- Safety razors - I’ve got thick growth and I was spending more and more on expensive multi-blade razors trying to find a decent shave without the blade going dull after 3 uses. The answer was to have less, better quality blades rather than the expensive trash in the market. A safety razor multipack costs a pittance and has lasted me over a year. Each blade is 2 sided and can be flipped. And when you’re done with it, it can be recycled with no plastic waste. There’s literally no down side if you wet shave.
- Electric screwdriver - it doesn’t matter how much DIY you do or how rarely you make IKEA furniture, you still need an electric screwdriver.
- Brain hacks - your brain and body are predictable physical objects that are programmed a certain way. If you take the time to learn how they work, you can use that to your advantage. e.g. If you know that procrastination isn’t a time management problem, but rather an emotional regulation problem about the task that’s due; then you can start addressing the cause. Or if you want to build a new habit, you can combine it with something you like, to make you look forward to it (e.g. pick a TV show you really want to watch and only allow yourself to watch it while you’re on the treadmill). Or realise that discipline and motivation are finite resources in the day. There’s too much info to cover here, but I learn about these things from podacsts mostly:
https://www.drlauriesantos.com/happiness-lab-podcast
https://www.schwab.com/learn/choiceology
https://youarenotsosmart.com/podcast/
- “Good enough” tech - You will save a lot of money if you define your use case for tech and then buy a product that is good enough to do the job (and preferably secondhand). I’m currently writing this out on a laptop I bought last week for £150 from eBay, brand new condition Dell, Intel 8th gen i7, 16GB RAM and half TB NVME drive. My gym TV is a £30 IPS Dell monitor with a Fire TV stick.
- Facebook Marketplace - make a dummy account for a facebook marketplace. I have bought tons of “like new” things in brand new condition (e.g. a whole home weights gym setup) for a fraction of brand new price. Also if there’s anything I want to get rid of, then I just post it for sale. I have had a completely worn out, cosmetically destroyed desk that I posted online for £1. Someone came and collected it the same day. It saved me a trip to the junkyard by having someone come collect it and saved the waste by going to someone who will use it. 2nd pro tip: never post anything for free. Scumbag entitled people monitor facebook for free deals and you will have a bad time. Post things for £1 and you’ll get serious people who will be grateful.
- Accept what you can’t change - your life will be much better if you stop spending energy pushing against things you can’t influence. Traffic cop walking away after giving you a ticket? Accept the hit and walk away. You took a risk not paying for parking, it didn’t work out. Go home and tell your spouse about it; then move on with your life.
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Explain
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Fast charging is all about heat management so keeping it cool will allow it to charge faster.
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If you need to remember something for the next time you go out, put your shoes somewhere odd. When you go to leave, you’ll remember you moved them, which will remind you why you moved them.
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If I need to remember to bring something with me when I go out I’ll put my keys on top of it.
Great, now I’ve forgotten my keys!
(I don’t need them until I get to work.)
On the original topic, shoes last a lot longer if you don’t wear the same pair day after day. The continual dampness from foot perspiration breaks down the materials much more quickly. Giving each pair of shoes a couple of days to dry out between wearings will greatly extend their lives.
This effect may not be visible to many people, but if you have a physical job, it can save you a lot of money.
Wait… Y’all regularly leave your shoes in a normal place?
I do this with my phone on my nightstand. If I need to remember something I put it out of reach
Or you won’t be able to find your shoes, panic because you’re running late, and forget about the thing you needed because of said panic.
Even just a couple inches over is enough to remind me. Or just a separation between them instead of them touching. Or turn them backwards. Though, this only works if it’s relatively uncommon for you to do it. And if you live in a household that does indeed take their shoes off, some don’t. But it’s a surprisingly effective reminder if all that.
That’s why you always leave a note.
Oh my god, that guys arm came off!
If the note is with your shoes, does that make it a footnote?
Bah! Go to the Agony Booth,2 min!
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I’ll usually put a reminder or most often the thing itself in the shoes.
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This works even with abstractions.
Attaching an unrelated concept to another will help remember it.
I do it all the time by telling someone that I need to remember something… And clarify that I don’t need a reminder, I just needed to tell someone.
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People who try and peel whole avocados amaze me.
I think in general there’s a lot of fruit hacks that folks aren’t familiar with - it pays to search the web for “How to peel X”.
Cut in half, remove core, scoop with a spoon.
Cut in half, use knife to pull out core, score the flesh into little cubes, scoop out.
Best thing in brought home from my time in SEA are these very basic asian metal spoons.
