I no longer buy plastic ties in the store, but make them myself from eggplant.

The well-known law of meanness: cheap consumables run out at the most unexpected moment. In this case, I’ll give you a hint on how to make plastic ties from eggplant. This life hack has helped me out more than once. Clamps can be made both at home and in the field, on the road or on vacation.

Screeds “from nothing”

Making a plastic tie takes about 5 minutes. At the same time, the material is always at hand - these are eggplants and bottles. The size of the container is completely unimportant. The eggplant can be either new or old.

I used an old water bottle that had become cloudy from time to time. I'll tell you how she helped me out. My friends and I went on a “quiet hunt” - to pick mushrooms in the forest. The place turned out to be full of mushrooms, so we collected full baskets. Before leaving, we decided to have a small picnic. And then I noticed that the handle on the basket was about to come off. Fortunately, we had a large bottle of water (to put out the fire, wash our hands).

To fix the handle I did the following:

1. With the permission of his comrades, he cut off the top of the bottle with a knife.
   
2. I peeled off a strip about the thickness of a finger.
   
3. One end was narrowed by 5 mm.
   
4. Then he heated the knife over the fire and made three oblong holes in 1 cm increments at the wide end of the tape.
   
5. The screed is ready. All that remains is to thread the narrow end of the plastic tape through the 3rd hole, then successively through the 2nd, 1st - and return to the 3rd.
   

To replace the handle on the basket, I first had to connect 2 zip ties together.I then threaded a “handle” through the vine on one side and the other side of the basket. Buttoned it up. I arrived home quite safely. Not a single mushroom escaped back into the forest.

How to make zip ties using a hole punch?

At home, I make plastic ties a little differently. To avoid staining the knife with melted plastic, I use a hole punch instead. I immediately prepare clamps for future use. From one eggplant I get about 30 long ribbons or 60 pieces. short.

What am I doing:

1. Using a utility knife, I cut off the bottom and top of the eggplant.
2. I cut the remaining middle lengthwise. The result is a twisted rectangle.
3. I remove the sticker and wash it with baking soda.
4. I take a marker and a ruler.
5. I cut the plastic into strips 1 cm thick.
6. I cut it.
7. Using a hole punch, I make 6 holes at the ends of the tape: 2 adjacent in increments of 1 cm.
8. Having retreated 1 cm from the “lock”, I make 2–3 mm cuts on both sides of the tape. I cut off the thickness.

The resulting clamps look like in the photo:

Video from which I learned how to make plastic clamps from eggplant:

Putting homemade zip ties to good use

I myself use plastic clamps mainly for their intended purpose - fastening wires and cables.

But sometimes they really help out in difficult moments. For example, you can use them:

• build a handle for a glass of hot tea;
• replace the broken key fob on the slider;
• make a handle for a water bottle, bucket, basket;
• pull a bouquet of flowers;
• pull down firewood;
• make a phone stand for watching videos.

More ideas for non-standard use of plastic ties in everyday life:

By the way, if you heat the clamps from the plastic eggplant with a hair dryer, they will shrink and crimp the cable even more tightly.

Plastic ties, or “ratchets” as they are also called, are just as in demand in everyday life as electrical tape, a stapler, a hammer and nails. They don’t cost exorbitant amounts of money, but they tend to end at the most inopportune moment. Going to a hardware store for small consumables is downright lazy. Making clamps from an old eggplant is quicker and easier. I periodically prepare them in batches of 30 pieces. I can't even remember the last time I used store-bought clamps.