The term "life hack" has become sort of a gimmick. The tricks, skills, and shortcuts that were once shared to help people better their everyday life have been recycled so many times, they have mutated into unrecognizable monstrosities that are useful for the sole reason of milking clicks.
However, when a few Redditors (most notably, Casrok, hey_im_cool, and unripe_banana) wanted to find out if any of these tips were still applicable and asked people to share the ones they thought are worthwhile, quite a few users stepped up and provided legit advice they've tested out and were happy with. Here they are!
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Setting a 45-60 minute timer, getting rid of any and all distractions, and just doing as much as I can on a task in that period of time. It has kept me on top of assigned readings/schoolwork that tends to pile up, cleaning, and working out. The best part is typically once the timer is up I just keep going cause hell, I've already started!
10/10 would recommend for any procrastinator
I work at a bougie coffee shop. Instead of saying "thanks for waiting" or even "sorry for the wait" I always say "thank you for your patience."
People respond to it better because you are thanking them which means they did something right and saying they have a good quality like patience. If you say "sorry for the wait" you're apologizing which means you did something wrong and waiting is something people don't like doing so they respond more negatively and annoyed.
I deal with a lot of rich and entitled people so it's important to make them feel better about themselves and I make some pretty good tip money for it so I'm cool with it.
When I want something and I don't know what it is, it's water. It's always water.
“Usually when you’re hungry, you’re just thirsty” Don’t remember who, but it’s true.
Filling in the 'to' field of an email last. After I've written the body of the email and checked everything. Amazing how many stupid errors I HAVEN'T sent to people since I started doing this. So simple, so satisfying.
I make lists all year long about gift ideas for the people in my life.
I try to buy gifts all through the year. Better prices and you don't have to rush around in December.
Saying something out loud so I remember it. Such as "I have locked the back door". Really helps you remember you did it.
For the ladies: if your mascara is drying up, put a few drops of saline solution in the tube. It'll last a lot longer.
Sugar cures a burnt tongue.
For mosquito bites: run a spoon under hot water for about 30 seconds, then press the spoon to the bite. No more itching.
Pour pancake mix into an old ketchup bottle for no-mess pancakes.
If you frequent a zoo, notice the color the employees wear and match it next time you go. The animals will come right up to you.
I gotta admit the tip about wearing same colors as the keepers at the zoo is pretty cool...except for encountering the occasional Karen who thinks you work there, doesn't understand boundaries or job roles, and doesn't listen.
Don't put it down, put it away.
Has thoroughly changed me around the house I must say.
Nonzero days, for battling depression and feelings of worthlessness.
So many days, I feel like I did nothing. Entirely useless. I didn't do the laundry, I didn't wash the dishes, I didn't clean up the living room. What kind of person doesn't do the most basic of household tasks?
The principle of nonzero days brought some perspective to my situation. I don't have to clean the entire apartment to prove my worth or to make progress. I can take a deep breath and spend about 10 minutes walking around gathering dishes. My day is now a nonzero day, because that 10 minutes brought me closer to one of my goals (cleaning the apartment).
My favorite thing about it is that every single work day is automatically a nonzero day. I have earned my pay for the day, I have done my best to carry my weight on the team, sometimes I even work two 8-hour shifts, two or less hours apart.
My son and I ride our bikes to fireworks displays, sports events, outdoor movies and park events. When the events are over, we ride past massive traffic jams and get home in ten minutes while everyone else is stuck in traffic for an hour. If the event is far away from home, load up our bikes and we drive to a location a few miles from the event and ride in, then ride back out. We make sure to be extremely careful. We don't trust anybody. We feel like geniuses when we do this.
I throw some toilet paper before I go number two. Never been kissed by Poseidon since started doing that
It also acts as a muffler, so if you're in a public bathroom others don't hear you as much
I cancelled my Audible sub and signed up for a library card and now listen to free audiobooks daily through the Libby app
Drinking a glass of water right as you wake up. Feels like my whole body gets hydrated, gives me energy, it amazing.