They are quite thin and have a sharper edge then normal spoons which makes them perfect for scooping out avocados, mangos, the seeds of pumpkins and all kind of melons or vegetables for filling (like the core of a zucchini or cucumber).
I really wouldn’t want to miss them, they are so versatile.Yeah, I learned how to peel pomegranates from a ten-second video.
My process:
- Cut in half
- Remove core
- Cut in quarters
- Peel.
Does one peel an avocado? I’ve always used a knife to cut to the core all the way around and pull it apart, then scoop out the flesh.
I cut in half, and lay the half down flat. Then I cut off just the very end from each side which makes it easier to lift the peel off. Then slice. Usually works, but occasionally there’s difficulty. Isn’t that life?
- Using a chef’s knife, cut around core and twist to separate halves. The core will remain stuck on one side.
- Holding the side with the core in your off-hand, (gently) chop the knife into the core and twist to remove it from the avocado half. Reaching around the back side of the blade, pinch the core off with your fingers.
- Scoop the avocado flesh from the skins using a large spoon, then slice/dice/mash as desired.
That’s how I learned to do it (in a tex-mex chain restaurant), anyway. I think maybe we were supposed to use one of those cut-proof gloves for step #2, but nobody bothered.
However, people also tend to stab themselves in the hand as they attempt to use the knife tip to remove the avocado pit.
They’re not doing it right. You don’t stab the pit with the point of the blade, it’s more like a chop.
Of course, you could just use a spoon to remove the pit. Or I saw another variant where you push it out from the “back” of the side its stuck in once cut in half, no tool needed beyond the initial halving
Read the lines before that – or at least read the “also” to notice stabbing is a secondary injury.
Mostly: just put the avocado down! ERs feel the need to warn about how common an accident this is, so why tempt fate?
People lose their grip on the avocado and accidentally slice their palms or fingers, doctors have warned. When this happens, there’s a high likelihood of people accidentally severing their nerves or tendons. However, people also tend to stab themselves in the hand as they attempt to use the knife tip to remove the avocado pit.
From the Sun:
Wolfe recommended holding an avocado down on a cutting board and slicing into it with the dominant hand, cutting around the fruit at the equator, then rolling it halfway over and cutting again, according to CBS New York.
¯\_(ツ)_/
Step 2 should be: Put the side with the seed DOWN skin-side down, and lightly whack the long sharp edge of the knife into the seed without risking your hand. If you’re afraid of the avocado escaping, hold one end, but don’t put your whole palm directly in the line of cut. A lot of people wind up in the ER because avocado seeds are slippery and may send the blade askew, or just because they missed. Twist to pop out the seed, and whack the handle on the edge of your trashcan to dislodge it into the trash.
I worked in the ED for a decade and this is very true. Avocado injuries might be the most common non allergic good injury. I do mine like this guy says. Usually 3 or 4 a day. I only use butter knives to cut them and the wacking the seed still works. I then take the knife and make either slices or grids in the fruit while it is in the peel and use a spoon to scoop out the pre cut flesh
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Wait, what? Peel avocados? Just why?
But then again, I grew up eating ripe, if not nearly overripe avocados, the kind whose flesh would turn into mush if you try to grab them. So, yeah, I would just slice the avocado in half (going around the pit), remove the pit, and then scoop out the flesh.
Using “≈” and “≠” sign on internet text.
These are literally long press options on the “=” key.Gee, how did I ever live without knowing that? Are you a mathematician?
Using mathematical symbols ≠ mathematician
‽ is also important
Traditional chess literature has “!? = questionable move”. Is this the same thing?
there is no more perfect symbol than the interrobang
What about on desktop?
I hit the Compose key and then
=/gives≠, but I don’t seem to be able to enter≈. For that and more obscure characters I’d open Emacs and runinsert-char.It’s just compose ~ ~ (tilde tilde). The compose key sequences are often the most logical thing you can think of. Emacs C-x 8 is good but you have to try and guess the unicode name of the character.
≠≈∞
Wait what O.o
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!=
A physical keyboard has entered the chat
Compose key gang
Tried long pressing the “=” key. My keyboard is now egalitarian.
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Got some domed glass pot lids but the one you need broke? Simply invert the handle on the next size up and you get a universal lid that fits any pan! Condensation pools in the middle instead of dripping over the sides.
I just discovered the best hack, I changed the app layout on my home screen (android) to 5x5 what a game changer.
Getting a Shavette. The prospect of it being sharper than a straight razor makes you think that you will slice your face off, but in my experience at worst I had a nick or 2. The blades are dirt cheap and perform better than multi bladed razors.
A nice bonus is you have no plastic waste.
