It’ll be a little controversial, but I make my own spice and herb blends and add a packet into the jar to prevent clumping/caking. I know, food grade, blah blah blah. They’re quite clean enough.
You can do the same thing with rice…
Those silica gel pellets are kept in the packets for a reason. They are very lightweight and will stick to everything with a teensy static electricity charge. Inhaling a bunch probably wouldn’t do you much good, either.
Store the unopened packets in a small jar with a tight-fitting lid, and place your damp objects inside.
I use a hearing aid, and I have a jar with the dessicant underneath a small tray that fits in the jar. The idea of placing my hearing aid in a pile of those teensy pellets makes me cringe!
~VOW
I use desiccant packets in containers that I use for storing seeds, on the theory they’ll keep longer and be mold-free.
Plus, they make a tasty snack if you run out of styrofoam. 
This is what I do with them. I have a tool chest with the drawers and I keep a couple of them in the back of each drawer. I also have a few of them in a plastic crate that contains some camping gear.
They are a help for athletic shoes or shoes that must be worn every day instead of every other day which is recommended. But you have to make sure the packets are bone dry before adding to the shoes when you take them off at night.