If you’re like me, you have rubber bands hiding in lots of places in your home. They seem to be items that are always available to me even though I don’t think I’ve ever spent a cent on them. It turns out that these little things that we may take for granted have a lot of great uses. Over at Wise Bread, they’ve compiled a very creative list of 52 uses for rubber bands. A few of them you may be familiar with, but some of them were certainly new to me. Here are some of my favorites from the list:

• An Eraser: grab a few rubber bands and create a small rubber band ball.
• A Sports-Glasses Holder: cut a rubber band in half and attach each end to each arm. Make it tight enough and the glasses should stay but around your head.
• A Handle Grip: wrap a few of these around a walking stick for a more comfortable grip on your hike.
• A Mail Storage System: hammer two parallel row of nails in the side of a cabinet or back of a door, then stretch rubber bands between them to hold mail.
• A Finger Exerciser: if your fingers are in need of stretching or rehab, bunch them all together and place them through the center of a rubber band (one that has a lot of tension). Spread your fingers and let them contract. Repeat.
• A Lid Gripper: don’t pay an arm and a leg for an expensive lid grip. Just wrap a thick rubber band around the rim of a jar lid and twist.
• A Wine Marker: wrap a different colored rubber band around the stem of each glass the next time you have a dinner party or gathering to differentiate between drinks.
• A Liquid Marker: you can use a rubber band around a paint can, cleaning solution container, or other such substance holders that you can’t see through to mark how low the liquid is. You can move it down as you use.
• A Bag Sealer: keep chips, cereal and bagged produce fresh by folding the top of the bag over and wrapping a band around the whole thing.
• A Pencil Grip: wrap many rubber bands around the base of the pencil or pen where you like to hold it for comfort.
• A Wax Catcher: wrap a rubber band around a candle and it will stop the wax from dripping on the table.
• A Stress Reliever: make a squeezable ball from lots of rubber bands.
• A Leak Fixer: a temporary solution, but use a strong, fat rubber band to wrap around a pipe to slow a leak.

Check out 52 Uses for Rubber Bands for the full list!