Also focusing on breathing. So I used to have a lot of chest pains, doctor wanted to send me to a cardiologist. I just stopped for a minute thought about the situation and began doing controlled breathing exercises. Haven't had chest pains since. Having trouble falling asleep? Breath. Stressed? Breath. The human body is really amazing.
This can’t be stressed enough! We’re all over here taking little half breathes wondering why we don’t feel good!
Ask questions. Don’t criticize or patronize a person instantly.
Ask for clarification when something is not clear.
Provide options in your questions.
Sometimes an argument is not about winning. It’s telling about how you feel and if the other person respects you or not.
I feed my cat on a dish instead of a bowl now, she's eating much better, turns out she had sensitive whiskers.
Same thing here, but only for wet food. My cats hate eating wet food from bowls but happily scarf down the dry in a bowl no problem.
I keep a bowl of lemons out in my kitchen.
People really think I have my shit together.
Clean out your car when you stop to get gas. You can just grab a couple things out easily and there are always garbage cans there. It's kept my car clean for the past year.
Fry left over pizza in a pan with a lid on it,crust down! The crust goes amazingly crisp, the toppings heat up and you don't have soggy disappointment. It is arguably better than fresh pizza in my opinion.
Freezing a quarter full water bottle horizontally and pouring water in to it, to get cold water whenever I need.
the quickest way to cool the inside of your car down is to open one door, then go to the opposite side and open and close it a few times. this forces the hot air out and draws the cooler air in. I have a black car with black interior, and a few weeks ago when the high was 94 and it had been sitting in the sun for 6-7 hours i tried this before getting in, and holy hell it worked better than i could have ever imagined. i had heard about this before but never tried it.
Not daily per se, but a few weeks ago I read a comment saying we should be putting a HUGE amount of salt in our pasta water, way more than we think, and my pasta has been much better ever since. Thank you, anonymous pasta-salter!
Wash dishes/pots/pans as you finish with them and never go to bed leaving anything in the sink that is dirty. Helps keep the kitchen so clean.
If someone walks in the opposite direction as you (walking towards you) you can start walking slower and they'll move out of your way. I don't know why but it works.
You do not have to change your speed at all, just look at where you are going instead of the people/stuff around you. Look like you're on a mission and people will evade you.
I saw this video on Facebook where they had saved vegetable peelings and ends that are edible but not appetizing. You take the bits and toss them in a pit of water with seasonings and make veggie stock. I do this all the time now and I always have the best veggie stock.
Well my brother told me this but he found this on reddit. Have 6 seconds of courage and you can get many great things in life
It's if you are scared to do something. It's easier if you tell yourself you just have to have courage for 6 seconds. That's time to get up, or to make eye contact, or ask someone if they'd like to grab a drink after work. It's enough time to say "Hey boss, I need a 20% raise - we both know I'm worth it." or "Boss, I resign."
If you want to have a seat on the bus/train to yourself, when the doors open and the new people get on just smile at the door and pat the seat next to you almost inviting them to sit there.
No one ever does.
I read a thread about how to fall asleep in 5 minutes. The trick was to blink until your eyes get so tired that you can't blink anymore. Can confirm that it works beautifully.
Someone here told me to put salt in my coffee and it really does kick it up a notch
People don't realize that one of salt's biggest functions is to block bitter taste receptors. So it really should work to make any bitter food more palatable.
Not sure if I saw this on reddit, but if you are trying to cut down on social media time, disable notifications on your mobile. I did this and found myself only going there intentionally - the notifications didn't drive me there constantly.
At the start of the year I'll flip all my clothes hangers around so they're facing the wrong direction. As I wear random items, I'll flip it back to the normal direction. If by the next year I haven't worn something, I know I never will, and so I donate anything that's still flipped backwards.
The hack I used when growing up was even simpler -- only own 3 sets of clothing. Then you know you're wearing all of them, sometimes for a few days when you can't afford the laundromat. Being poor for the win!!
Dress for the job you want.
