Why You Should Wrap Foil Around Your Doorknob at Night If You’re Alone (and Other Clever Aluminum Foil Hacks)
Aluminum foil is a kitchen essential that, for many, serves primarily as a tool for cooking or wrapping food items. It's routinely picked up at the grocery store, but more often than not remains tucked away in the pantry or a drawer, with its full potential overlooked.
The truth is that aluminum foil is a versatile asset that offers a wealth of applications that extend well beyond its typical culinary uses, and it's high time we uncovered its potential.
Less Mess, Better Egg Shape
Adding a layer of aluminum foil to your frying pan before cooking fried eggs can reduce time spent cleaning. Just mold the foil to the pan and add some cooking spray to prevent sticking. Home cooks have also shared a secondary hack: making indents in the foil can help you create an egg with a perfect shape.
Bonus: this is also a good hack if you're aiming to make an egg scramble that you can wrap up for later!
Keep Those Scissors Sharp
Like any other cutting edge, scissors get dull with age. Even if you keep good care of them, eventually, they're going to be less effective than the first time you use them. Not only is a dull pair of scissors annoying, but they can also be dangerous to use if you're not extremely careful.
A simple trick to keep scissors sharp or eliminate any rust from the blade is to cut a piece of aluminum foil around seven to 10 times.
Block Cell Phone Signals
If you want to block your cellphone from receiving signals, simply use aluminum foil. Radio waves and fields that give your mobile device service can be blocked out by the product.
For this hack, wrap the foil around your phone. You shouldn't be able to make any calls or receive a signal once this is done, as a device surrounded on all sides by foil shouldn't receive any radio waves.
Stop Thieves From Breaking Into Your Car
The majority of drivers today use a key fob to unlock, start and lock their vehicles. These tiny devices emit a short-range, wireless radio signal from the key to the car, and drivers should be aware that criminals may be able to amplify and intercept this transmission if their fob is within close access to the car (around 300 feet or less).
To help protect against this, keep your key fob more than 300 feet from your car. In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Holly Hubert, a cybersecurity expert, said that wrapping the fob in aluminum foil can reduce the wireless radio signal, if this isn't possible.
No Panini Press, No Problem!
If you're someone who won't settle for the typical cold sandwich, using aluminum foil can elevate your meal to panini greatness!
Take the sandwich you've just prepared and put it on a cooking sheet or a griddle. Next, wrap any standard brick you may have lying around outside and wrap it in aluminum foil. Put it on top of the sandwich while it's in the oven or cooking on the griddle and enjoy!
Clean Off Stuck-On Food
If you've ever baked lasagna or a casserole, then you know the clean up is going to be rough. That glass or dish is going to need to soak for a while before you can begin to scrub off the stuck-on food.
Thanks to aluminum foil, you can significantly cut down the time this cleaning process takes by using the foil to scrape off food that feels practically glued on. You can even reuse the foil you'd previously used to cover the dish!
Boost Your Wi-Fi Signal
Believe it or not, if your WI-FI signal is a little slow, aluminum foil can help!
Tear off a sheet and fold it into a rectangle, so it's about four inches by six inches, depending on the size of your router. Then, bend it into a curve with the shinier side facing the router. Incredibly, this helps to boost your Wi-Fi signal, so you don't have to wait 10 minutes for one video to load.
Make Your Silverware Shine Like New
Nobody wants to own or use silverware that looks old and dirty, even when fresh out of the dishwasher. People will go to extreme lengths to get their silverware spotless, whether it's scrubbing them for hours on end or spending money on expensive cleaning products.
However, none of that's necessary, as long you have some aluminum foil lying around. All you have to do is put some foil at the bottom of a container, add baking soda and salt, then pour boiling water. Place your silverware in the dish and let it sit for an hour. They'll come out looking good as new!
Quickly Heal Minor Burns
We've all somehow managed to give ourselves a minor burn on our fingertips, whether it's touching a pan that's too hot, an iron or anything hot enough to damage the skin.
While most people's first instinct might be to put their finger in their mouth or run it under water, what you should actually do is reach for aluminum foil. Wrap your injured body part in the foil and leave it on for at least 15-20 minutes. The pain should be gone by then!
Create a Non-Stick Pan
You can keep your food from sticking while cooking without using oils, butter or spending a lot of money on a non-stick pan, thanks to aluminum foil! Cut out a piece of foil to fit the bottom of the cookware that you're using. It works well!
As well, tin foil is much cheaper than most cooking oils you'd find at the grocery store, so you could actually end up saving money!
