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Without doubt, one of the wisest purchases that I've made during the past few years has to be the $1.89 bag of 100 clothespins that I bought at Wal-Mart about four years ago. Why? They've snuck into so many aspects...

Without doubt, one of the wisest purchases that I've made during the past few years has to be the $1.89 bag of 100 clothespins that I bought at Wal-Mart about four years ago. Why? They've snuck into so many aspects of my life.

• I originally picked them up when I was still playing in a steel drum band and needed something to hold my sheet music on the music stand during breezy outdoor summer gigs.
• In college, I strung a piece of twine between two posts of my bed, attached a bunch of clothespins, and hung pictures from them. If you don't mind getting little crimps on the corners of your photos from the pins, it's a great cheapo hanging method.
• I always keep a couple in my gym bag. If I'm reading a book, then I use the clothespins to clip the pages in place and keep the book open. If I'm reading an article, the same thing applies. I got a lot of French presentations memorized as an undergrad by clipping the non-stapled end of my notes together and hanging them over the treadmill display. When you've got 4.5 more miles to go, the text dangling in front of you seems soooo interesting.
• The clothespin bag now resides in the kitchen because they're boss for closing bags of cereal, chips, frozen veggies, grains, dried fruit, bread, or whatever. You can buy a chip clip for $1.99, or 100 clothespins. Both work equally well. I'll let you decide which is the wiser purchase.
• Lastly, lest you forget, they're great for hanging up wet clothes.

Like I said -- so many uses.

clothespins also make fab 'pins' for holding knitted items together for seaming. reular size for bulky items. i found a bag of 25 mini (less than an inch) clothespins in the stationey section of local dollar store. perfect for small knitted items.