When you think of recycled popsicle sticks, do you think of children’s craft projects? Photo frames and Christmas decorations? These craft projects are ways popsicle sticks are typically recycled. But there are practical uses for popsicles sticks in the home aside from sentimental or decorative uses. Here are 10 practical household uses for popsicle sticks.
Popsicle Stick Use #1: Seedling Markers
With a permanent marker, you can mark the top half of a popsicle sticks with words or drawings. These become plant name labels for use in your vegetable garden. They can identify plants and mark vegetable rows of little seedlings. And, if you have trouble matching the look of a seedling to its corresponding crop, popsicle stick markers make it easy to identify what you’ve got growing and where.
Popsicle Stick Use #2: Shims
Instead of using cardboard to slip beneath a short leg on a cabinet, why not break a popsicle stick down to the needed length and use it as a shim? Also, when doing construction of any nature in the home, a shim is an often-needed item. Popsicle sticks make great shims, because they are the right width to slip into small spaces.
Popsicle Stick Use #3: Finger Splints
Another place to keep popsicle sticks is in the first-aid box. When you have an emergency, such as a sprained finger, you can use a popsicle stick as a finger splint. You won’t need very many for this task, but when one’s needed, it’s a good thing to have it handy.
Popsicle Stick Use #4: Menthol Sticks
The popsicle sticks in the first-aid box have another use. You can rub menthol over a popsicle stick or two and place them inside your pillowcase. The menthol can help with breathing during those times of a stuffy nose and congestion.
Popsicle Stick Use #5: Thin Scrubbers
Because of the flat shape of a popsicle stick, it fits into narrow places, such as under the refrigerator or beneath a permanent fixture or cabinet. If you spill gunk or need to get rid of a sticky mess accumulating along the underside, front-edge of a heavy appliance, a popsicle stick can work wonders. You can stick a moist cloth or wet-wipe around a popsicle stick and push it into the crevice and move it back and forth until you have a clean surface. Again, you won’t need many sticks for this task, but having one when you need it is a good thing.
Popsicle Stick Use #6: Fire Starters
Popsicles sticks are typically composed of wood, and that means they burn easily. You can use popsicle sticks for fire-starters in your fireplace, your fire-pit, or packed in your camping supplies for campfire use. Popsicle sticks burn individually as kindling or you can stuff a handful of them into a toilet paper tube, pour melted wax into it, and create a longer-burning log.
Popsicle Stick Use #7: Hem Weights
A popsicle stick doesn’t weigh much, but it might be just heavy enough to work as a curtain weight. Sewn into the bottom edge of a curtain hem, popsicle sticks have the weight needed to hold a curtain in place and give a flimsy curtain needed support.
Popsicle Stick Use #8: Dry Goods Label
Most folks know that popsicle sticks make great second time popsicle sticks, coffee-stirrers, corndog sticks, and measuring cup levelers, but there is another food-related use for popsicles sticks. Labeled popsicle sticks can slide down inside a jars of dry goods and can identify beans, lentils, barley, dried cereal grains, and such. With the labels facing out and the popsicle sticks up against the glass, you can read labels easily. You don’t need to use sticky paper labels on jars, and you don’t need to take jars out of the cupboard to read a label on the lid.
Popsicle Stick Use #9: Paint Stirrers
In the garage, popsicle sticks can be very valuable as paint stirrers or stirrers for other fluids. You can stir small cans of paint and dispose of the popsicle stick when you are done. In addition, you can stick a popsicle stick into a small tank to identify how much gas or oil is left in the tank. It pays to keep a stash of popsicle sticks in a container in the garage.
Popsicle Stick Use #10: Markers and Reminders
Finally, you can use popsicle sticks to mark a favorite recipe or a spot in the book you are reading. What’s more, you can use popsicle sticks for reminder markers. You can write a sweet message or verse on a popsicle stick and tuck it into a child’s lunchbox or bedroom drawer. You can place it on a dashboard or in a loved one’s pocket to be discovered later. And, if it’s forgotten or never found, it won’t turn into paper pills in the wash.
Next time you eat a popsicle, instead of tossing the popsicle stick into the trashcan, consider its many uses and keep it. Also, if someone gives you a stash of popsicle sticks, take them gladly and put them to use. With these 10 popsicle stick suggestions, you’ll be seeking out popsicle sticks, instead of wondering where to dispose of them.
