10 Unique Uses for Tin Foil
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Aluminum foil is great for baking, grilling, and lining pans for easy clean up. It’s a staple in the kitchen. But did you know that tin foil has tons of other uses? If you don’t have it on hand, you’ll want to after this! Try out these ten great tips for getting the most out of your tin foil.
Make a funnel: Tin foil is easy to shape and is waterproof, which makes it great for a disposable away funnel. Use it to refill bottles with small openings, or even refilling your car with oil or coolant. Then just ball it up, recycle if possible, or throw it out! No messes here!
Fix your electronics: Battery sockets in controllers and remotes can loosen over time. Just take a little piece of tin foil and fold it a few times, then shove the foil between the battery and the connector. It will tighten the battery’s position in the controller against the coil, which will reconnect the circuit. It’s way cheaper than a whole new remote!
Sharpen your scissors: Did you know aluminum foil will sharpen scissors? If your snippers are becoming dull, don’t buy a new pair. Just layer about 6-10 sheets of foil on top of one another and cut into it over and over. Your scissors will be super sharp in no time!
Polish your chrome: Crinkling up your foil makes for a great buffing tool. Use it on chrome bumpers to get rid of rust. You can also scrub your uncoated pots and pans with aluminum if you ran out of brillo pads.
Reglue a loose tile: Put a sheet of aluminum foil over that loose, self-adhesive vinyl tile in your kitchen or bathroom and run a super hot iron over the foil. It will restick the tile to your floor without damaging it, and you can stop stubbing your toe on that corner!
Protect your things: Did you know you can also line the bottom of your fireplace to make cleanup easy? What about your grill? Also, did you know aluminum will protect real silverware from tarnish? Just store your silverware on a sheet of foil instead of just laying it in a drawer. You’ll have to polish it less often.
Keep the birds away from your fruit: If you have fruit trees, dangling a few twisty pieces of foil from your trees will scare the birds away from hanging out on your trees and eating your fruits!
Painting helper: Tin foil loves to conform to all sorts of shapes, so let it help you on your next painting project. Cover your doorknobs while painting a door with foil, or a windowsill, or other object you’re trying to protect.
Reflect heat into your house: Since aluminum is made from thin sheets of metal, it’s pretty resistant to heat, and makes for great air redirection from vents and old-timey radiators. Instead of having the heat blow out in all directions, use the aluminum on the side facing the wall, so the air from your heater or air conditioning is blown into the room instead of against the outside wall.
Speed up your ironing: Line your ironing board with aluminum foil to help reflect the heat back. It’s like you’re ironing both sides at once!
No more dryer sheets: Use a piece of foil and ball it up and throw it in the dryer as a dryer sheet, it’s cheaper and lasts for months and does the same thing as a dryer sheet does(sans fragrance)!! (Thanks Shannon H.)
And a couple more great ideas from our readers:
From Jo Ann C. : Take a piece of foil,shape it over the bottom of bowl(size depending on what you are covering) and use it as a dome to protect your baked goods, or whatever has a delicate topping.
From April B.: If you lay a piece of foil on your furniture it will keep the animals off.
From Quannah: Learned this when i lived in Newfoundland. Forget to dry off your ice skates and there is a bit of rust on the blades?
Take some tin foil wad it up in a ball and rub the blade of the skate, the rust will come right off. This also works for rust on bikes too.
From Lisa: We wrap the foil around a a big of piece cardboard for the kids they love drawing on it with a dry erase marker. the use. it over and over till foil wears out.
From Kay A.: I have used Foil for years to preserve the freshness and crispness of Celery in my veggie bin. Just wrap any unused Celery in Foil and place in the bin it will last for weeks.
Remember to reduce, reuse, and recycle whenever possible, and recycle aluminum foil after using these amazing tips!
PIN these Great Uses for Tin Foil to your Tips Board!
Sources:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20225533,00.html http://www.rd.com/home/over-40-new-uses-for-aluminum-foil/ http://www.realsimple.com/new-uses-for-old-things/new-uses-aluminum-foil/index.html
The only thing I didn’t like about your article was the suggestion to “crumple the foil up & throw it in the trash!” FOIL IS RECYCLABLE! PLease reduce, reuse, and recycle whenever possible and keep that message in people’s mindset to do better for this earth. #savetheplanet #globalwarmingisreal #globalwarmingsucks
Thank you Betsy, we’ve updated to include that. Appreciate your comment!
Great Post to get the knowledge about aluminium Foils reuse.
keep posting the such good stuff !!
Foil will keep most of your veggies stay crisper longer.Take plastic wraps off food first then wrap in foil.eg-lettuce,radishes,green onions,celery
Great tip, thank you!
the painting helper use gave me an idea, wrapping the foil around edge of paint container to prevent paint from filling the grove or after to allow the lid to open easily after it’s been sealed
That is brilliant!!
Can I use aluminium foil? Thanks in advance!
to clean your grill. Place shinning side down on grill. Turn the grill on high. An let it smoke, an it will smoke.
After 10 or so minutes, turn the grill off an cool. Remove the foil an just dust off all the ashes.
Line the top of cabinets with foil to keep grease and dust from collecting on them…When dirty just replace!
That’s a great idea Kimberly!
I tried the tip of wrapping celery in foil to keep it fresh for weeks. I also tried it with iceberg lettuce and it stays fresh probably twice as long.
I used tin foil when I ran out of SOS pads. Ball up a piece of foil a scrap your pan while washing takes whatever is stuck on off.
We wrap the foil around a a big of piece cardboard for the kids they love drawing on it with a dry erase marker. the use. it over and over till foil wears out.
I LOVE this idea! Kids would think it’s such a blast!
If you lay a piece of foil on your furniture it will keep the animals off
Learned this when i lived in Newfoundland.
Forget to dry off your ice skates and there is a bit of rust on the blades.
take some tin foil wad it up in a ball and rub the blade of the skate, the rust will come right off.
This also works for rust on bikes too.