Unusual Uses for Pencil Erasers

I love finding new uses for ordinary household items. I'm not really your typical packrat but I sometimes find it difficult to throw things away. It might be the result of coming from a poor background, I'm really not sure, but I keep thinking that I might need those items for something.

Recently, I found a ton of pencils in my briefcase. They were left over from my days of training (and teaching). Most of them didn't have a lot of actual pencil left but most did have a lot of eraser. For that reason, I hated to just toss them away. Something just told me that they would come in handy.I was right. They did.

The first one I actually remembered from an old client of mine. He opened a coin shop in the town where I worked as a business development specialist.

On one visit to his shop, I found him using an eraser on a coin. Of course, I had to know what he was doing. He told me that he had purchased a rather sizable coin collection at an estate sale over the weekend but that a lot of the coins were in terrible condition. He informed me that an eraser can be useful in shining coins.

He did warn me, however, never to use an eraser on valuable coins because part of their value was in the patina that had formed over the years. I went home and gave his recommendation a try. I was surprised to find that it worked!

Another use for a pencil eraser most women all ready know about. It isn't uncommon to lose the back of a pierced earring. They get loose over time and eventually fall off easily. An eraser works beautifully to hold the earring in place until one has time to replace the back.

The next trick I picked up from Suzanne Somers. Years ago I purchased a pair of suede boots from her. In the package with them came a little "care card." It said that I could remove minor marks and scuffs by gently rubbing an eraser over the discolored spots.

The friction of using the eraser lifts the dirt and fluffs up the suede fibers to make the boots look like new once again. I've also used the same technique on a suede purse as well as a jacket. It works beautifully almost every time.