There’s nothing better than knowing exactly what to do in an inconvenient situation. You spilled something on your clothes and don’t have soap or a cleaner around or you ripped your new pants right before an interview? Maybe you ran out of ideas and don’t know what to do. Well, this list of incredible and useful hacks has you covered. Read through them all to keep in the back of your mind for the next time you or your friends are in a pinch!
Command Hooks Save the Day
Command hooks are just about one of the most useful little pieces of material to have in your arsenal of random things. In this case, they are perfect for keeping those pot and pan lids in place. Usually, cabinets don’t have the space for both the pots and the lids, leaving the lids in an awkward limbo of clanging through the cabinets. These command hooks on the inside of the cabinet door keep them all in one place.
Depending on the size of your closet, you can even fit multiple lids in each closet. Of course, try to correspond them to the appropriate pots and pans.
How A Straw Can Make Your Popcorn Even Tastier
No one will object to some much tastier popcorn and everyone craves that movie theater taste. However, sometimes the butter tragically just doesn’t reach the bottom or even the middle section of the popcorn bag, but here is a wonderful solution. Add butter through a straw right into the container of popcorn. This method distributes the butter evenly from the bottom to the top of the bag, causing every popcorn kernel to be perfectly coated in butter.
Next time you have someone to impress at an at-home movie night, this butter injector made from a straw is the perfect way to create the perfect popcorn for your guests.
Did You See Where I Put My Glasses?
Anyone that wears glasses (or even just sunglasses) knows two things; you can never have enough pairs of glasses and you will always struggle with finding a place to store them all safely. Although it may not be the original purpose of this Ikea hanger, why not give it a try for an excessive amount of glasses? You’d be surprised how safe and scratch-free all your lenses will be.
This convenient hanger also removes the need for bulky and clunky glasses cases while simultaneously showing you all your frame options with just one simple look.Â
A Coaster Made From a Candle Lid
If you’re looking for a great way to recycle while also saving some money, don’t throw away your unused candle lids! It may sound like an interesting choice of item to reuse, but they really make amazing coasters. The size can be perfect for a cup or a glass and the little lip even keeps all the condensation liquid safely inside. Next time you run out of coasters, you know just what to do.
People pay a lot of money for quality tables, the last thing they want to do is ruin them with unsightly rings from wet cups. That’s where these candle lids come in to save the day!
Keep Your Purse Safe At All Times While Shopping
Looking to make your shopping a bit of a less stressful experience? No one wants to be constantly worrying that someone could grab your valuables and your purse while you turn your back for a quick second. So why not just clip your purse right to the cart itself? After all, it’s a lot more difficult to steal an entire cart than it is to steal a simple purse.
If someone did actually try to steal your purse while it was securely attached to the cart, they’d be in for quite a surprise when the cart came right along with it.
Keeping the Book Open
Everyone can relate to the challenges of keeping the pages of a book open, especially if it’s a new, hardly used book. The pages can be stiff and eager to return to their closed state. If you happen to have some pants hangers lying around the house, you are all set. Attach one of the hanger clips to each opposite page of the book, keeping it wide open for as long as you need.
This hack is not only great for the avid readers in the crowd, but it is perfect for artists as well. Keeping the sketchbook pages separate while the different paints dry can be a challenge, but not one too difficult for a pants hanger!
Cool, Icy, and Sog-Free
It’s a daily struggle. You pour yourself a bowl of cereal in the morning and race to eat it all before the cereal itself is overtaken by the milk, becoming a soggy and untasty mush. This is where the ice cube comes in to help. As strange as it may seem, adding an ice cube to a bowl of cereal not only keeps the milk from getting warm but also prevents the cereal from “soggifying”.
If the thought of adding water to your bowl of cereal and milk is a bit disturbing, consider making yourself some milk ice cubes just for the occasion. It’ll taste nice and it won’t water down your milk.
Customize Your Air Freshener
There always comes the dreaded day when your beloved air freshener starts to fade away until its scentless demise. Or so you think! Instead of throwing away the air fresheners once the smell weakens, just add a couple of drops of essential oils to the materials and voila…it’s as good as new. And the best part of it all is that you can make your own combination of smells.
