Mental Floss

10 Surprising Uses for Dryer Sheets

By Shaunacy Ferro

Dryer sheets have a number of uses outside of the laundry room.
Dryer sheets have a number of uses outside of the laundry room. / PonyWang/E+ via Getty Images
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Dryer sheets aren't just for laundry. The thin, anti-static sheets have a host of other uses outside the laundry basket. Here are 10 other ways you can use them. 

1. MAKE YOUR DIRTY LAUNDRY SMELL CLEAN.

Don’t save your dryer sheets for the clean laundry pile. They can also keep piles of dirty laundry from stinking up the room. Throw in a sheet as an odor absorber to tide you over until laundry day. When traveling, toss one in your suitcase, too. 

2. TAKE THE STATIC OUT OF YOUR HAIR. 

Dryer sheets help tamp down static in your laundry—and your hair. Just wipe one through your silky strands and static disappears. If you don’t want your hair to smell like fresh laundry, you can spring for a slightly-more-expensive variety that’s actually designed for head use.

3. EMPTY THE LINT TRAP. 

Lint trapped in clothes dryers causes thousands of fires every year. After you take your laundry out, give your lint trap a swipe using the used dryer sheet to catch all the trapped debris. 

4. CLEAN COMPUTER SCREENS.

Dryer sheets provide a soft surface to wipe away dust from glasses and computer screens—and if you’ve got a desktop PC, a dryer sheet taped over the ventilation slats can keep dust out without blocking the air movement. 

5. WIPE AWAY SOAP SCUM AND MINERAL DEPOSITS. 

Dampen the dryer sheet and use it to wipe off scummy surfaces in the bathroom and kitchen like shower doors or chrome fixtures.

6. CLEAN PAINT BRUSHES. 

Soak dirty paintbrushes in warm water that has a dryer sheet floating in it to make latex-based paint easier to slough off. 

7. DEODORIZE YOUR SMELLY SHOES. 

Just like dryer sheets absorb the nasty odors of dirty laundry, they can soak up your rancid foot smell. Stick half of one in each shoe before you go to bed, and enjoy fresher shoes in the morning. 

8. DETANGLE THREAD.  

Before you start sewing, stick the threaded needle through a dryer sheet. This keeps the static down, preventing the thread from sticking to itself and becoming a tangled mess. 

9. FRESHEN MUSTY USED BOOKS.

If the smell of dank libraries doesn’t please you, you can insert fresh dryer sheets into the pages of a musty used book. You can even perfume your whole bookshelf with this method. 

10. REMOVE PET HAIR. 

Wipe pet hair up off the couch or floor using a dryer sheet as your cloth. Rub it over the fabric to de-fur your furniture.