8 Brilliant Ways to Use Binder Clips in Your Kitchen

updated Feb 15, 2021
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Someone holding a binder clip
Credit: Sarah Crowley

I keep a small bowl full of binder clips on my WFH desk. They don’t really serve much of a purpose; I just insist on playing with them every time I’m deep in thought or on a call. Most of the time, though, they just sit there, collecting dust. So I spent a few minutes (clip in hand, of course), thinking about how to put them to better to use. Turns out, there are lots of ways to put them to work in the kitchen. Let’s take a look.

Credit: Sarah Crowley

1. Hang up dish gloves.

To make sure your dish gloves can properly dry between uses (and so that they’re not constantly just hanging on the edge of your sink), add a Command hook to the back of your under-sink cabinet door. And then use the clip to hang the gloves.

Read more: The $3 Trick That’ll Make Your Dish Gloves a Million Times Better

Credit: Joe Lingeman

2. Stand up sponges.

Another thing that really should dry between uses? Your kitchen sponge. (If it stays wet, it just invites even more bacteria.) You can buy a special holder, or you can make one out of a binder clip — by simply clipping your sponge into it and standing the whole thing up.

Read more: The Free, Easy Way to Make Your Kitchen Sponge Less Gross

Credit: Joe Lingeman

3. Close up bags and boxes of cereal.

If all your bag clips are being used, you can use a binder clip in a pinch. Just fold up the opening, clip, and you’re all set.

Credit: Sarah Crowley

4. Hang packets in the pantry.

Where to put those paper packets of ranch or onion soup mix that always get lost in the pantry? Clip them together and hang them up on a wall or the back of your cabinet door.

Credit: Sarah Crowley

5. Hold down parchment paper.

The next time you need to line a cake tin with parchment paper, save yourself some of aggravation and use binder clips to hold the paper in place. As long as you have the metal kind (instead of plastic-coated clips), they can go in the oven, too.

Credit: Sarah Crowley

6. Organize bottles and cans in the fridge.

Those cans of LaCroix aren’t going to organize themselves! If you have a wire shelf in your fridge, add a clip to one wire and use it as a stopper to hold up a pyramid of bottles/cans.

Read more: How a Binder Clip Can Help You Organize Your Fridge

7. Label shelves.

You should label as much as you possibly can in your kitchen. (Doing so will help you and also inspire the other members of your household to put things back where they belong.) Slide a binder clip onto the side of a shelf (in the fridge, freezer, pantry, or a cabinet) and you’ll have space to add your label.

Credit: Photo: Ghazalle Badiozamani | Food Stylist: Jesse Szewczyk

8. Secure a piping bag.

Kitchn’s resident cookie expert, Jesse Szewczyk, found that a binder clip is better than the usual rubber band for securing piping bags. For one, it’s easier to put into place. And it’s easier to undo if you need to refill your bag.

Read more: This Unexpected Office Essential Makes Cookie Decorating So Much Easier

How do you use binder clips in your kitchen?

Credit: Kitchn