A few years ago a friend bought me a fridge magnet notepad.  At the time I didn’t get why I needed a notepad on my fridge.  I wasn’t a mum of two young boys then. But now, I totally get it. On a daily basis my house gets turned upside by little hands. They also like to hide things in the strangest places. They tend to leave the fridge alone, so now I know why it’s a great invention. A notepad that I can always find!

Feb 2020 – I wrote this post several years ago and decided it was time for an update! Note: Affiliate links in this post are marked with an asterisk.

That notepad is no longer with us. Page by page it went to recycling bin heaven.  The magnets that were on the back I was able to reuse though and the fridge magnet notepad lives on in spirit!

Make a magnetic notepad from recycled paper

I made a new notepad using old envelopes, junk mail, paper bags and any bit of unwanted paper I could get my hands on. I then stuck the magnets to the back of the pad with sticky tape.  This didn’t work that well though as the pad kept falling off the fridge, leaving the magnets behind.

After a couple of weeks I came up with the idea of cutting open a toilet roll tube and sticking the magnets to that with superglue. I punched holes in the top of the toilet roll card and all the pieces of paper. I then threaded a ribbon through and tied it at the front. It can be topped up on an ongoing basis as needed.

I love my new fridge magnet notepad and although it might not be quite as attractive as my old one, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. It’s a useful way to reuse paper, I made it, it is free, it’s recyclable – what more could you want! It is so easy to make. You just need a toilet roll tube, some flat magnets, some superglue, some scissors and some junk paper with blank sides, so why not have a go yourself!

Fast forward a few years I now use this reusable white board* reusable white board on my fridge to meal plan and keep track of notes.

Have you got any tips for using up junk paper?  I’d love to hear about them! 

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