Everyone has aluminum foil in their kitchen. The fact you wouldn’t have it lying around would be unusual: this is a very useful thing to have nearby. We use aluminum foil to prepare food in the oven, as well as on the grill or store it in the fridge after. That’s the reason why there is always some lying around.

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Amazingly, aluminum foil can be used in other places aside from the kitchen. Here are a few of the more exciting things you can do with this material – you will soon realize that aluminum foil is crucial to your life.

Replaces a Funnel

We’ve all needed to pour some liquid back into a jar after pouring too much. Maybe it’s some wine back into a bottle, or perhaps gas into a tank? Either way, if we don’t have a funnel around, it can be tricky.

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With aluminum foil, watch as you easily tear some off and form a homemade funnel. It can wrap around any sized hole and gently place the liquid back into its original container. Never buy a funnel again!

Unwrinkles Clothes

If you place some aluminum foil under clothes while you iron them, it can help smoothen the surface and decrease your creases. I bet you never thought foil and heat would be such a good match?

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Next time you iron, wrap some of the heat conductor under your shirt and place a boiling hot iron onto its surface. You won’t believe just how much it works. Make sure to keep aluminum foil wherever you do your laundry – your shirts will thank you!

Sharpens Scissors

Think of aluminum foil as the perfect item to sharpen and clean your scissors! We all know they can become stiff and rusted over time – it’s something to be expected when we use them for long periods.

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Next time you see your scissors seemingly reaching the end of their life, quickly grab some aluminum foil and gently cut into it 7-10 times. After a short while, they will get cleaner and sharper ready for their next use. It’s easy!

Remove Static from Clothes

If there’s anything we hate, it’s static from your fresh load of laundry. It can be a split shocking second that can cause a minor inconvenience. So why would we put up with it? We know there’s a better idea.

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With aluminum foil, you can place a small ball into your dryer along with your clothes and remove any static that might occur during the cycle. Once you try this, you’ll never be able to stop!

Clean Your Iron

If your iron gathers dirt, grim, or rust, you might consider buying a new one. What if we told you that there’s a cheaper alternative to throwing your iron in the trash? It sounds improbable, but not impossible!

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Aluminum foil provides you with the perfect scrub suitable for cleaning the base of your iron. Make sure you don’t do it too hard or often – you might end up scratching it! Either way, you’ll be happy this trick saves you a new iron.

Clean Your Silverware

It can be hard to clean your silverware. Over time, they can also attract dirt and grime that sticks a little too tight to knives and spoons. It can be a forking nuisance, to be honest. You might think spraying some WD-40 would help, but you’ve just run out!

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Don’t worry: put some aluminum foil at the bottom of a container and place your silverware in there with baking soda, salt, and boiling water. All the dirt will quickly come off.

Helps You Move Furniture

If you don’t have the strength to move an entire piece of large furniture, then it can be a bit of a problem. Thankfully, someone discovered a great way to help you slide it across the floor without needing to lift a finger.

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Simply place some aluminum foil underneath each leg (see photo above) and gently slide it across carpets or wooden floors. Unfortunately, we can’t help you with the stairs, so you’ll have to work that out on your own!

Connect To The Internet

If you’re like me, then you have a serious problem with the internet in your home! You can plug and unplug, restart or reboot the router as many times as you like, but it still won’t connect to Netflix.

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With aluminum foil, you can wrap a little bit of it into a thick layer and place it like a piece of card next to the router. The metal will strengthen the connection and have you watching Grace and Frankie in no time!

Clean a Glue Gun

If you’ve just done some DIY around the house, then you might have used a glue gun. These things can be incredibly useful when attaching items together, but they can also be a nuisance to clean up afterward.

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With aluminum foil, you can easily clean the top of it by rubbing it on the tip. It should come right off, albeit a little crispy, but almost as good as new. It should be good to glue again in 15-20 minutes.

