It doesn’t take much to go from having not enough bungee cords to having too many. You could be wandering the aisles of your local Harbor Freight looking for essentials for hurricane season, then spot a deal on a pack of bungee cords that’s too good to pass up. Then, when you get home and realize you already did the same thing last year, you’re left searching for uses for all the surplus cords you just bought. You could return them or get creative.

There are more uses for bungee cords than many people might think, from keeping household items organized to making it easier to keep your groceries from falling over on the ride home. Even better, these five unconventional uses require no additional big purchases, although a few make use of other items that most DIYers will find lying around the garage. 

Regardless of whether it’s extension leads, gadgets, or small appliances, keeping loose cables organized isn’t easy. However, constructing a simple cable organizer with a piece of bungee cord and a cork can help stop the tangle. A tutorial by Homedit shows just how straightforward it is to make the organizer: simply drill two holes in an old bottle cork, thread each end of the bungee cord through the holes, then tie a knot in each end.

The cord forms a loop which can be used to keep pesky cords in place, and attaching that loop around the cork will secure the cables together. In turn, that should reduce the chance of cables getting tangled when they’re stored away. The organizer can be used for everything from hairdryers to corded power tools, but it’s particularly useful for thicker cabling where a simple rubber band might not be tough enough to reliably keep the cables in place. If you want to eliminate clutter but don’t fancy making a DIY organizer, there are also plenty of handy, ready-made cable organizers you can buy from Amazon.

There are plenty of DIY storage options to help organize your tools, from creating a pegboard tool wall to building a magnetic bit rack. If you’re looking to use spare bungee cords to help store tools, you could create a simple wall-mounted tool holder by fastening a cord horizontally to the wall with regular staples to hold it firmly in position. The gaps between the staples form pockets where the stretched bungee cord can hold small hand tools.

The Today’s Homeowner YouTube channel demonstrated the idea, with host Danny Lipford using a variety of different spacings between studs for a more secure hold for a range of different-sized tools. The smaller spaces could be used to store narrow-bodied tools like pliers or screwdrivers, while Lipford left a larger space to store a layout square. Many major tool brands offer their own wall-mounted storage systems — take, for example, Ryobi’s Link storage system. However, if you only want to store hand tools, bungee cord wall storage is a far cheaper alternative.

A spell of bad weather is sometimes all it takes to send smaller loose items like trash can lids flying around your yard, but fastening them with bungee cords should stop them from going anywhere. Depending on the design and size of your trash can, you might need one or two bungee cords to ensure the lid stays in place. If your yard is regularly visited by raccoons, you could also use a similar bungee cord system to prevent them from prying open your bins.

As well as attaching the bungee cord hooks to either side of the trash can lid to keep it secure, you could potentially also wrap cords around the bin itself to attach it to nearby buildings or structures. Not only will that help keep animals from knocking it over, but it should also keep the bins from being blown over by gusts of wind in stormy conditions.

Using them to secure bins is not only one of the quickest ways to make use of spare bungee cords, but it also requires no DIY skills. Of course, anyone who wants to make their bin even more secure could build a smart trash can complete with a proximity sensor to allow it to open up when they’re nearby. However, for most people, bungee cords are the perfect low-tech solution.

Rather than fitting a bulky shelf, bungee cords can be a great way to provide temporary overhead storage in places where space is at a premium, like in the pantry. As long as you have somewhere to fasten each end of the cord, you can use cords to securely hold large, light items like paper towels or other kitchen supplies. You might want to fit a narrow frame to ensure that the base of the paper towels have somewhere to rest, or alternatively you could use the top of a door frame to secure them.

The same trick should come in just as useful for storing lightweight items in a garage like sports balls or furniture cushions. Likewise, having additional storage spaces in mobile homes and RVs can be particularly useful. Even if you already have a small shelf in place to store these kinds of items, you could use a bungee cord as a sidewall to prevent items from falling off the shelf accidentally.

Even with the best intentions, cars can get messy fast if they’re regularly filled to the brim with passengers and cargo. There are a few smart ways to keep your car as organized as possible, including using bungee cords in the trunk to attach bags so they remain in place when you turn corners. How effective this idea is will depend on the design of your car’s cargo area, but if you have somewhere to hook a bungee cord that allows you to attach bag handles, you’ll be able to string them in a line after a grocery haul.

It’s a more reliable way of keeping groceries upright than either tactically piling them in one corner of the trunk or throwing them in and hoping for the best. However, it’s far from the only way to keep small items from getting lost in the trunk. If you regularly find yourself hunting for wayward belongings in the back of your car, don’t miss our comparison of the best trunk organizers, all of which feature a plethora of pockets and compartments to store everything from first aid kits to snacks and tools.