Don’t Pitch the Old Toothbrush! 12 Ways to Reuse.

I love figuring out ways to reuse or re-purpose items that ordinarily go into the trash. One item that I treasure is an OLD toothbrush. Every six months, the dentist hands us new toothbrushes. Normally, you would throw the old one in the trash.  Right?  Wrong.  Old toothbrushes are amazing tools for cleaning stains on clothes to “de-grounding” the coffee grinder.   Here are  12 ways to reuse an old toothbrush to make household and beauty chores a breeze.  Be sure to add your own old toothbrush reuse suggestions below.

12 Ways to Reuse the Old Toothbrush

#1  Cleaning Baseboard

Baseboards can get really nasty.  Running a vacuum tool over those crevices just doesn’t cut it.  Run an old toothbrush around those crevices and in the corners to remove lint.  (Clean freaks this suggestion may be addicting so proceed with extreme caution.)

#2.  Cleaning Mud out of Shoes

I am the queen of mud in shoes.  I always forget to change my shoes when working in the garden.  So, my old toothbrush becomes my best friend in cleaning out the muck from my sneakers.

If you aren’t a gardener, how many of you have kids who play in the mud?  Or perhaps they play sports rain or shine?  When my boys played soccer, I cleaned their cleats.  I could never had done it without the help of my toothbrushes.  They simply glided around the round cleats.

Clean alert:  Wear an old shirt when cleaning shoes or baseball or soccer cleats.  The mud splatters and especially on you and surrounding grout, walls, and tile.  But then again, you have your handy tool to clean up those areas.

#3  Cleaning Laundry Stains

I have scrubbed my fair share of chocolate, pen, tomato, mustard, and  “I am not sure” stains from my kids’ clothes.  Sometimes you need just a dab of detergent to work into the stain.

Grab the old toothbrush to blast out those stains.

In fact your old toothbrush is invaluable in taking out ring around the collar.  Read how to vanish those rings HERE.  (Didn’t you know old toothbrushes are magical wands too?)

#4  Cleaning Fingernails.

The bristles of a toothbrush are so much softer than a fingernail brush.  So they are ideal to clean sensitive finger nails.

(PS   I can’t ever find my 100 pairs of garden gloves.   So those brushes come in handy when I need to clean the muck out of my fingernails too.)

#5 Cleaning Grout and Caulk.

I will let you in on a secret.  I hate dirty grout or stains on my kitchen caulk.  Tomato sauces in the kitchen?   No problem.  Simply clean that back-splash with your toothbrush. Try it some time.

Want to tackle that grout, grab your toothbrush, hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. (Instructions are HERE.)   Let’s get busy.

As for the grout, I recolored mine using my toothbrush.  The brush is tiny enough to get in between the grout lines.

#6.  Cleaning Keyboards

I often time eat at my desk and crumbs are known to fall in between the keys of my computer keyboard.

Remember the obsessive cleaning issue I mentioned in #5 above?  Well, crumbs in a keyboard drive me crazy.

Yep.  The old toothbrush flicks out the crumbs faster then you can say “I hate dirt.”

#7 Cleaning the Coffee Grinder

Who hasn’t fought with removing coffee from a coffee grinder? (See the picture above.)  The grounds get caught in all the crevices and you can never get it clean.

Say hello to your almost new coffee grinder.  Simply swirl the brush around the coffee grinder.  Voilà!   Say goodbye to the nasty coffee grinder and no more coffee grounds.

PS Be sure to save those grounds for later use in the garden!

#8  Getting Crayon Off the Walls

Oh, those kids and  how they love to doodle right on your walls. This habit doesn’t stop when they reach 4.

Instead of freaking out, grab the toothbrush and either baking soda or non-gel toothpaste and scrub off the creation.  Read here  on other household products that can vanish little Vincent van Gogh’s artwork.

#9  Un-clumping Your Mascara

I hate mascara wands.  They are simply nasty which translates to clumpy mascara.

And you know how bad your eyelashes look with clumpy mascara?

Super old toothbrush to the rescue!

Simply run the brush over your eyelashes to take out those clumps.

#10 Straighten up those Gnarly Eye Brows

No one like wild looking eyebrows.  Keep them smooth and attractive by brushing them with an old toothbrush. In fact, you can spray a little hairspray on your toothbrush, and brush those hard to stay down hairs to give you that clean eyebrow look.  (For more toothbrush beauty tips, see HERE.)

#11  Clean Out that Nasty Hair Brush

Yep.  Toothbrushes are great to get into the crevices of your hairbrush.    Read HERE how to get your hairbrush squeaky clean.

#12 Apply Dry Shampoo to Your Roots.

Raise your hand if you haven’t the time to wash your hair.  When my children were small I barely had time to go to the bathroom.  Now the garden has become my fifth child.   Sometimes you have to grab some dry eco-shampoo to get you through the day.  Use your old toothbrush to get the job done.

PS Looking for an eco-dry shampoo consider using this one.  Be sure to read the reviews to make sure it works for you.  Alternatively, make your own.  Read HERE.

Join the Conversation

How do you use your old toothbrush?

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