These are all the secret ways you can use dryer sheets
From dusting to purifying the air, dryer sheets can do it all
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In your whole home, there are few things more humble than your basic dryer sheet. Simple, inexpensive, effective at the one job we ask them to do. Except, dryer sheets are capable of so much more than we give them credit for.
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It turns out, dryer sheets are good for a lot more than just doing laundry. We spend a lot of time thinking about laundry here are Reviewed.com, from the best washers and dryers to the best laundry detergent—but even we don't think often about our dryer sheets.
After researching this article? Consider our opinion changed. Here are all the secret uses for those extra dryer sheets in your house.
1. Freshening the air
If you like the smell of dryer sheets, put them in vents and shoes to impart a fresh scent.
One of the obvious benefits of dryer sheets is that they freshen things up. Turns out, you can place dryer sheets in your car's vents for a quick burst of fresh scent on the go. You can also place dryer sheets in luggage, smelly shoes, gym bags, or anywhere with a mild funk you need to tamp down.
2. Clean baked-on grease
Just as dryer sheets can help with caked-on stains in pans, they can help with stains in toilets.
If you have baked-on gunk on a pot or pan, try soaking a dryer sheet in an inch of hot water over the stain for an hour. After that, remove the dryer sheet then rinse and scrub like normal. This method sounds crazy, but it works. This trick also works with paint brushes, mechanical parts, and even toilets! This works because most dryer sheets contain silicone oil which acts in a similar way that a detergent molecule would.
3. Dusting
The texture of dryer sheets means they are a great no-water way of dusting.
The texture of dryer sheets makes them ideal for dusting, as all those nooks and crannies can easily trap fine particles. They work on all sorts of surfaces including TV screens, countertops, and other places dry messes occur.
We suggest you use sheets that have already made their journey through the dryer, since they should still work well for this purpose and you can throw them away afterward. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
4. Repel Insects
When we first heard this trick, we were skeptical. However, it turns out that there is peer-reviewed evidence that dryer sheets repel gnats. Again, there are probably more effective methods out there, but it's pretty remarkable anyway.
5. Sharpen blades
Instead of buying an expensive sharpener, try sharpening scissors by cutting a dryer sheet.
Instead of getting a fancy sharpening stone, you can apparently sharpen scissors with the abrasion from a few dryer sheets. Just fold a dryer sheet up several times and cut it with a pair of scissors. It's not going to make your scissors razor-sharp, but it will give them an edge (Ha!) that give the mechanical action of the scissors just what they need to work.
6. Cleaning oven racks
If you're having trouble cleaning your oven racks, try soaking them in hot water with a dryer sheet.
Oven racks are probably the hardest object to clean in your house. They sometimes have years of crud stuck to them and because of their awkward shape, it's tough to get enough purchase on them to scrub properly. Instead of wasting hours of elbow grease, try placing your oven rack into the sink with some hot water and a dryer sheet. After an hour of soaking, the baked-on grease and fire-charred tar should come off with considerably less work required.