One of my favorite ways to use pillowcases is to store the sheet sets they belong to right inside the pillowcase. This makes changing the sheets a snap, since I don’t have to go hunting for anything.

But sometimes pillowcases get orphaned like socks or they get so threadbare that you dare not put them on your pillows anymore. So what are you to do with them, especially if you don’t want to throw them away? Here are 3 creative reuses for old pillowcases that I thought could save you some money and stick with this week’s green theme.

1. Turn a pillowcase into a clothing cover. Those plastic bags that clothes come home from the dry cleaner in are the worst thing that you could store your clean clothes in–that’s because they encourage mildew. Pillowcases, on the other hand, will breathe. So cut a hole in the sewed side of an old pillowcase and slip it over any clothes you’d like to protect. (I read this tip in Good Housekeeping’s awesome 125th anniversary issue, May 2010.)
2. Slip them over a fan to keep dust off the blades. Even better you can use them to dust the fan, and all the dust will fall into the folds of the pillowcase!
3. Pack them as a dirty laundry bag. Everyone comes home from vacation with dirty laundry. Rather than mix stinky clothes with the clean ones, pack a pillowcase or two that your family can use for holding dirty laundry along the way.

Do you have other creative reuses for pillowcases?