13 Uses of Adhesive Tape

Adhesive tape is common and inexpensive. Besides sticking, it has other helpful uses people often overlook. Let’s discover the amazing potentials.

Author’s photo of adhesive tapes

1. Stick things together

The most basic function of the adhesive tape is to stick things together. This facilitates easy carrying, fixing some broken pieces, and enlarging the size (e.g. a few pieces of paper into one large piece) for more appropriate use.

2. Seal packaging and packing

Adhesive tapes have various sizes to seal different packaging and packing such as carton box, envelop, gift and an opened bag of potato clips. It holds and protects the content either in the transport or seating still. No spill out and harmful things in, for example, ants and cockroaches.

3. Decorate

Some adhesive tapes have colorful patterns imprinted on them for decoration as well. People can also use the transparent ones for indirect decoration such as sticking a poster on the wall.

4. Replace vacuum cleaner for computer

To pick up dust and the hidden dirt, have the sticky side of adhesive tape sliding at the margins on the keyboard.

5. Replace a bloom

If you don’t have a bloom, adhesive tapes could be a substitute for cleaning and sometimes, it does a better job due to the nature of the substance, for example, the blowing dust (flour, baby powder) or items like hairs and broken glass that will mess with the bloom undesirably. Strong adhesive tape will pick up all the unwanted items for easy and swift disposal.

6. Clean clothes

Scalp and dust stick on clothes easily. When the garment can’t be washed daily, we can apply adhesive tape for a quick cleaning.

7. Shut one's mouth

Use strong adhesive tape to keep one’s mouth shut, to forbid talking, eating and biting others or one’s own tongue.

8. Tie things

Strong adhesive tape could replace rope to immobilize people by fixing them on a chair and tying their limbs.

9. Protect surface

Adding a transparent tape on top of a paper label, the label can be more durable. We can sweep the surface with a damp cloth.

10. Clear insects

Some tiny insects (fleas) may stay on your walls. This often happens for humid place and season. It's creepy or annoying to have these tiny creatures even though they won't bite us. Don't squeeze them to death because this will leave odor and attract the same kind. Sweep gently with the adhesive tape to have the tiny insects stuck for disposal.

11. Trap insects

If you hate flies and other insects getting in and buzzing around but don’t have a screen window, make a simple trap then. Prepare two solid and long stands, as long as the vertical edge of the window, and cover the space in between with the sticky side of the adhesive tapes face inward and outward alternatively. Hang the trap to cover the window. Punch tiny holes on the tapes to let air in. Hopefully, insects will be all trapped for disposal.

12. Have fun

Stick a drawing on one's back with adhesive tape.

13. Bring pain

Sometimes, physical pain is required, for example, to stay awake. Apply adhesive tape on the skin and pull. Ouch! It hurts indeed.

Some suggestions may sound malicious, but they can be life-saving. Be creative to discover new uses. Putting adhesive tapes into good use, it could ease our life at an insignificant cost.

Author’s note:

Discover new uses for an item, we can get more benefits and save money. Let me give you two examples.

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How to Slow Down Books from Turning Yellow

What a pain to see my favorite books growing old! I couldn’t find any method to stop them from turning yellow. We could only slow down the harm.

The four books in the photo seat in my drawers for over 20 years. They introduced me to the world of literature. The rim and the inner pages have inevitably turned yellow. Though the deterioration has not affected reading, I still hope these books can last long, within and outreach my lifetime because I love reading them again and again and hopefully, they will find a new home as I planned to donate them to the charity organization for sales after my death.

All the tips below suggest how to slow down books from turning yellow. Try them. Well, it’s better than doing nothing at all.

1. Apply wrap sheets to books the soonest.
2. Put books in PP clear bags and seal tight when they are not read. Keep books away from oxidation as much as possible.
3. Sandpaper the rim that turned yellow.
4. Keep books away from sunlight.
5. Store books in cool place.
6. Use silica gel carefully to remove excessive humidity.

The newcomers are supposed to be more resistant in turning yellow due to the more advanced technology of paper making. However, this doesn’t mean we could overlook the necessary protective measures, lest we predicted wrongly and the race of turning yellow started earlier and speedier than we expected.

No matter what the scale of your book collection is and how the storage is (in bookshelf or simply pile books up on the floor at a corner), let's try our best to slow down the aging of our books as they are good companions that bring us laughter, tears, knowledge and imagination, etc. Welcome to leave a message if you know other methods in saving books from turning yellow. Thank you.