Remove Rust From Chrome

If you are ever faced with chromed surfaces that have attracted rust, you might think it’s the end as you know it. They say nothing can repair rust, this ‘They’ clearly don’t know about aluminum foil and all its benefits.

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Next time you need to clean your chrome surfaces, just crunch some aluminum foil into a ball and scrub it on the surface. You’ll see it come off in no time! It’s as easy as pie.

Seal Plastic Bags

We love plastic bags – unless we’re from California – and often rely on them for our everyday chores. While cheap and accessible, they can be difficult to store things – mainly because they’re always open.

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With aluminum foil, you can iron some of it on to the tip of the bag and watch it seal shut. Now, you can use the bag without risking items falling out or getting lost. Remember this next time you’re stuck at home with too many bags and need an alternative.

Design Your Own Cookies

Making cookies with our children or loved ones can be an amazing experience. Cooking is just half the fun – with extra items like animated cookie shapes, it can be amazing AND hilarious.

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With aluminum foil, you can literally design your own cookie cutters and make any shaped cookie you want. Next time you’re baking, designate some time to cut your very own shapes. Your kids will be super impressed when they can eat their favorite cartoon character.

Whiten Your Teeth

Teeth whitening procedures can be incredibly expensive, racking up hundreds of dollars for only a few weeks worth of product. Why not make your own? With aluminum foil, it’s not as crazy as it sounds.

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Simply mix some baking soda and toothpaste together, put a thick coat of it into the foil, and bite down hard! After an hour, remove it and watch your smile glisten! It might require a few tries to see a difference, but it’s worth it!

Protect Your Door Knobs

If you ever need to paint a room, you’ll probably place some tape on the ceiling and the door frames. It’s a great way to protect the edges. But what about the door knobs? They can be a real pain and something we don’t consider when we start the project.

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Fear not, dear reader! Aluminum will help you forget all your troubles right away. You can just wrap a little bit of it around the knob and watch the foil catch the extra paint that might get in the way. Then, just take it off and throw it in the trash.

Throw Out Your Cooking Grease

We are often asked about the most common cooking mistakes we hear. Most of the time, we hear stories about people who let their grease run down into the sink when they cook. Anyone can tell you that this is terrible for the pipes.

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Next time you cook something greasy, please be sure to collect it in aluminum foil and throw it in the trash can. You’ll be preventing your pipes from clogging and a trip from the plumber.

Use It As A Touchscreen

Weirdly, aluminum foil helps us with our touchscreen devices. If you coat a pen with some of this special stuff and point the tip of it, you can make your very own touchpoint pen for your devices.

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This can help you save hundreds of dollars since Apple Pencils are way too expensive to justify a purchase. Next time you’re out, you’ll be turning heads with your own homemade Apple Pencil! Start making one yourself today.

Never Need To Clean Your Oven

Similar to frying on the pan, our ovens can also be a nuisance when we use it a lot to cook our dinner. Over time, it can collect large amounts of grease, oil, and other things. It can be so daunting that we hope the heat just kills any bacteria.

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Next time you cook, just wrap your tray with aluminum foil and see how clean it is. You can simply remove the foil and throw it in the trash, saving you washing up battle after you eat.

Curl Your Hair

If you’ve ever found yourself at a loss at how to curl your hair, all you need to do is go to your kitchen. Grab some aluminum foil and put it in between your hair and the curler. Then, gently press down and get curling!

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This trick will protect your hair from any nasty accidents or mistakes you might make. It’s important to be safe when dealing with hot machines, and aluminum foil can be the perfect tool to help you.

Make A BBQ Drip Pan

So, you’re about to make a BBQ. You have it all planned out and the meat is ready to go. However, you don’t want your delicious meat to drip on to the coal and lose its taste. What do you do?

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That’s right – aluminum foil! Next time you’re cooking, fashion a disposable drip pan from a few layers of foil. Now, the juices will drip right into the foil without ruining the coals or sacrificing the taste. Voila!

