10 Things You Didn’t Know You Should Be Putting in Your Freezer

Your freezer isn’t just somewhere to keep frozen veggies, icy poles and leftovers.

This humble, everyday household appliance can be so much more.

There are lots of other uses for your freezer than just storing perishable food. Here are some clever hacks to get the most out of yours.

1. Extend the life of batteries.

Storing your batteries at freezing or near-freezing temperatures can greatly extend the amount of time they hold a charge for. However, this only works for some kinds of batteries: it will only extend the life of alkaline batteries by a little bit, but it can cost the battery life of NiMH batteries by as much as 90%.

2. Reopen sealed envelopes.

This trick is good news for snoops who want to open other peoples’ mail without them knowing it’s been opened. Simply pop a sealed envelope in a plastic bag and seal for one to two hours. When you take it out, open it with a knife or letter opener. When the envelope reaches room temperature, you can re-set the seal with moisture and nobody will ever know you read it already.

3. Unstick Cling Wrap.

If you’ve got an annoying roll of cling wrap that keeps sticking to itself, pop that bad boy in the freezer. It will lose its static cling, but will still attach to plates and bowls you need to cover, it just won’t be able to stick to itself.

4. Make your candles last longer.

Putting your candles in the freezer for a day before you burn them will help them to last for nearly twice as long. By chilling the wax, it will burn slower and for some kinds of candles. It prevents dripping.

5. Save your dying computer hard drive.

Known as “the freezer trick”, if your hard drive isn’t completely rooted, you can sometimes have luck recovering data from it by putting it in the freezer for 24 hours, cooling it down enough so you can get what you need off of it before it completely croaks.

6. Clean your Jeans.

If you’re worried about washing your new jeans the normal way in case they shrink or fade, never fear, the freezer is the solution you need. If your denim is getting a bit whiffy, put the jeans in a canvas bag and freeze them overnight. The low temperatures kill bacteria that cause odours.

7. Prevent ladders in your tights.

It’s a real bitch when you buy a new pair of stockings only to get a ladder in them. If you toss them in the freezer first, you can help extend their life, you need to get them wet, squeeze out as much water as possible, put them in a plastic bag and freeze them for around 12 hours. Thaw them out and let them dry at room temperature before you wear them.

8. Store seeds.

If you’ve got seeds for the garden and the time isn’t right to plant them, store them in the freezer. They need to be thoroughly dry and placed in an airtight container. Don’t plant them until they are completely thawed.

9. Freshen shoes.

If you’ve got smelly shoes, pop them in a sealable bag and then place in the freezer to eliminate the stank.

10. Store your lipstick.

If you want to extend the life of your favourite lippy, the freezer is the best place for it. Lipstick works best when it is stored at cold temperatures, and it doesn’t get colder than the freezer.

What unusual items do you put in your freezer?