At my first real office (cubicle) job, they would sometimes send me (the new guy) back to work in the warehouse for a few hours. I started wearing better clothes, preferably light-colored ones (mostly purchased at Goodwill). For the next week, when they sent me back, I'd return with my clothes pretty much ruined. I didn't say a word, just got back to work. After a week, they quit sending me. After a few months, I got a good performance review and a private office. I still try to dress just a bit better than the people around me, but I don't have to shop at Goodwill anymore.
Which is why I tried coming in to work dressed in a spacesuit but they said it was "inappropriate"
Address car and/or house problems ASAP.
An inconvenient $100 repair job now might save you from a potential $1000 job 3 months from now if you don’t stop the damage immediately.
Something about remembering to spell 'necessary' by remembering it has one collar and two sleeves, because I always put in two C's before.
Hell if I know why it stuck with me, I just skimmed it when I first saw it.
Clear packing tape over the speakers of plastic children's toys. It muddles the sounds enough that I still have some of my hearing.
"Sorry son, we're out of batteries." My siblings used to buy loud toys for their nieces and nephews. Then, the other sibling will get revenge by buying the other siblings loud toys. It got ugly when one bought a drum set for the other's kids! I never had kids and dog toys aren't very loud...lol!
If I have trouble to fall asleep I pretend I woke up on an island, only in my clothes and I have to survive. I always fall asleep during the first neccessary things to do which is kind of a bummer since I still haven't met any natives yet.
Fellow insomniacs - any tricks to fall asleep? Tried probably everything. Creating stories in my mind, walking the route I know very well in my mind, tea, warm room, cold room, audiobooks, white noise, sound of rain or rain forrest, the 4-7-8 method, reading/not reading, watching movie/not watching anything, light in next room, dark sleeping room, sleeping mask...and still fighting with falling asleep. Coffein is out, physical activity made enough, blue light minimalized, lavender in room too. I am running out of ideas. Yes, I have sleeping pills, but that's not a long term solution.
If something can be done in under five minutes, do it. I am a master procrastinator, but all those small things I put off till later piled up and up and ended up never getting done. Now I just do them; my room is cleaner, I feel more accomplished and "adult", and I'm generally in a better headspace.
If your nose is clogged, make a fist and place your hand above your eyebrows. Tilt you head back, and press down on your forehead. You now have one unclogged nose.
Scrape off the cutting board with the spine of the knife instead of the cutting edge. My knives stay sharper longer.
Even if you know for certain, touch your wallet and/or passport before leaving for the airport.
Take a piece of trash with you every time you leave your car. So easy to do and keeps my car actually clean.
First thing in the morning when you wake up, drink a big glass of water (leave it on your nightstand), walk outside and get like a minute of fresh air while looking at the sky. (Obviously depending on weather).
100% works better for quickly waking you up and consistently as opposed to groggily chugging down coffee. Seriously, give it a try.
To make myself get up to do something I don't want to, I count down from 6 to 0 and on 0 I force myself to get up. So much more productive now.
Cheering myself on in the mirror. It sounds dumb, but I was at a low point, and I started telling myself good things about me, and it (slowly) changed the way I approach things.
When someone is tailing me on the highway, I clean my windshield and they back off because of the spray on their car. I cackle with joy when they then wash their windshield from several car lengths behind.
This WILL start a road rage incident where I live. Just ignore them, you have no idea who you are dealing with out on the road, an aggressive driver equals an aggressive personality. Just move out of their way if snd when it’s safe otherwise ignore them. Don’t let attitude lead to your demise
Every time I get up from my living room or desk to go to a different room I clean something on the way. Instead of making cleaning a bigger event that I have to allocate time for it's just something I do when I need to take a piss or refill my water bottle.
I have done this forever. I heard from my mom when I was a kid to never leave the room with my hands empty. It works!
Use your hands as 'squeegees' when getting out of the shower. Wipes of a lot of excess water that otherwise goes in the towel, meaning less frequent towel washing required.
Put a giant zip lock bag in the freezer to store ice cubes as they become frozen. Never run out of ice.
I just use an ice bin. When my icemaker fills up, I empty it into the ice bin in the freezer drawer and let it fill up again.
