Dryer lint...what can you do with it?

What is dryer lint? Come on, you know all those missing socks have to turn into something! They can't all really vanish into thin air.

We all have dryer lint, some more, some less. I describe lint as "the inconvenient wad of gray unidentifiable matter you reluctantly pull from your dryer each and every use". I used to just throw it out, because I didn't know it had other uses. You're probably just throwing it into the trash right now. That's a shame, so stop it.

You may be sitting on a gold mine of lint if you don't empty that trap on a regular basis. If that is the case, oh boy are you going to be excited!

Throwing dryer lint out is a foolish decision, and I'm going to give you quite a few reasons why. Dryer lint is simply clean shredded fabric fibers, which is about 95% clean chunks of cotton. And we can do so many things with that! Yes we can!

What can you do with dryer lint you ask? Oh, lots and lots of things! Maybe you're aware of some of the uses, maybe not. If you are not lucky enough to own your own washer and dryer, you can always collect lint from your local laundromat, belly button, or toes! Lint is constantly produced and so often unused!

• Dryer lint is extremely flammable! Which makes it great for starting fires. Take small pieces of wax and wrap them in dryer lint. You can bind them with twine if you like. Instant fire starters for camp fires! Don't have wax? No problem. Take an empty toilet paper roll, fill with lint, wrap with newspaper and tuck in the ends. Now even junk mail has a purpose! Your whiny kids will have Smores in no time! These fire starters are great for BBQing with charcoal grills too. Just make sure your lint is of natural fibers to avoid a burning plastic stench.
• Since dryer lint is basically clean cotton (and perhaps some cat hair), use wads of it to remove nail polish, or apply make-up. Or any other thing you'd use cotton-balls for.
• Do you sew? Dryer lint makes great stuffing for stuffed animals or even pillows. You already know it's washable! It smells great and it's already clean!

• Make clay for kids or art projects. Mix 2 cups of lint with 1/3 cup water, 6 tablespoons of white glue and 1 tablespoon of clear dish washing liquid. Add food coloring (if you want to color it). Mix this all together and you have modeling clay!
• Do you have small pets? Like hamsters, Guinea pigs or gerbils? Give them something to nest with. They love it! Put some outside for your feathered friends as well. Simply put it in a suet feeder and the birds will remove it for their housing material. Baby birds will stay nice and toasty warm.
• Use it in your compost pile! Only use lint from natural fibers, synthetics won't break down the way natural ones do.

• Did you spill paint? Or motor oil perhaps? All out of kitty litter? Use dryer lint to soak up the mess. It's just like a paper towel, but free!
• Sending a package? It makes great packing material. Much better for the planet then non-biodegradable packing peanuts, also free! Your packages will arrive in good shape with no damage, and you can treat yourself to a .99 burger from the money you saved not buying packing material.
• Dryer lint is great for crafts. You can make paper with it and use it for paper-maché. Need a paper recipe for dryer lint? Check out instructables. It's also great to use for adding dimension to art work. Simply glue it onto your canvas and paint it.
• Make your own yarn. Just spin it together.
• Make Christmas ornaments for your perfect Tree! Yes...you can...

• Make jewelry and beads. Follow the clay recipe, mold it into beads (you can secure them over a straw to create the hole for stringing), then just paint them once they are hard and dry. String beads on your choice of cording and be the talk of the town with your fancy jewels!
• Make creepy Halloween decorations. Use the clay recipe then mold it into scary shapes and allow it to dry. Limbs, eyes...you get the idea. Decorate with paint, glitter, or other decorations. These spooky creations go great with fog machines. Your lawn will be the scariest in town!