8 Amazing Uses For Aluminum Foil In Your House

Aluminum foil, colloquially known as Alfoil in homes across our wide brown land, is a pretty useful kitchen tool.

But did you know there’s more uses for it than wrapping your leftovers and baking potatoes?

Yep, as it turns out, there are quite a few ingenious uses for this shiny wrap around your home, and we bet you haven’t heard of them all!

1. Sharpens Scissors

Every house has a pair of trusty scissors that never seem to be around when you need them, and aren’t as effective as you’d like. Well, while aluminium foil can’t fix the fact that your kids are always moving the damn scissors, it can sharpen their game. Lay a few sheets of foil on top of each other and cut through them with your scissors. Voila! Sharp scissors.

2. Removes Rust

Nothing makes your home look more damaged and derelict (except your children of course) than rusty fittings, particularly in your bathroom. Yep, we’re looking at you shower rod! So, instead of throwing it out and spending uselessly on a new one, just get a bit of foil, ball it up, and rub it energetically along that shower rod. You’ll be amazed at how much rust that little foil ball can remove!

3. Shines Jewellery

If your jewellery isn’t looking as fresh-faced and vibrant as it used to (and don’t we know that feeling), there is a solution. And you don’t have to spend big on jewellery polishers with loads of crazy chemicals in them (leave that for the kids!). Instead, just line a bowl or a tray with foil, fill it with hot water and add a nice big tablespoon of laundry detergent powder (the kind that is bleach-free). Then, just pop your gold and silver jewellery in there for a minute, and it’s good as new. This also works on silverware, for those lucky enough to own any.

4. Improve Radiator Performance

If you live in the US or other countries that have a radiator to heat your house, you would know that keeping your home warm during the colder months isn’t just something you should do because it’s legally expected of you as a caregiver, it also makes things comfy when you finally get a chance to relax (if ever). But, if you have radiators, you’ll know how ineffective they can be. Make them more effective by wrapping a large piece of cardboard with foil and putting it behind the radiator, thereby reflecting the heat back to you. Genius!

5. Guard Against Paint Drips

Painter’s tape is a massive hassle, and when you’re doing touchups to doors and fiddly areas with handles, it’s just one more thing to worry about. Let’s be honest, when there’s paint around, you’re more concerned that one of your kids might try to eat it. So don’t worry about the painter’s tape, just wrap your knobs in foil… You know what we mean.

6. Kills Static Cling

If you’ve got a dryer, you’re probably pretty familiar with the issue of static cling. Anyone who has ever stepped out of the house with a pair of socks, or worse something more revealing, plastered on the back of their clothing knows the struggle. Well, aluminium foil is here for you. Just toss a crumpled up ball of aluminium foil in with your load of clothes, and it works just like those dryer sheets to prevent static cling. Simple.

7. Stop Pet Christmas Killers

When Christmas rolls around, it’s pretty clear that the biggest Grinch in your home is the cat or dog whose mission in life is to tear down the Christmas tree you worked so hard to put up. Aluminium foil to the rescue again! Just crinkle scraps of foil under the skirt of your Christmas tree. When your pet steps on it, the noise with freak them out enough to stop them from going near it again.

8. Speed Up Ironing

Ironing is never a fun job, but we all own a few items of clothing that we just can’t get away with not ironing. One day, self-ironing clothes will be a real thing, but until then, we have to put up with the life hacks that are available to us. Thankfully, foil speeds up the process. Just lay some foil underneath the cover of your ironing board. It reflects twice as much of the heat from the iron, meaning you’ll cut your least favourite job in half.

So, what are you using aluminium foil for?