In my years on earth I have learned about and come up with some what are called "life hacks". They're unconventional ways of accomplishing things or making your life easier, that you perhaps normally wouldn't think about. I'm going to share my favorite life hacks I've learned about in my life.
How to defrost a car quickly: Don't you hate in the winter when your car frosts up/freezes over and you either have to leave even earlier so you can sit in your car while it warms up, or (if you weren't prepared) be late to work because you had to wait for your car to defrost? Well, I have found a solution. In the winter time or whenever in your area the temperatures get near or below freezing, check to see if the temperature is freezing in the morning. If so, right before you leave, get a large cup of lukewarm water (maybe even a bucket). Not hot, because that could crack your windshield. Think warm pool water, or room temperature water. Take the cup and set it down somewhere while you start your car, start the defroster, and turn on your windshield wipers to a slow intermittent setting (once every 5-10 seconds). Dump the cup of water on your windshield and windows. It will clear up your windows in no time. If it's really cold out, you'll want the wipers going so the water doesn't freeze on your windshield. This hack has saved me so much time in the mornings, and the gas it saves is well worth the cost of the water from the tap. Although I will say that this doesn't always completely work, but a scraper is good for getting whatever the lukewarm water doesn't.
How to get a key ring open: This one is fairly common knowledge, but just in case you don't know it, I'm going to share it. If you have a staple remover (those ones with the sharp teeth), those are good at holding key rings open to get on and off key chains or keys off key rings. Much easier than ruining or hurting your fingernails. Just move it along the ring as you add or remove keys/keychains.
Chill a beverage (or beverages) fast: When you want a hydrating beverage, but it's not cold, there is a way to chill it fairly fast. The way I've done is to get a paper towel soaking wet (but not dripping) and wrap it around your drink. Stick it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes (but if it's carbonated or glass, don't forget about it!) You should have a fairly chilly beverage in that time. For ice cold, I think it takes 20-25 minutes. If you need to chill multiple beverages fast, say for a party, get a bucket and fill it with water and ice cubes. Add salt, which reduces the freezing point of water. Then add the beverages, and they should chill in no time.
How to have cold water all day: Speaking of having cold beverages, if you're someone that drinks a lot of water and can use a water bottle at work, the night before fill it up roughly 1/3 of the way with water and lay it on its side in the freezer overnight. The next day, fill it up with water. You're basically guaranteed to have cold water all day, as that ice will do the trick. The key is to not fill it up so much that the ice blocks the opening at the top of the water bottle. So you could fill it up halfway or even a bit more, depending on how fast you'll be drinking the water, if you'll be refilling it, and how long you want the ice to last.
Increase ketchup capacity for ketchup cups: Whenever you're at a fast food place or a sporting event, and you get ketchup for your fries and you use one of those little paper cups, it never seems like enough (if you're someone that uses a liberal amount like I do, anyway). If you turn them inside out, they will hold a lot more. Carefully fold and bend it so it's stable, and it should have a much wider opening and hold more.
How to keep track of cables: If you're like me and you have a lot of electronics, this life hack can really help. If you have a computer station or a TV/video game set up, use bread clips on the ends of the power cords when you plug them into a surge protector/zip strip. You can either color code them or you can use a small felt tip marker and write what device it's for on the bread clip. This is very handy for if you have to move or replace a device, and you don't know which cord to unplug. Bread clips fit very well on electrical cords and can tell you instantly what the cord is used to power.
Organize cables/wires without tangling: One first-world problem a lot of us have is tangled cables and wires. One notable example would be for earphones. I wind them up in multiple loops and then use a binder clip to keep the loop together. You can also use a hair clip. If you have a large enough binder or hair clip, you can use it on larger cables or cords.
Two uses for scotch tape: Obviously scotch tape is good for wrapping gifts, taping paper together, etc., but it has a couple life hack uses you might not have heard of. One is to remove slivers. If you ever get a sliver that is very small and fine and too hard to grab with any tweezers you have, roll some tape into a loop with the sticky part facing out and press it against the area where the sliver(s) are. As a kid, I once touched the bark of a tree that put tons of tiny slivers into my finger, so my mom used this trick to get the majority of them out. It doesn't always work, but it's pretty quick and fairly painless. The other way to use scotch tape is as a lint roller. Maybe you noticed a bunch of lint on an outfit you were going to wear, but either don't have a lint roller or misplaced it. Grab a loop of scotch tape, maybe make it several connected loops (you can run the tape around the length of your four fingers) and press it against your clothes. It should pick up lint pretty well!
That's all I have for now, but if I think of anymore, I'll be sure to add them here!
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