We at Smalljoys have been busy looking for the best tips and tricks to simplify and improve your everyday life. Here’s an awesome list of 20 life hacks that will teach you how to quickly dry your clothes, make your shoes waterproof, amplify your phone’s speakers, and much more!
1. Grow roses from cuttings
Here’s a great tip for growing roses from cuttings. Before planting, push the bottom ends of the cuttings into small potatoes. Moisture and nutrients in the potatoes will allow the cuttings to develop healthy roots.
2. Waterproof shoes
To turn your canvas shoes into waterproof ones, you need nothing but beeswax and a blow dryer. Spread beeswax all over your shoes. Next, use the blow dryer to melt the beeswax until you can no longer see it. Voila! Your waterproof shoes are ready!
3. Dry your clothes faster
If you don’t have a dryer and need to dry your clothes quickly, here’s what you can do. Place your wet clothing on a dry towel. Roll the towel with the garment inside. Pick it up, and twist it as tightly as possible to squeeze out the excess water. After you’ve drained the excess water, hang your garment on a hanger to fully dry.
4. Smelly shoes
If you have bad-smelling shoes, place a few dry tea bags inside each shoe to absorb the smell. If your shoes are not just smelly but also wet, fill them with a mixture of rice and baking soda and leave for a few days.
5. Tight shoes
If your new shoes feel too tight, here’s a way to stretch them. Stuff each shoe with wet newspaper as tightly as you can. Let the shoes dry, and then remove the newspaper.
6. Start a fire
Chips are not just a tasty snack. Fat, oil, and the chemicals in potato (or other) chips make them a perfect fire-starting material.
7. Find small lost items
Use your vacuum cleaner to find tiny items you’ve lost, such as earrings. Just cover the end of a vacuum cleaner with a stocking or pantyhose, and start your search. Check from time to time to see if the object you are looking for is already there.
8. Time-marked water bottle
Here’s a great way to keep track of your daily water intake. Draw lines on your water bottle with a marker pen, and then write the time beside the marked level. The marking will serve as a visual reminder for you to drink water, and it will help you achieve your daily water intake requirement.
9. Remove toilet bowl stains
Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl, and let it sit overnight. Then wash it with soapy water, and flush clean.
10. Unclog drains easily
Run hot water down the drain for a minute, and then sprinkle 1 cup of baking soda down the drain. Slowly pour 1 cup of vinegar down the drain. Flush one more time with hot or boiling water.
11. Clean the shower head
To clean your shower head or bathroom faucets, fill a plastic bag with white vinegar and secure it to the shower head with a rubber band. Allow it to soak in the vinegar overnight, and remove the bag. It will be as good as new!
12. Keep buttons from falling off
To keep your buttons in place, simply paint a bit of clear nail polish over the threads.
13. Body odor
If you forgot to put on deodorant and you don’t want to smell like you’ve been at the gym, cut a fresh lemon or orange into two halves and just rub it onto your skin. The body odor will disappear.
14. Amplify your phone’s speakers
Put your phone into a drinking glass or a bowl to boost the volume of its speakers.
15. Make ice last longer in a cooler
When you go to the beach and take your cooler with you, sprinkle salt on the ice so that it stays frozen for much longer.
16. Fresh breath
If you left home and forgot to brush your teeth or you ran out of toothpaste, chewing an apple can help with bad breath.
17. Citrus candles
Do you want your house to smell good for hours? Make an orange or a lemon candle, and its light and aroma will last a long time.
18. Open a stuck lid
You’ve probably heard numerous ways to open a stubborn jar lid. One of the most well-known and effective methods is to remove the lid using duct tape. But here’s what you can do if you don’t have duct tape on hand. Try running hot water over the lid for a minute or two, wipe down, and then open. You can also soak the lid in hot water to get a similar effect.
19. Wooden spoon trick
This old trick never fails. To keep your pot from boiling over, put a wooden spoon over the top of it. If it starts to boil up too high, the spoon will pop the bubbles and keep it from overflowing quickly.
20. Open a SIM card tray when an ejector tool isn’t around
Insert the small paperclip you bent earlier into the small pin hole opening in the SIM tray.