People Share Product Purposes That Aren’t What They Were Designed For And Here’s 30 Of The Best Ones
Even the biggest discoveries can happen by accident. So it's only natural that many of the world's famous products were created for one purpose but people found them useful for a completely different task.
In an attempt to learn about as many of these cases as they could, Redditor u/ljchazal posted a question on the platform, asking other users, "What products serve a better purpose than what they were designed for?" And everyone immediately started submitting their answers.
As of this article, there are 14K comments under the post, many of which provide surprising insights into such things as talcum powder or botox. Bored Panda went through them all and handpicked a selection we believe is worthy of your time. Enjoy.
This post may include affiliate links.
Press and Seal sucks for food use in my experience, but we use it to apply numbing cream on my son's chest at home before he gets blood drawn from his port at the oncology clinic each week. It holds the cream in place and adheres to his skin well enough that the film doesn't get dislodged by the seat belt on the ride to the hospital. It comes off painlessly, which is not the case for any medical films we have tried. It's a strange little miracle in the pediatric oncology world.
There are many approaches to creating a product. So to find out more about these practices, we contacted Chris Lefteri who's recognized throughout the world as a leading authority on materials and their application in design.
"In my work, the process starts with researching and finding materials and because it's about bringing material innovation to my clients, it's essential that we understand what the material can achieve and start designing from that," the creator of FixIts, a reusable bioplastic stick that is revolutionizing repairs and the fight against unnecessary waste and product obsolescence, told Bored Panda.
"If you play with materials, pull them apart and ask them what they want to be, then they will give you the answers. It's much more effective than designing products and then trying to fit a material into something you have already designed."
The royal dansk danish cookie container, used by many for storing sewing/ knitting supplies
Trying to determine whether or not a particular design is good, many turn to Dieter Rams and his '10 commandments.' According to Rams, good design is innovative, makes a product useful, is aesthetic, makes a product understandable, is unobtrusive, is honest, is long-lasting, is thorough down to the last detail, is environmentally friendly, and involves as little design as possible.
But can we say that something is inherently bad because people found a new use for it? One that wasn't foreseen by the manufacturer?
"I love products that are misused!" Lefteri said. "People do it all the time, the back of a chair to hang clothes, a brick to hold open a door, an upturned pot as a step to reach. It's inspiring to see creativity applied in this way. My product FixIts, which is a moldable plastic that can be reused again and again, was created exactly with this in mind. It lets consumers find their own uses and be creative in how to make, mold, and mend."
Amputee here. VR systems have been shown to reduce phantom pain. The proprioceptive illusion of a VR system is similar to mirror therapy but more effective.
VR is also being used to help those who suffer from chronic pain and it looks quite promising. That gives me hope as a 40 year old who's suffered from rheumatoid arthritis since the age of 6 and Adult Onset Still's Disease as well as fibromyalgia. Some days my pain is so intense I can hardly get out of bed much less be productive in any significant way.
Taking a broader look, Lefteri thinks that it's more and more important that we find new ways to use materials and products since the global community needs to really think about the impact we all make on our planet. "If you can reuse something rather than throwing it away then that's far better than it ending up in a landfill," Lefteri added.
And he's right. Every year, we dump a massive 2.12 billion tons of waste into the Earth — if we put all of it on trucks, they would circle the world 24 times.
Garbage is dumped on land-based dumpsites or in the oceans and include:
- Construction waste;
- Industrial waste;
- Household waste;
- Plastic waste;
- Electronic waste;
- Radioactive waste;
- Sewage;
- Run-off waste (fertilizers, pesticides, and oil from, for example, farms running off into groundwater, rivers, oceans).
We need to do better.
Sugar free gummy bears would be better marketed as gummy laxatives
Tampons were invented to plug bullet wounds and bloody noses. Then the nurses started using them to plug a different bloody hole.
Shaving cream, the super foamy cheap kind, cleans glass shower doors better than any cleaner!
