In what could be called the biggest understatement of all time, life can be annoying. Small annoyances and minor inconveniences plague us all. However, there are numerous life hacks one can use to counteract these annoyances. The best part? They require nothing but simple everyday objects. Binder clips, soda can tabs, tissue boxes, and even dryer sheets can make your life much easier. Take a look at this list and see if any of these everyday-object life hacks can help you live a better, more efficient life.
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If you’re looking to make house painting easier, vertically wrap a rubber band around your paint can. This way, each time you lift the brush from the can you can use the rubber band to knock off any excess paint, keeping the brush, sides of the can, and surrounding area clean.
Short on closet space? Hang several shower hooks on a normal clothes hanger. The result? A hanger capable of holding two to three times as many garments.
Dryer sheets are designed to fight static cling — this much you know. However, they also make good dust repellents. Use them on baseboards and hardwood flooring to keep your home dust-free.
Is there anything more annoying than trying to untangle a piece of fine jewelry? Try funneling your necklaces through a straw to keep them from tangling while you store them.
On the list of complicated life tasks, adding and removing keys from a keyring ranks shockingly high, especially for those with nails they don’t want to break. Luckily, there’s a simple household solution for this- a staple remover. The device’s “teeth” can easily slide the keyring open, without a busted nail in sight.
If you’re anything like me, your home entertainment center is bursting at the seams with electronic devices, including — but not limited to — a television, cable box, speakers, and video game consoles. With all that tech, it sometimes becomes hard to sort through the jungle of wires connected to these various devices. A quick fix to this is to use the plastic clips that are used to close bags of sliced bread. Write the name of each electronic device on each, and clip it to the device’s respective wire.
Need a quick way to precisely spread granular plant fertilizer? Look no further than a parmesan cheese shaker. Word of advice, though- Make sure you wash it out before you use it in the kitchen again.
Having an issue with squeaky doors, windows, or other hinges? Spray them down with some Pam. Yes, the kind of Pam you cook with.
If you’ve ever had to store dirty shoes without having a chance to clean them, perhaps on the way home from vacation, you know how annoying they can be to pack. One trick to make sure your shoes don’t dirty anything is to wrap them in plastic bags or shower caps. The latter option works especially well if you’re on vacation or a business trip, as you can score them from your hotel.
Don’t throw out those old, empty tissue boxes. Instead, fill them with plastic bags. Now you have a a handy bag dispenser, you’ve cut down on household clutter, and you’ve recycled pesky Kleenex boxes.
Normal-sized coffee filters can be used to line the bottom of flower pots, thereby preventing loose soil from falling through the open drainage port that makes up the bottom of the pot.
Those who buy a lot of makeup (or those who live with someone who buys a lot of makeup) know that makeup brushes have a tendency to get everywhere. If your Sephora brushes seem to be multiplying like bunnies, a simple toothbrush holder could be exactly what you need.
Running low on closet space? Simply pop the tab off of a soft-drink can and slip it over the hook of a hanger. Next, slip another hanger onto the bottom half of the tab, doubling the hanger space while not taking up any more closet space.
Tired of your numerous chargers falling to the floor and becoming a tangled mess when you’re not using them? Attach binder clips to the back of your desk, and then feed each of your wires through a clip, keeping them separate and organized.
What’s the best way to light a room for a night of wine drinking and relaxation? Clearly, wine glasses being used as candle holders.
If you have multiple people in your home using the same bathroom, it can be hard to keep track of everyone’s toothbrushes, particularly if there are several children involved. One trick to easily organize them? Use silverware trays, which can be found at any home goods or hardware store.
If you want to covertly carry a manicure repair kit on the go, slipping all the needed tools into a sunglass case is the way to go.
If you’re looking for a fun way to spice up a summer party, you can use lollipops to turn boring, clear drinks colorful. Just turn the lollipop upside down, plop it into a glass of water (or something stronger, if you’d prefer), and allow the candy to color the drink. It will also make your beverage much sweeter.
A TikTok user went viral after showing how to clean your oven racks using frozen dish soap. Leaving many in disbelief and only the need to try it themselves, it turns out the method actually works as stains can be seen sliding off the oven racks with by using the frozen cubes. All you have to do is fill up your ice trays with dish soap and throw it in the freezer for a few hours.
There are few things more annoying than a dirty keyboard. If you need to clean your keyboard quickly — whether at home or at the office — and don’t have air duster handy, just grab a Post-it note and use the sticky end to gather up the dirt.
If you have some used wine corks floating around – and really, who doesn’t? – you can give them a second life as pincushions. Just be sure to wait a bit before using them. Handling pins after drinking some wine might not be the best idea.
