This Clever Trick For Cutting Pool Noodles Takes Home Hacks To The Next Level

If you've spent any amount of time researching simple and inexpensive ways to improve your living space, you've probably found that there are many ingenious ways to use pool noodles around the house. These foam items can be used for everything from childproofing your home to making furniture more comfortable to organizing belongings. However, perhaps you've tried to use a pool noodle for one of these hacks but found that it wouldn't fit around the item you wanted to improve. For instance, maybe you tried to cushion table legs but the legs wouldn't fit through the noodle's narrow hole. If so, check out this genius way to cut a pool noodle that will allow you to wrap it around items. You'll cut the foam into a spiral using a large empty cardboard tape roll and a utility knife. 

If you don't already have a pool noodle at home, you can purchase one from Dollar Tree for just $1.25. A utility knife, one of the best tools to use when cutting a pool noodle, can be bought from Walmart for less than $4. You could also use a small regular knife instead. Finally, you'll need an empty cardboard roll of packing tape or another large type of tape, so save this item instead of throwing it away once you use up all your tape. This empty roll should perfectly fit around one end of your pool noodle. 

Once you've gathered your materials, the first step is to use your utility knife to cut a small slit into the empty cardboard tape roll. This opening should only be as large as the knife's blade. It can be placed in about the middle of the tape roll from the top and bottom. Then, remove the knife and place the tape roll over one end of the pool noodle, holding it at the very top. Next, push your utility knife's blade back into the slit you created. You should be able to see the end of the blade when you look inside the pool noodle's hole.

To create the spiral effect, you'll simply twist the pool noodle in the tape roll and continue to feed the foam through the roll, working your way down. It's important to continuously move the tape roll down the noodle or else you may cut off part of the foam. When doing this, you can choose how wide you want each of the spirals to be. Continue this process until you reach the other end of the pool noodle. Once done, you should be able to pull on both sides of the noodle and see a gorgeous spiral. If you don't have a cardboard tape roll, you can also simply draw a spiraling line on the noodle with a marker, then cut along it with the utility knife.

After the pool noodle is fully cut, there are a number of ways you can use it around your home. The first idea is to wrap it around furniture pieces, especially outdoor plastic or metal ones, to make them more comfortable. You could place it on the armrests of chairs to give them some cushioning. Similarly, use the pool noodle to child-proof your home by wrapping the spirals around items like metal posts, basement poles, and umbrella stands to make them softer. You could also wrap the legs of tables and chairs, which would help protect your walls from furniture scuffs as well.

Another way you can use your spiral noodle is to contain long and skinny items so they stay well-organized. Outdoor equipment like hockey sticks, golf clubs, or fishing rods would be great for this purpose. Other items like extra curtain rods or skinny planks of wood could also be contained together. Finally, try using a small piece of the spiral pool noodle to tie up your curtains. Simply wrap the spiral around the fabric to keep it bundled together.