6 Uses for Silica Gel Packets- Don't Throw Them Away!

You know those little white packets that come in the box with your brand new heels?  I used to toss them in the trash, but my brilliant husband asked me to start keeping them, and he has found some great uses for those silica gel packets!

Silica gel packets are used to absorb moisture and keep things dry, so they are ideal to reuse throughout your home where you might be worried about excess moisture.  Here are a few places we have found these packets to be useful.  Just make sure that you keep these out of the reach of children!  They are not to be eaten.

 6 Uses for Silica Gel Packets:

1.  To save your cell phone from water damage.  True story, I recently dropped my iPhone in a pot of boiling potatoes while trying to multitask.  (OK, I was on Pinterest while making dinner.  I'll admit it.)  I dropped my phone in the boiling water, quickly pulled it out with a spoon, dried it off, removed the memory card, and put it in a Ziploc bag filled with silica gel packets that we had stockpiled.  I left it alone for a few days, and was shocked to find that it worked perfectly!  Supposedly this works better than the rice trick for saving your cell phone, just try to restrain yourself and not turn it on until a few days later because it could cause an electrical short and ruin your phone.

2.  To help keep photos safe and free from moisture.  Another true story.  I am a scrapbooker, and pulled out one of my scrapbooks from a few years back to find the date of a family event, when I noticed that some of my scrapbook pages were wet!  I have spent countless hours on my little masterpieces, and was not thrilled to find that one of my kids had probably spilled water, and it had dripped down into the sheet protectors and onto my pages.  My hubby air dried all of the pages, and was able to salvage most of the pages and embellishments from the affected scrapbook pages. Now each of those pages have a silica gel packet in between the two pieces of card stock in each sheet protector, just to absorb any excess moisture that might still be hiding in the paper. (We will eventually remove them, because I am unsure of the archival quality of silica, but for now I am okay with them being there short term).

3.  To keep collectibles in mint condition.  If anyone in your family collects stamps, baseball cards, coins, etc., it's great to add some packets in with your collectibles to make sure they stay moisture-free.

4.  To keep important documents safe.  Whether you have important documents (birth certificates, social security cards, etc.) stored in files in a desk, cabinet, box, or envelopes, you can add a few packets of silica gel to keep them protected.

5.   To use in each container in your basement, garage, or storage unit to absorb excess moisture.  We use them everywhere in our basement!

6.   To help preserve your ornaments and Christmas decorations.  These get pulled out of boxes only once a year, so using silica gel packets in your Christmas boxes is a smart idea.

Okay, I'm adding a few more tips thanks to you readers!!  Keep the good ideas coming!

7.  Reader Roberta left a great comment on Make Life Lovely's Facebook Page...

"I bought an old book from an online bookstore that reeked of a musty smell.  I put the book in a bag with baking soda.  It did nothing.  I put it in a bag with several gel packs and voila!  Smell is all gone!"

8.  The Feral Turtle commented that you can reuse these packets once they are full of moisture!!  She says "We save our silica gel packets too!  They will collect moisture and quit working, though, so we regenerate them in a 200 degree oven for about two hours and store them in an airtight Ziploc bag until we need them."

As you can see, there are so many different ways to reuse silica gel packets, and I know there are tons more that we haven't even thought of yet!  Do you keep these packets?  Do you have any more ideas about how or where to use them?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

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XO, Laura