# Brilliant little ideas **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970 "2013-08-23T14:44:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/41 "2013-08-24T05:56:11Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > So why put your glasses in your shoe? Because if we’re not sleeping in our regular bed, we may not have a nightstand or some suitably out of the way place to leave our glasses and the last thing you want is your camping buddy getting up in the middle of the night to pee and breaking your lens 2 days into your weeklong boundary waters trip. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/42 "2013-08-24T06:41:25Z")
> [@Hockey\_Monkey](#): > > [100 Life Hacks](http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/100-life-hacks-that-make-life-easier.html). I love little tips like this and you can google up a tone of them. > **[Shortpacked! - Blog](https://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=1911)** > > Shortpacked! is a webcomic about people who work in a toy store and tell jokes about Batman. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/43 "2013-08-24T12:48:42Z")
All the locking routines remind me of a new habit I’ve developed. It started after a memorable layover in Dallas, when I accidentally left my suitcase on the tram. Amazingly I made my connecting flight, but it was so traumatic, I started a new behavior because of it. Every time I leave an area, I pause and glance back, surveying for any items I might have forgotten to bring. It takes about a second, but it can prevent a lot of headaches (and running, and frantically calling airport security). I really like the life hack linked above that tells you to do something unique when you lock your door before leaving on a trip, so you remember you really did it! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/44 "2013-08-24T12:59:27Z")
This may be for Aussies only, as we have $1 and $2 coins. When your pocket, or purse, is full of them, buy something you need at Coles or Woolies, go through the automatic checkout and just chuck all the coins in and let the machine work it out. You will get rid off all your shrapnel . Just make sure you have enough notes to cover any shortfall. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/45 "2013-08-24T13:29:24Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > This may be for Aussies only, as we have $1 and $2 coins. When your pocket, or purse, is full of them, buy something you need at Coles or Woolies, go through the automatic checkout and just chuck all the coins in and let the machine work it out. You will get rid off all your shrapnel . Just make sure you have enough notes to cover any shortfall. We have $1 and $2 coins here too (Canada). ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/46 "2013-08-24T13:33:10Z")
These are not novel ideas I have come up with, obviously. Just some simple computer-related tips that I use on a daily basis: 1. The folks I work with still use the pull down menus to cut, copy, and paste. I am the only one who uses the shortcut keystrokes to perform these functions (Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C, and Ctrl-V, respectively). It saves me a lot of time, plus they think I’m a genius. 😛 2. When coworkers copy and paste text into MS Word, they spend the next 10 minutes fixing the formatting, which can be quite frustrating. They do not understand that there are a couple ways to paste the text without the formatting. One method is to select “Keep Text Only” on the little popup icon that shows up after you’ve pasted the contents. But I don’t like this method, since it often takes a lot of time & resources to paste everything in the first place. Instead, I copy everything _in_ to Notepad, immediately cut it _out_ of Notepad, and then paste into MS Word. Works every time. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/47 "2013-08-24T13:49:39Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > … > > 1. The folks I work with still use the pull down menus to cut, copy, and paste. I am the only one who uses the shortcut keystrokes to perform these functions (Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C, and Ctrl-V, respectively). It saves me a lot of time, plus they think I’m a genius. 😛 > > … I remember when my teacher was trying to do something on a computer that involved copying a large portion of text. She was trying to highlight the entire text to be copied. I reached onto the keyboard and hit Ctrl-A and highlighted the whole thing. She thought I was a genius. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/48 "2013-08-24T14:07:03Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I remember when my teacher was trying to do something on a computer that involved copying a large portion of text. She was trying to highlight the entire text to be copied. I reached onto the keyboard and hit Ctrl-A and highlighted the whole thing. She thought I was a genius. 😃 Yep, Ctrl-A is a good one, too. When I do the copy-paste thing in/out of Notepad, I simple remember **VAX** (which is easy to remember if you were a computer geek in the 1980s). After copying text from someplace (highlight the text then Ctrl-C), I open up Notepad and quickly do the following: Ctrl-V Ctrl-A Ctrl-X and then I paste into MS Word or whatever. It takes less than 5 seconds and eliminates a lot of grief. I do this so often throughout the day that it has become automatic. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/49 "2013-08-24T16:21:34Z")
