Smart Household Uses For Aluminum Foil

From plastic wrap to apple cider vinegar and steel wool, it has been proven many times that kitchen staples can serve more purposes than one, and that long list includes aluminum foil. This humble roll isn't just for keeping leftovers fresh and baking sweet treats—it can be very useful around the home, too. Here are a few new household hacks you can try:

1. Combine it with coffee grounds and use it to kill mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes can take over any space without warning and leave you with nothing but sore, itchy bites. The solution? Burning coffee grounds on a sheet of aluminum foil. Most insects are sensitive to smell and mosquitoes cannot stand the aroma of burning beans. Try this tip and drive them away from your home.

READ: Bid Mosquitoes Goodbye With One Simple Trick

2. Use it to sharpen dull knives and scissors. 

If you can't find the time to take your tools to a sharpening service, you can use aluminum foil to bring blades back to life for now. Just fold a strip several times until it's thick, cut through it a few times and you're good to go! 

3. Mix with baking soda to clean and polish tarnished silver. 

Before you stash your holiday silverware back in storage, it is important to clean and polish these pieces to make sure it lasts a lifetime. Soaking them in a dish lined with aluminum foil and a mixture of baking soda plus vinegar will get rid of every stain imaginable. 

READ: How-To: Cleaning Silverware

4. Use it to improve ironing. 

Ironing is a chore no one enjoys, so we found a way to make it easier! Place a sheet of aluminum foil under the ironing board as a base for clothes—the foil reflects the heat back to the clothing which allows wrinkles to get smoothed out faster.

5. Degrease your grill. 

If it is great at cleaning pots and pans, it follows that it can also be an effective grill cleaner. Simply spray your grill with some white vinegar, wait a few minutes, and scrub it with some crumpled-up foil to get rid of any buildup. 

SOURCES: Apartment Therapy (Surprising & Smart: 8 OTHER Household Uses for Aluminum Foil) and BrainJet (19 Uses For Aluminum Foil You've Probably Never Thought Of)