You already know that aluminum foil is handy for wrapping up leftovers, but it's actually super-useful all over the house. Here's how:
1. Sharpen your scissors.
Fold a piece into quarters to create four layers. Then, cut through it several times to hone dull blades.
2. Guard against paint drips.
No roll of blue tape? Wrap door handles, knobs and drawer pulls in foil to protect them from splashes and spots.
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3. Get rid of rust.
To help remove stubborn patches of oxidation from chrome car fenders and household fixtures, rub the surfaces with crumpled foil.
4. Spend less time ironing.
Place a long strip of aluminum foil underneath your ironing board cover. Because the metal absorbs heat, it presses wrinkles out of cotton and wool fabrics more quickly.
5. Make a funnel.
Form a sheet into a cone with a small hole in the bottom and use it to guide liquids into narrow bottle and jar openings.
6. Tie things up.
Need to tie the legs on your roaster or veggies you don't want to fall apart in the oven? A thin strip of foil is the perfect solution.
7. Protect knobs from grimy fingers.
Kids getting messy with paints or dough? Wrap foil over sink handles and doorknobs to avoid fingerprints.
8. Prevent yucky soup skin.
Cut a piece of foil the size of the container and rest it directly on the surface of the soup or stew. Cover and store.
9. Guard your crust.
Don't burn your famous pumpkin pie—cover the edges with a ring cut out of aluminum foil to keep it from getting too brown.
10. Scrub burnt pots.
A ball of foil can get your dishes and cookware even cleaner—try it on glass casserole dishes or skillets.
Did you know? Demand was so high for aluminum foil during World War II that some movie theaters collected foil balls in exchange for free entry.
The idea of wrapping a single rubber band around both knobs on a door (to minimize noise for example) has been featured in online advertisements for years. One such ad claimed: “Wrap A Rubber Band Around Your Door Lock Tonight.”
We clicked the ad and were underwhelmed, to say the least. Another version said: “Put Rubber Bands Over Your Door Knobs If Alone, Here’s Why.”
Clickbait
The ad led to 42 pages of purported “unique life hacks.” Some of the tricks in the long story were perhaps a bit odd. One of the pages mentioned how to stack more than one large bowl in the microwave at the same time. It claimed that stacking one of the bowls on a mason jar can free up space down below. It’s unclear how often someone is both short on time and needs to microwave many bowls at once.
On the first page, a picture of the doorknob trick appeared as a tease. Another photograph showed coins and plastic in a hotel sink, which we previously covered in a separate fact check.
However, the lengthy slideshow article never ended up explaining anything about attaching a rubber band to doorknobs. It was clickbait, plain and simple.
Actual Rubber Band Tricks
As for whether a rubber band on doorknobs actually serves a purpose, the answer appeared to be a questionable “yes.”
One of the tips we found involved twisting a rubber band so that the door cannot snap into the door frame. Good Housekeeping advised readers to “loop a rubber band around a doorknob so it makes an ‘X’ that presses the latch open.” The column said that the trick is “especially helpful when you’re unloading an armful of groceries, or need to open a sticky door without waking a sleeping toddler (or husband).”
And where would we be without mentioning what might be the authority on all things rubber bands: rubberband.com. In a blog entry from 2014, the website said that hooking a rubber band around both knobs could help with noise. Without twisting the rubber band to hold the latch open, the trick could potentially help lessen the sound of a door being slammed.
In sum, rubber bands probably won’t let you down as badly as misleading ads will.
For further reading, we previously reported about a Facebook post that claimed robbers were using rubber bands to break into houses.
Snopes debunks a wide range of content, and online advertisements are no exception. Misleading ads often lead to obscure websites that host lengthy slideshow articles with lots of pages. It’s called advertising “arbitrage.” The advertiser’s goal is to make more money on ads displayed on the slideshow’s pages than it cost to show the initial ad that lured them to it. Feel free to submit ads to us, and be sure to include a screenshot of the ad and the link to where the ad leads.
By wrapping the doorknob with foil paper, you cannot prevent thieves from coming inside. Because if you are at home alone then you are more prone to thieves. But thieves are not afraid of tin foil paper.
Read more: Is it OK to bake with aluminum pans?
What is the Aluminium foil trick?
The hot foil trick is a magic trick in which the magician places a small piece of tin or aluminium foil in a volunteer’s hand, and the foil begins to rapidly increase in temperature until the volunteer has to drop it to avoid scalding their hand, and the foil is reduced to ashes on the ground.