I recently got rid of a pair of sneakers but before I did, I took out the laces. While the shoes had holes worn through the bottoms from hours spent on tennis courts, the laces were still in great shape and only a little dirty.

I don’t plan to pair them with another pair of sneakers, but have found plenty of uses for such laces in the past around my house. Any time I need a piece of string or twine to tie something with, I grab an old shoelace instead.

They’ve worked great in my garden to tie back the roses and ferns and help hold up tomatoes and other plants.

When the weak string that came with one of my cats’ toys tore in two after a few swipes of a paw, I replaced it with a shoelace.

While hanging a photo, I realized I had only one hook for the wall but the back of the picture frame had two hook rings. So I tied a section of shoelace between the two rings on the frame and was able to hang it over the one hook on the wall.

I feel good because not only am I recycling shoelaces that can still serve a purpose, but it also saves me from spending money on string.

Have you found any money-saving uses for old shoelaces? If so, e-mail them to me at dana.massing@timesnews.com and I’ll share them in a future blog post.