The cabinet door in my kitchen has been loose for two years. Every few months I tightened the screw. It held for a week, then the hole stripped further and the handle wobbled again. I tried a bigger screw. That made it worse. I was one bad pull away from the handle coming off entirely.

Then my dad — who has been fixing things badly for forty years before figuring out the right way — showed me the toothpick trick. It worked so well I felt stupid for waiting two years.

The toothpick-and-glue method

Squeeze a little wood glue (regular PVA, like Titebond or Elmer’s Carpenter’s Glue) into the stripped hole. Shove as many flat wooden toothpicks as will fit — usually two or three — coated in glue. Snap or cut them flush with the surface. Let the glue dry for at least an hour. Then drive the original screw back in.

The toothpicks fill the hole and give the screw threads something to bite into. The glue locks everything together. It is not a temporary fix — it is stronger than the original hole because you have added more wood fiber.

For bigger holes: golf tees or dowels

If the hole is too big for toothpicks (like a door hinge screw that has wallowed out), use a wooden golf tee. Coat it in wood glue, tap it into the hole with a hammer, cut it flush, let it dry, drill a new pilot hole, and drive the screw. A wooden dowel works too — same concept, just requires you to drill out the hole to match the dowel diameter first.

The matchstick variant

Wooden matchsticks work the same as toothpicks, but cut the match heads off first. Match heads contain chemicals you do not want embedded in your furniture. Just the wooden stick part, plus glue, same process.

One note: this fix is for wood. Drywall anchors are a completely different animal. If you stripped a screw hole in drywall, use a toggle bolt or a larger anchor. The toothpick trick is for solid wood and plywood only.