This might be a good time to remind people of my [Life Hacks Album](https://picasaweb.google.com/102844392150412393724/201305LifeHacks?authuser=0&feat=directlink), including most of the 100 life hacks and others I’ve come across. Solve problems like: How do you prevent your dog peeing in the closet? How to prevent your cat from unrolling toilet paper? What can you use if you don’t have a cake mixer? How to get the best price on plane tickets? How to get rid of door-to-door salesmen? My favourite tip, not in the list, is if you set custom ringtones for important contacts, and set a silent sound as your ringtone, your phone will only ring for those contacts. Works best if you can set custom SMS tones and vibrate patterns too. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/50 "2013-08-24T19:37:43Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > If I’m sleeping in a strange place, I put my glasses inside my shoe. > Can’t lose them, can’t go out without them, protected from casual accidents. This reminds me of a trick from my traveling days: whenever I stayed at a youth hostel that didn’t have a locker (or had one but I didn’t want to pay for it) I would put my wallet and passport inside the pillowcase, underneath the pillow. I figured no one could easily steal them without pulling the pillow out from under me and waking me up. > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > These are not novel ideas I have come up with, obviously. Just some simple computer-related tips that I use on a daily basis: > > 1. The folks I work with still use the pull down menus to cut, copy, and paste. I am the only one who uses the shortcut keystrokes to perform these functions (Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C, and Ctrl-V, respectively). It saves me a lot of time, plus they think I’m a genius. 😛 > > 2. When coworkers copy and paste text into MS Word, they spend the next 10 minutes fixing the formatting, which can be quite frustrating. They do not understand that there are a couple ways to paste the text without the formatting. One method is to select “Keep Text Only” on the little popup icon that shows up after you’ve pasted the contents. But I don’t like this method, since it often takes a lot of time & resources to paste everything in the first place. Instead, I copy everything _in_ to Notepad, immediately cut it _out_ of Notepad, and then paste into MS Word. Works every time. Yes, computer shortcuts are great little time savers. My favorite that few people know about is that, when you’re typing, if you hold down Ctrl when you backspace, it will delete the entire previous word, not just the last character. Also if you hold Ctrl and then the left or right arrow key it jumps by word. This makes it a LOT faster to edit your writing. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/51 "2013-08-24T21:36:47Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > 1. When coworkers copy and paste text into MS Word, they spend the next 10 minutes fixing the formatting, which can be quite frustrating. They do not understand that there are a couple ways to paste the text without the formatting. One method is to select “Keep Text Only” on the little popup icon that shows up after you’ve pasted the contents. But I don’t like this method, since it often takes a lot of time & resources to paste everything in the first place. Instead, I copy everything _in_ to Notepad, immediately cut it _out_ of Notepad, and then paste into MS Word. Works every time. Or (my way), assign a keyboard shortcut (in Word) to “Paste Text Only.” So you copy your text from wherever you’re getting it, then ALT-P (for example), and you’ve pasted in unformatted text, the same way you would have if you’d pasted it into Notepad first, and then into Word. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/52 "2013-08-25T15:47:17Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > Or (my way), assign a keyboard shortcut (in Word) to “Paste Text Only.” So you copy your text from wherever you’re getting it, then ALT-P (for example), and you’ve pasted in unformatted text, the same way you would have if you’d pasted it into Notepad first, and then into Word. I use the Notepad trick all the time, but this is even better! Another lifehack I just realized I use all the time: as soon as the dishwasher is unloaded, I put soap in the dispenser and close it. It’s a clear signal that the dishwasher is accepting dirty dishes, not storing clean ones, and it streamlines the dish-doing process later. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/53 "2013-08-25T15:58:13Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Need some help from a government office or customer service or from a doctor’s office or whatever, and know that the response might not be all that good/fast/what you need? > > ALWAYS call on a Friday, late afternoon - and be the most cheerful person you can be on the phone. The person answering the phone is most likely in a good mood (weekend just about to start!) and they are more inclined to be friendly, especially if you sound like a fun, nice person! Plus they will push your paperwork to Monday anyway, so they are not actually going to have to do anything with it yet anyway! Works 90% of the time - even at the DMV (if they are open on Fridays…). > > Goes without saying, NEVER call on a Monday morning… Another good trick is to call 10 minutes before lunch, if you know when that is in advance. I’ve done this many times on purpose 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/54 "2013-08-25T19:30:32Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > If I’m sleeping in a strange place, I put my glasses inside my shoe. > Can’t lose them, can’t go out without them, protected from casual accidents. Along the same lines, when I sitting on the floor and I have a drink but no/inconvenient table access, I put the glass in my shoe, so it doesn’t get knocked over and spilled on the carpet. Since my living room has no couch or coffee table, this is quite handy. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/55 "2013-08-26T16:47:28Z")