Whether you like lavender or orange or lemon, essential oils come in hundreds of different smells, leaving you with endless possibilities of new air freshener scents.
Simple Trick to Remove Stubborn Stickers
At least once in your life, you have surely spent hours of your time trying to remove a sticky and stubborn sticker or label from a product that you bought. You just couldn’t let it go with the half-removed scratched-away sticker left for all to see. Before you give up in dismay next time, consider popping the problematic pieces in the freezer for a few hours to see some magical results.
After just a few hours in the freezer, the stickers should peel off with ease, with just one smooth motion. No need to scratch and struggle endlessly!
Eat Watermelon Like a Coconut
Admit it, sometimes cutting apart an entire watermelon is quite an endeavor. It’s messy, juicy, and just not that much fun. Next time you are considering the daunting task, think of the coconut method. Slice a bit off the top of the watermelon, grab a spoon, and dig in…literally. Scoop out the juicy watermelon while using the rind as a natural protection against drips and juices spilling all over the place.
Why do more people not think of doing this? Maybe it’s because watermelons are usually too big and it’s overwhelming for individual consumption. Still, it’s a great idea for parties!
Iron Your Problems Away – With a Hair Straightener
Whether they are crooked, folded awkwardly, upturned, or just wrinkled, no one wants to be stuck with an unsightly shirt collar. You don’t always want to pull out the entire iron and ironing board just to fix a problematic collar, so here is a better solution. Grab a hair straightener, clamp onto the collar (even if you’re wearing it), and iron away all the wrinkles and crinkles with one quick movement.
This is great especially for traveling when you don’t always have easy access to a full iron and ironing board at a minute’s notice. Think of it as the best travel-sized iron (specifically for shirt collars).
Hardware Store for Household Goods
Why use just a simple wooden cutting board or an ordinary decorated plate to display your delicious array of foods for your party guests? Try spicing things up with a much more unique (and probably cheaper) option of pieces purchased for a hardware store. Instead of a wooden cutting block, try a marble slab charcuterie board. Instead of simple knit or wooden coasters, try tile samples instead.
It’s not only a stunning and beautiful alternative, but it is almost definitely a conversation starter among your guests. Where did you get these unique and rustic pieces? They’ll probably want some of their own shortly.
A Razor to Reach All the Way to the Back
It may be a bit taboo to discuss, but many people around the world, usually men, struggle with excessive amounts of back hair. As it is nearly impossible to remove all by yourself, you either need to enlist the help of a trusted friend or professional to help you get rid of it, or create a contraption like this one. Attach your normal razor with some tape to a long stick or back scratcher and voila, your back shaving woes are no more.
Although it will certainly still be a bit awkward to shave your back with this contraption, and you’ll most likely end up with quite a few scrapes and scratches, it’s better than nothing!
Use Toilet Paper for Privacy
For some unexplained reason, many bathroom stalls are plagued with the disturbing issue of overly large slits and openings between the doors. As no one wants to be stared at while they are doing their business (and no one wants to stare at someone else), it can become a bit problematic. In case this dilemma really gets to you, take a long piece of toilet paper, attach it to the top of the opening and the bottom, and you have effectively created a DIY bathroom curtain.
This thin piece of toilet paper is just enough to keep those peeping Toms from peeping and is perfect for avoiding awkward and brief eye contact.
Solve This Annoying Problem Once and for All
The bathroom qualms continue with the very frustrating occurrence of an automatic toilet that won’t stop flushing too early. Everyone has experienced it. You have a longer than expected visit to the public bathroom. As you are sitting on the toilet, the automatic flusher gets some mixed signals, causing it to prematurely send a fury of water through the toilet bowl. As you did not yet finish, you have to uncomfortably sit there worried the flushing may begin again.
One small piece of toilet paper can help save the day by covering the little sensor on the flushing area. It will help you peacefully finish your duties without the fear of premature flushing.