Clean Your BBQ Grill

Imagine the scene: you’ve just had the whole family over for a lovely family BBQ. The only problem? You’re the one who has to clean it after! While everyone is enjoying their dessert, it can seem like the task will take hours.

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But don’t fret! With aluminum foil, you can scrub the grill with a bit of soapy water to catch any of the grease that remains on the grill. Look out, ice cream! This chef is ready for his ‘just desserts’.

Soften Brown Sugar

We all love cooking with brown sugar – it’s healthier than white and gives our food a unique taste. In fact, lives can be saved by swapping white for brown. But you know what makes it even better? That’s right, aluminum foil!

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You can use the foil to soften any hardened brown sugar you might find in the back of your cupboard. Gone are the days when you would have to shake, stab, or hit your sugar. Simply chip off a piece of sugar and bake it in foil for five minutes.

Decorate Your Cakes

We know you can use foil to help you cook dinner, but have you ever thought of using it to decorate a cake? Aluminum foil is inherently shiny and flexible, making it the perfect tool to use for cake design.

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You can cut, twist, and turn it into any shape you wish, and then paint it with non-toxic paints. Make sure your guests don’t eat it up! You can use it to design flowers, jewelry, or basically anything else. See what your imagination dreams up!

Keep Your Breads Warm

This is the best way to make sure your baked goods remain that: good! Do you want to keep the oven-fresh warmth of your bread rolls for hours after they’re out the oven? Now you can.

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Before preparing for your picnic, simply wrap your toasted sandwiches in foil and keep them in the basket. They will stay warm for hours and you can enjoy your toasted cheese sandwich at lunch even if you made it at breakfast!

Catch Melting Ice-Cream

Young children can cause a ruckus when eating – especially if that food runs on a timer! Ice-cream is one of those foods that can very quickly turn into a disaster if not quickly and neatly eaten accordingly.

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Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee that this is always the case. With aluminum foil, you can create a bib-type of barrier around the cone, making sure that any spillage will get caught along the way. Finally, a clean solution to a messy problem!

Improve Your Radiator Efficiency

There’s finally a simple method to get more heat from your radiators. The best part? It won’t lead to soaring gas or electric bills. You can tape some foil to cardboard and stick it near a heater. With the shiny side pointing towards the heat, it will bounce off it!

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The result? Bouncing heat around a room that spreads warmth and love for longer, without raising costs each month. This is particularly helpful for winter time, which can last for months and hundreds of extra dollars.

Protect A Mattress

If you think that sleeping on foil might be uncomfortable, then you’re wrong. This trick can be particularly useful for parents with young children who still wet the bed. Before they learn to hold it or take it to the bathroom, you’ll want to rest some foil.

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Just lay some down and cover it with a towel before putting the sheets over. it will make sure that any accidents won’t seep into the mattress. Then, just replace it all in the night if you need to.

Hide Worn Spots In Mirrors

A worn spot in a mirror can sometimes add charm to old and worn-out mirrors. Sometimes. Most of the time it can be a bother and a distraction to look away from it when getting ready in the mornings or evenings.

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With aluminum foil, you can put a piece of it on the back of the glass. Then hold the foil in place with a bit of tape attached to the mirror frame – not the glass itself. Now, you can get back to combing your hair, shaving, or picking your spots!

Protect Your Glasses

If you’re someone who dyes their hair in the evening (shoutout to my ex), then you’ll know the struggles of leaky dye. If you are a glasses wearer, you can sometimes run the risk of spilling dye on to your glasses and ruining the frames.

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Simply wrap some foil around your frames and wear them like normal while you are dying your hair. You’ll be able to see without having to risk your glasses.

Repel Insects

If you lay mulch on your garden beds, you’ll know how effective it can be at protecting plants from slugs and insects. These bugs can eat away at your cucumbers or other plants you grow, causing disastrous results.

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Next time you lay your mulch down, throw a little aluminum foil into the mix. Not only will it repel the insects, but it will add more sources of light for the plants to use and grow higher. Now sit back and see how much better your plants will be because of a little foil in their lives!

