You see these little packets containing transparent balls inside backpacks, handbags, etc. Most of us believed that these were there mostly to keep the bags free of moisture, but there is a wider use for these packets. Here are some of the household uses for these packets that you might not be aware of.
Prevention against corrosion
If you need to keep your screwdriver and hammer in good finish, just drop couple of silica gel pouches into the toolkit. These packets will efficiently absorb all the moisture, which may be the reason of corrosion and rust on the tools. Also, you can put some packets of silica gel in the box containing screws or nails.
Helps drying out the wet mobile phone
Have you dropped off your expensive mobile phone in a bucket or a swimming pool? Well, you do not have to panic as using a packet of silica gel will help you remove the moisture. Before proceeding, turn the mobile phone off, immediately, and then get the sim, SD card, and battery out of the phone. Now, keep the gel packet with the phone in a completely dry bag and let it stay that way for the next 24 hours. After that, try to reboot the phone and wait. Hopefully, it will start once again.
Keeps the pet food fresh
Sometimes the pet food that has been kept for days or weeks can get stale after opening the packet or can. While you may not be able to tell the difference, your pets surely will as they may stop eating that food. To avoid such a messy situation, you can store the food in an airtight container with a silica gel packet stuck with tape on the inside of the lid of the container. A similar trick can help dry snacks and cereal from getting stale.
Keeps your old books fresh
You may feel a fear of losing your precious books because of their rotting paper. However, you can avoid that smell and rotting appearance of paper by keeping the book with a silica gel pouch in a dry plastic bag. Leave it for at least 48 hours and see the freshness in the pages come back again.
Keeps your photographs protected
Just like books, you may be stocking precious family photographs that may need to be kept protected. A few packets of silica gel can do the trick here as well. All damage because of humidity can be taken care of with the help of these packets.
Bad odor from laundry
Bad smell from a pile of dirty laundry can be irritating to the nose. Fortunately, silica gel can do its magic here as well by absorbing the moisture and stinky smell from the clothes. This way you can avoid molding on your clothes piled up for washing.
Sometimes we are not aware of how useful certain items can be. So, instead throwing them away you can try learning about how to use them more efficiently. You can check out diyexperience.com and similar sites for such information.