Friday, August 14, 2009

Give Bees the Bounce!!!


Michael has been attending soccer camp this week and loved every minute of it. He was even named the best camper out of his group (yes, I am gloating like a proud Mommy). The only bad thing about the camp was the bees. They were everywhere, and lots of people had gotten stung. Of course the first thing I thought of was "I hope none of those kids are allergic to bees, and if they are, someone has an epi pen and knows how to use it." I even packed an extra epi pen in Michael's lunch box and told him it was there just in case - and he does not even have any known allergies.


While I was trying to avoid bees and calm screaming beephobic children, another mother told me a great tip. Apparently dryer sheets keep away bees and wasps. Each day she sent her child in to camp she rubbed down his clothes and hair with the dryer sheet. When I got home I looked it up on the Internet, and it appears to be true!!!


Huh! Who knew? dryer sheets keep bees away

Someone even told me that the US Postal service sent out a message to all letter carriers to put a sheet of Bounce in their uniform pockets to keep yellow-jackets away.


While researching this fascinating information on the Internet I also found many other uses for dryer sheets.


1. It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them. It also repels mice.

2. Spread sheets around foundation areas, or in trailers, or cars that are sitting and it keeps mice from entering your vehicle.

3. It takes the odor out of books and photo albums that don't get opened too often.

4. It repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.

5. Eliminate static electricity from your television (or computer) screen.

6. Since Bounce is designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from resettling.

7. Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a sheet of Bounce.

8. To freshen the air in your home - Place an individual sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang in the closet.

9. Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.

10. Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through a sheet of Bounce before beginning to sew.

11. Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.

12. To freshen the air in your car - Place a sheet of Bounce under the front seat.

13. Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The anti-static agent apparently weakens the bond between the food and the pan.

14. Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet of Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.

15. Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.

16. Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling.

17. Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.

18. Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.

19. Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or sneakers overnight.

20. Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.

21. Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before folding and storing them. It will keep them smelling fresh.

5 comments:

Karen said...

Came back from camping not one mosquito bite! Drank a ton of lemonade before I left, and drank some while camping.

Mosquitos don't like the smell of lemons, I even gratted extra lemons into my lemonade.

Unknown said...

Wow! Who'da thunk it?

Another weird Bounce fact (if I have my facts straight) or maybe it is just a general dryer sheet fact, is that they contain corn and are therefore dangerous for corn allergic folks! I never knew that before I read Corn Allergic What I Reacted to Today.

Jennifer said...

The things I never knew!!

Karen, I will have to try the lemonade thing next time we go camping!!!

Jennifer - Corn, who knew??? Isn't corn in everything though??? It must be so hard being allergic to corn

Kelly said...

I LOVE this!!!! Who knew? It's bee season around here...and I am definitely keeping a few sheets around when we're playing in the yard. And wow, that list of uses for Bounce. Thanks so much for sharing!!

Karen said...

Jennifer B I read about the dryer sheets (most) are made with corn from Corn Allergic: What I ... as well as somewhere else on the WWW,

I aslo read that mosquitos don't like the color yellow, so we wear yellow camping. Wasps don't care what you wear.

I read lots of odd avoiding wasp tricks on an allergic to wasp site, but I can't find it!