Give Santa A Helping Hand

In the same way that foil can help you with your oven, aluminum is very good at tidying other hot places. Your fireplace, for example, will likely build up sheer amounts of dust, soot, and ash over time. Nobody wants that, especially not Santa!

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Next time the kids are around, place a double layer down and use it when you make a fire together. You can tell them you’re all helping Santa and they’ll love helping out around the house.

Help Your Pots Enjoy A Scrub

It can be tough to keep track of all the items in your kitchen that require cleaning. Ever item needs a different tool, and it can be a simple mistake to leave something at the store.

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If you’ve run out of scrub pads, make sure to crumble up some aluminum foil and use it. The foil can be a perfect replacement when you need to wash and clean your pots and pans.

Attach A Patch

An iron-on patch can be an easy fix to a normal problem: rips in clothes. Any parent knows that they will most likely need to do this for their child at some point. But what happens if you stitch it on to the ironing board?

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With aluminum foil, you can place a small piece under the hole and help it avoid getting stuck. After you’re done, you can slip it out and enjoy your new patchwork!

Protect Tree Trunks

Nature’s beasts can be a charming but catastrophic addition to your garden. Rabbits, mice, or foxes can use the bark of young trees as food and shelter in the winter, causing problems in the tree’s development.

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If you ever look outside your window and think, ‘Winter Is Coming,’ then you might want to wrap some foil around the base of the trunk. Just make sure to remove it once Spring comes round the corner!

Tanning Beds For Your Plants

Ok, so not quite. But aluminum foil can be a great way to make sure that your plants receive enough sunlight, which is kind of like a tan? By removing the top of one side of cardboard and gluing the other three to the pot, your plant will have itself a sunbed.

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Now, plants can get more sunlight throughout the day, regardless of where the sun is. Watch how they will flourish with all the new photosynthesis!

Incubate Your Seeds

If you want to give your seed-grown plants a head start in their lives, you might want to turn to some aluminum foil! When planting them, line a shoebox with foil, shiny side up, and allow two inches around the side.

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After poking several holes to drain at the bottom, watch how your foil will absorb more light and help the seeds blossom into some amazing plants! You won’t believe how much it can help.

Untangle Your Cuttings

So you’ve successfully placed foil around your seeds and grown your plant? Great job! You’re one step closer to being the proud owner and parent of a beautiful plant.

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However, don’t celebrate too early! You’ll want to make sure that the plant’s cuttings grow strong and uncluttered. Place them in a container covered with foil and poke a few holes in it. It will also keep the water in its place for longer, reducing the need to water it so much.

Improve Outdoor Lighting

It’s not just your plants that can benefit from more light. Us humans also love light both natural and synthetic. Next time you think that your outdoor space could use a little spicing up, throw some foil outside.

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By making a fancy decoration, you can design it in a way that balances the light in a nice and charming way. Just stick it down with some tape and see your garden lighten up!

Create A Surprise Platter

Did you just get a creative burst of energy? Some of us love to create platters of food after a baking session – but what happens if we don’t actually own a platter?

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No platter? No matter! With aluminum foil, you can just wrap a bit of it around cardboard and see how you can now present it to anyone you want. If your baked goods are hot, remember you can also use foil to keep them that way!

Fancy A Fish?

If you venture out to the lake for a relaxing day of fishing, you might get frustrated when none of your usual bait is doing the trick. Well, you’re not thinking big enough. You don’t need worms, you need aluminum foil.

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Fish in the water can be attracted to its glisten and wavy nature when underwater. Just wrap a bit on your hook and see your next meal bite onto it!

Create Your Own Paint Palette

Next time you take up an art project at work, don’t bother investing in a paint palette. For keeping different paint samples together, just tear off some aluminum foil and squirt them on it.

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You can easily fold and tear the foil to direct the paint the way you want. Then, once you’ve completed your next masterpiece, simply throw it in the trash – no clean up required!