Don't Let Your Bananas Go to Waste
Bananas are an extremely popular fruit, but one of their biggest issues is that they go from unripe to ripe, to overly ripe in what feels like the blink of an eye. Why? As they ripen, these yellow delights release gas, which reacts with oxygen and causes the process to speed up.
This process usually happens at the stem, so if you wrap tit with aluminum foil (either individually or as a bunch), they'll last for days longer.
Say Goodbye to Clumpy Brown Sugar
Unless you blow through brown sugar at a superhuman rate, odds are your baking nights are hindered by the ingredient having become hard and clumpy. Fear not! There's a simple solution to this all too common situation.
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees, wrap the hard parts in aluminum foil and put it in the oven for around five minutes. When you take it out, it'll be like you just purchased it from the store.
Slide Furniture Along the Floor with Ease
Moving large pieces of furniture isn't always the easiest task. If it's really heavy and you're trying to drag it, the legs can create friction. This not only makes the job harder, but it also damages the floor.
To make the furniture slide across the ground with ease, place pieces of aluminum foil underneath each leg. With minimal effort, the piece will glide across the floor like skates on ice.
Train Your Pets to Stay Off Furniture
For some reason, household pets hate the feeling of aluminum foil on their paws, most likely because of the noise and lack of grip. As such, if you're trying to train your furry friend to stay off of the furniture, it might be the key to your success.
Lay sheets of foil on top of the surfaces you're trying to keep them from climbing. Of course, you can remove it if you need to use the surface, but after a few weeks, they'll stay far away.
Make Your Own Cookie Cutters
Cookie cutters are great. The only problem with them, however, is that there are only so many options available. If you want to be creative and make ones that are unique, aluminum foil is the place to turn.
Use enough foil for the cutter to be sturdy and mold it to create any kind of shape you want. Not only is it simple and cheap, it also adds an extra element to the cookie-baking process that makes it even more fun!
Keep Ants From Climbing
Anyone with an ant problem will be happy to learn this aluminum foil hack.
Since ants are skilled climbers, they can easily scale the legs of a kitchen table to get to your food. Create a road block using foil! Since the product is slippery, the tiny pests won't be able to scale it. Place a section where you want to block them.
You can even apply Vicks VapoRub to make it even more difficult for these pesky insects.
Eliminate Static From Your Clothes in the Dryer
Peeling apart clothes while putting them away (or even shocking yourself) makes doing laundry all that much worse. While there are tons of products on the market that claim to help remove static from your clothes while in the dryer, all you really need is aluminum foil.
Create balls using about three or four feet of foil, compressing them as tightly as you can, so they can't snag on any clothing items. Throw them in the dryer with your clothes and no more static!
Speed Up the Ironing Process
If you think ironing is a laborious process that takes way too long, this is the perfect tip for you!
When ironing, most of the heat gets lost on the board itself, meaning you need to go over a wrinkle multiple times to flatten it out. If you place a piece of aluminum foil beneath the fabric, it'll act as a conductor that reflects the heat through the clothing, getting the wrinkle out faster.
Get the Most Out of Your Batteries
If you notice one of your battery-powered appliances is on its way out and you don't have any more batteries on hand, aluminum foil can come to the rescue.
Simply scrunch small pieces of foil onto the positive end of the battery, making sure that it's touching both the battery and the wall of the holder. This will improve contact with the terminals, giving it a longer life. It won't last forever, but it can sure help in a pinch.
Keep Your Door Knobs Paint-Free
When painting, one of the main goals is to not get paint on anything except what's intended. If you don't want to go through the process of taking the knob off when painting a door, not getting paint on it can be tricky. However, using aluminum foil, you can wrap the knob tightly, running a utility knife around the base, so you can paint as close as possible.
You can do this with any other knobs you may end up touching with paint on your hands.
Prevent Ice Cream Messes
It can be hard to eat a Popsicle or an ice cream cone fast enough to prevent it from dripping all over your hands. While there are products on the market to help stop this, a piece of aluminum foil can be just as effective.
All you have to do is wrap a piece in a cone shape to create a barrier between your hand and the ice cream to catch the drips.
Clean Your Iron in a Breeze
Fabric starch, softeners and even dryer sheets leave behind chemicals on your clothes that can end up leaving residue on your iron. In turn, the build-up on the bottom of your iron can end up getting on your clothes, which is counterintuitive.
To avoid this, place a length of aluminum foil on your ironing board and sprinkle half a teaspoon on salt on it. Turn your iron on and run it across the salty surface multiple times. As you go over the salt, the debris will be rubbed off.