Author’s note:

Do you love reading books? Besides literature, I also read other types of books, for example reference books, children’s books. If you want to try something new, light and easy, and reading with kids, the following books may serve well.

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How to use orange peel to improve our living quality?

Many people enjoy eating orange and drinking its juice. Do you simply throw away the peel? We can use the orange peel smartly to improve our life.

(Image from Google search)

1. Generate a smile

Use a marker pen to draw amusing expressions on the orange. The drawing will not hinder us enjoying the pulp and the juice, but the effort will make one’s day. Also, the peel can be reused in some other ways.

2. Get rid of the odor in the microwave oven

Put the orange peel into the microwave oven and cook with low heat for five minutes.

3. Expel bad odor, mosquito and fly

Burn the air-dried peel to expel the bad odor indoors, mosquito and fly. It is also relaxing to breathe the scent.

4. Provoke sleep

Make a scent bag with orange peel inside and put it next to your pillow.

5. Facilitate furniture upkeep

Boil the orange peel with water. Then, dip a wiper into the cool down water, squeeze out excessive water and start wiping.

6. Use in bathing

Air-dry the peel for one week and store it well in an airtight container. To use the standby peel, put it into an old silk sock and dip the whole pack into the bathing water. This helps retain skin moisture and tenderness.

7. Use in drinking

Clean the fresh orange peel and boil with water for 15 minutes. This drink helps soften the blood vessels and lower cholesterol levels. Drink before meal, it can increase one’s appetite.

(Image from Google Search)

8. Use in serving food

You can die cut the orange peel into different shapes to decorate a dish. Or apply die-cut on the peel to make it serve as a stencil to mold the hot chocolate, strawberry sauce in lovely shapes on a dish. Or make the orange peel into a basket to hold food.

9. Use in seasoning

When you want to add orange flavor for seasoning like salt and black pepper, apply the peel on a grater. This can be done before the cake baking and salad dressing, etc.

Keep using the orange peel in many ways instead of throwing it directly to the rubbish-bin untouched. You can improve your living quality in different aspects by unleashing the great potentials of orange peel. Give it a try to enjoy the various benefits.

Author’s note:

Very often, applying a few tips could cut down the living cost significantly. We could also contribute more in environmental protection. If you want some examples, welcome to read the two articles below.

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How to Use and Clean Chewing Gum

People enjoy chewing gum and dispose it when the flavor was gone. Have you ever thought of other uses? Also, do you know how to clean it from a mess?

Chewing gum is more than for chewing. Let’s exploit other uses. It can be surprisingly helpful when you use it creatively and properly.

Uses of chewing gum:
1)    Different flavors are available to give satisfaction on taste.
2)    The chewing activity generates more saliva that helps avoid tooth decay.
3)    Some people use it to keep their mouth busy to check overeating.
4)    Some people use it to keep their mouth busy to check smoking.
5)    Clean the used stamp by pressing it on the chewed gum.
6)    Use the sticky chewed gum to pick up hairs, bits, dust and broken glass for disposal.
7)    The sticky chewed gum could temporarily substitute double-side tape in assignment such as hanging a paper.
8)    It can serve as a temporal station to hold needles.

Disposal of chewed gum could be as easy as point A stated. Unfortunately, some users are careless enough to create a mess. If you are the victim, don’t lose your cool. Try the cleaning method listed below.

Cleaning of chewed gum:
A)    Spit the chewed gum on a tissue and wrap it properly before the disposal to the rubbish bin.
B)    If the chewed gum was on a carpet or clothes, harden it by placing a bag of ice on it. Clean the hardened gum with a brush afterwards.
C)    Wipe off the chewed gum with a shovel, a cutter or something equivalent, and then rub the sole against the ground to get rid of the sticky remains.
D)    If the chewed gum was on hairs, apply cooking oil to the affected area. Wait for two to three minutes and then comb the hairs until no gum left. Wash your hair with shampoo thoroughly.

There are some other methods to clean the chewed gum, but they often require the use of chemicals. Let’s pray that everyone can use and dispose the chewed gum properly. Stick to Point A, which is the most efficient and the least costly method, and develop it as a good habit. It will save time, resources and efforts in keeping our environment clean.

If you can think of other creative use or natural cleaning method for chewed gum, welcome to leave a message and share with us all.

Author’s note:

Very often, we use an item for its major function only and overlook other possibilities that can extend the lifespan of that item. Some examples are newspaper and plastic bottles. Read the two articles below to exploit the new opportunities. Let’s make more contributions to save the Earth by being environmental-friendly. Everyone can do it.

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