We all know that aluminum foil is primarily used to wrap up our food, making it a lot easier to take said food from A to B. In fact, it was first used to do just that as early as the late 19th century. These days, people also tend to use foil to cover baking surfaces and prevent certain foods from losing moisture while roasting or grilling.
But as it turns out, foil is a lot more useful than you may have previously thought. Yes, contrary to popular belief, its many functions and purposes are not simply confined to the kitchen, cooking process, and food storage. There are endless ways in which you can use this very sturdy insulator to save you time and money.
Here are 10 of the best:
1. Clean the grill
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If you want to be extra cautious, you should use tin foil to clean your grill instead of a BBQ brush with bristles, which could potentially fall off and get stuck in your food. Foil is also perfect for scrubbing the grill rack and preventing a buildup of fat, and it is just as effective at doing that as a standard grill brush.
2. Allow your plants to flourish
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A lot of people swear by tin foil and its use as a sort of gardening tool. Apparently, it scares off birds that might try to eat your fruit, keeps slugs away from your soil, and makes for a very good sun box.
In order to keep the slugs away, place the foil over your plant block, ensuring that the shiny side is down. In order to use foil as a sun box, place it so that it reflects light back onto your plants.
3. Help you with the ironing
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Doing the ironing can be time-consuming, but if you put one sheet of foil underneath your clothes while you're ironing them, that doesn't have to be the case. This will help you iron both sides at once and ensure there are no creases to be seen.
4. Help ease muscle and joint pain
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For some people, aluminum foil is effective at alleviating pain in your neck, back, arms, legs, and joints. It's also said to relieve rheumatoid arthritis, gout, and sciatica. All you have to do is wrap the affected areas with tin foil and leave it to work overnight - and let's face it, when you're in pain, anything - no matter how unlikely - is worth a shot.
5. Help eliminate static
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Aluminum foil gets rid of static electricity from your clothing while inside the dryer, but it can also work outside of a dryer too. Simply scrunch up a piece of foil into a ball and rub it on your clothes to remove the static.
6. Make a funnel
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If you don't happen to have a funnel lying around at home, you can make a mold of one from foil. Foil is pretty good for that as it's a very strong and sturdy material so you won't have to worry about it falling apart.
7. Fix loose batteries
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To save money on batteries, you should know that with nothing more than a bit of tin foil, you can turn AAA batteries into AA batteries by putting tin foil at the positive ends. The foil will help to keep loose batteries in place, or act as a temporary replacement until you can get the correct size.
8. Clean silverware
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Have rusted silverware? Then all you need to do is lay a piece of tin foil in a shallow pan, pour hot water, salt and baking powder and place your silverware inside before drying them with a towel.
9. Sharpen your scissors
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If your scissors need sharpening, all you have to do is cut a few pieces of foil with these very scissors to do just that. Simple, yet effective!
10. Give your wifi a signal boost
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In order to help your wifi work faster, use tin foil to boost the signal. Start by folding a piece of foil into a small rectangle and placing it behind the router.
So there we have it: never let it be said that tin foil is a one-trick pony, because that certainly isn't the case!