Congested? Vicks Vapor Rub. Cough? Vicks Vapor Rub. Headache? Vicks Vapor Rub. Squeaky door hinge? Vicks Vapor Rub. Dry skin? Vicks Vapor Rub. Anything stuck? Vicks Vapor Rub.
I was prescribed a diabetes medication called Metformin, despite not having diabetes, which helped me to fall pregnant after almost 1.5 years of unexplained infertility so that’s pretty cool.
Metformin, have to take it twice a day for my diabetes. Read that they suspect it's a longevity miracle drug, tests are ongoing but only if you're not diabetic. smh 😔
if you are diabetic, it is a miracle longevity drug as well, innit?
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Also help with weight loss. I have pregnancy diabetes and is currently 8,5 months pregnant. My current weight is the same as when I got pregnant, meaning I've lost tons of weight since the pregnancy weighs a lot. I couldn't be happier that I will have a much more healthy BMI after having my daughter than before
Ooh, congratulations!! I hope everything goes smoothly the rest of the way :).
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But it is licensed for medical use as a treatment for PCOS-associated fertility issues? PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome often comes hand in hand with metabolic issues and obesity; metformin lowers insulin and blood sugar in PCOS sufferers and stimulates ovulation. It’s normally offered after clomifene
There are a whole raft of drugs that are used to treat different conditions than they were intended for. Quite a number of anti-depressants when used in lower doses can be used a muscle relaxants (amitriptyline), anti-ermtics (lorazepam) or to relieve stress headaches (nortriptyline). Some chemo drugs are now being used to treat osteoartritis such as methotrexate.
Most of the drugs I've used for pain (I have fibromyalgia) and insomnia are also antidepressants and I am so thankful for them. My GP was confused when I was first prescribed amitriptyline by my specialist because 'that's such an old drug', but then he was such an old dr!
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Metformin had also been widely recalled for containing compounds that have caused cancer, so that's no good.
Only a couple manufacturers, there's still plenty of safe pills available.
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I take Metformin for my intersex condition and it does help me to ovulate, but it also has had the added downside of making me allergic to any pork product (weirdly common, many I've spoken to say pork also is indigestible now) and restarting my dairy allergy after I lost it during puberty. Both changes are permanent.
Pretty regular for farmaceuticals. The horrendously nightmareish disaster drug Softenon / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide is currently "used to treat a number of cancers (including multiple myeloma), graft-versus-host disease, and a number of skin conditions including complications of leprosy" ---- all really helpful as long as you're 100% not pregnant of course.
Also consider you have brand protection for your medical product for a set number of years, then generic analogues will severely reduce your income. EXCEPT if you find an unrelated treatment, then the clock starts again!! So if you're making big bucks from a mass-used medicine, there's very big pressure 10years later, to find some nice application you can license it for as that means billions more for not that much extra work (namely only licensing & clinical trials).
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Metformin is a medicine for not only diabetes, but also polycystic ovaries & some sorts of obesity, so your infertility may have been due to polycystic ovaries that were treated by the metformin.
Worked for me. Immediately helped my cycle. Was pregnant in 2 weeks!! Works for PCOS because blood sugar isn't regulated properly which affects your hormones. My daughter is 9 now!
You had PCOS, didn’t you? Same here, it helps with your insulin, which is what’s making it difficult to get pregnant. Metformin is AMAZING but can really hurt your stomach some days.
I have PCOS and Metformin is the only medicine that helped kick start my health.
Oh wow. Metformin can have a series of serious and partly life threatening side effects. Don't use it without a proper prescription
Congrats. I was diagnosed with type II diabetes and was prescribed Metformin. It made me terribly sick. I was literally running in to the walls. I'm so happy for you that you were able to use it in such a wonderful way.
I was put on Metformin after testing confirmed that I have PCOS. Due to the fact that women with PCOS are often insulin resistant, they have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Their bodies can make insulin but can’t use it effectively. You do have to be careful when taking Metformin though. Taking too much can cause lactic acidosis, which isn’t very fun.
