Binder clips can be versatile tools when it comes to college life on a budget. Here are seven easy tips for using these miniature tools to organize your life before classes make your desk disappear:
1. Stop juggling while you jog
Do you have trouble organizing all your belongings when you go for a run, or to the gym? If your shorts don't have pockets, it can be frustrating to put your things on the treadmill tray or on the floor next to you. Instead, slide your ID card into the clip, hook your key onto one of the metal loops and clip it right onto your waistband.
2. Easier than a cordless phone
It can get annoying when the back of your desk becomes cluttered with different cords: laptop chargers, lamps, clocks, fans, radios, iPod docks, hair straighteners and more. Throw some binder clips on the edge of the desk and you'll find that the wires fit through both metal arms and will no longer get tangled.
3. Necklaces are no longer a pain in the neck
Jewelry has a habit of tangling itself and creating knots that make you want to tear your hair out (or it might pull your hair out for you). Using a hanger or a shelf edge, place binder clips in a row and hang earrings, bracelets or necklaces on the metal loops. They'll stay organized and will be easily visible.
4. An art exhibit in your residence hall room
Wow parents and impress friends with easily changeable, lightweight and inexpensive art display. Stick two removable wall hooks on opposing corners of a wall. Stretch a spool of thin wire in between the two of them and string some binder clips along it. Hang posters, curtains, or pictures on the binder clips and change them with your mood or style.
5. Belt out your enthusiasm
Belts are one of those weird accessories that are difficult to store. Put them in a drawer? A box under the bed? The closet floor? Get rid of the clutter by putting them all on a hanger and hanging them up. Clip binder clips around the bottom of a pants hanger and close belts in the metal arms. It's an easy, space-saving, organized way to store belts in the closet.
6. Displace your display
Have tons of photos but no space to hang them up? Not allowed to put nails in the walls? Not enough desk space for bulky picture frames? Close a few binder clips, place them on their flat edge and squeeze pictures between the metal loops. Move them around, fan out a few photos in one clip or stack them on top of books! If they have trouble staying upright, place a magnet or something small and heavy inside the black part of the clip.
7. Keep your clothes on!
It's such a pain when there's a shirt with a wide collar or a heavy sweatshirt that keeps sliding off its hanger and piling on the closet floor. Keep clothes on their hangers with two binder clips.