Animal Crossing: New Horizons player discovers Nook Phone hack to store DIYs

Animal Crossing: New Horizons crafting with a villager — (Image credit: Nintendo)

An Animal Crossing: New Horizons player has discovered a clever way to store the DIY recipes they don’t want anymore.

According to a post in the game's Subreddit, Animal Crossing: New Horizons DIY recipes can be stored in the Recycle Box that’s located in Resident Services - ready to be taken by secondary players or swapped with visitors. It isn’t as easy as just placing the DIYs into the bin, however, as just like with home storage, the DIYs can’t be transferred via players’ pockets.

Instead, players can send them to the recycle box by using the ‘request cleanup’ option in the Island Designer app via their Nook Phone. To do this, players need to place any DIYs they want to store on a table somewhere outside and access the app whilst standing next to it. It’s important to remember though that any trees or shrubbery near players when they request a cleanup will also be wiped out, but won't end up in the recycling box.

Not sure if this is common knowledge, but you can use the “request cleanup” option to use your recycle bin as DIY storage! from r/AnimalCrossing

There is a way to do the same trick with Animal Crossing: New Horizons shrubs however, as another fan pointed out in the comments of the post. Players can use the ‘Call Islander’ option on their Nook Phone to invite a secondary character who is also based on the island to dig up any shrubs around the island. As the secondary character, anything they interact with will be stored in the recycling box instead of their pockets.

This trick not only works with DIYs and shrubs, but according to another Reddit post, it also works with Animal Crossing: New Horizons turnips which also can’t be stored inside the player’s home storage. This doesn’t however stop them from rotting if any time traveling takes place. Luckily for those attempting to break into the turnip stock exchange, players from other islands are unable to access the recycle box and take the items inside.

For more Animal Crossing pointers, take a look at our Animal Crossing: New Horizons tips

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After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.