Wake The Lakes “Lifehack of the Week”: Ways to Use Q-tips That Don’t Involve Your Ears

They are explicitly not to be used for your ears (seriously—don’t clean your ears with them).

• Clean kitchen tools:  Waffle irons and similar appliances are challenging if you can’t run them through the dishwasher, and then there are can openers. Can openers are still an essential tool for modern life, and yet we can be pretty oblivious to how dirty they get after years of use. But cotton swabs can be extremely effective in cleaning your can opener and are also perfect for cleaning stuff like waffle makers. For your can opener, dab a Q-tip or other swab into some rubbing alcohol, and give it a thorough wash in order to avoid any chance of botulism.
• Detailing:  Q-tips and a little cleaning solution are perfect for getting into any variety of tiny gaps or crevices to wipe out dust and grime. The list of things you can clean effectively with cotton swabs is endless: hair dryers, air conditioning vents, earbuds (which quickly become nightmares of ear crud), light switches, keyboards, and on and on.
• Paintbrush:  A cotton swab is ideal for applying precise polka-dot punches of color to your works of art, giving you one more tool for creative expression. They’re also perfect for small home repair paint jobs where the paint on your walls or other spots is chipped away. Instead of loading up a brush or roller, just open up your spare paint and touch things up in a minute with a swab.
• Zipper repair:  A Q-tip and some sort of lubricant (lip balm works well!) can set a stuck zipper free. Just use the swab to dab on some lube and work it into the teeth of the zipper. It will loosen things up enough to get the zipper going again.
• Repair chipped tile:  When you have a chip in a floor tile from a dropped object or other mishap, chiseling out a single tile is no fun, and requires you to have a spare tile on hand for the replacement. Instead, find a bottle of nail polish that matches tile coloring as closely as possible. Then break out your trusty Q-tips and apply a coat to the chipped area. Let it dry, then repeat as necessary, building up a new layer of finish. The success of your repair will depend on how closely you can match the color, but it’s a lot easier than replacing an entire tile.