When my boys were little they had vinyl window shades in their bedroom.  After many months of being opened and closed for nap times and being touched by little hands, the room-darkening shades started to get rips in them.

Because the boys were young and, well, boys, I wasn’t in a hurry to spend the money to replace them when they ripped.  So I repaired the rips with clear packing tape and got more life out of them.

Now that the boys are older, I’ve replaced their vinyl shades with new shades.  But I just couldn’t bring myself to toss the old ones in the trash.

I’ve since discovered a new use for them:  Table protectors!  We just roll out the window shade across the table, and the kids can work on painting or craft projects without worrying about getting any mess on the table.  Then when they’re done with their projects, the shade can be wiped off and rolled up for easy storage.  No mess and no waste!

Just be sure that you don’t use a hot glue gun or anything like that on your old vinyl shade or you’ll melt it to your table.

Check out our other cheap tricks to help you save time and money and be sure to share your own cheap trick with us.  You just might see it end up in a future Cheap Trick post!