T-shirts take up much less space if you roll them. So do most other clothes, but it’s a huge gain with the T-shirts.
Yes! The ranger roll… https://www.artofmanliness.com/skills/how-to/how-to-pack-a-bag-using-the-ranger-roll/
Plus then it’s easier to tell what’s been worn!
Wait, you’re putting worn shirts back with the unworn?
Absolutely! I wear shirts until they’re smelly or I spill on me.
Jeans are good for weeks, but I only wear them as outside pants. Most days I’m just wearing PJs cuz I’m in my house.
When I’m traveling and only have one bag? Yep!
An easy way to wear out cloths is to wash them too often. Some rules I follow:
- If it’s smelly or visibly dirty, ignore all other rules and wash
- Rotate jeans and hang to air out. Cotton will naturally drop smells this way. Wash approx every 4 wears
- Sweaters/Jumpers can be worn many times if a shirt is underneath. Hang and rotate to air out
- If socks are merino wool, use nikwash and wear until they no longer smell like the wash (or get dirty). Lay out to air out. Any other material, wear only once
- Dress shirts, if not wrinkled, 3 times, hang to air (only if you wear t-shirts underneath)
- Wash t-shirts and underwear every time unless your backpacking. Basically, anything not wool that comes into constant contact with sweaty bits
Agree with all this except jeans. Store them in the freezer and wash them even less than you’d like to. They’re barely cool when you put them on…
unless it’s a July 17 heatwave and you wore them in 7000% humidity before tossing the salty, sweat-drenched denim into the freezer, in which case they’re like cold tortilla chips. Just wash them if you were swimming down the sidewalk in mid-summer muck.
Anyway. Makes them last at least a couple years longer.
This Lars Midwestern United Stateses!
This is originally he. Voilà moi. It was I.
freezer space is way to precious for that. I would have to buy a jeans freezer.
That’s more-or-less how I do except I don’t wear wool.
Merino wool is a very different material then “classic” wool. Backpackers like it because it wicks sweat and it’s naturally antimicrobial so the smells dissipate over night. It’s also not itchy due to the finer weave.
My favorite is Darn Tough socks. They’re merino wool, warm when they need to be and cool when not, and if you get them on sale (only way to buy them) they’re worth the price. Lifetime warranty, so if you get holes, you get new ones. Last socks you’ll ever buy.
How is this actually true? It’s the same amount of material? Is it about “same space, less wrinkle”?
Depends on whether you’re folding them in neat squares or hanging them from hangers. The rolls are useful for putting them in luggage, they can be compressed better that way
I do squares and if packing a suitcase, lay out dress shirts alternating, trousers alternating, put t-shirts/underwear in the middle (folded) and roll the trousers and then dress shirts around them. Keeps the wrinkles down.
Because T-shirts are somewhat irregularly shaped when folded. If you stack them with the same orientation, one side is higher than the other. You can alternate the way you lay them but that’s also easier with rolls.
Rolls allow you to take advantage of the efficiency of the honeycomb shape, as well.
Ahhh stacking the rolls vertically is something I hadn’t considered
I’ve started doing this when I noticed the space savings. First, I’ve done it with underwear, then with my undershirts. Now, only those shirts I need to be ironed (and immaculately folded) don’t get rolled.
Rinse your dishes after eating. This Kris6 the food shmutz from turning into a crust you’ll have to scour off and won’t wash off completely in the dishwasher.
Not exactly life hacks, but shortcuts that can help computer users:
- holding CTRL and pressing the arrow keys will move the text cursor whole words, instead of 1 character at a time. Also works with Delete and Backspace
- CTRL + Home will move the cursor to the start of the file, CTRL + End to the end of the file or textbox.
- Windows 10 users can use the Xbox bar to record their screens. By default, the shortcut is Windows button + Alt + R
For anyone that uses the sink to wash dishes, have a net/grid to cover the hole. Once it’s full, just pick it up and dump the contents in your food trash.
You can use any type of soap to create barriers that ants will avoid. If you plug a hole with some soap (try a piece of soap bar that’s wet/soft), the ants won’t reopen it.
Reading the Communist Manifesto.
This will sound stupid. But if you press your thumb onto the center of your hand, and then close the others fingers around and press, you’ll suppress your gag reflex.
This saved me when I had to take some medicine as big pills. Without this trick they often got stuck in my throat, and it could take me minutes to properly swallow. With the trick? No problems anymore.
Responding to every accusation with “Nuh uh!”
Duct tape your heart to someone else’s heart, double heart, so EASY. DOCTORS HATE!!!
