Top ten uses for an old toothbrush

Although the original function of your toothbrush may be redundant, do not ditch your old toothbrush as it still has plenty of life left in yet! The house cleaning experts at MOLLY MAID share top ten useful ways in which an old toothbrush can come in handy when cleaning your home. Please do let you family know that the toothbrush is now being used for other uses and is not suitable to be used as a conventional toothbrush!

• Removing wall scribbles: Using only a very small amount of toothpaste on the old toothbrush, gently scrub and then wipe the surface with a clean cloth.
• Cleaning car interiors: Think of all the little nooks and crannies that dust or dirt gathers in inside your car from air vents to cup-holders. A cloth or a hoover just simply won’t get to those hard to reach areas, but a toothbrush can!
• Cleaning cheese graters/ garlic press: In fact, any kitchen appliance that a standard brush cannot reach, will benefit a session with an old and redundant toothbrush!
• Beauty: Use a thoroughly cleaned and dry toothbrush to groom your eyebrows and when it comes to removing dirt from under nails (particularly children) then an old toothbrush does just the trick. Using another old toothbrush, try exfoliating your lips in small circular motions using some moisturiser. This will help to remove any old skin.
• Cleaning hairbrushes: Hairbrushes must not be neglected and even if we wash our hair regularly, it is still necessary to ensure that we are not brushing our hair with a dirty brush! Soak your hairbrush in water, apply some shampoo to your old toothbrush and start brushing your hairbrush. Then rinse your hair brush and turn upside down on a towel and leave to dry overnight.
• Household cleaning: The little bristles can make light work when scrubbing around tiles, grout, knobs, taps and drains. All that is needed is a little all purpose cleaner and a few goes with the old toothbrush and the dirt and grime should loosen. Used toothbrushes are also fantastic for cleaning the base of irons and for removing coffee gunk from hard to reach areas on a coffee machine.
• Shoe cleaning: Since you can’t wash suede as you would normally do any other fabric such as cotton, it has a tendency to look scruffy after a while. One trick is to use your toothbrush and to gently brush in the opposite direction of the fabric. This will help renew the suede and make it look fresh much fresher. Use an old toothbrush to scrub dirty canvas shoes with a little detergent and allow to dry. They come up a treat.
• Cleaning jewellery: The soft bristles (ensure you are using a ‘soft’ bristled toothbrush) are ideal for cleaning and bringing shine back to worn jewellery. Gently use in conjunction with your usual specific jewellery cleaner and see the sparkle!
• Cleaning keyboards: No matter how hard you try to keep your keyboard free from dust, specks of dirt or even food crumbs, it’s easy to feel like you’re fighting a losing battle. Turn your PC or laptop off, unplug your keyboard and gently using an old dry toothbrush, brush between the rows and occasionally tip upside down over a bin to help dislodge the grime and continue until most has been removed.
• Art projects: An old toothbrush can come in handy when trying to recreate ‘textured’ pieces of art – whether on a painting, with clay or even Play-Doh.

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