I know what you’re thinking: Not another list of stupid lifehacks! They’re always worthless to me!
And yes, many lifehacks are overly specific or seem really silly, but for every person complaining that a hack doesn’t help them, there’s another person it’s totally solving a problem for.
Plus, even if you don’t have a need for a given hack, you could be the person to save the day when a friend is at their wit’s end.
1. Use fast food cups and lids to hold paint during small projects.
Whenever I’m painting something that requires multiple coats, I’m always fussing with ways to keep the paint and brushes wet during drying times. Usually it ends up involving old grocery bags, but this idea is far more convenient.
2. Keep pests out of your pet’s food bowl with a moat.
Once the ants get in, it takes time and hard work to get them out. You want to remove handy food sources, but Fido also needs to eat, so placing the food dish into a larger bowl with a bit of water will keep them away.
3. Keep a cheap, homemade ice pack handy for bumps and bruises.
No need to go buy a chemical gel ice pack. Just mix three parts water with one part rubbing alcohol inside a sealed bag. The alcohol will prevent the water from fully freezing, making the perfect squishy ice pack consistency.
4. Catch deer flies before they can bite with a bit of color.
Deer flies are attracted to bright colors, so find a cheap plastic bowl from the dollar store and cover the inside with sticky pest trap glue. Attach to a stick or stake and say goodbye to the flies.
5. Keep cereal from going stale with chip clips.
Cereal goes stale ridiculously fast, but it’s easy to slow it down, too. Open the bag only enough to easily pour the cereal and then seal with a chip clip.
6. Use the right technique to microwave taquitos.
Yes, for crispy taquitos, the oven or toaster oven is the better choice, but sometimes that’s just not available. This may not provide optimal crunch, but it will help heat them evenly and avoid them being too mushy.
7. Quickly cool a hot beverage with a small fan.
Yes, this is ridiculous, but in an emergency you sometimes need to be a bit silly. Just make sure the fan isn’t covered with dust, because them you’ll be drinking it.
8. It also works for microwaved meals.
Because we all know those things go from cold to hotter than the sun within five seconds. Again, you’ll wan to watch out for dust.
9. Protect your hands from drippy ice cream.
My distaste for sticky hands has meant resigning myself to bowls, but with this trick, I could enjoy a waffle cone again! Pry a larger hole into a takeout cup lid and slide it over the bottom of the cone.
10. Swap which side your lighter sticker is on to catch people who steal it.
Lighters are dirt cheap and yet people are constantly nicking them from others. This idea requires no extra items and is really subtle.
11. Use your spring-loaded tongs to brown the sides of your meat.
When closed, the tongs will grip the meat perfectly, and as long as you’re using metal or silicon ones, you can just rest the handle on the edge of your pan to keep your hands free.
12. Stick a lamp inside your pumpkin to better see the pattern.
If you use a template for your jack-o’-lanterns, then you’re familiar with poking a ton of tiny holes into the surface and then trying to use them as a guide. This will make that easier.
13. Apparently, a pumpkin can also make a decent phone stand.
Perfect for watching Netflix while DIYing a ton of Halloween decorations. Just stick a couple of toothpicks into the skin to rest your phone on.
14. Trace easily with a makeshift light table.
A white or glass cutting board with a bright lamp underneath can shine through the paper enough to trace. Perfect for when you need to get it done but the sun isn’t cooperating.
15. Add a hand soap plunger to your dish soap bottle.
Most hand soap containers have the same sized openings as bottles of dish soap. This way, you can dispense more easily, even when your hands are covered with suds.
16. Get the most out of Starbucks premixed beverages.
These are always way too sweet. I like to actually taste the coffee in a coffee beverage. But instead of drinking them straight, use them as a coffee creamer. You’ll get a more subtle flavor and get more bang for your buck.
17. Use chopsticks to stack bowls of leftovers.
If your bowls don’t have flat lids, they can end up causing a lot of wasted vertical space in the fridge. As long as the bowl isn’t wider than chopsticks are long, though, you can use this hack to stack more than one bowl.
18. Add a cheap stylus to your winter jacket before it gets cold.
Sure, you can buy a bunch of different gloves made to work with a touchscreen, but why spend the extra? A mini stylus on a stretchy string will let you check messages without cold fingers.
19. Keep critters away with Irish Spring soap.
For some reason, animals and rodents of all sorts hate Irish Spring. Use it to your advantage by grating up a bar or two and sprinkling it around the areas those critters like. Deer, rabbits, mice, skunks…they’ll all find somewhere else to be.
20. Use a metal Command Hook as a banana hanger.
This works great for kitchens with nowhere to hang a fruit basket and not enough counter space for a tabletop banana stand.
21. Stop your dog from pulling on the leash with a carabiner.
Looping the dog’s leash around its belly and securing it with a carabiner can keep Fido from hurting themselves when overly excited on a walk.
22. Use an extra cup lid to hold condiments for dipping on the go.
It’ll contain the mess and cleanup easily. Just be careful not to stick your chin in the ketchup while taking a drink.
23. Store Christmas lights right to save headaches next year.
You can use pretty much anything for this hack. Find an empty paper towel roll, a block or wood, or just a piece of cardboard, and wrap the string lights around it before storing. Next year, they’ll be tangle-free.
24. Keep plastic bowls from flying around the dishwasher with a bungee cord.
Stretching a bungee cord over the bowls will prevent the water jets from flinging them out of place during the wash cycle.