Preserve Steel Wool
While steel wool can be a convenient product to have around, more often than not, after a few uses, it turns into a rusty mess before you can get your money's worth. There are few things to prevent this, unless you actually want to take the time to look after it.
With aluminum foil, preserving steel wool is a breeze! All you have to do is wrap it in the foil and throw it in the freezer. It'll be ready to use the next time you need it!
Don't Be Caught with a Wet Match
While we have lighters handy, many still use matches. The last thing they want is to try and get a fire going, only to learn their matches are wet from something either leaking or being exposed to moist air.
As it turns out, if you wrap the tip of your matches in a bit of aluminum foil, it will keep them nice and dry in almost all circumstances.
Make Sure Your Glue Gun is Ready for Use Every Time
We all know how great hot glue guns can be. They're effective, easy to use and you don't have to get glue all over your hands. Unfortunately, after most uses, there can be an adhesive layer on top, which can make it difficult to use the next time if it isn't properly cleaned.
To avoid future issues, grab a piece of aluminum foil and give the tip a quick scrub to get rid of any leftover glue.
Re-Seal Bags Like a Pro
When it comes to large bags of food, they don't always end up getting finished. This results in people rolling them or using a clip to try and prevent the contents from getting stale or infested with insects.
Unfortunately, this rarely works and the food can go to waste. A trick with aluminum foil is to cut out a strip and use it to pinch the bag closed. Then, go over it with a hot iron and the seal will be good as new.
Re-Settle Vinyl Tile Without Turning It Into a Massive Project
Vinyl tile has the tendency to come loose over time, due to the moisture and heat it comes into contact with in bathrooms. However, if this happening to you, there's no need to stress about having to re-tile a whole area because of a few loose tiles.
To fix this issue, all you need is a sheet of aluminum foil and a clothing iron. Put the foil over the loose tiles and gently go over the area with the iron. The heat will help warm up the adhesive, settling the tiles back into place.
Making Sure Houseplants Get as Much Light as Possible
Many people spend money and time caring for their plants, only for them to die. Even if you water regularly, if the plant isn't getting enough sunlight, it's most likely going to wilt.
To prevent this, build an open-sided box out of aluminum foil that'll reflect sunlight from three different sides, as well as the bottom. Give your houseplants the chance they deserve!
You Can Use It To Catch Dinner
If you've ever been fishing or know the basics, you're aware that a lot of fish are attracted to shiny objects. A lot of manufactured lures even have reflectors attached to them to help increase the chances of attracting a fish.
There's no point in spending a bunch of money on fishing lures that are most likely going to get lost in the water when a piece of aluminum foil can do the trick.
Get The Pearly Whites You've Always Wanted
People have no problem burning a hole in their wallets when it comes to their teeth. Nobody wants to have "bad teeth," but that doesn't mean you have to spend an arm and a leg to get a nice set of pearly whites.
The truth is, you can self-whiten your teeth with some household items, including aluminum foil. Create a mixture of baking soda and toothpaste and spread it onto a strip of foil. Then, wrap it around your teeth for an hour. Do this a few times and the results will be noticeable!
Protect Your Paint
When painting, losing the lids to the cans or the caps of tubes can sometimes become an issue. Exposing paint to oxygen for an extended period of time makes it susceptible to oxidation, which will dry up the paint - and there's no coming back from that.
If you find yourself in that predicament, aluminum foil can save the day By putting the foil over the exposed paint, it will help prevent oxidation for an extended period of time - long enough to find or get a new lid.
Use It as a Cheap Paint Tray Liner
If you're painting a wall or something even larger, chances are that you'll need a paint tray and a plastic liner to dip your roller in. Paint trays can be a major pain to clean, which is why most people also use a plastic liner.
However, you don't necessarily have to use the ones that are provided at the store. Using aluminum foil is just as effective, and it will save you money and decrease the amount of plastic you use.
Repel Insects And Birds
If your garden and yard are continuously attacked by pesky insects or birds, a few strips of aluminum foil should be able to solve the problem. The reflection given off the foil and the heat it conducts will drive unwanted critters away.
This is a particularly effective hack during the winter, when birds, squirrels and insects seek refuge in your plants to escape from the elements.
Create a Funnel in Seconds
Let's be honest, unless you use one regularly, a funnel isn't something found lying around the house. Plus, chances are, if you do have one, it's stored somewhere andhas become dirty beyond repair.
If you're in desperate need of a funnel, grab some aluminum foil and shape it into one! Just make sure all the seams are closed together tight, so nothing spills out because that would defeat the purpose!
Naomi Kuro
