When you think of nail polish, it's probably almost always in the context of a manicure. I mean, that's what it's made for, right? But there are plenty of other things you can use clear or colored nail polish for besides painting your nails. Even if you're a guy living on his own, you should still have a bottle or two at home (though, I wouldn't recommend keeping it out in plain sight), and I'm going to give 10 good reasons why.

#1. Keep Your Buttons from Falling Off Missing buttons suck, especially if you don't know how to sew them back on. A coat of clear nail polish will keep the thread from unraveling and keep your buttons in place for much longer. Repeat whenever they feel loose again. Image by James Wojcik/Real Simple

#2. Color Code Keys & Other Things If you have several keys that look similar, finding the right one to open your door can be a pain. Use several different colors of nail polish to color code them so you can always tell which is which. In my opinion, this is much better than using those bulky rubber covers, and you can color code practically anything else you want. Image by Sara Khong/JewelPie

#3. Prevent Allergic Reactions from Metal If you have an allergy to nickel or gold (or any other metal), you can paint the inside of jewelry and the buttons on your pants to keep the metal from contacting your skin. It prevents tarnishing and allergic reactions, and will even keep cheap jewelry from turning your skin green. Image via My Thirty Spot

#4. Keep Your Labels from Smudging Prevent ink on labels from running or smudging with a quick coat of clear nail polish. The most obvious use would be as plant markers, since they are constantly being watered, but this trick could be used for pretty much any kind of label prone to smudging. Images by Carleyy/Instructables, sciondriver/Flickr

#5. Keep Loose Screws in Place If your glasses are always losing screws, you can keep them in place with clear nail polish. Just tighten them and paint on a thin coat to prevent them from loosening again. This trick also works for other loose screws, like those in your drywall, or even the ones securing your handgun grips. Images by James Wojcik/Real Simple, Peter Barrett/GunUp

#6. Seal Envelopes Without Licking Nail polish also works as an adhesive, so you can seal envelopes quicker—and skip the nasty taste of the glue. It's especially useful when you've got a misbehaving envelope that just won't stick by itself, or to fix tears. Image by Carleyy/Instructables

#7. Stop Shoelaces & Hoodie Strings from Unraveling When the clear plastic pieces on the ends of your shoelaces or hoodies inevitably fall off or disintegrate, you can paint them with nail polish to keep them from fraying. Image via Vat19

#8. Prevent Rust Rings in the Shower Everyone hates rust rings. They're a pain in the ass to clean up, and there's pretty much nothing you can do about them. Except, whip out the nail polish. Coating the bottoms of shaving cream and other metal cans will keep them from leaving those rust circles in your shower. Image by Carleyy/Instructables

#9. Waterproof Your Regular Stick Matches Make regular matches waterproof by dipping the heads into a bottle of nail polish. You don't need a very thick coat, and they'll still strike normally. Just steer clear of polishes with glitter in them. This make perfect companions on damp camping trips. Image by Angela/Food Storage and Survival

#10. Use It Like Liquid Bandage If you're all out of Neosporin and Band-Aids, nail polish could help keep small cuts and wounds from getting infected until you restock your first-aid kit. Just dab a little on and around the wound and let it set to prevent contaminating the area further. If you're worried about some of the chemicals in regular nail polish, try using a non-toxic brand instead. Image by Ben Dyer/Flickr Got a favorite non-fingernail use for nail polish? Share with us in the comments.

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