A leftover dryer sheet is great at cleaning off soap scum in the tub.
I’ll share the ones I use, both (coincidentally?) involving a damp paper towel
Before reheating bread in the microwave, wrap it in a damp paper towel. It won’t be chewy at all and is actually quite delicious. It’s not as good as a toaster oven but it works great in a pinch.
If you want to quickly cool a beverage without adding ice (i.e. beer), wrap a damp paper towel around the bottle and stick it in the freezer for a few minutes. The paper towel will freeze quickly and chill the beverage quicker. I tested this with a wrapped beer and an unwrapped beer and the wrapped was cold and delicious while the unwrapped had barely gotten any colder.
Using RedditIsFun app instead of the official app saves nerves, Time and won't give you eye cancer.
The real reddit life hack
Why does Reddit give you eye cancer but RedditIsFun doesn’t? Is it something with the brightness or spacing?
Someone said if the top part of the screw is stripped to place a rubber band on top. Worked like a charm.
Tying a knot on the corners of the top sheet and tucking it under the fitted sheet so it stays in place.
Another cultural difference, I think. Here in Germany the usual way is to have the blanket covered in a closed sheet fabric cover, thus eliminating the need for a top sheet, while lots of other countries (including the US, I think) prefer a sheet between the body and the (uncovered) blanket.
Untying a knot in a plastic bag by twisting it tightly so that the part of the bag (past the knot) is made into a tight rope-like structure that can be pushed back through the knot... untying it.
I've used this a lot.
Boiling corn in the husk and then cutting the end and sliding the corn ear out of the husk without any of the hairs on it.
Showed my fiance and she was so pissed that she hadn't thought of doing it years ago.
I learned the other day that, when trying to touch your toes, you should focus on touching your head to the ground rather than fingers to toes. It added a few inches of stretch with no other effort.
Putting a small cup of water in the microwave to prevent bread from getting dried out works perfectly.
Wear latex/rubber gloves underneath your winter gloves (can be the cheap yarn kind) to keep your hands warm and dry (I use this when I ride my motorcycle
I shake ATM card slots so much that I'm probably on a watchlist or on the verge of arrest.
But card hasn't been skimmed yet.
I do this at the gas pumps too. I'm guessing anyone watching a video knows exactly why.
Chop sticks for chips, I eat less of them because I eat them one at a time making me feel full faster and no neckbeard hands
Ancient Asian secret (learned from Asian friend, seriously good trick)
Swirling the liquid in a bottle you need to empty fast. Creates a vortex that lets the air in and the liquid out without all that messy glug glug noise.
It also helps to flush out any residu very easy. So you don not need to flush it multiple times to get it really clean.
This works really well no lie: if you’re trying to remove glue residue / the remains of a sticker, don’t use Goo Gone or some other “specialty” cleaner just use hairspray.
Nail polish remover with acetone will melt or craze a lot of plastics. Test in inconspicuous place.
You can resharpen disposable razor blades easily using your jeans as a strop. Saved myself a load of money.
You also get those fabric pills of your tops with a steady hand and a disposable razor.
Thanks to Reddit, I now not only return my own cart (which I always have done), but also gather up those left in the immediate area by others and place them in the collection bin.
More of an LPT than a life hack, but when washing your hands scratch the palm of your hands to also clean under your nails. Been doing that every time I wash my hands now.
I twist my headphones up in a fancy way so that they don't turn into the Satan knot every time I take my eyes off them
Wait for that one time you forget to do it. Satan will have his revenge.
A lot of folks know this, but in case you don't..... Use your hair dryer on your bathroom mirror to remove steam quickly.
About the only one I use all the time is the "roll the bottom of the chip bag to make the bag of chips bowl like". I'll do this if it's just the bros and close friends hanging out, we'll get fancy and use a bowl if we have real company though.
There are ways to discreetly browse reddit by using one of these:
MSOutlookit - Makes the front page look like your email.