Metformin has a variery of medicinal uses, by dr.s its also used to treat obesity
Milby 1 minute ago Femara is a drug designed to treat stage 5 breast cancer. It also works off label to enhance the chance of preganancy...multiples at one time. It's like clomid on steroids!
For those with infertility issues, you may be have glucose resistance or intolerance rather than diabetes. These conditions affect fertility, which is why Metformin helps.
I wonder how many will now sue the company for their surprise pregnancies XD
If you are diabetic you better not have bad kidneys or it'll ruin them
I was diagnosed with some metabolism disorder that did't show up like diabetes, my doctor prescribed me some of this diabetes medication, and all my hormons are better... my cholesterol is better... my metabolism is feeling like I am 20 years again... and lost like 40 pounds just because it regulated the whole body...
I was also prescribed this to help me get pregnant. Getting that chemical cocktail in your body right
I can actually explain this! I have polycystic ovaries, which is considered a pre-diabetic condition. Metformin helps treat the hormonal imbalance attendant to PCOS and improves fertility; I needed a lot of fertility help to have children with my husband, and metformin is one of the things we used. So you may have had a condition similar to polycystic ovaries, as it's a major cause of infertility. ❤
This was years ago when I read about it. This has something to do with your body not producing enough of a certain enzyme that breaks down certain sugar. As a result, those excess, messes with hormones. Something along those lines.
I take 50mg daily and side effects are minimal. Also try asking for it in a capsule, not a pill, that helps <3
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Metformin is supposed to be good yes, but every since I have been taking it I never feel good. Always exhausted and always with severe tummy issues. My blood sugar was moderately elevated, not extreme so I don't know if that has anything to do with it.
I was on the maximum dosage for insulin resistance/pre-diabetes. I started the keto diet and I don't need any of these medications anymore. Confirmed with blood tests.
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Where you diagnosed with PCOS? If so, this would make sense because it usually goes hand in hand with elevated insuline insensitivity, which has a negative influence on fertility.
Metformin stimulates your body to use the hormones that you naturally produce. I know several people that have used it to aid in fertility.
It’s a common term in British English to refer to becoming pregnant.
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No one can by “fallunging” but it’s a common term in British English.
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apparently it also works as an anti-ageing agent. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31405774/#:~:text=Metformin%20also%20retards%20aging%20in,on%20aging%20remain%20largely%20unknown.
I for one feel I aged 10 years from the constant nausea and diarrhoea that metformin gave me
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There's a prostate drug that my wife's doctor prescribed her for passing kidney stones. It relaxes the ureter, which let her pass the stones, which made surgery or other options unnecessary. I thought that was pretty neat.
Also, doc gave her another drug to lower her blood pressure (beta blocker), which reduced her anxiety almost immediately. All the time I've known her, she's been a nervous wreck over the most mundane things. Now she lives normally. She became a different person instantly. I could always see the shell she lived in and now it's broken away and gone. She's the person I saw behind the shell. Amazing.
Lebatolol (the BB) and flomax for the kidney stones.
There used to be a rat poison that would make the blood in the vermin stop clotting and literally let it bleed to death on the inside and lacking vitamin k. It's also odorless and tasteless, so the rest or mouse would come back and have more blood thinning until it died. Well, eventually rats and mice became resistant to this poison (because the smart survive and learn to avoid it or they had higher forms of vitamin k), and this, combined with a Navy officer attempting suicide by taking this four blocks of this poison and being just fine after getting vitamin k to stop the blood thinnig effects led to the creators taking a different path for this now ineffective rat poison...
And that's the story of the popular heart drug Warfarin.
I very, very seldom use flathead screwdrivers for their actual purpose. They’re just so useful - chisels, scrapers, punches, exploratory instruments, very small crowbars, shitty chopsticks... the possibilities are endless!
Botox. Originally used to control crossed eyes, then to control spasming facial muscles, when it was noticed it alleviated wrinkles. Now also used as a migraine treatment. Who would have thought injecting a toxin that temporarily paralyzes muscles would find such widespread usage?
