I’ve used quick dry socks and underwear that I would take camping with me at Le Mans and other places. You can wash them in a camping wash bag (garbage bags are substitutes but not as sturdy as camping wash bags). I had to stop wearing the underwear though as my skin reacts to exposed elastic. We would just go to an airbnb with a washing machine to do laundry and continue our little vacation after the race.
I had a similar one in college. Sold someone something for a few hundred bucks.
He never did pay me back and while I didn’t forgot about it, I never gave it much thought either. I didn’t hold it against him or really care all that much about it. But about a decade later, he finally got a facebook account, found me and messaged me about it.
Of course, that was 10 years ago and he still hasn’t paid me back, but the fact that he even sent that message means something.
When I graduated, and moved across the country, there was another student who had admired my bicycle, so rather than pay to move it, I told him, “Take it, pay me what you think it’s worth, whenever you have the money.” Cut to: 25+ years later, I run into him at a professional deal, never having heard from him after giving him my bike. Not a word gets mentioned, but he insists on picking up the check for our coffee and pastry. “No, let me give you a few bucks,” I say.
He gives me a stare and says “I’ll get it.” We both understood that he was assessing my bike and a quarter-century’s interest as a couple of bucks.
You can order boxes of them on Amazon, btw.
I had a friend who was in a really bad place. I lent him $2500. Then he died! I can’t really hold it against him.
I love tea with honey. Good, locally and sustainably made, raw honey. That last tablespoon of honey film that just WON’T come out of the nearly empty honey jar used to drive me nuts with the gratuitous waste of it all, especially since good locally and sustainably made raw honey is expensive.
Then I figured out that you can strain the hot tea from the teapot right into the nearly empty honey jar, swish it around to dissolve the last clinging honey remnants in the tea, and pour it into your teacup. Yes!
(Would work with teabag versions too: either steep the bag right in the honey jar or just pour plain hot water in the honey jar and then hot water-and-honey over the teabag in your cup.)
I no longer have anything but quickdry, in part because it holds up so well. I take 3 pairs when I travel, which is more than necessary but it’s nice to have a spare or two.
I don’t like the quick dry as much as cotton, but i have some pairs that I’ve owned for years, because they hold up so well, and i often use them when i travel.
A few things regarding keys (house, car, etc.). Much of this is only applicable to certain families/cases but I’ll share them anyway.
If you have aging/infirm relatives that require care, it’s really convenient to have their doors re-keyed to match your own house locks. This way I always have a key to their house, and so do my wife and kids. I know we could all just put an extra key on our respective keyrings, but mine’s getting too large already. It just works better this way and it’s always there.
In our 3-vehicle household, the prevalence and growing size of carkey “fobs” is becoming a hassle. Each of us has a personal set of keys (desk, office, etc.) and each car has its own fob. I bought several of those detachable keyrings which allow separating the car key from the rest, and installed the female half of them on all the car fobs (3). The male halves were put on everyone’s personal keyring. Now, anyone can select any fob out of the bowl and easily attach their personal keys to it (for the day). It keeps them as a single set and is more convenient than keeping up with two items. Like most families, we all have “our” vehicle, but sometimes it’s really more convenient to take another one temporarily.
Regarding the above “bowl” where we toss our keys after entering the house. As cars move inexorably to the “keyless entry and push-button start” models, they’re vulnerable to several electronic theft modes. Apparently these are becoming more common and it’s absurdly easy to read and repeat the key fob’s RF signal (from inside the house), such that the car believes the key is nearby, and allows itself to be opened and driven away. Obviously there’s a lot of “ymmv” regarding this risk, but we decided to avoid it. We replaced the old bowl with a Faraday box and now toss the key-fobs in there. Maybe overkill, but it’s just as easy as the bowl, and the box blocks all the RF from the key fobs when sitting on the kitchen counter. It’s roughly the size of a Kleenex box, with a lid that flips closed. (Look for “Faraday box” on Amazon)
Not sure if any of these qualify as actual “hacks”, but thought I’d include them anyway.
