By Gail Marsh
Perhaps you play tennis, perhaps you have a tennis ball-obsessed dog, or perhaps you find an old tennis ball at the campground. Well, don’t toss them out! Try these tips for reusing tennis balls while RVing or in and around your home.
Note: For most of the tips, you’ll need a box cutter or similar cutting tool. Carefully cut an “x” on one side of a tennis ball. Be sure to keep the ball steady as you cut to prevent injury.
Ways to use tennis balls around your home or RV
• Cleaner. Slide a tennis ball on the handle end of your RV broom. It will help catch and remove cobwebs that form in your rig’s ceiling corners and other hard-to-reach areas. The tennis ball will always be right at hand to help you remove black scuff marks from your RV floors, too. The ball simply erases the marks away.
• Wiper keeper. Put a ball under each windshield wiper arm to keep the rubber away from the hot glass or to keep it from freezing to the windshield in cold weather.
• Laundry helper. Tennis balls will help fluff linens as they dry in your RV’s dryer. You can also wrap the ball in aluminum foil to lessen clothing static.
• Keep bugs away. Gnats and flies will steer clear of your RV picnic table with this hack. Tie a large knot in one end of a length of string. Push the knot into the “x” cut into the ball (like I mentioned above) so that it stays in place. Then coat the ball with Vaseline and hang the ball from a nearby tree or bush. Insects generally do not like the scent and will stay away.
• Steady chairs. I’ve put tennis balls on our deck chair’s “feet.” That way the chairs won’t get hung up between the deck boards. You can also protect your RV floors from scratches by covering the “feet” on your dining chairs, ottoman, etc.
• Jar opener. Cut the ball in half. Place the open end of the half ball over a lid to grip and open beer bottles and other twist-off lids. You can also cut along a tennis ball seam. This will result in a piece of rubber big enough to open larger lids, too.
• Ball masseuse. Put one or two tennis balls inside a tube sock. Toss the sock/ball over your back as you hold both ends of the sock. Guide the sock/ball to the sore spot on your back. Then lean against a wall or lay on the floor to soothe sore muscles. Or put a ball on the floor. Place your foot on the ball and roll it around in circles for a great foot massage.
• Trailer hitch. Put a tennis ball over your trailer hitch. It will not only protect the hitch, but it will also protect your shin.
• Treasure keeper. Cut a slit in a tennis ball. Children can hide money or other treasures inside. Use a permanent marker to label each ball and prevent mix-ups.
• Kickstand assist. We keep a slit tennis ball in the side bags of our motorcycle. The ball takes up very little space and comes in handy if we must park in a wet or sandy spot. We slip the ball over the end of the bike’s kickstand and the ball keeps the bike stand from sinking. (Hint: This works with bicycles, too.)
• Stuck, broken bulb. Cut a tennis ball in half. Place the open end of the ball over the stuck lightbulb and twist to remove.
If you still have tennis balls after implementing all these tips and hacks, you can recycle them. Go to reBounces.com for information.
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RVDT2843
We have a cat that thinks it’s a dog and likes to play fetch. To prevent any potential discontentment (with repercussions that can only come from a feline of course), we brought one of his many balls on one of our earlier trips.
Par for the course, it rolled where it shouldn’t and found its way behind the slide facia as we were traveling and refused to let the slide fully open. Fishing it out was through a partially open slide was frustratingly brutal to put it lightly. Our cat was unimpressed with my efforts of retrieval but alas, peace was once again restored to the universe. Luckily, I got the much cherished “I warned you” spousal banter.
New rule: No more tennis balls in our RV.
That reminds me of my cat who loved to play fetch. When I’d lean over to clean the litter box, she would jump up on my back. So I started throwing the ball for her and she would chase it and bring it back. That gave me the opportunity to clean the box as she was fetching the ball several times without a cat on my back.🤣 Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
A happy dog or cat makes the ride better in an R.V.
Our retriever would see many of these uses as a puzzle to be solved. Tennis balls are like bubble gum – remove the wrapper and chew until the flavor is gone.
Ref. Put a ball under each windshield wiper arm to keep….it from freezing to the windshield in cold weather. If you put the tennis ball into a zip loc bag first, then you won’t have the ball stuck to the glass & all those little green hairs frozen to the glass.
Great tip, Impavid! Thanks! Have a great day. 😀 –Diane
I use cut down pool noodles, I think they work better. And trying to get a dog to drop a tennis ball is a lot of effort, and slippery.
I wish this list was easy to print.
If you use stakes such as rebar pieces to hold down tents, gazebos, or awnings put a tennis ball (cut as described in the article) over the top of the stake to prevent injury from stepping on or falling on the stake.
Clean tennis balls in the dryer are excellent for fluffing up and restoring loft in down garments.
What about my part time neighbor and the best dog, at least on our street, who loves to chase Tennis balls? Harley may have a racquet, but I haven’t seen it.