Prevent Skinning Paint

Those who embark on DIY around the house might be a little too familiar
with skinning paint. The process occurs when builders leave half-open cans of paint for a few days. This causes it to solidify, causing a mess and risking your next paint job.

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Next time you’re faced with this, simply cut some foil and put it in the tin. Quickly blow some air into it while you close the lid and the carbon dioxide from your lungs will prevent oxidation.

Line Your Roller Pans

Cleaning paint rollers can be a nuisance, which is why many of us buy disposable plastic liners or pans. However, most of us are unaware that a metal roller pan with some of our trusty aluminum foil can work just as well!

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It can also save you money! Just use a little foil as a pan next time you have a paint job and throw it away after. You’ll save a fortune.

Keep Your Paintbrush Wet

You’ll be a painting pro after all these amazing uses for aluminum foil! If you find yourself stopping a paint job halfway through the day, don’t rush to clean the brush!

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Using a rubber band, you can hold some foil around the brush and keep it in the freezer. This keeps your perfect paint tone in place and helps you maintain consistency. Just make sure to defrost it before you start again!

Create A Frying Pan

So, you’ve decided to go camping with friends. You’ve packed your stuff, brought your supplies, and assembled your tent. But there’s a problem – you all thought someone else was bringing the frying pan!

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Don’t worry, you’re probably all clever enough to pack aluminum foil. Now, one of you can save the day by wrapping some foil around a few spare branches and inverting it. Now it’s your very own DIY frying pan!

Keep Your Sleeping Bag Dry

Now that you’ve had a successful dinner, you’re going to want to go to sleep. We all know that tight sleeping bags can cause additional sweating throughout the night. Do we want extra moisture to attract wildlife, like bears?

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No! Simply lay a long piece under yourself when you go to bed and see how it acts as an insulator against additional moisture. You’ll have a great night’s sleep and wake up dry!

Reattach You Vinyl Floor Tile

Just because your bathroom tile becomes loose, it doesn’t mean you need to lose it too! If a tile ever becomes loose, you can re-glue it and use foil to help it set in place.

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Simply stick the tile like normal, and then place some aluminum foil over it. After that, iron it over with a normal ironer. The heat will set it into place and it won’t come undone for months!

Preserve Your Steel Wool

Steel wool is great to use when you clean your sink or dishes. Once you use it, it can be hard to go back to anything else. That’s why it’s so annoying when it becomes a rusty mess straight after its first couple of uses.

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Next time you see rust appear, hold back on throwing it in the trash. Try wrapping it in aluminum foil and put it in the freezer. It will increase the life of your steel wool and save you time and money in the long run.

Freeze It

When you freeze food like bread, casserole, or fish, aluminum is a great way to keep all the smells and tastes lasting a long time. This is because the foil trap all the particles inside of it – making the taste last weeks!

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Next time you put something in the freezer, don’t forget to wrap it in plenty of aluminum foil. You’ll thank us next time you eat your leftovers!

Keep Matches Dry

Matches are the one thing you need to always keep dry! Whether you want to light up a smoke, or just light your stove, you’ll be annoyed if they get damp.

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This can be easily preventable with aluminum foil – simply wrap the matches inside a ball and keep them dry for months! And you’ll never go cold, or smokeless, ever again.

Light Up Your Corners

If you have deep cupboards in a corner of your kitchen, you might find that some parts are easier to get to than others. And you know who absolutely loves dark and damp spaces? Cockroaches.

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Next time you clean up your kitchen, lay some aluminum foil down in the corners so that light can easily reflect out. Now, you’ll be able to keep track of all the corners of the kitchen cupboard without any nasty surprises.

Use As Photography Light

Do you ever dream of being an Instagram star? Most of us already have the camera we need to do this – we just use our phones! But what separates the amateurs from the experts?

