45 uses for aluminium foil you didn’t know about

Are you baking a bubbly lasagna or casserole?

Keep messy drips off the bottom of the oven by laying a sheet or two of aluminium foil over the rack below.

Do not line the bottom of the oven with foil; it could cause a fire.

Here’s a simple way to get more heat out of your old cast-iron radiators without spending one cent more on your gas or electricity bill: Make a heat reflector to put behind them.

Tape heavy-duty aluminium foil to cardboard with the shiny side of the foil facing out.

The radiant heat waves will bounce off the foil into the room instead of being absorbed by the wall behind the radiator.

If your radiators have covers, it also helps to attach a piece of foil under the cover’s top.

As any parent of a potty-trained youngster knows, accidents happen.

When they happen in bed, however, you can spare the mattress – even if you don’t have a plastic protector available.

First, lay several sheets of aluminium foil across the width of the mattress.

Then, cover them with a good-sized beach towel.

Finally, attach the mattress pad and bottom sheet.

Sometimes a worn spot adds to the charm of an old mirror; sometimes it’s a distraction.

You can easily disguise small flaws on a mirror’s reflective surface by putting a piece of aluminium foil, shiny side facing out, on the back of the glass.

To hold the foil in place, attach it to the backing behind the mirror or to the frame with masking tape. Don’t tape it to the mirror itself.

What can you do with those clean pieces of leftover foil you have hanging around?

Use them to sharpen up your dull scissors!

Smooth them out if necessary, and then fold the strips into several layers and start cutting.

Seven or eight passes should do the trick. Pretty simple, huh?

To clean your jewellery, simply line a small bowl with aluminium foil.

Fill the bowl with hot water and mix in one tablespoon of bleach-free powdered laundry detergent (not liquid).

Put the jewellery in the solution and let it soak for one minute. Rinse well and air-dry.

This procedure makes use of the chemical process known as ion exchange, which can also be used to clean silverware.

To slide big pieces of furniture over a smooth floor, place small pieces of aluminium foil under the legs.

Put the dull side of the foil down – the dull side is actually more slippery than the shiny side.

Is your flashlight or your kid’s toy working intermittently? Check the battery compartment.

Those springs that hold the batteries in place can lose their tension after a while, letting the batteries loosen.

Fold a small piece of aluminium foil until you have a pad that’s thick enough to take up the slack.

Place the pad between the battery and the spring.

You want to catch up on your reading during the time it takes to colour your hair.

But you can’t read without your specs, and if you put them on, hair dye can stain them.

Solution: Wrap the temples of your glasses with aluminium foil.

To keep hungry insects and slugs away from your cucumbers and other vegetables, mix strips of aluminium foil in with your garden mulch.

As a bonus benefit, the foil will reflect light back up onto your plants.