Ketchup cleans up brass and gold better than most toxic chemicals sold as cleaners.
I used to clean cars at a rental company. We obviously didn't have enough time to deeply clean every car, and sometimes people would bring their dogs. We had a rubber brush for removing dog hair, but it hardly worked. Wearing a rubber glove and rubbing the hair off the seats and carpet worked wonders.
Just tried this on on stair rug that vacuums just would not remove cat and dog hair - works super!
Binder clips.
I use them for everything except holding documents- closing chip bags, holding parking stubs or packets of headache powder on my visor in my truck, keeping cables bundled, keeping the trash bag from slipping down into the trashcan, holding up my mini Spider-Man bobblehead so it looks like he's clinging upside-down on the bottom of a shelf, keeping rubberbands contained so they can't take over my junk drawer...
I use them to keep my phone charger cable from falling behind my desk, and to hold the bottom of the toothpaste tube after I've rolled it up
sticky notes were invented on accident when the adhesive used in them was rejected as a glue because it wasn’t strong. The inventor had a musician friend who loved how easy it made pinning his sheet music up, and now we have post-its
No way. Romy and Michele invented Post-its. I learned it in business school.
Thalidomide.
Originally developed as treatment for morning sickness, Thalidomide infamously caused serious birth defects in thousands of children. However, a cancer research lab in the 90s found out that Thalidomide cut off blood vessels shortly after the same lab discovered that solid tumors need new blood vessels to grow. Thalidomide has turned out to be a good potential treatment for multiple myeloma.
If you’re in an Asian household, dishwashers serve as excellent drying racks, as do empty ovens.
In my office there was always big deal to never leave dishes in dishwasher because people are incapable of checking if the dish is clean od dirty and just put dirty dishes among clean ones. Also, the sink was full of dirty dishes, so it's better to just empty the dishwasher immediately
Talcum powder is great for getting excess sand off your feet when you get off the beach and want to put your shoes on without getting sandy socks and shoes for the rest of the day
Q-tips are meant for cleaning my ears and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise
A disposable razor will get all the loose bobbles from your clothes.
Hairspray takes toddler ink pen doodles off my couch. While it makes my hair look just awful sometimes.
I swear I used so much Aquanet in the early 90s lol I can almost smell the fumes now
Play doh was wallpaper cleaner before it was a kid toy
We used something like 'Play doh to clean the keys of our Typewriter internal keys back in the olden days - it was a bit stiffer. Used something like Play doh to strengthen my hands after an injury - back in the olden days!
Pipe cleaners. As a teacher and a pipe smoker, I can safely say I use them for arts and crafts about 1000x more often than I use them to clean out my pipe.
As a child I thought pipecleaner was one word, didn't twig that it was cleaner of pipes until I was about 6, and we moved next door to a pipe smoker. It may have been when I said oh look, Mr Dykes is using a pipe cleaner to clean his pipe, sound of penny dropping
Melon baller. It's for making balls from melons but works perfectly to take the core out of apples and pears.
Ive used the same carabiner as a keyring for over a decade.
Its never had to support anywhere near the kilo Newtons its listed to be able to support.
Slipping keys on and off it is kilo tonnes easier and secure than normal key rings though.
Vacuum sealers.
My FoodSaver never sees anything edible. Instead, I use it to protect infrequently used items from dust & moisture, and to make archived papers (taxes, passport, etc.) easier to store. It's also very useful to repackage bulky or specialized cleaning products & supplies & emergency items.
Food, that just gets eaten, usually.
Bubblewrap initially was just fancy wallpaper.
Also, superglue was invented by accident, when engineers couldn't separate glass sheets after attempting to make clear plastic. Later it was used in battlefields to temporarily close wounds.