MSWorddit - Makes it look like a Word document (might still not be working)
CodeReddit or RedditShell Makes it look like code
Subdood - Makes it look like a Wikipedia article
You save money using reusable water bottles in the long run vs the plastic cases. Similar thing with coffee cans vs k cups. Better for the environment too
Single use plastic items will be banned in the coming years. In the Netherlands starting 2023, disposable coffee cups will be banned. From 2024, canteens will have to charge extra for plastic packaging on ready-made food. They already have implemented a ban on plastic cutlery, plates, and stirrers. Per January 1, 2023 there'll be a deposit on small plastic bottles, and a deposit on plastic cans. The Dutch government waited for nearly 10 years for the industry to implement this because the industry promised they didn't need any laws to force them. But nothing happened, so the Dutch government took control. Basic message to the industry: "We don't care how you do it, but this is the law in 2 years and you better comply."
On Android, you can move the cursor character by character by sliding your finger on the space bar. No more trying to get the cursor between two letters but you can't because of fat fingers
Edit: it has been brought to my attention that this only works for Gboard, so if it's not working for you, that might be why.
Edit edit: apparently you also need to have swipe/glide typing enabled as well. Glad to help so many of you :)
Edit x3: some kind iPhone users informed me that this can also be done on iPhones with 3D touch (6's or newer) by holding anywhere on the keyboard and moving in any direction.
This went from “life hack” to “figuring out how your phone works” pretty quick 😄
I wish I had this in college:
If I have work or study to do, and I'm not motivated and just start procrastinating (again), I watch a video or listen to a podcast of the topic on YouTube/Redtube and continue to procrastinate. It helps to get my brain focused from the subject before I get started on my own ‘critical thinking’. That way I'm not going from 0 to 100, and risking my attention going elsewhere, if you catch my drift.
Quoting tv shows such as The Office and Park and Recreation will give you lots of free karma, regardless of how relevant the quotes are. Redditors up vote references based on familiarity, not relevance or humor.
When I have things to do, I make a list and scratch them off as I go along, its motivating to see the list of things to do go going down and the list of things done increase. I also separate the things to do even though most would consider them one thing (dishes for example: empty dishwasher is one thing, fill dishwasher is a second item), so even though I did one task, I get to get rid of 2 in 1 shot.
1. make a liste - 2. cross out point one - 3. be happy that you've already done two points. 4. take a nap - ...in progress...
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THESE AREN'T "HACKS!" These are tips and helpful advice. A hack is when you use something for a purpose it wasn't designed for, or in a way that wasn't intended.
I blame social media for ruining the definition of "hack" in the first place. One can hardly complain when they screw it up even more.
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I don’t know if I’d believe that someone had their s**t together because they had a bowl of lemons.
For the students out there… is amazing for homework… set a 1 hour timer before dinner and only do homework then have 15min of free time with whatever you want. After dinner do one more hour and take another 15 minute break. When you are done with all that tell your teachers what you did not get done so that they can easily know what you are struggling with. I SERIOUSLY RECOMMEND THIS IF YOU ARE A PERFECTIONIST!!!
When I have things to do, I make a list and scratch them off as I go along, its motivating to see the list of things to do go going down and the list of things done increase. I also separate the things to do even though most would consider them one thing (dishes for example: empty dishwasher is one thing, fill dishwasher is a second item), so even though I did one task, I get to get rid of 2 in 1 shot.
1. make a liste - 2. cross out point one - 3. be happy that you've already done two points. 4. take a nap - ...in progress...
Load More Replies... THESE AREN'T "HACKS!" These are tips and helpful advice. A hack is when you use something for a purpose it wasn't designed for, or in a way that wasn't intended.
I blame social media for ruining the definition of "hack" in the first place. One can hardly complain when they screw it up even more.
Load More Replies... I don’t know if I’d believe that someone had their s**t together because they had a bowl of lemons.
For the students out there… is amazing for homework… set a 1 hour timer before dinner and only do homework then have 15min of free time with whatever you want. After dinner do one more hour and take another 15 minute break. When you are done with all that tell your teachers what you did not get done so that they can easily know what you are struggling with. I SERIOUSLY RECOMMEND THIS IF YOU ARE A PERFECTIONIST!!!