That’s a good idea. Wouldn’t work for us though. When mom was alive, a neighbor had a key, my cousin had a key and my brother.
I keep a key to my mothers house in my car. Work key and mail key too, but that’s all getting key cards, and I never actually go into the office anyway.
I did not figure this out on my own, but someone here on the board suggested this a while ago in some other thread and I got around to trying it last night - reheat cold/refrigerated pizza on the stove top in a pan. I put a couple slices of home-made pizza form the night before in a non-stick pan on medium heat, covered, for about 5-7 minutes until the top was warm and the cheese started to melt. The crust was cracker-crisp but not burned and everything was heated thru - awesome! Way better than waiting for the oven to heat-up. Thanks, SDMB!
I did the opposite of that. I rekeyed one of my exterior doors to use the same key as my parent’s house. I only mentioned it to my dad, so no one else is even aware. It’s nice to know that if I locked myself out, no one has to go looking for a key. They don’t realize it, but my parents, my sisters, my brother etc all have a key to my house.
I mentioned it to my dad only because I figured someone should know, that way if they think there’s a problem with me (not answering my phone, not showing up to work etc), they can get into my house without having to break anything.
You can, if you get honey in a glass jar. For some unfathomable reason, plastic jars used for honey are almost always polyethylene (#1), which can’t take the heat.
I just finally bought myself some cut-resistant gloves to help with this. You still have to be careful – don’t get cocky! – but if anything goes wrong, you have an added layer of protection. It’s saved me from minor cuts a few times already.
Cleaning prescription glasses.
I like to use those pre-moistened lens tissues. But sometimes it takes two or three tissues to get the glasses perfectly clean.
I finally discovered a solution: before using one of those tissues, I thoroughly clean my glasses using regular ol’ soap and water; I lather up my hands with soap, use my fingers to clean the glasses (including the frame, nose pads, and temples), and then rinse. I sometimes do this in the bathroom sink, but most of the time I simply bring them into the shower with me, and do it as part of my showering routine.
After my glasses are cleaned with soap and then rinsed, I clean them with a pre-moistened lens tissue. My glasses come out perfectly clean, and it only requires one tissue.
We solve this concern by having no keys to any of our doors. We never lock them.
I live in the same area as The Kia Boys. I’m not leaving anything unlocked.
ETA, when I hear people say “we live in [low crime/rich] city, we don’t even lock our doors” my reply is “and if I was a burglar, that’s exactly the neighborhood I’d hit”.
OTOH, I have an aunt that used to never lock her doors, but if you walked, or broke, into her house, you’d be greeted by a dozen or so dobermans scrambling to the door. Even if you don’t have a fear of dogs, it’s still a lot of big dogs that are super excited to see you.
I started doing that a long time ago, I think I’ve even mentioned it here a few times over the years.
However, I just got new glasses and looked at their website to see what they suggested for cleaning. They said not to use soap, laundry detergent(?) or other cleaning products as they can strip coatings off the lens. So I tried their method, which was just rinsing them under warm water and drying with the included microfiber cloth. My glasses weren’t that dirty yet, but it appeared to work well.
I’ve been using pre-moistened lens cleaners and dawn since forever, and, while I don’t know if it’s related, but the reason I was replacing my previous glasses was because the coating was coming off which made them feel like they were always dirty.
I know exactly what you’re talking about, the first wipe usually just kind of pushes/smudges the oily buildup around - they aren’t soaked with enough alcohol/cleaning solution to do the job solo. I wound up ordering these, which are both bigger and “wetter” than other lens wipes I’ve tried. No more pre-cleaning required! One and done.
I lived in a house with vaulted ceilings that were something like thirty feet above the floor. One night that room’s smoke alarm battery started dying…
I went out and bought a huge extensible ladder that morning.