Dehumidify Your Home On A Budget With TikTok's DIY Kitty Litter Trick

A little humidity in the home is beneficial to your health. No one wants to suffer the agony of perpetually chapped lips and dry, cracked skin constantly. Not to mention, air lacking moisture will eventually suck the life out of your wooden furniture as well and could be the cause of those creaks you hear when you step on the floor. However, too much moisture is just as bad and can result in multiple health hazards — damp walls, mold formation, and the release of dangerous chemicals from the house construction itself. Installing a dehumidifier would carve a huge slice out of your pockets. But, according to TikTok creator Fenrah Alesari, kitty litter can do the same trick on a much smaller budget. Salt is also a great natural dehumidifier alternative because of its widely-known desiccant properties. 

Cat litter is typically made from clay, silica, or organic material from wheat and corn. The dehumidifier hack operates based on the ability of these substances to absorb moisture, not just from your fur baby's waste but also from the atmosphere. The optimal level for relative humidity in the home is between 40% to 60%. Anything above and you'd be paying for it in the long term. Because you can expect a proper whole house dehumidifier system to cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars alone, people are readily jumping aboard this affordable hack.

Kitty litter can reduce the moisture in your home just by using enough kitty litter and some socks or stockings. If you have a cat, borrow some of their litter — fresh, of course. Load up the socks with the granules and leave them around your house, especially in rooms with poor ventilation or that suffer from high moisture levels the most — like your kitchen and bath. After about a week or two, you can replace the litter in the socks or give it a generous shake to move the drier grains in the middle to the outer regions. If you're using salt, fill a plastic container with at least two cups of salt and drop it wherever you need. You can even use rock salt instead of table salt, although they both work the same way.

According to the comments, kitty litter does work. One user shared that they used the sock in their car and found that it worked — with no fog inside, while another attested that it worked well in their caravan. While the salt and kitty litter methods have received high marks from those who have employed it, it should be noted that it isn't as effective as a proper whole-house dehumidifier. Also, the type of litter you use may affect its absorbency. The creator noted in the replies that she used corn-based litter and stated that wood-based litter may not get the job done as well, likely because wood isn't known to be a desiccant.