10 Clever Uses for Bobby Pins

Whenever I’m cleaning my apartment, I never fail to stumble upon 5-10 bobby pins.  Even when my hair was too short to use them, I would still find them in my laundry, in pockets, under the couch, etc.

While I don’t have as many bobby pins as, say, Marilyn Munster (remember that scene where she loads a cannon with an obscene amount of bobby pins?), I am pretty well stocked…which got me thinking…what else can I do with these little dust bunnies of the hair world?

1. Bobby pins are great for keeping hair out of your face, but they’re also awesome when it comes to keeping your clothing in line.  Use them to secure ties to your shirt or to quickly hem the bottom of your pants.  They can also be used to help zip a broken zipper or to secure a scarf around your neck.
2. Going on vacation?  Bobby pins are a great tool to clip money to the inside of your clothing.
3. Hide your cable and phone wires by using the bobby pin to secure the wire to the wall.  Thread the wire through the end of the bobby pin and push the pin under the baseboard.
4. In a pinch a bobby pin can act as a lock pick or a screwdriver.  Keep some handy in your car/motorcycle just in case.
5. Christmas lights will bother you no more when you use bobby pins to secure the strand to the tree.  Embellish the bobby pin with beads or flowers to add some décor to the tree.
6. On that note, embellished bobby pins can be used to add color to almost anything!  Shirts, shoes, tablecloths, napkins, papers, purses…the possibilities are endless!  If you’re handy with embellishments and a glue gun, decorate some bobby pins and give them away as gifts.
7. Thread bobby pins on a string to create an Egyptian necklace for your next Cleopatra costume (http://www.bookofjoe.com/images/2008/11/12/clasp.jpg).
8. Bobby pins can also be used as a chip bag clasp, a bookmark, a paperclip, or as a scrapbook embellishment.
9. Use bobby pins to keep the straps of your dress from falling down.  Pin your bra straps and the dress straps together on the back of your dress.
10. Wanna hang something from your ceiling?  If you have pop out ceiling tiles, you can use bobby pins to hang light weight décor.  Use string to tie the object to the bobby pin and then slip the bobby pin under the tile.  Here’s what I did in my office cube:

The butterflies are tied to bobby pins…which I stuck under the ceiling tiles

Knowledge is power!  Learn fun facts, hints and tips, and creative ways to use every day items with “The Buzz” posts on Thursday.