Hydrogen peroxide can be used to remove rust from hammers or other tools in just minutes. Pour some hydrogen peroxide into a small container and let the rusted metal soak in it for a few minutes, according to HomeQuicks.com tutorial. Then just take some steel wool or a brush and scrub. Additionally, you can mix borax with hydrogen peroxide to create a handy cleaning solution.
Tired of your knee-high boots flopping all over the entryway? Use pool noodles as boot shapers to keep them upright, organized, and in great shape. No need to buy expensive boot shapers when $1 noodles will do!
Is your carpet in need of a little love? You can clean it up with just three ingredients — hydrogen peroxide, lemon essential oil, and water. Mix two parts water with one part hydrogen peroxide and five drops of lemon essential oil. Make sure you use a dark bottle (like the one peroxide comes in). Shake it up and it’s ready to go. Just spray it on the stained carpet, let it sit for a minute or two, and then use a brush to scrub the stains out. This solution works on upholstery, too, and you can repeat the process a few times until you get your carpet and fabrics squeaky clean!
Nobody likes to clean the toilet, so anything you can do to speed up the process, the better. Those stains that build up can easily be removed with our trusty friend, Coca-Cola. Pour a can into the bowl and let it stand for an hour. The carbonation will lift the stains, and a simple scrub with the brush should finish the job.
Due to its sugary nature, you wouldn’t think Coca-Cola would be a viable deterrent to keep bugs out of your garden, but numerous reports suggest it is. Back in 2004, farmers in India were reportedly widely using Coke as a cheap alternative to pesticides. The prevailing theory was that the sugar actually killed the bugs, but agriculture specialist Devinder Sharma said it wasn’t the soda that was killing the pests. Rather, he said it was attracting ants, which in turn would eat the pest larvae while leaving the plants alone.
Have a young one who slammed their fingers in a door, and afraid they might do it again? Don’t overspend by buying brand-name door stoppers. Just cut a pool noodle and wrap it around the door. No more hurt fingers!
Keeping a crayon or pencil in the middle of your billfold wallet will make it “catch” in your pocket, removing a pickpocket’s ability to stealthily remove it from your person if you’re not paying attention.
If you need to keep a bag of chips fresh, but don’t have any chip-clips on hand, simply snap off the clip from a plastic pants hanger, and presto- fresh chips.
If you’re ever short of ice and desperate for a cold drink, there is a remedy. Simply wrap your bottle to can in a wet paper towel and put it in the freezer. It will get cold much quicker.
You might find yourself wondering, “How on earth is it possible to skin a watermelon like that?”. It’s a trick, of course! Perfect for impressing your friends and family with this easy party trick – All you’ll need is two similarly sized watermelons. Simply cut one in half, scooping out the watermelon into a bowl (which of course you’ll want to keep hidden in the fridge separately as to not blow your cover). Then carefully trim the other one of all its rines while maintaining its whole shape. Now, all you have to do is present the two together and you’ll have everyone fooled, for a moment anyway…
Need to store your fancy antique china somewhere but nervous about it chipping or scratching? Just place each plate between a few paper plates for a bit of (very cheap) padding. Unfortunately it won’t look as nice as simply having china there, but once again, your plates will be scratch-free and your grandmother won’t think you’re the family failure for having ruined her nice china that you didn’t even really want in the first place, to be honest.
Moving is an incredibly stressful activity and there’s pretty much no way you can possibly plan for every little thing that comes up. So, imagine you totally forgot to pack up that one vase that your mother-in-law gave you for Christmas last year, but you don’t have enough bubble wrap to spare? No problem, just grab a couple thick old socks and wrap them around the vase to prevent chipping or other blunders that come with moving!
Storing a large piece of fabric like a tablecloth is annoying as is – it’s huge and let’s be honest, you really only take it out of the closet once a year when your snobby, rich neighbors Nancy and Bill come over for dinner. Well, now you can easily store your tablecloth AND keep it wrinkle-free by wrapping it around an old paper towel tube. After all, you can’t have your snobby, rich neighbors over with a wrinkled tablecloth!
If you have pierced ears, then you’ll understand how annoying it is to go grab your favorite pair of earrings for a night out, only to realize that one of them has gone missing. Fancy earring and jewelry holders can get quite expensive, but fortunately you can prevent the pair from ever being separated again without that, just by using a button. Just place each earring in one of the button’s holes so they’re always together!
Anyone who cooks a lot knows that dealing with egg yolks can be messy and frustrating – especially when you’re trying to keep them in-tact. Well, now you can easily transfer the yolks from one bowl to another using this simple trick- Take an empty plastic water bottle and squeeze over the yolk, then slowly release the pressure. The water bottle will create a gentle suction around the yolk so you can easily transfer it to another bowl, mess-free!
