When it comes to navigating the nonstop, nauseating roller coaster that we call day-to-day life, it’s nice to have a little bit of help.
These hacks might not put a million dollars in your pocket or let you quit your day job, but they just might be life-changing in subtle ways.
Ultimately, we’re all in this together — so here’s a little help.
1. Mega Ziploc, engage!
It’s hard to always have the right sized Ziploc bag for every occasion. Fortunately, there’s more than one way to use one of these handy baggies. If you flip one inside out, you can attach it to another one.
2. When your laptop needs to chill.
Sometimes, my laptop sounds like a jet engine that’s about to take off. This is because of overheating. You can buy all kinds of stands to prop it up and improve airflow, but who needs stands when you’ve got forks?
3. There’s more than one way to use a level.
They’re useful for hanging pictures, but anytime you need to drill straight up or straight down, attaching a bubble level can be helpful to ensure that the hole you’re drilling isn’t out of whack.
4. Soft as the day you bought it.
If you have the willpower to keep a carton of ice cream in your freezer for long periods of time, try putting it in a big, sealed Ziploc bag.
It’ll prevent freezer burn and keep the ice cream nice and soft.
5. Elegant in its simplicity.
You can make a phone stand out of just about anything, but rather than using an old soda can or whatever, glasses (or, for those with perfect vision, sunglasses) do the job really nicely.
6. Take that, hotel curtains.
Hotel curtains never seem to close quite all the way, meaning the lights of the interstate outside will shine in all night long.
All you really need is a clip — like the one that’s usually found on clothes hangers in the hotel closet.
7. No more random nail clippings everywhere.
Even when you’re careful, it can be tough to corral your stray nail clippings when they fly off the clipper. Dead-simple solution: just put a little bit of tape on either side of the clippers. This changed the game for me.
8. Anything to keep garbage juice at bay.
There’s absolutely nothing worse than taking out your kitchen garbage, only to find that it’s leaking gross mystery garbage juice.
Putting scrap paper in the bottom of the bag when you change them is a great way to eliminate this gross problem.
9. Do people use real cookbooks anymore?
I digress. I do like to print recipes out to avoid getting a mess on my phone or laptop, and usually I tape them to a cupboard. This seems like a way simpler way to do things, though.
10. Finally, a use for that weird jeans pocket.
If your earbuds are constantly getting tangled, just separate them from your phone, put your phone in your regular pocket, and put the earbuds in the mini pocket. They’ll stay untangled and close at hand.
11. Re-think your cord box.
This solution just makes so much sense. When I eventually gather the courage to dive into my nightmarish box full of hopelessly tangled cords, I might just try this one out.
Then again, it may already be too late for my poor USB cords.
12. Eat fresh, eat smart.
Subway sandwiches are wrapped in about nine square feet of paper. For a less unwieldy and messy solution, just ask your friendly neighborhood sandwich artist to put your sub in one of the bags they usually use for cookies.
13. The toastmaster.
I don’t eat a ton of bread, and also don’t have a lot of counter space — therefore, I don’t own a toaster.
For people in a similar position, here’s a super easy way to toast bread for the rare time you’re hankering for a toasted sammy.
14. Stay put, Tupperware.
If you’re sick of your light Tupperware containers flying all over the dishwasher (and getting filled with piping-hot dishwater), you can use an upside-down dish rack to corral them.
Bonus: you’ll get a squeaky clean dish rack out of the deal as well.
15. Stop the drip-drip-dripping.
I’ve used this one myself. If you have a leaky faucet and haven’t had a chance to properly fix it, just tie a string around the faucet that extends to the drain. The water will slide down the string silently.
16. No peeking!
Gamers who do the splitscreen multiplayer thing will appreciate this. Seeing the other player’s screen can be distracting and even encourage cheating.
None of this is really a big deal — but if you’re absolutely not messing around, this is an option.