Wall paper 🤔 I'd feel as though I'd walked in on Dexter, getting his kill ready 😵
My dad bought a fruit scale specifically for the purpose of weighing meatballs. His reasoning was that, if all the meatballs he prepared are the same weight, he'd only have to poke one to know whether or not they were all cooked because the heat absorption would be more or less identical.
Scarf hanger = camisole holder.
Whoever chose the picture doesn't know what a camisole is, apparently.
Note: this post originally had 40 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I can add the following: to polish silver (if you are fancy like me and have silver), you put it in a pot with some aluminium foil and a tablespoon of baking powder. Bring to the boil. Voila, polished silver. The dirty silver is silver sulphide. The baking soda creates a redox reaction which transfers the sulphide to the aluminium.
*baking powder = baking soda with a small amount of flour in it, so same damn thing. Also, if you have an aluminium pot (very commonplace here), then you can skip the tinfoil, as long as the pot is not enameled (painted/surface covered with polymer)
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You can use a crochet hook to pull out hair (and other nasty stuff) from drains. A squeegee to rid a carpet/couch of pet hair before vacuuming will change your life. And a little vinegar water to clean nearly anything, except your own dirty little secrets.
My mother always keeps a potatoe peeler at hand to use it as a screwdriver or small crowbar. I also used it for some time to peel cables when i was in tech class
I use my peeler to slice cheese for sandwiches! I have a cheese slicer but it's too thick
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Here's a more obscure one: a hemostat! They're a type of clamp used to keep wounds from bleeding during surgery without fully closing them, and they can do so much more than that! Since they're long-handled and have a needle-nose head, they can fit in many tight spaces, and they're explicitly designed to get a firm grip without causing undue damage to the thing they're gripping. Great for grabbing small stuff that's gotten jammed in a narrow space!
Dry erase markers remove permanent marker marks. I always try to use matching colors so the dry erase marker isn't damaged.
A dure fire way to get rid of permanent marker stains is to scrub it with toothpaste. It really works. I got a large sharpie stain on my duvet cover and after a few applications it came right out. You just apply it straight from the tube scrub in with a nail brush then wash it out with cold water. Repeat the process as often as you need you to.
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one of my ADHD medications guanfacine was originally a blood pressure medication. Then they realized it worked really good for impulsivity and other ADHD problems so they also used it for that!
me too... works weel in some tipes of dirty on the walls too
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You can use sunscreen to get tree sap off your skin, and you can use mayo to get the sticky off glass and plastic jars
Chapstick is great for covering papercuts or shaving nicks to stop the bleeding and the sting.
Also works really well for when you have sore skin around your nose during a cold. Just.. use a separate one from your lips.
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another off-label medicine that helps with joint pain is Children's Benadryl liquid... If you have gouty joint pain, massage a little liquid benadryl into the red, inflamed joint. The pain will go away...
They do make antihistamine creams...would be less sticky.
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And right at this moment, I can't bring to mind any of my brilliant life hacks!
If you for some reason choose to use oil-based paint, all you need is butter to get it off your skin.
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A hard boiled egg slicer is perfect for slicing bananas, strawberries, kiwi fruit, button mushrooms and even pitted olives if it's not too flimsy. You can get a cast aluminum one made in Germany that's quite sturdy.
Peanut butter will take crayon off of hard surfaces. I found out when my 3yo scribbled on the fridge, then got peanut butter on it while I was Googling crayon removal methods.
My Best tip is 🦃 cooking: Stuff your bird, place stainless steel butter knives in the cavity, two apart on the bottom one in the top w/an end sticking out, use Kabob skewers semi horizontally into the thighs holding the wings down..Conducts heat wonderfully & the skewers help to keep the foil from sticking to your bird...like Prime Rib Preheat your oven to 450° put tented bird in for 1/2hr then turn the oven down to 325°. Never had an under done bird in 40+ years. Bon Appétit 😁✌
Speaking of ears: lay down, pour in some hydrogen peroxide, listen to it crackle for about 30 minutes, flush out with one of those rubber, bulb-style syringe, squeeze the warm water in your ear really hard and you'll be rewarded with a clump of earwax! And you'll hear better.
