Last Updated on June 10, 2023
I’ve been trying to reduce the waste from our household. Since we were already recycling, one of our biggest improvements was to start repurposing items we normally would have discarded. That was the inspiration for my articles on alternative uses for newspaper and plastic grocery bags.
There are so many fun and easy ways to use these recyclables from clever toilet paper roll crafts to smart repurposing projects. Below I share some of my favorite ideas.
How to Use Toilet Paper Rolls for Organizing
Last week I made a desk organizer for my daughter from a leftover clementine crate and empty toilet paper rolls. That led me to wondering what other ways I could make use of these handy little rolls that I seem to collect in abundance. Turns out, there are a lot of clever uses for toilet paper rolls!
Here is the desk organizer I made:
Just in time for Valentine’s Day–Transform plain toilet paper rolls into these adorable Valentine Owls created by Sweet Pea Savings. I never noticed before that folding in the ends made the shape of an owl’s head!
Another great discovery was that if you fold in BOTH ends, the toilet paper roll is transformed into a pillow box. I love this version of the project from Create, Craft, Love.
Speaking of flowers, here’s a clever idea from the Gardening Clan to use toilet paper rolls as seed starters.
And once your flowers have sprouted, you can replant them in these adorable flower pots decorated using toilet paper rolls. The Country Chic Cottage shows you how.
While you’re out in the garden, why not make it inviting for some feathered friends by putting out a birdfeeder (or two)? I adore this bird feeder that Glued to My Crafts made from a toilet paper roll, peanut butter and bird seed. What a fun craft to do with the kids!
I hope you are inspired by these projects as I was. Do you have a different creative use for toilet paper rolls? If so, please share it in the comments.
Make the flowers into magic wands just paint them glitter them and glue them to a bamboo skewer my niece loved hers.
I did also want to share another way to use toilet paper rolls. My 3.5 year old wasn’t really understanding our 4 seasons. In an effort to help her realize that you can’t swim in winter, LOL – I came up with this idea which uses toilet paper rolls. I hope you like it! http://dabblingmomma.blogspot.com/2014/02/learning-about-seasons.html
This is great! Thanks so much for sharing your idea.
I love, love, love the toilet paper roll bird feeder! Just the other day I asked my husband to bring in some bird seed so that I could make a pine cone bird feeder with my daughter. The pine cones however were sticky (of course!) and I’ve been holding off cause I didn’t want to deal with the mess. But now……..I have a solution! We will be making ours from all the extra toilet paper rolls I don’t toss!! Thanks for sharing!!
What great ideas for using toilet paper rolls. So many great ideas. I especially like the feeders.”suet”
Have a great week,
Bev
Great idea for seed starters. I liked the pillow box idea, too.
This post is so great! I have a 6-year-old and an almost 4-year-old, and I have been saving toilet paper rolls for years, thinking I’ll come up with something creative to do with them…which is fine, but I’m not a very creative person. ๐ So now I just have a big bin of toilet paper rolls in my basement! I’ve come up with a few things here and there, but this post is definitely giving me some fun new ideas.
I have another one for you! Fire pit fire starters. Stuff the empty roll with dryer lint then wrap it in wax paper. It is an amazing fire starter that burns for a long time ๐
This is a great one! Thanks so much for sharing it.
Hi Corinne – I love all of these repurposing ideas! Whodathunk that you could make all of these clever items with TP? Hugs, Holly
Great ideas! ^_^
I remember that my grandmother used toilet paper rolls as seed starters. Really love those toilet paper roll flowers! Such a cute and frugal idea!
You know how much I love repurposing items that would otherwise end up in the trash. Guess what I’ll be saving now and repurposing – love these ideas, especially the bird feeder.
What great ideas. I have always hated to throw the tubes in the recycling and now I don’t have to! Love the bird seed craft and the gardening craft. Actually, I love them all!