just grab an old toothbrush and some dish soap and it will be done in no time. I love my dog. I really do. That is why I used an old toothbrush to clean my good sneakers after she left me a present in the yard that I stepped in.

My husband keeps a bunch in the shed. He uses them to clean our window screens. His car wash bucket has one in it. He has used them to clean around lug nuts on the car, cleaning all the edges on the car dash, and other tight spots in the car. They even clean the headlights well. Put some toothpaste on it and see. If it can polish your teeth then it can polish your headlights. It really works. Cleaning the muck from the keyboard, not a problem for my Hubby with and old toothbrush.

When they kids were younger they would use toothbrushes to play with. They loved to brush their dolls or stuffed animals teeth. Splattering paint (outside) was always a fun and free activity in the nice weather. They can add texture to a painting as well. Play-do with a toothbrush was always a blast. You could make patterns, cut it, or whatever they imagined.

Now that my kids are older, my daughter uses them to clean her jewelry. She has cleaned her hairbrushes with them as well. Works great to clean out the dust on the vent of a blow dryer.

Scrubbing an old terra cottar pot is easy with an old toothbrush. Label with a permanent marker and you have garden markers for all of your veggies and herbs. 

 I'm sure there are hundreds of ways to use an old toothbrush. If we all reused them after they were no longer good for brushing our teeth think of all garbage that would stay out of the landfill longer. 

Do you use old toothbrushes in a different way? Have a hack that you want to share? I'm always looking for new ways to use something.