Repurpose A Three-Ring Binder Spine Into The Perfect Garage Storage Hook

Your quest to go as green as possible is going well. You've found scores of ways to make your home more eco-friendly. You compost, reuse as much potential waste as you can, and all other castoffs go into the recycling bin. If this sounds familiar, you've probably developed a bit of eco-guilt about anything you can't recycle. Three-ring binders are among the common household items that are hard, if not impossible, to recycle even at specialized recycling centers.

These objects don't have to be landfill fodder though. The metal strip and three rings make brilliant storage hooks for lightweight items. Try this as a hack for your garage; it can hold clusters of bungee cords, reusable grocery bags, and lightweight garden tools. If your garage has become the room-size equivalent of a junk drawer, collect a few binders'-worth of spines for even more hanging capability. Get a tired binder ready for reuse with a pair of pliers and a pair of scissors or a utility knife. If it strikes your fancy, the metal rings will take a coat of paint nicely after a rubdown with sandpaper. Gather up a drill and screws for hanging, and in no time, you'll have a new upcycled hanging solution.

Get going on this smart way to organize your home in an eco-friendly manner. Removing the spine from the binder requires a bit of attention, since you don't want to damage the mechanism. If the binder material is rather thin, you can chance it by pulling the spine away from the folder. Removing the rivets that hold the spine to the folder might take more than one try and involve swapping tools. If you can get a good grip on the interior side of the rivet with the pliers, work them out slowly by bending away the curled edge of the rivet. If this doesn't work, grab a hammer, a small screwdriver, and a wood cutting board that you're willing to damage a bit. You can also use a piece of scrap wood.

Set the binder on the cutting board. Open the rings, place the tip of the nail on the rivet, and gently tap the nail with the hammer to work each rivet out. If giving it a coat of paint sounds nice, do that now. Hang the spine horizontally or vertically with the screws. As long as the object isn't too heavy, mounting a wide-ring binder spine vertically can hold certain tools. Featherweight tools may be able to hang directly on the wall through a binder spine. Heavier ones can stay upright and organized along a wall by clamping the rings around the handle with the tool head touching the floor.