12 Unexpected Household Uses for Cling Wrap

Cling wrap is a kitchen MVP, always there when you need to wrap up leftovers or keep ingredients fresher for longer in the fridge. It can help you prevent spills, keep surfaces clean, and generally save you some extra work.

But it can do more! Much more. From helping you move to protecting your phone at the beach (or while you cook), here are some ways to use cling wrap outside the kitchen that you probably never considered before.

Prevent vacation disasters

We’ve mentioned this before, but you should be using cling wrap to stop your toiletries from leaking in your bag when you travel. Unscrew the caps on your face wash, shampoo, or whatever else, put some cling wrap over the hole, and stick the cap back on to leak-proof any bottle.

Keep your fridge tidy

Put a layer of plastic wrap down on your fridge shelves before refilling them the next time you do a clean-out. It’s much easier to pull out a dirty sheet of plastic than scrub hardened spills off the shelving. Find our full instructions here.

Protect tech at the beach

Before heading to the beach, wrap your phone in cling wrap to stop sand from getting in the charging port or other small holes. We’ve loved this tip for years because typically, the plastic wrap doesn’t stop your touch screen from being operable.

Keep fruit fresh

You might associate cling wrap only with leftovers, but fresh foods can benefit from a wrapping, too. Putting some around the crown of a banana bunch, for instance, will keep the bananas from ripening too fast, letting you enjoy them longer.

Prep a bouquet

When arranging flowers, the worst thing that can happen is they wilt. Avoid this by dampening a paper towel and securing it to the cut stems with plastic wrap. Say Yes has a full tutorial.

Paint with ease

Next time you do a little home renovation, cover your appliances and furniture with plastic wrap — at least where paint is likely to get on them, per Woman’s Day. It’s faster and easier than using tape and will prevent a major disaster. (Also, if your painting project lasts more than an afternoon and you don’t want your rollers getting crusty overnight, secure them in cling wrap before finishing up for the day.)

Secure for a move

Think of the things you already store in boxes and containers, like makeup and other small toiletries. When you move, you don’t need to dump everything out to secure it in a moving box. Instead, you can wrap your existing vessel in the plastic stuff. Woman’s Day also recommends doing this for silverware in a drawer organiser, for instance.

Stop a draft

Per House Beautiful, you should try wadding up cling wrap and stuffing it in any drafty spots on your window. It’ll be malleable and easy to work into any cracks or holes. If all else fails, temporarily cover your windows in wrap altogether until you can find a more permanent draft solution.

Coax off stickers

The worst part of getting a great deal on a new bowl or mug is the price sticker that got you the deal in the first place. They just don’t come off gracefully. According to One Good Thing, you can wet a paper towel, then cling- wrap it to your ceramics or other items until the moisture dampens the sticker enough to be easily removed. No more endless scratching and scraping.

Follow recipes with ease

Similar to what we recommended with sand at the beach, try wrapping your iPad or phone in cling wrap before using it to follow a recipe in the kitchen. You know your hands are going to get dirty while you work, so you should keep the smudges on the plastic, not the screen itself, per One Good Thing.

Trap fruit flies

According to Reader’s Digest, you can trap fruit flies by putting some fruit in a cup, covering it with plastic wrap, and poking a small hole in the wrap. Lured by the fruit, they’ll find their way in, but they’ll have a hard time getting out.

Unclog a toilet

The next time you clog up a toilet, pull some cling wrap over the bowl, then flush. The wrap will swell and — as long as you’ve got a good seal — you can push on the centre of the plastic over the bowl in a plunging motion. Read more on that technique here.