Reddit user Extra_Gear7502 asked, "What's your 'I can't believe other people don't know this' hack?" Fellow Redditors really came through with their handy hacks and everyday tips. Here's what they shared:
1. "Percentages are reversible. You might not be able to figure out 3% of 25 in your head, but it's quite easy to calculate 25% of 3. The answer is 0.75 in both cases."
2. "Fill your thermos with hot water and let it sit for five minutes before adding your hot drinks (dump the hot water out before adding the drink). Those things burn your mouth eight hours later."
"The inverse of this works amazingly for coolers as well. Using sacrificial ice to precool a cooler before a long camping trip ensures the real ice used to preserve your food will last significantly longer."
3. "I have really sensitive ears. Most earrings irritate them, except ones made from titanium. So I got 14g implant-grade titanium tunnels and just put the cheap earrings through them like a sleeve. It works great, and now I can wear whatever earrings I want without having any reaction. Highly recommend for folks with sensitive ears!"
"I have sensitive ears, too. Years ago, someone told me to coat the stems of my earrings with quick-dry clear nail polish. I do it once a month or so. I've never had an issue since I started doing this."
4. "When purchasing citrus fruit, select the heavy ones. They are more likely to be fresh and juicy than the lighter ones (assuming the same variety and similar size)."
5. "Use a seam ripper to clean your vacuum brush roll! Makes a heinous chore take less than a minute. Also, clean your damn cleaning tools. It makes such a huge difference."
6. "When a bar of soap is down to a sliver, wet a new bar and lay the sliver on top of it. In time, they'll merge together to make a single bar. That way, you don't have to throw away perfectly good soap."
7. "Chemical hot packs (like Hot Hands hand warmers or Thermacare heat patches) are rated for a specific number of hours of heat. I believe the hand warmers are 10 hours, and the larger Thermacare patches are 16. The way these packs work is by a chemical reaction with oxygen. Which means you get 10 hours of heat for 10 hours of oxygen exposure, but they don't have to be 10 consecutive hours. If you only need them for a few hours, stick them in a Ziploc bag when you're done. They will cool off almost instantly, and you still get several more hours of heat. You don't have to throw them away just because you don't need them right now."
"Similarly, if your hot packs stop working early, it's almost certainly because they don't have enough oxygen. Take them out of your gloves/pockets/shoes for a moment, and they will warm back up!"
8. "Baby powder removes sand. I continue to blow people's minds with this every single summer at the beach, and my mind is equally blown at how no one seems to know this."
9. "Dental tablets — like the ones that dissolve to clean dentures — clean out water bottles incredibly well. They can also be super lightweight to carry while camping/hiking/traveling. I put all my friends on to this hack!"
10. "Open jars with your left hand. The direction and thumb position are the trick. When you open a jar with your right hand, you use your fingers, which fold over, and you're missing out on the rigidity of your thumb bones."
11. "Wrap a wet paper towel around your bottle and put it in the freezer. It’ll chill in about 15 minutes."
12. "If you're a side sleeper and wake up with hip or back pain, try to sleep with a thin pillow or a folded-up blanket between your legs. Keeps your femurs and your pelvis straight and puts less pressure on your joints."
13. "Set up a keyboard shortcut to make '@@' autocorrect to your email."
14. "Use a slightly damp paper towel to cover food when you microwave it. Prevents it from getting dry and retains more flavor."
15. "If your brown sugar gets hard and unusable, seal it in a Ziploc bag overnight with a slice of apple or bread. The sugar will absorb the moisture from the slice and be as good as new."
16. "The number of people unaware that running a slow stream of water while cutting onions eliminates the whole eyes getting tears thing is pretty shocking. I've heard of other methods, but this is the easiest way to deal with it in my experience."
17. "Rocking back and forth on the toilet will move things along quicker if you're struggling."
18. "I roll instead of folding my towels; they stack better, come out more easily, and fit better in the cupboard."
19. "If you press and hold the spacebar on your phone keyboard, it turns into a trackpad so you can move the cursor around. I've watched grown adults lose their minds when they learn this."
20. "Use a pistachio shell to open the pistachios that only have a little gap in them instead of ruining your fingernails."
21. "Ctrl + shift + T opens up the last closed tab in your browser."
22. "When cooking, I use a scrap bowl instead of constantly running to the trash. It saves so much time and is super helpful for my ADHD brain to not get distracted."
23. "Not really a hack, but library branches often have digital libraries where you can view pretty recent movies and TV shows for free from the comfort of your home or wherever. Access will vary from one branch to another. It's either via a specific website/app unique to the branch. But some branches work with the Hoopla app, offering the same access. Though note you may need an active library card to access the digital library."
24. "Paper towel in your mixed greens box. It increases shelf life by weeks."
25. "When opening a new deodorant, don't try to pull the inner cap off; instead, twist the bottom to raise the deodorant and push the seal out."
26. "Spank watermelons to see how ripe they are; if it sounds hollow, it's likely ripe."
27. "When buying bagged salad, buy the bags that aren't puffed up. Look for the flattest bags. They are the freshest ones. When the salad starts to go bad, it makes the bag inflate."
28. "When putting a fitted sheet onto your bed, do it diagonally, that way those two corners will hold the sheet on while you do the other two. It makes it a breeze when you're doing it by yourself."
29. "Put a slice of bread in the same container as your brownies or home-baked cookies. The bread keeps them soft."
30. "If your bell peppers get wrinkly, just put them in cold water for a couple of hours and they'll perk right up."
"Same with wilted greens and herbs! If my kale, cilantro, or parsley are looking kind of sad, they get an ice bath for a few minutes. They come out green and happy!"
31. "If you've sliced garlic, rubbing your hands/fingers in the bottom of a metal sink removes the smell from your skin."
32. "To test if batteries still have charge, drop them on a hard surface from an inch or two up. If they bounce, they're dead; if they land solid, they're good."
33. And: "When reheating a slice of pizza in the microwave (if you must), put a glass of water in with it and heat for longer than you would with the slice alone (like one minute maybe). The water absorbs some of the microwaves, allowing the pizza to heat up more slowly. Better tasting than a direct nuke's goo crust and lava cheese."
What's an easy life hack you can't believe isn't more widely known? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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