I bought a wire fruit bowl that I use to hold my ball of yarn when knitting. The bowl is lightweight, the yarn doesn't roll off where I have to crawl all over chasing it, and when I put my knitting down, I can stick the needle points into the wire holes to keep the stitches from falling off.
Aspartame was originally developed to be a cure for stomach ulcers, but didn't work very well. Then they realize it tasted sweet and had no calories so it was marketed as a sweeter for diet drinks and chewing gum.
For years now I’ve had back pain that gets worse when I lay down for too long. So waking up in the morning sucked and painkillers didn’t do hardly anything. Then I got diagnosed with ADHD and started taking a stimulant for that… no idea why but it works better as a painkiller than anything I’ve tried before. 20 minutes after taking it my pain is completely gone for the rest of the day. I also sleep way better after taking it so I sometimes take it a couple hours before I need to get up and those couple hours of sleep are the most refreshing sleep I’ve ever had
Mine helps if I wake up with a headache - awesome stuff!
Load More Replies... That Foam shelf liner is a gift from the Gods! I use it in my Bay Window to keep my colored glass collectibles from getting knocked over, it 1/10ths the price of the no skid rug holder, great in the bottom of potted plants, in the shower a small piece to keep your soap from falling & can even be used as a no skid shower mat. ✌
I clean my super dirty stove and the internal part of the washing machine with kerosene (pure and original): just a cotton cloth and some gentle rub will leave them super clean... and the smell is off quickly... it works too on some glue residues...
One of my medications was originally used for seizures. It was prescribed to me for BPD.
If you want a good multi-surface kitchen cleaner, then use antibacterial soap in a dispenser. A couple of squirts onto a wet warm cloth, wipe it over the area and leave for a minute and then wipe off. Repeat for stubborn muck. Not only will your kitchen surfaces be 98% bacteria free and clean but you can have it smell nice too
Tons and tons of medications fall into the "not the intended use" category, lots of them having been developed for heart- and blood-related conditions and ended up being more useful in other applications. The HRT standby spironolactone is a great example: started life as a blood pressure medication, turns out it's a natural testosterone blocker.
Use Easy Off oven cleaner in the BLUE can to take soap scum off of a fiberglass shower stall. I had a rental that had a "plastic" stand up shower that was absolutely filthy and caked with slimy soap scum. I tried scrubbing it with everything to no avail. Spent 2 hours on it and got nowhere. I read online that you could use the fume free, blue can of the oven cleaner and gave it a shot. Spray the surfaces and wait an hour. The goop just wiped right off. Any spots that didn't come right up got treated again and came clean the second time. It was a godsend!
If you have a sunburn, melt an aspirin in warm water, then take a washcloth and gently apply to your skin. The aspirin will act as a numbing agent. Of course, aloe is the tried and true solution, but this actually works best for me. Also, trivia answer...The Monkees member Mike Nesmith's Mom invented White Out. Could not tell you my source of knowing this, it's been years, but it's true!
I use my oyster knife in the kitchen for everything from prying the pulp out of coconuts to peeling grapefruit, and I keep a pair of swimming goggles in my kitchen drawer for cutting onions. Also, Brasso can be used to give acrylic or plastic a high gloss polish. Great for crafts and for buffing scratches out of plastic things. Not to mention that vaginal yeast infection cream is the best face moisturizer I've ever used.
Gabapentin is an antidepressant that has been used more often as a pain relief drug for dogs with spinal issues. I currently have a Labrador that's starting to get his spnial discs degenerated due to old age and he was having severe pain crisis. Vet prescribed gabapentin and he's been taking it for 2 months now and he's better! Since it's a degenerative disease, it doesn't have a cure, but it can improve your dog's life-quality a lot!
Also, white vinegar is an amazing cleaner! I use it to get rid of stains and dried grease from oven/pans/etc
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Check your facts next time https://www.period.media/factsfigures/tampon-history/
Thanks for your helpful and constructive input. What a joy you bring to all of us.