Sandwich Bag Tie Instead of a Hair Tie
Just in case there ever comes a day where you desperately need a hair tie but there are none around and you happen to have just opened a sandwich bag, you may be in luck. The little tie that keeps the sandwich bag closed is perfect for tying your hair back when you are in a pinch. However, it’s probably better for smaller portions of hair like braids, pigtails, or a half updo rather than a full ponytail or bun.
It’s always good to have a backup plan and an alternative for a hair tie, in the desperate times that you may have forgotten yours at home.
Keep the Cheese off Your Fingers
The world has the Chinese to thank for countless life-changing inventions, but chopsticks may be among the best. Not only are they great for eating rice and other traditional foods, but a lesser-known use for these utensils is to use them as a great way to eat common snacks, especially the cheesy or messy ones. Cheetos are hard to resist, but the cheesy mess they bring along with them makes it quite a challenge to eat.
Chopsticks are a great way to keep your fingers clean and your tummy satisfied. No need to worry about getting the cheesy goodness all over everything while you’re enjoying it.
DIY Stand up Mixer
The amount of ease and convenience that stand-up mixers have brought to the world is something that cannot be valued. Whether you’re making cookies or bread, all you have to do is add all the ingredients into the bowl, press start, and watch everything join together. There is no longer a need to stand there and hold the mixer yourself. If you don’t want to buy an actual stand-up mixer, then this trick is perfect for you.
All you have to do is attach one side of a towel to the handle of your mixer and the other to something sturdy, like the handle of a cabinet.
The Paper Cup Speaker
Imagine you have a very long car ride ahead of you. You’re all alone. You go to turn on some music…only to find out that your radio and your audio system are broken. What on earth are you going to do with yourself for the hours left of your journey? Don’t worry because this hack has you covered. Grab a paper cup, shape it like a megaphone, and attach it to the speaker of your phone for a makeshift loudspeaker.
Most phone speakers aren’t quite loud enough to perform well over the noisy sounds of multiple driving vehicles, so this paper cup is ready to amplify the sound all around.
Two Tacos for the Price of One
Tacos are a beloved choice of food far beyond the realm of their original Mexican origins. However, everyone struggles with the nearly impossible task of properly eating a hard taco without wasting half of the ingredients within it. Without fail, at least some of the tasty goods will be seen falling to the plate below. That is exactly why you should be ready with a soft tortilla underneath to catch all the falling goodness.
Why just have one taco when you could have both a taco and a burrito at the same time, without wasting any of the tastiness?
Organizing Your Organizational Compartment
The glove compartment is a snazzy little area to store small items that you don’t want flying all around your car. It’s really great for organization until you start to shove too many things in there and it becomes a bottomless hole of disaster. That’s where these pencil boxes come in handy. They are the perfect organizational tool to organize your glove compartment. Separate important items and keep them safe in these plastic boxes.
If you’re tight on space you could also get the fabric or flexible pencil cases or even plastic bags just to keep things separate and tidy.
Don’t Waste Any Little Bit
Sometimes the packaging of certain products makes it seem like you aren’t getting the value for your money. It may appear to be empty while there is actually quite a bit left, only there is no easy way to actually reach the product hidden at the bottom of the bottle or along the sides. Enter the bread knife. Sharp serrated edges allow you to easily cut open plastic bottles so you can scrape out the last bits of any product.
Try this trick for ketchup bottles too, it doesn’t only apply to mayo! There are so many products that are packaged poorly so it’s difficult to get all the goodness out.
An Earring for a Button
Clothes don’t always fit perfectly. It’s hard to find a garment that doesn’t require any alterations to cover or uncover all the parts you want. This woman found that her newly purchased romper didn’t cover up exactly as she had in mind. Without a safety pin or a camisole to wear underneath, she would have been stuck in uncomfortable clothes all day were it not for a handy dandy little earring.
Attached like a button, she used her earring to keep the two pieces of fabric together perfectly. Hardly noticeable and yet fashionable, it’s a great idea for a last-minute fix.
Capture All the Leaks
There’s not much you can do to prevent the few drips and drops from escaping after you’ve removed your cup from the spout of a big pitcher. Whether it’s coffee or water or juice, nobody wants a stain of spilled liquids all over the floor, constantly. Don’t worry as there is a pretty simple solution. Although people expect the contraption itself to be inherently more leak-proof, they are not and so you have to do it yourself.
