39 Mind-Blowing Life Hacks And Guides That Are So Easy They Almost Seem Fake
Sourced from some really helpful places on Reddit like r/coolguides, r/lifehacks, and this interesting life-hack thread.
1.You can connect two Ziploc bags by flipping one inside out to make a larger one...voila: a larger storage bag.
"WHY HAS THE GOVERNMENT BEEN WITHHOLDING THIS INFORMATION!?"
2.Use Windex to get a stuck ring off your finger.
"If your ring gets stuck on your finger, Windex will slide it right off. Worked at a jewelry store for five-plus years."
3.This very in depth guide that shows all the different healthy foods that contain these specific vitamins.
"Want better image quality? Just eat more B2 food."
4.Use a dry erase marker to remove permanent marker from a dry erase board.
"If you’ve written on a dry erase board (or any glossy surface) with a permanent marker (like a Sharpie), just draw over it with a dry erase marker and it will wipe right off."
5.This VERY important guide to ratio rules in chocolate chip cookies.
"What's 4:4:1?"
6.Put onions in the freezer before chopping to prevent crying.
"Put your onion in the freezer for 10 minutes before chopping it. It freezes the juices just enough to slow down the process of it turning into a gas, giving you a few minutes to chop the onion without tears. I learned this tip from a kid’s science show years ago, and I haven’t had to deal with onion tears since. So many people don’t believe me, and then are genuinely surprised when it works."
7.If you need to remove taped paper without tearing the paper, simply PULL the tape to stretch it out.
See the full magic trick here:
r3dl3mon / Via reddit.com
8.Use a cheese grater for hard butter.
"Got fridge-hard butter and you want to bake? Cheese grate it. It will still be work if you're hand mixing, but it's better than trying to chop it. Microwaves exist, but it sucks when the butter splits."
9.This handy little guide that shows you all the different kinds of berries.
"My dumb ass sees five blackberries, three raspberries, a good strawberry, a bad strawberry, a fucked up grape, and all those things my mom told me were poisonous on trees."
10.Use rubbing alcohol to remove chewing gum.
"I'd go through a 20-layer-deep marketing funnel to get to that tip because it really does work."
11.This interesting (and eye-opening) guide to mattress dimensions and bed sizes:
"My friends mom had an Alaskan king bed. I never knew it was called that. Her and her husband went on vacation, and I took their bed and was, like, so amazed I could roll over three times and still be on the bed. I’m also 6 feet tall, and I felt so small. It’s been, like, 10 years, and I still remember how amazing that bed was."
12.Use shaving cream to prevent surfaces from fogging.
"I used it on the inside of my motorcycle visor. Smear it on, let it dry, then rinse off and dry. It also works for bathroom mirrors. You can use it on a small spot so you can still see when you get out of the shower."
13.This VERY important guide to help save a dog who's choking,
"Please keep in mind that, as with humans, if they can still breathe, then these measures can do more harm than good so be sure to evaluate the need before letting panic set in."
14.Use hand sanitizer to un-stink your armpits in a pinch.
"If you have funky armpits and need to fix them fast, use hand sanitizer. I figured this out years ago when I remembered that the smell comes from bacteria reactions — which antibacterial hand gel kills stone dead. Instant results and the medical smell lasts only a minute. Don't do this routinely, though, as it's delicate skin."
15.If you need to hang something with two hooks, use painter's tape to get exact markings and a level on the wall. Hammer in your nails, and peel away the tape.
"I've got a level that has sliders on it for just this type of task, no pencil mark needed!"
16.Use makeup remover on deodorant stains.
"Vixella randomly brought it up while talking to chat on Twitch. My husband has a lot of T-shirts with white/stained armpits, so I gave it a shot. It worked.
I should probably clarify that I used remover wipes, just a generic store brand pack of 'cleansing towelettes,' on my husband's old antiperspirant-stained T-shirts from his bachelor days. He switched to a non-staining deodorant a while back."
17.Use garbage bags as a simple method to easily transport all your hanging clothes when you move.
"Turn the bag upside down...poke a hole in the middle...and you have a garment bag. And the rain won't get into it."
18.Use Noxzema cream to treat sunburns.
"As soon as you realize you are burnt, rinse the area with cool water, pat mostly dry, and slather a thick layer of Noxzema on. Don't wash it off, just leave it. Once the cream has dried, you can rinse off and reapply if you want. It works surprisingly well."
19.This cool guide to light temperature.