Load More Replies... I can add the following: to polish silver (if you are fancy like me and have silver), you put it in a pot with some aluminium foil and a tablespoon of baking powder. Bring to the boil. Voila, polished silver. The dirty silver is silver sulphide. The baking soda creates a redox reaction which transfers the sulphide to the aluminium.
*baking powder = baking soda with a small amount of flour in it, so same damn thing. Also, if you have an aluminium pot (very commonplace here), then you can skip the tinfoil, as long as the pot is not enameled (painted/surface covered with polymer)
Load More Replies... You can use a crochet hook to pull out hair (and other nasty stuff) from drains. A squeegee to rid a carpet/couch of pet hair before vacuuming will change your life. And a little vinegar water to clean nearly anything, except your own dirty little secrets.
My mother always keeps a potatoe peeler at hand to use it as a screwdriver or small crowbar. I also used it for some time to peel cables when i was in tech class
I use my peeler to slice cheese for sandwiches! I have a cheese slicer but it's too thick
Load More Replies... Here's a more obscure one: a hemostat! They're a type of clamp used to keep wounds from bleeding during surgery without fully closing them, and they can do so much more than that! Since they're long-handled and have a needle-nose head, they can fit in many tight spaces, and they're explicitly designed to get a firm grip without causing undue damage to the thing they're gripping. Great for grabbing small stuff that's gotten jammed in a narrow space!
Dry erase markers remove permanent marker marks. I always try to use matching colors so the dry erase marker isn't damaged.
A dure fire way to get rid of permanent marker stains is to scrub it with toothpaste. It really works. I got a large sharpie stain on my duvet cover and after a few applications it came right out. You just apply it straight from the tube scrub in with a nail brush then wash it out with cold water. Repeat the process as often as you need you to.
Load More Replies... one of my ADHD medications guanfacine was originally a blood pressure medication. Then they realized it worked really good for impulsivity and other ADHD problems so they also used it for that!
me too... works weel in some tipes of dirty on the walls too
Load More Replies... You can use sunscreen to get tree sap off your skin, and you can use mayo to get the sticky off glass and plastic jars
Chapstick is great for covering papercuts or shaving nicks to stop the bleeding and the sting.
Also works really well for when you have sore skin around your nose during a cold. Just.. use a separate one from your lips.
Load More Replies... another off-label medicine that helps with joint pain is Children's Benadryl liquid... If you have gouty joint pain, massage a little liquid benadryl into the red, inflamed joint. The pain will go away...
They do make antihistamine creams...would be less sticky.
Load More Replies... And right at this moment, I can't bring to mind any of my brilliant life hacks!
If you for some reason choose to use oil-based paint, all you need is butter to get it off your skin.
Load More Replies... A hard boiled egg slicer is perfect for slicing bananas, strawberries, kiwi fruit, button mushrooms and even pitted olives if it's not too flimsy. You can get a cast aluminum one made in Germany that's quite sturdy.
Peanut butter will take crayon off of hard surfaces. I found out when my 3yo scribbled on the fridge, then got peanut butter on it while I was Googling crayon removal methods.
My Best tip is 🦃 cooking: Stuff your bird, place stainless steel butter knives in the cavity, two apart on the bottom one in the top w/an end sticking out, use Kabob skewers semi horizontally into the thighs holding the wings down..Conducts heat wonderfully & the skewers help to keep the foil from sticking to your bird...like Prime Rib Preheat your oven to 450° put tented bird in for 1/2hr then turn the oven down to 325°. Never had an under done bird in 40+ years. Bon Appétit 😁✌
Speaking of ears: lay down, pour in some hydrogen peroxide, listen to it crackle for about 30 minutes, flush out with one of those rubber, bulb-style syringe, squeeze the warm water in your ear really hard and you'll be rewarded with a clump of earwax! And you'll hear better.