How annoying is it to hang up a dress in your closet, only to have it immediately slide off the clothes hanger and onto the floor? To prevent this, all you need to do is hang up the article of clothing in question and then wrap a few rubber bands around both ends of the hanger. This will prevent any slipping, and the inevitable brief moments of panic while you wonder where your favorite dress could’ve possibly gone.
Anyone with little kids will understand this scenario- You leave your three-year-old in the living room alone for five minutes to take a work phone call, and when you come back, the wall has mysteriously been covered in bright purple marker and stickers. Not to worry, because all you need to do to remove the stickers is spray a bit of laundry stain remover on them! (Unfortunately you’re on your own with the markers though.) Of course, you can also use this hack to remove the annoying stickers from bottles and packaging too!
Is there anything more annoying than having a stripped screw that just won’t stay down when you’re in the middle of trying to hang something on the wall or finish building that desk you’ve been working on for weeks? The answer is no, there isn’t. You can try to remedy this problem by taking a trusty old rubber band and pressing it over said stripped screw. Now try using your screwdriver for a better grip!
Do you have an extra medium-sized flower pot lying around because your indoor plant obsession sort of just fell flat because you realized you couldn’t keep any of them alive? First of all, us too, and second of all, now you can actually put it to good use. Since absolutely no one likes an unsightly, disgusting, germ-infested plunger just sitting there on the bathroom floor for all to see, store the plunger in a cute little flower pot. Much better!
When you’re really hungry and just want a quick snack, the last thing you want is to go grab the brand new jar of peanut butter, only to find that the lid is sealed on a little too tight and you can’t get it off. Before calling your significant other (or even your neighbor) over to help you unscrew the stubborn lid, try putting on some rubber clothes to help you grip the jar a little easier!
You know when you buy a nice new button-up shirt and the threads immediately start coming undone from the buttons? Clothing manufacturers almost always provide you with extra buttons to remedy this problem, but honestly who really takes the time to re-sew on their buttons? No one, because no one has the energy for that. Instead, take a bit of clear nail polish and paint a bit over the buttons to prevent the thread from unraveling!
We’ve all been there- You get to the laundromat and you need to pull out some quarters to get your laundry done. Only, you realize all of your quarters have been scattered around your bag so you have to begrudgingly find them all. Prevent this problem by using an old medication bottle to store the perfect number of quarters (or any other small precious items for that matter). After all, most of us have an old medication bottle or two lying around anyway!
We’ve all been in this situation before- You end up at a friend’s place on a Saturday night after some drinks and you realize that none of you have speakers or any way to play your music. Instead of running out to the nearest electronics store (are those even around anymore?) to purchase some expensive speakers, try this extremely simple hack- Just place your smart phone inside a cup and hit play. Sure, it’s not as high quality as a fancy set of speakers, but it’ll get the job done on a whim!
Having weeds growing in the garden you’ve been working hard on for months is frustrating at best, and unsightly at worst. But the next time you spot a weed in between your beautiful Chrysanthemums, instead of reaching for some expensive brand of weed-killer that’s chockful of harmful chemicals, try out this very simple hack using a common household item- Vinegar. Just spray it on those annoying weeds for a non-toxic remedy to your weed problem!
Having kids is a handful and sometimes they do unexpected things like accidentally locking themselves inside a room. But inside of dealing with having to call the fire department, or climbing through a window to unlock the door yourself, try this trick- Take a rubber band and wrap it around the doorknobs on each side of the door, making sure the band is pressing down on the lock part. And viola, no more accidental door locking!
If you live in a tiny apartment, then you probably don’t have a lot of kitchen or counter space, and therefore you’ve got nowhere to put your cookbook while you’re cooking. Well, never fear, because this hack is straight up brilliant- Just grab a pants hanger, clip your cookbook to it, and hang it up on the outside of a cabinet. That way you can keep your cookbook off the counters while still having ample space to read it!
You know those times when you go to take the trash out and you come back inside the house, only to realize that your trash bag has left a liquid trail from whatever disgusting thing was in there? You can prevent this scenario by placing some old, dry newspaper in the bottom of the trash bag so that it soaks up any liquids, and therefore you won’t have to clean up any more disgusting messes!
When you travel, you probably keep your clean and dirty clothes in the same bag together because you don’t have a lot of space, right? This can lead to your clean clothes smelling dirty, which is pretty gross if you ask us. Avoid this by putting your dirty clothes in a separate plastic bag in your suitcase, and then place a bar of scented soap in said bag to keep your dirty clothes smelling fresh while you travel!
If you live somewhere where the summers get very hot every year, then you’ll understand the trials and tribulations of getting into your car and literally getting burned by your stick. Luckily, now you can prevent this by placing a beer koozie over the stick so you never have to make contact with the hot leather again! Now, if only they made beer koozies that just so happened to be the same size and shape as the average steering wheel…
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