Brilliant Bathroom Pool Noodle Hacks You'll Wish You Tried Sooner

Contrary to what you might assume, foam noodles are still useful when summertime and pool parties are over. Pool noodle DIYs have taken over social media, as small and popular creators alike share the many ways to repurpose them. You can take inspiration from TikTok hacks that add a splash of style to your home décor, leverage them in your yard, or try out some creative foam noodle DIYs for the bedroom. Along with all these uses, there are also various brilliant ways to put these floaties to work in the bathroom. This cheap item can help you upgrade a bathroom without breaking the bank or engaging in a long-term project. With a single pool noodle and a few other budget-friendly supplies, you can solve a bunch of bathroom issues, such as toilets flushing at the wrong rate, or shower doors banging against badly placed towel rails.

Below are nine fun and useful ways to transform pool noodles into ingenious bathroom upgrades. Most of these tips only take a few minutes to complete and don't require many other tools. Dollar Tree typically offers the cheapest prices on these floaties, but if you're not a fan of bright colors and are looking for neutral options, Amazon sells six Oodles of Noodles Store foam noodles in both white and black for $29.99. Read more below to learn about the advantages of these easy pool noodle projects.

Bathtub and shower combos are space-saving and multi-functional — but are often built with an unfortunately sharp shower door track. Keep adults and children from accidentally knocking their bare skin against the metal contraption by covering it with this safety-enhancing shower door pool noodle hack. With just a slit cut on one side, a single noodle easily fits over the horizontal tracks. Serrated knives and utility knives are the best tools to use for cutting a pool noodle. Any size foam noodle will do, whether you want to encase the entire track or the portion that poses the biggest risk. 

Creating a DIY pool noodle bathtub pillow is the cheapest way to make your tub a little more suited to long soaks. Bath pillows typically cost between $20 and $35. You can make a far more affordable alternative by purchasing a single Dollar Tree foam pool noodle (sometimes they stock white ones) and their Tool Bench heavy-duty suction cup hooks for less than $5 in total. The suction cups might not hold for an entire bath session, but they should last long enough for you to get settled — and your body will hold the DIY headrest in place for the rest of your bath.

Small bathrooms sometimes have towel bars installed too close to shower doors. When the door opens, it crashes into the towel bar, gradually causing wear and tear on both items. Protect glass bathroom doors with another TikTok pool noodle DIY by cutting a short section to form a cushion shape and sliding it onto the end of a towel rod. To keep it in place, try cutting an extra perpendicular slit for the stanchion to fit into. The glass should bounce harmlessly off the cushion instead of the hard metal.

Toilet tanks have a valve that flips open when the toilet is flushed and controls the flow of the released water. Sometimes the flappers close too quickly, too slowly, or the chain gets tangled. A small buoy can prevent this, and allow you to adjust the flow rate of the water. Adjustable flapper buoys cost under $10 at places like The Home Depot and Lowe's, but you can create your own mini buoy for even less money with a Dollar Tree pool noodle. This is especially useful if the flap is still functional, and you just need to replace the buoy component.

Makeup brushes should be cleaned thoroughly and often to keep bacteria and germs from forming. They should also be dried upside down, which can be tricky unless you have a holder. Instead of buying a holder, the next time your brush set needs cleaning, tuck them into little slits cut into a pool noodle. You can reinforce the pool noodle like this creator did by inserting a wire coat hanger and bending the ends into hooks. This is a much better approach than attempting to dry brushes with a blow dryer, which can be damaging for cosmetic tools.

Many bathrooms have hard flooring made of tile or vinyl, and they should be mopped once a week. Preparing to mop and the cleaning itself is tedious work, but there's a foam noodle hack for making things a bit easier. Connect the bathroom sink faucet to one end of a pool noodle and efficiently funnel the water flow into your mop bucket. As this creator shows, it's also the perfect hack for filling a portable washing machine in the bathroom. This trick ranks high on our list of pool noodle hacks to use around the house — as you can leverage it wherever you need to get water into an oversized container that won't fit under the nearest faucet.  

Young children should never be left unattended in bathrooms. If they close and lock the door, they're in danger of drowning or slipping due to the bathtub and toilet. Stop children from accidentally (or mischievously) locking out adults by cleverly tucking a pool noodle over the top edge of the door. The foam keeps the door from clicking shut. Just ensure the pool noodle is also well out of reach so the child can't remove it.

This hack is a smart fix for campers and RVs that are outfitted with glass shower doors. Cut a slit and slip a pool noodle onto the rail while the sliding door is open. This should gently hold it in place so the door doesn't slide back and forth while the vehicle is moving. The foam is soft enough that it won't scratch or damage the glass or door tracks. It's also easy for both adults and children to insert and remove, making it an effective, hassle-free buffer.

One of the greatest rewards of having children is the opportunity to explore your creative side — and you don't have to splurge at the toy store to create a fun bath time setup. Purchase a couple of pool noodles in multiple colors and cut them into different-sized pieces. Use Amazon's Umetdo colored masking tape to bind some pool noodles to the wall, making an exciting and whimsical bathtub playground. Children will be entertained by the foam noodles, and you won't have to spend more than $10 to make baths seem like a blast instead of a chore.