I bought a wire fruit bowl that I use to hold my ball of yarn when knitting. The bowl is lightweight, the yarn doesn't roll off where I have to crawl all over chasing it, and when I put my knitting down, I can stick the needle points into the wire holes to keep the stitches from falling off.
Aspartame was originally developed to be a cure for stomach ulcers, but didn't work very well. Then they realize it tasted sweet and had no calories so it was marketed as a sweeter for diet drinks and chewing gum.
For years now I’ve had back pain that gets worse when I lay down for too long. So waking up in the morning sucked and painkillers didn’t do hardly anything. Then I got diagnosed with ADHD and started taking a stimulant for that… no idea why but it works better as a painkiller than anything I’ve tried before. 20 minutes after taking it my pain is completely gone for the rest of the day. I also sleep way better after taking it so I sometimes take it a couple hours before I need to get up and those couple hours of sleep are the most refreshing sleep I’ve ever had
Mine helps if I wake up with a headache - awesome stuff!
Load More Replies... That Foam shelf liner is a gift from the Gods! I use it in my Bay Window to keep my colored glass collectibles from getting knocked over, it 1/10ths the price of the no skid rug holder, great in the bottom of potted plants, in the shower a small piece to keep your soap from falling & can even be used as a no skid shower mat. ✌
I clean my super dirty stove and the internal part of the washing machine with kerosene (pure and original): just a cotton cloth and some gentle rub will leave them super clean... and the smell is off quickly... it works too on some glue residues...
One of my medications was originally used for seizures. It was prescribed to me for BPD.
If you want a good multi-surface kitchen cleaner, then use antibacterial soap in a dispenser. A couple of squirts onto a wet warm cloth, wipe it over the area and leave for a minute and then wipe off. Repeat for stubborn muck. Not only will your kitchen surfaces be 98% bacteria free and clean but you can have it smell nice too
Tons and tons of medications fall into the "not the intended use" category, lots of them having been developed for heart- and blood-related conditions and ended up being more useful in other applications. The HRT standby spironolactone is a great example: started life as a blood pressure medication, turns out it's a natural testosterone blocker.
Use Easy Off oven cleaner in the BLUE can to take soap scum off of a fiberglass shower stall. I had a rental that had a "plastic" stand up shower that was absolutely filthy and caked with slimy soap scum. I tried scrubbing it with everything to no avail. Spent 2 hours on it and got nowhere. I read online that you could use the fume free, blue can of the oven cleaner and gave it a shot. Spray the surfaces and wait an hour. The goop just wiped right off. Any spots that didn't come right up got treated again and came clean the second time. It was a godsend!
If you have a sunburn, melt an aspirin in warm water, then take a washcloth and gently apply to your skin. The aspirin will act as a numbing agent. Of course, aloe is the tried and true solution, but this actually works best for me. Also, trivia answer...The Monkees member Mike Nesmith's Mom invented White Out. Could not tell you my source of knowing this, it's been years, but it's true!
I use my oyster knife in the kitchen for everything from prying the pulp out of coconuts to peeling grapefruit, and I keep a pair of swimming goggles in my kitchen drawer for cutting onions. Also, Brasso can be used to give acrylic or plastic a high gloss polish. Great for crafts and for buffing scratches out of plastic things. Not to mention that vaginal yeast infection cream is the best face moisturizer I've ever used.
Gabapentin is an antidepressant that has been used more often as a pain relief drug for dogs with spinal issues. I currently have a Labrador that's starting to get his spnial discs degenerated due to old age and he was having severe pain crisis. Vet prescribed gabapentin and he's been taking it for 2 months now and he's better! Since it's a degenerative disease, it doesn't have a cure, but it can improve your dog's life-quality a lot!
Also, white vinegar is an amazing cleaner! I use it to get rid of stains and dried grease from oven/pans/etc
Load More Replies... Check your facts next time https://www.period.media/factsfigures/tampon-history/
Thanks for your helpful and constructive input. What a joy you bring to all of us.
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