Add a cut in half bottle to the spout of the dispenser. All the little drips will drop right into the grooves at the bottom of the bottle, instead of falling to the floor.
Frame Your Laptop
Ok, so this is more of a specific problem that not too many people have to deal with on a daily basis. But, just in case one day your laptop hinge breaks and your screen cannot stay up on its own, you’re in luck. Simply attach (with tape) the back piece of a picture frame to the back of your laptop screen and then prop it up at your desired angle.
Although it looks a bit funny from the back, the picture frame does the trick and that is the most important at the end of the day.
Clip Your Frozen Goods Right to the Rack
Not everyone is lucky enough to have endless space in their freezers. Usually, frozen foods are packaged in bulky boxes that take up space faster than you can clear it or consume the foods. If you’re trying to save some room, try clipping the bags of frozen fruits or veggies right onto the rack of the freezer. It’ll save you room and keep things organized at the same time.
This trick will leave lots of room at the bottom of the freezer for the big boxed items such as pizzas or ice cream while also separating the products by category.
Natural LED Light Windows in the Basement
Sadly, there are many apartments for sale (beautiful properties) that unfortunately just don’t have any natural lighting. And despite how beautiful and tempting a basement apartment may be, it is probably hard to get over the dark lighting. But there is a solution if you want the semblance of natural light shining through. Grab some old windows from a thrift store, frost the glass, and install LED lights behind them.
This is an easy way to do the impossible with a basement – give it the look of having natural light shining through. You can even turn the lights off at night once you want to feel the darkness of the evening.
Bread Tags for a Clean and Easy Cut
Don’t even think about throwing away those little pieces of plastic used to hold together the plastic covering of a loaf of bread. They serve so many uses beyond their original purpose of sealing in freshness. Everyone struggles with finding the end to a roll of tape. Where was the last cut and why does it all look so coherent? Make your life so much easier by attaching a bread tag to the last cut piece.
This will allow you to find the end of the tape roll easily and quickly without the need to constantly struggle and strain your eyes looking for the end of the piece.
The Two Sided Cap of the Pill Bottle
Did you know that medicine bottle caps are actually double-sided? There is the most commonly used and default version of the lid that everyone knows and struggles to open – the child-proof cap. But, did you know that simply flipping the lid to the opposite side allows you to seal your bottle without the stress of a child-proof cap? It surprisingly fits into the bottle perfectly, making an easy to open cap option.
Not everyone needs to worry about children taking their pills by mistake and they don’t want to struggle with the hard to open lids all the time.
On the Go Coat Rack
Perhaps the coat, of all clothing items, feels the worst brunt of an airplane’s inconvenience and lack of room. Usually squished and squashed into a corner for the majority of the flight, it can leave the journey almost unrecognizable. Instead of punishing the innocent coat, try making yourself a makeshift coat hanger. Simply roll up a magazine and insert it into one of the grooves in front of you.
This could work as a way to hang any of your clothing items during a flight, not just a coat. It’s a perfect option to keep your things clean and off of the airplane’s dirty floor.
The Simplest Way to Pack up Your Closet
Why do people spend hours and hours of their time taking all of their clothes out of the closet, putting them in boxes, only to rehang them again in the new place? Moving is already hard enough, why add in additional hours of unnecessary work? Instead of this tedious and long process, take groups of clothing already on their hangers, place them in a trash bag, and close it all in together.
This not only saves you countless hours of unnecessary work, but it also keeps your clothing extra clean and organized during the entire moving process.
Shutting Out All the Light
It almost seems like hotels do it on purpose – their curtains never completely close, leaving a small sliver of light constantly peaking through. Whether it’s harsh morning lights or the artificial lights of the nighttime, both can be quite bothersome. Instead of wasting many hours sleepless, grab a pants hanger and clip together the two curtains. It will at least keep some of the light out and help you enjoy your privacy.
It may look a bit funny to the inhabitants of the room, but it will definitely be worth the extra hours of quality sleep you’ll be able to get because of it.