Tuesday, October 22, 2013

16 Surprising Uses for Pencils & Erasers


Around the House.
1. Ease a New Key into a Lock. Is your new key being stubborn. Rub a pencil eraser along the key’s teeth and the graphite should help ease it in.
2. Repel Moths. Pencil shavings are a great moth deterrent. Keep your sweaters hole-free  by placing a small cloth bag filled with pencil shavings in your closet.
3. Boost Phone Quality. Here’s an amazing tip: improve your cordless landline’s call clarity by removing the dust in the phone charger cradle. Use a pencil eraser on the metal squares.
4. Fix a Door. Here’s one the few tips that actually involves writing! To determine where your (wooden) door is stuck, scribble up and down the latch edge. Close and open the door, and check for the areas where the pencil has smudged.
Fashion, Beauty & Health.
5. Use an Eraser as a Makeshift Earring Back. Lost your earring back? Make a replacement with an eraser. As an added bonus, an eraser is easier on your skin than earring backs that contain nickel.
6. Roll Up a Toothpaste Tube. Don’t give up on that nearly-empty tube of toothpaste — roll the tube with a pencil to get every last bit of it.
7. Make a Splint in a Bind. If you’ve fractured a finger far away from a doctor, a pencil and a plastic milk jug can be used in a bind. Just get medical care as soon as you can!
8. Clean a Muddy Shoe. Boots can get muddy, and the million little treads can be a pain to clean. Ease the pain with the help of a pencil, both the eraser end and the sharp end, to get that gunk out.
Cleaning.
9. Remove Sticker Gunk. You don’t need any special cleaners to remove sticker gunk — just rub a pencil eraser along the affected area to remove it.
10. Remove Crayon from Walls. So simple! Use a regular pencil eraser to remove crayon markings from a wall.
11. Get Rid of Scuff Marks on Vinyl Floors. Similarly, erasers work wonders on vinyl floor scuff marks.
12. Clean Keyboards & Cell Phones. Clean your electronics without damaging them with a pencil eraser.
More Great Uses.
13. Mend a Stubborn Zipper. Is there anything more frustrating than a stuck zipper?! Don’t worry, though, it won’t be a problem for long! Use your trusty pencil to solve it — just rub the eraser along the teeth of the zipper and it should lubricate it enough to work again.
14. Check if a Houseplant Needs Watering. Unsure if your houseplant is thirsty? Check how the soil is doing with a pencil.
15. Stop Tilted Picture Frames. Never have a tilted frame again with this clever trick: glue a few small pieces of an eraser to the bottom corners of the back of the frame.
16. Organize Sewing Kit. Safely store pins and needles in your sewing box with an eraser.