For the Notepad pasters, there’s a sweet little free program called [PureText](http://stevemiller.net/puretext/) out there that’ll remove the formatting for you, taking out the Notepad middleman. And you can set up the shortcut to whatever you want - default is the Windows key + V, really really similar to CTRL + V for pasting. Check it out; it’s awesome. I’m not involved with it in any way, just a happy customer. ---
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/56 "2013-08-28T13:49:50Z")
Three ideas that I’m eternally grateful to fellow Dopers for mentioning : 1. Charcoal chimneys for starting your grill. 2. Homemade foaming soap. By mixing it with water, our 64 oz. bottle of liquid hand soap will probably last for decades. 3. Correctly finding the back of a T-shirt in the dark by feeling for the thicker area of the seam in the collar. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/57 "2013-08-28T14:00:06Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > More for the woodwrorkers here but I came up with a simple Jig for making 4 point splices as you might see on a pool cue. It allws me to use my tablesaw instead of a router. I built a simple ramp at the desired angle I then cut the ramp in half rolling the right side back on top of the existing ramp and glued it in place. This gave me the compound angle I need to just feed my stock through. Could you elaborate on this? I’m not following, and I’m all about jigmaking. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/58 "2013-08-28T21:15:21Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Along the same lines, when I sitting on the floor and I have a drink but no/inconvenient table access, I put the glass in my shoe, so it doesn’t get knocked over and spilled on the carpet. Since my living room has no couch or coffee table, this is quite handy. I live in an area of very high humidity. Even indoors with the AC running, this would result in a very wet shoe!☹ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/59 "2013-08-29T05:16:50Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Exactly what I was thinking . . . which leads to something I do: Always turn your shoes over and shake them out, before putting them on. I started doing this when one of my former cats left a little “gift” in my shoe, a not-quite-dead mouse.:eek: That’s a lesson I don’t need to learn twice. I do this too from years of living in basement apartments and getting the odd bug in my shoes. It’s a habit now; I wipe off the bottom of my socks and dump out my shoes to prevent getting any little pebbles in my shoes. > [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > All the locking routines remind me of a new habit I’ve developed.\ My car locking routine (developed after turning off the car, putting the key in my jacket pocket, getting out, throwing the jacket in the car, and then locking the door) is to keep the car keys in my hand after I turn off the car until I’m out of the car and the doors are locked. I keep dental floss in three or four different places in house - I floss every night while watching tv. You can use a chopstick or toothpick for putting in a hole with a screw that is stripped. I have four pairs of cheap scissors in the house in four different rooms so I’m not searching the entire house for a pair of scissors. I put my wedding rings, watch and glasses in my purse, and put my purse on my shoes beside my bed in hotel rooms at night so I can grab everything at once if we have to evacuate quickly. I say “stove OFF!” out loud (often in a screechy voice) when turning it off before going out so I will remember that I’ve turned it off. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970/60 "2013-08-29T10:31:13Z")
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve actually started using checklists (don’t laugh). Senior moments can really mess up a long trip. They aren’t long and detailed, just the important or safety items. Some are actually laminated sheets, and some are memorized. Examples: MMPG (I think of it as “M-squared-P-G”). This is my leaving for work mantra: **M** usic, **M** edicine, **P** hone, **G** lasses. CCEB (C-squared-E-B). This for hooking up trailers: **C** hains, **C** oupler, **E** lectric, **B** reakaways. I actually have a pair of laminated checklists for boating (one in the truck, one in the boat). They have the steps that, if forgotten, could be expensive or dangerous. (Lower top before backing out, drain plug is in, drive raised/lowered, hatch locked, etc.) I keep a travel\_list document on my computer. It enumerates everything I might need for any type of trip: weekend outings, camping, hunting, airport… it’s all on there. When packing, I line thru all the unnecessary items with a magic marker. The remaining items are marked thru with one line when packed, and a second line when they’re actually in the car. Lots of key suggestions above. My truck has two types of keys. I have a door-only key in a magnetic box, stuffed deep inside a portion of the frame underneath (unlikely to be found unless you know it’s there). I can use it to open the door and find my spare ignition key waaay up under the carpet in back (you have to lift out the rear seat to get to it). Very difficult to get to, but I tend to get way out in the boonies, and a lost key could be disastrous (where I hunt, there is often no cell coverage). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-little-ideas/666970.md?page=4)