7 Awesome Uses of Old Pantyhose Around the House

The lifespan of an average pair of tights is about 2 months? I have had some tights for years, but that's because I only wear them a few times a year. Assuming you can still put a pair of tights to good use - what else can you do with them? Discover a number of ways you can reuse your old, worn-out tights.

1. Find small items
Have you ever spent hours on your hands and knees searching a carpet for a lost gemstone, contact lens or other small, valuable item? If not, you are one of the lucky few. If you are ever faced with this situation, try the following. Cut a leg off an old pair of pantyhose - make sure the toe area is intact - and drag it across the nozzle of your vacuum cleaner hose. (If you want extra security, you can also cut off the other leg and slip it over as well.) Secure the hose with a tightly wrapped rubber band. Turn on the vacuum cleaner, run the nozzle over the carpet, and soon you'll find your lost valuables on the pantyhose filter.

2. Vacuum your fish tank
If you have a wet and dry vacuum, you can change the water in your fish tank without damaging the gravel and aquarium accessories. (Just pull the foot of the old nylon pantyhose over the end of the suction nozzle, secure it with a rubber band, and you are ready to vacuum the water.

3. Polish your shoes
Make your freshly polished shoes shine by polishing them with a medium-length strip of pantyhose. This works so well that you can retire the chamois leather for good.

4. Wrap wrapping paper
Keep your used wrapping paper rolls from tearing and unraveling by storing them in tubes cut from the leg sections of an old pair of pantyhose. (Do not forget to leave the foot section intact.) Or, if you have a bunch of used rolls, you can simply put one in each leg of a pair of pantyhose and hang them on a hanger in your closet.

5. Keep your hairbrush clean
If you dread washing out your hairbrush, there's a way to make this job easier on yourself. Cut a 5-cm strip from the leg portion of an old pair of pantyhose and stretch it over and around the bristles of your new (or freshly cleaned) hairbrush. If necessary, use a hairpin or comb to push the tubing over the bristles. The next time your brush needs cleaning, simply lift up the pantyhose layer, remove it - along with all dead hair, lint and dust - and replace it with a new strip.

6. Remove nail polish
If you can not find cotton balls, simply wet strips of recycled pantyhose with nail polish remover to remove your old nail polish. Cut the tubing into 7.5 cm squares and keep a stack of them in an old first aid kit or makeup case.

7. Keep spray bottles clog-free
When reusing your spray bottles for homemade cleaning supplies or furniture polish, you can prevent clogs by covering the open end of the tubing - the part that fits inside the bottle - with a small piece of pantyhose cut into squares and held in place with a small rubber band. This works especially well when filtering garden sprays mixed from concentrates.