Bright potential

That roll of aluminium foil can help make your next chore easier :


1. As a polishing tool : Line a cake pan with aluminium foil and add a teaspoon of baking soda for every two cups of water. heat the solution to 150C and then lay the silverware that you wish to polish on top of the foil. It is imperative that the silverware touch the foil. Remove the silverware when ready, rinse with water and dry with a soft cloth. To pilish tarnished chrome, simply crumple up some foil, making sure the shiny side faces up. Then vigorously polish the item using the non-shiny surface of the foil.

2. As a scrubbing tool : if you don't have a steel-wool pad or scrub pad on hand to scour dirty and burnt cooking pots, glass baking dishes or even oven racks, try aluminium foil. Simply crumple a broad strip of foil into a coarse ball and scrub the burnt food an dirt off. A foil can also prolong the lifespan of steel-wool pads. After use, place the steel-wool pad on top of a crumple layer of foil to prevent the pad from rusting. Be sure to periodically drain off the water that collects in the foil.

3. To sharpen scissors : simply tear off a piece of foil measuring 12in and fold the sheet in half. Duplicate the folding process three times so that the finished product has 16 layers. Now simply cut the foil into thin strips using the blunt pair of scissors.

4. To facilitate ironing : to speed up the ironing process, one can place a sheet of aluminium foil under the cover of the board to reflect heat back to the clothing.

5. As a funnel : place three pieces of aluminium foil that are equal in length one on top the other and gently roll then into a cone.

6. To facilitate paintwork : although duct tape is useful in ensuring that paint does not trespass into flat areas, aluminium foil can be employed to wrap up protrusions such door handles, wall taps and other hardware.