It may be a humble kitchen staple, but aluminium foil has a surprisingly large range of services to offer.
WATCH: Learn how to clean your tech devices properly.
Tin foil is so handy, in fact, that you shouldn’t limit its uses to the kitchen. You probably had no idea how useful this ordinary kitchen product could be – it can clean, protect, shape, grow, polish – the opportunities are endless!
Here are five different household problems that can be either solved, or made easier, with the use of aluminium foil.
1. Make ironing quicker
Placing foil underneath your ironing board cover (shiny side up) will increase the heat and therefore remove stubborn wrinkles faster. This simple hack also means you don’t have to iron both sides of your clothes.
2. Make your own touch pen
If you wrap the tip of a normal pen in foil, and ensure the tip is pointed, you can use it as a touch-point pen for some digital devices.
3. Polish rusty chrome fixtures
Got a rusty towel rack or bathroom tap? Simply scrunch some foil into a loose ball and rub it over the rust. Your chrome fixtures will be as good as new in no time.
4. Sharpen blunt scissors
If the household scissors need re-sharpening, simply cut into a sheet of aluminium foil up to 10 times to have cleaner, sharper shears.
5. Remove static electricity
For a dryer hack that prevents clothes and sheets coming out full of static electricity, pop a ball of scrunched-up aluminium foil into the dryer when you do the next load. No more static.
6. Remove stains from your iron
Clean your iron by gently rubbing the base with aluminium foil – just don’t do it too often because it can scratch the iron.
7. Move furniture with no damage
Place foil on the bottom of the legs and then slide your furniture to its new home. It’s cheap, easy and it protects your floor and furniture from scratches. There’s no need to buy furniture sliding pads just to adjust your furniture.
8. Create unique cake pans
Form a thick heavy-duty aluminium foil into your desired shape inside the pan – heart cake, Christmas tree shape or whatever you like!
9. Prevent cuttings from growing tangled
Propagate new plants neatly by covering them with a sheet of foil. Just poke a few holes and insert cuttings and watch them grow uncluttered!
10. Scare birds away
Dangle foil from a fruit tree or post in your garden to scare away pesky birds. Some birds are afraid of shiny things so will stay away from fruit, clotheslines and balconies.
11. Preserve steel-wool pads
Have you ever used a steel-wool pad just to find that the next day it’s already rusty? To prevent this, just wrap the pad in foil and put it in the freezer.
12. Scrub your pots
Crumple up foil and use it to scrub your pots. You can even use the same foil from cooking your casserole to clean up the dish.
13. Fix loose batteries
Fold a small piece of foil in the battery compartment to hold the batteries in place. The pad should be placed between the battery and the spring.
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