The Clever Hanger Hack That Keeps Paper Towels Handy

It's rare to find a kitchen without a healthy stock of paper towels. Even environmentally-conscious home cooks often keep a roll or two handy to clean up messes that are just too filthy for washable towels and sponges alone, such as raw chicken residue or an errant egg splattering onto the floor. They're also useful for things like protecting your lunchbox sandwich from getting soggy or keeping freshly cut herbs bright and crisp for longer (just dampen it and roll the herb stems inside).

However, paper towel rolls are also notoriously bulky, frequently taking up valuable space on your counter even when neatly corralled in an aesthetically pleasing free-standing rack. The shape also makes it difficult to transport them to different areas of the kitchen as you cook, meal prep, or clean. Fortunately, there's a simple kitchen hack that makes paper towels much easier to store, and all you need is something that most people already have: a plastic clothes hanger.

The idea is to snip a section from the straight part of the hanger on the bottom, then slip the cut ends securely into either side of a paper towel roll. This allows you to easily hang them from a cupboard handle or carry them with you to different food prep stations. That way, they're close at hand when you need something to help keep baby spinach leaves fresh in the fridge, to address an urgent mess, or even quickly cover and clean an injury.

Though you won't need a hacksaw to cut through the bottom edge of most plastic hangers, it's still important to use the proper tools to avoid injury or cracking the hanger. Since the plastic is brittle, trying to cut it with scissors or a kitchen knife could snap it apart, which is both dangerous and frustrating. Wire cutters and metal shears are not only incredibly sharp, they're designed to snip safely and easily through brittle and tough materials, making them the better option.

Something else to avoid is cutting too much from the bottom section of the hanger. After cutting, the angles in either side of the hanger should form little plastic hooks that hold the paper towel securely. Cutting too much means the roll may slide off when you attempt to grab a paper towel, which defeats the purpose of the hack. Leaving about 5 or 6 inches on the end of each "hook" should be plenty to hold most standard paper towel rolls in place.

Something else to think about are aesthetics. Plastic hangers are useful, but not the prettiest. To help your DIY holder blend into your kitchen, consider spray painting it a matte color that matches your decor, such as black or sage green. Alternatively, you could match it to your kitchen hardware with brushed metallic spray paint in gold, nickel, or bronze.