Keeping a kitchen organized can be a bit of an uphill battle. As one of the most-used spaces in any house, there are always counters to clear and cabinets to unclutter, and that’s not even taking into account the effort required to keep small appliances from getting unruly. If you feel like you’re losing the battle against appliance cords, and you’re not making the mistake of storing your appliances on your kitchen island, chances are you’ve already got a genius way to wrangle all those dangling wires: bread twist ties.
These small, single-use twisties that come on many types of packaged bread are often thrown away when the bread is gone, but they can do a lot more than keep your favorite store-bought loaves fresh. Repurpose a few ties after the last slices are gone to contain the cords and cables from toaster ovens, stand mixers, choppers, and blenders while they’re not in use. All you have to do is wind the cords up and wrap the ties around a section in a loop and twist.
Twist ties can hold other small items together
If you’re not planning to plug and unplug certain appliances very often, but the cords are still a headache, twist ties can come to the rescue again. Try wrapping ties around a bundle of cords to keep them all running in the same direction and not flopping around across the countertop. You may need to wrap them up in a few different places depending on how long the cords are, but the goal should be to get one big, thick cable wrap.
If you go through a loaf of bread every week, however, eventually you’ll end up with more twist ties than you need for wrapping appliance cords, but that still doesn’t mean you should toss them. Anything that needs to be held together in the kitchen is fair game for a bread tie, like measuring cups and spoons (so you don’t have to hang them on your cabinet doors), a string of binder clips (which are also endlessly useful in the kitchen), or a bunch of herbs. And don’t forget about their main function — closing plastic bags. Use the leftover ties to seal up open packages of chips, mesh produce bags, and anything else that can spoil or turn stale if left exposed to air. Keep a basket or a bag in a kitchen drawer to collect the ties as you eat your way through each loaf of bread, and you’ll always have one on hand when the need strikes.