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It’s amazing what a little lighting can do to our shots, but obviously, not everyone has access to high-end photography equipment. With aluminum foil, you can simply hang a bit of it up in your home and set your living room up like a catwalk!

Protect Your Pie Crusts

We take our baked goods very seriously! Why spend all that time cooking your dish for it to get knocked and ruined in one clumsy moment?

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Next time you finish making your next pie, be sure to wrap it around in foil. Not only will this keep the pastry warm, but it will also help maintain the shape and form of the pie for tasty dinner guests!

Stop Aliens Reading Your Mind

Ok, this one might be a little bit of a stretch, but you’ll thank us if we’re right! We’ve all seen the movies how aliens from outer space can come to Earth and read our minds, as well as the conspiracy theorists who wear foil to protect from such dangers.

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Even though it probably wouldn’t help in extra-terrestrial beings from tapping into our unconscious, we can’t help but notice how stylish it is!

DIY Candy Froster

If you bake your cakes ready for a dinner party, you might be upset to see that there’s no way to frost them! You’ve exhausted all options, and every shop is closed – what will you do?

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Turn to our friend, aluminum foil, of course! You can easily twist and turn it into a new device capable of squirting the perfect amount of frosting onto your cakes. Delicious!

Protect Credit Cards

If you have a credit card that can be activated with RFID, you could be susceptible to fraud. Even though these are easier to use, the lack of pin number or signature makes it easy for people to tap your bag and steal your money.

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Help prevent robbers from taking money from your account by lining some aluminum foil in your cardholder or purse. The presence will deflect the scanner and keep your finances safe.

Shine Your Jewelry

Over time, your jewelry can amass plenty of grit and dirt that can be hard to clean. Sometimes, polishing with a cloth just isn’t enough. But what is there to do?

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Simple! Next time you need to clean your earrings or bracelet, just pop them in a glass bowl with aluminum foil, water, and washing detergent. You’ll see a shine come back to your items.

Lengthen Your Soap Life

If you’re someone who likes to incessantly clean themselves, then you might find yourself running out of soap. It can be a costly life choice, bathing yourself. With aluminum foil, it might not be the end of the world.

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Now, you can leave a piece of it under your soap bar. The foil actually helps it stay in shape and absorb some of the chemicals that can run off. Now, they can last even longer.

Keeping Bananas Fresh

Once a banana peel is cracked open, you’re suddenly racing against a clock to eat it before it goes rotten. Did you know that most of the lifeblood of a banana comes from its top stems?

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Next time they break, wrap them up in foil and see how they stay fresh for longer. Now you can eat them days after purchase – not hours!

‘Fun’ Crimes

Practical jokes are either fun or devastating – depending on your character. Usually, these pranks are funny if they’re seen as harmless fun among friends. Aluminum provides just that.

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You can always use it to harmlessly wrap something up or make a sign. After hilarity likely ensues, the victim can then save it and use the foil to feed their plants! Just perfect.

Roast Your Bacon

Anyone who likes bacon can attest that it is best prepared on a curvy rack. This allows the delicious juices to flow and get cooked from all around its amazing edges.

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If you don’t have a rack, you can always style one with aluminum foil. Simply fold it into small pieces and see how you can place your bacon on top. Now taste that sweet success!

Tighten Your Batteries

Sometimes, it’s not the batteries themselves that are causing your device to die. It might be that the springs are coming loose and causing your batteries to slip around and come undone. No matter how many batteries you change, the device won’t work.

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No need to fear! Just put some foil next to the batteries and they will reattach to the metal conductor needed to bring a current. Success!

Protect Your Food While Cooking

You might not like the idea of cooking on a pan that easily sticks to the food you are preparing. This can be especially difficult for foods like pizza, eggs, or steaks. If we are avoiding butter or oil, it would seem impossible to combat.

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But remember, nothing is impossible! With our friend aluminum foil, we can shield the frying pan by wrapping a layer around it. Now we can cook our eggs with zero risks of stickiness. Also, no need to wash up after!