# Life hacks you figured out on your own **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041 "2023-03-11T20:36:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 21
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/410 "2023-04-23T20:45:30Z")
Grandpa Joey, what’s a CD? ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/411 "2023-04-23T21:07:43Z")
I always wear boots to work. Nobody knows what socks I’m wearing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/412 "2023-04-24T01:05:53Z")
I don’t care if other people see me wearing mismatched socks (though with white socks, it’d be tough to notice anyway). I care because mismatched socks are uncomfortable: The textures will be different, and that sort of asymmetry bugs me. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/413 "2023-04-24T03:29:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Grandpa Joey, what’s a CD? It’s a plastic MP3. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/414 "2023-04-24T13:53:46Z")
How did you do that? Someone walked off with all but two pieces of my set a decade ago and I’ve been making do with crap Walmart dishes since then. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/415 "2023-04-24T14:44:55Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > > [@Joey\_P](#): > > > > If you’re taking apart something with lots of screws, do it on a towel, or even the carpet. That’ll keep the screws from rolling away. I learned that trick back in high school when I used to play with gas RC Cars, but I still use it anytime I’m taking anything apart that has parts that can roll away. > > Sage advice. It usually works great for me, as long as I can do it all in one shot. If can’t/don’t, when I come back later and absent mindlessly grab the rag/towel to wipe off my hands, only when I hear the _tinkety tick tick tink_ of all the hardware being dropped/flung all over will I realize what a dumb ass I can be some times. Someone gifted me a pair of gun storage/hiding magnets. Really powerful with a strong adhesive back, and about the size of a cellphone. I couldn’t think of any guns I wanted to stick on the walls, so I repurposed them. One goes above my garage worktable, for any project with small screws/parts. The other is affixed to the inside rear of my pickup’s bed, just next to where the cooler is mounted and beside the attached bottle opener (everyone has these, right?). It’s close enough and powerful enough that just-opened beer bottle tops zip over and attach themselves. After getting home from fishing/camping/etc., I can scrape them all into a bag for disposal. I wish there were some substance that attracted the empty beer bottles, but no one seems to have invented it yet. Magnets might work for beer _cans_, but I wouldn’t want to appear redneck. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/416 "2023-04-24T15:19:15Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Magnets might work for beer _cans_, but I wouldn’t want to appear redneck. Actually, beer in cans is preferred by most beer connoisseurs. Of course, whether you have cans or bottles, the proper way to enjoy beer is poured into the appropriate style glass. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/417 "2023-04-24T15:27:37Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Actually, beer in cans is preferred by most beer connoisseurs. Of course, whether you have cans or bottles, the proper way to enjoy beer is poured into the appropriate style glass. I know (was at a nice soiree Friday with fancy canned beers n such). I was just clowning around. At first I tried to come up with clever wording about the gun-on-the-wall as art, something about displaying examples of preferred after-dinner weapons of the Houstonian tribes of the early 20th century, but it wasn’t working. I need to outsource my humor some days. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/418 "2023-04-24T15:36:39Z")
You can also buy, for a couple of bucks, a metal bowl with magnetic base that you can use to catch bolts, screws and nuts as you’re working on a project. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/419 "2023-04-24T18:03:48Z")
Go to Google on your smartphone, click the little camera icon on the right of the search bar and it should activate your camera. Take a photo of your plate or bowl and you should get hits to identify/replace. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/420 "2023-04-24T18:27:42Z")
Try [www.replacements.com](http://www.replacements.com) I managed to fill in missing pieces of my grandmother’s flatware set from the 1940s using them. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/421 "2023-04-24T18:35:42Z")
Yes, that’s where I got mine! ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/422 "2023-04-24T18:39:56Z")
I don’t know how they do it. They seem to have every pattern ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/423 "2023-04-24T23:31:14Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Magnets might work for beer _cans_, but I wouldn’t want to appear redneck. Drink cans are usually aluminum, not steel. You can repel aluminum with an electromagnet, if you do it right, but there’s not much you can do with aluminum with a permanent magnet. ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2023, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/424 "2023-04-25T02:01:15Z")
Those little button batteries…like in hearing aids and automotive key fobs, which are odd-sized and/or expensive…can be recharged with the common and accessible 9 volt battery and a paper clip. Put the button on the 9 volt…positive to positive…and arc the wire of the paper clip from the negative 9 volt terminal to the negative side of the button, until the button gets hot. Let cool, and repeat until button no longer noticeably gets hot. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2023, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/425 "2023-04-25T02:08:35Z")
Apart from Guinness, do many beer cans have a device to make it more similar to draught (tap)? Why not? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2023, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/426 "2023-04-25T03:11:09Z")
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout has a widget. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2023, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/427 "2023-04-25T03:36:06Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > Those little button batteries…like in hearing aids and automotive key fobs, which are odd-sized and/or expensive…can be recharged with the common and accessible 9 volt battery and a paper clip. > > Put the button on the 9 volt…positive to positive…and arc the wire of the paper clip from the negative 9 volt terminal to the negative side of the button, until the button gets hot. > > Let cool, and repeat until button no longer noticeably gets hot. YGBSM. Sounds like a man-hour’s work for 35 cents of benefit. FYI hearing aid batteries are lithium-air. Which are not really effectively rechargeable above a very low level. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2023, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/428 "2023-04-25T03:46:31Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > Those little button batteries…like in hearing aids and automotive key fobs The batteries in the hearing aids that I’ve seen are tiny, last less than a week, and are free at the store where the hearing aids are sold. The batteries in every key fob I’ve had are about the size of a nickel, and there’s usually two of them in a fob, and they usually last a couple of years. I just replaced the batteries in my Ford Edge fob, and the package of two cost me about six bucks. I wouldn’t ever consider recharging either of these batteries. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2023, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041/429 "2023-04-25T03:56:24Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > Those little button batteries…like in hearing aids and automotive key fobs, which are odd-sized and/or expensive…can be recharged with the common and accessible 9 volt battery IME the little button/disc batteries are cheaper than big ol’ 9-volts. YWMV. (Your Walmart May Vary.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-hacks-you-figured-out-on-your-own/981041.md?page=22)