If you don’t have a lint roller in your cleaning toolkit, you’re going to want to go out and buy one. Not just for removing bits of stray tumble dryer lint from your clothes. Nope, much more than that. In fact, you’ll never look at them again the same after seeing what we recommend you use them for.
To be clear, I’m talking about the sticky paper lint roller – not the old-school felt/velour type lint collector. Nope, I’m talking about the peel-away, sticky paper variety as sold by Kmart for $2.25, Coles for $7.50 or even IKEA for $1.50. You can buy a lint roller practically anywhere.
And that’s lucky, because these clever boys have just taken on a whole new persona.
Never be caught without a lint roller. Not even on Love Island. via GIPHY
8 awesome uses for a sticky paper lint roller
1. Pet hair off of EVERYTHING
Starting with the obvious, yes, we love them for removing pet hair. We live with a golden retriever so I know only too well the constant pet hair battle pet owners face – it gets everywhere. Lint rollers help remove the copious amounts of dog and cat hair from your couch, your clothes – even your car interior. Just peel, stick and ROLL.
2. Lampshade cleaner
For those of us with fabric lampshades collecting dirt or dust, running a lint roller over it to pick up the dust is the ultimate cleaning hack. No more vacuum attachments or fear of pressing dust into the fabric fibres and permanently dirtying the fabric shade, a lint roller is a game-changer, lifting specks of dust away.
3. Broken glass finder
Picking up broken glass and crockery is the worst. Sure it’s easy enough to see big pieces, but it’s the little fine pieces and glass dust that are sometimes missed. Whip out the lint roller and roll over the area where it landed just to be safe. The roller picks it all up!
4. The ultimate picker-up of glitter
Aaaahh glitter, the gift that keeps on giving. We all know the horror of a glitter spill … there ain’t a nook or cranny that avoids it and if you attempt to wipe or vacuum it up, you’ll likely spread it even further. Alas, a lint roller rolled over the top picks it up in just a few passes instantly. #lifesaver
5. Dandruff eraser
Anyone who suffers from dandruff knows how annoying it is to wear dark colours and see snowy flakes on your clothing whenever you touch your head. Keep a travel-size lint roller in your handbag or desk drawer for speedy, quick pass, and over-the-shoulder cleanups.
6. Fake plant duster
If you have a fake plant that’s hard to clean, such as these Kmart topiary balls – pressing and rolling the sticky lint roller across the leaves picks up dust, dirt, hair and bugs – all the things that settle in your fake plants! Ewwww!
7. Keyboard cleaner
Dust and crumbs on and in your keyboard? You’re not alone. Canned air used to be my go-to for giving keyboard and laptop keys a quick spritz but rolling a lint remover over the top of the keys actually picks up the crumb-fest instead of blowing it all around. Nice!
8. Tissue in the wash rescuer
You know the drill, you missed a tissue in a pocket and it’s now all over EVERYTHING in the load from the navy polo shirt to your favourite trackie pants. No amount of shaking or rewashing is going to remove the dried tissue debris. You need to physically remove it and no one has time to pick it off by hand, so roll it, lint roller style!
There you have it, eight pretty cool ways to use a lint roller. Do you have some out-of-the-box cleaning hacks of your own you’d like to share? We’d love to hear them, drop them in the comments below!
