8 Great Uses For Silica Packs And Why You Should NEVER Throw Away

Did you know that those little silica gel bags that you find in shoe boxes actually aren’t toxic at all? We normally just throw those them away, but they surprisingly have some pretty awesome uses.

They are filled with a type of substance that is called silicon dioxide, which you shouldn’t eat, but can be quite useful around the house. They are a non-toxic, inert desiccant that can almost dry out anything around them. Below is a short little list of different ways you could utilize them in your home.

People often don’t know what to do with their silica packs. This guy dumped the silica in water and recorded for 6 minutes. Kind of a waste of time to watch it, honestly, yet it has accumulated 275,000 views. People really want to know what to do with this stuff!

1. Put them in your gym bag

The little bags main purpose is to absorb extra moisture and help protect your shoes. Normally bacteria thrive extremely well in a damp and moist environment, so these bags can contribute to eliminating dampness and even germs from your gym bag. If your gym bag seems to smell pretty ripe, these little things can even help to remove that foul odor as well.

2. Put them between towels

You can also help to prevent your towels from getting smelly and damp by simply placing a few silica packets in your towel cabinet. They can help keep your towels dry and keep away that mold smell too.

3. Make your razors last longer

Placing silica packets in a container with your brand new razor will prevent rust build up and can actually extend the life of your razor a bit longer.

4. Save your drowned phone

I have repaired hundreds of phones. Rice can help dry a phone, but it also makes a mess and is not preferred. Instead, silica packs are the right way to go, and it is what many tech repair companies use. The silica won’t fix a phone, obviously, but it will dry it faster. The best thing to do with a phone that is wet is to turn it off. Once off, it is better that it dries quickly, but most phones are ruined when the owner fails to turn it off. Regardless, silica packs will help to dry it faster, which results in less rust.
We’ve all been there, right? You accidentally dropped your phone in some water. So then you have to break out the rice and drop your phone in to help dry it out. Instead, you can try placing your phone inside of a jar and drop those little bags inside and then boom, your phone drys up a little faster and more effectively.

5. No more foggy car windows

Ever have fogged up windows during the damp weather season? Instead of sitting there waiting for the heater or AC to do its job, simply put a bunch of silica gel bags under your windshield and watch the magic. You’ll see that in the morning when you wake up to go to work that your windows won’t be foggy at all. It may be the fastest way to eliminate the hazy issues of your windows and will help to shave off the extra 10 minutes just to defog your windows in the morning.

6. Save your old photos

Some of us love to save old photos, but deterioration with time is always an issue. Pictures are a great physical reminder of our past and can be dear to our hearts. If you take a few of the silica bags and put them in your box of photos, they can keep the dampness away that would otherwise ruin your wonderful pictures.

7. Save your make up

Are you fed up with your powdery makeup curdling and destroying the whole thing? Well if you place a couple of silica bags into your make up purse or container, you can easily stop this from happening.

These are 7 little life hacks that can make your life just a little bit easier. So next time you purchase something with some silica packs, instead of throwing them away, try holding on to them. They can be extremely useful.

8. GoPro

This is another trick I learned on the job. Living in Florida, we are always snorkeling, scuba and free-diving. Silica packs will eliminate fog, which is big because there is nothing worse that being underwater with a camera and realizing the image quality is no good.