"Hey, additional quick LPT on this for anybody doing any painting. A lot of paint displays at big box stores now have different color temp lights to look at your paint swatches under. Do that. Also, take into account how much natural sunlight is in the room vs. electric light, and if you have a lot of sunlight during the day, maybe use as close to natural light bulbs as you can.
Your paint is going to look a LOT different under different lighting! A color that looks awesome in the store might disappoint you once it's on your walls."
20.Use Dawn to clean your bathroom.
"Dawn dish soap is better for cleaning tubs than any bathroom cleaner. Consider that when you bathe, you’re mostly washing off body oils/dirt/skin. Dawn is so effective at cleaning oil, it’s used to clean up after oil spills. You can use a small amount, and it cleans pretty effortlessly with circles on a sponge."
"I keep one of those dish sponges filled with Dawn soap in my shower. Just a quick once over every other day or so. Always clean shower. :)"
21.This nicely laid out "cousin explainer" tea towel.
"Interesting that ‘once removed’ can be up a generation or down."
22.Use nail polish remover to get permanent marker off skin.
"You know, in case someone draws a dick on your face."
"That's because lots of nail polish remover is acetone based, and that stuff is an amazing solvent."
23.This helpful guide for water snobs (like me).
"Arrowhead tastes like it’s been sitting in an old barrel for years."
24.Use a corn chip for kindling if you need to start a fire.
"All your kindling for a fire is wet, and all you have is matches and snacks, any corn chip will light into a ball of flames."
25.When traveling abroad, instead of bringing multiple travel adapters, just bring one travel adapter and a power strip that you can use to plug all your stuff into.
26.Use vinegar to remove calcium and rust buildup.
"Vinegar in a plastic bag with rubber band tied around any faucet will make the faucet like new. I'm talking decade-old rust and stuff gone...and water flows like the first day. This also works on shower heads. You can unscrew those and leave them in a bowl full of vinegar."
27.Attach a bubble level to your drill so you can know when you're 90 degrees perpendicular (or plumb) to the ground when drilling vertically.
"Looks like a ray gun. :-)"
28.Use oil on your hands after cutting jalapeños or other hot peppers.
"It gets rid of the awfulness that would normally be left on your hands from the peppers. I rub my hands with oil and then wash it off with dish soap. I can totally remove my contacts after doing this. It’s crazy how well this works."
29.You can put a rubber band around the inside of the pockets of your shorts and never have to worry about your phone or keys when you're out and about or on a run.
30.Use saran wrap to prevent paint can lids from sticking.
"When putting a paint can lid back on the can, first put down a layer of cling film (saran wrap). This will stop the lid sticking to the can once the paint on the lid has dried."
31.This simple guide that explains different oceans and sea stuff...which would've been very helpful when I was in school.
"I just noticed that these are in pairs — the top one in each pair is the inverse of the bottom one."
32.Use a SMALL pinch of salt to fix bitter coffee.
"If your coffee tastes too bitter, stir in a small pinch of salt."
"Emphasis on small. My mom once threw in a tablespoon of salt into my cup once because she saw me put salt in my cup a couple of times before. It was gross."
33.If you don't want to buy a smaller pan just for one recipe, use some foil to make the pan you already have smaller.
"I did something similar to this the other day when making meatloaf and poked holes in the tin foil to let the grease run out. The larger pan was just an aluminum pan that had been sitting in the cupboard. Meatloaf was too large for a loaf pan but too small for the large pan."
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34.Use your phone's space bar to fix a typo fast.
"When you are on your phone and you messed up in the middle of the word, instead of tapping in the middle of the word, just hold your space bar and drag it."
35.This useful hack for creating "tweezers" in a pinch.
"Had to pluck a pesky eyebrow hair on the road today before meeting someone but had no tweezers. Improvised this, worked great!"
36."Squeegee" yourself before getting out of the shower.
"I hesitantly submit squeegeeing yourself off before getting out of the shower. It's so simple I was dubious, but just use your hands to quickly wipe off excess water, and bingo, you're not cold getting out."
"I do this every time. Also. It allows your towel to actually dry you off without becoming a wet rag."
37.If you're disassembling something, you can punch your screws thru some cardboard and label the sets. This will help you retain your hardware and remember placement and order of reassembly.
"When I was a motorcycle mechanic and I was taking off a cover (most have more than one length bolt), I would do a crude drawing of the cover and punch the bolts through in the corresponding spot."
38.Use Dawn to clean poop stains.
"Dawn has rescued so many baby and toddler clothes in my house."
39.Finally, this T-shirt that does a nice job explaining these small (but big) differences.
"Do one for to, too, and two."
