# Share your random, minorly useful tips and tricks.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 30, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863 "2005-03-30T01:23:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/101 "2005-04-01T07:10:58Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#):
>
> In my experience, roll control is more important than yaw control, if you have to choose.
Depends on the plane. C-150 VS Aero Star is a big difference. 🆒
---
### Author:  [@CowPatty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CowPatty)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/102 "2005-04-01T07:32:24Z")
When you first open a new package of coffee filters, take out the entire stack and turn it over, flipping it so the filters are “inside out”. Storing them that way makes it much easier to grab one filter at a time when making coffee.
---
### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/103 "2005-04-01T07:58:27Z")
Use an old shaving cream plastic cap as a soap dish in the shower. It keeps the soap from sitting in water and getting all yucky.
Francis with an I for hIm.
Frances with an E for hEr.
---
### Author:  [@Glassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glassy)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/104 "2005-04-01T16:09:09Z")
This is an incredibly well-known tip. I’m sure almost everyone knows it. I wouldn’t even bother posting it, except yesterday on the radio I heard some moron give the following idiotic tip:
[perky sunshiny voice] “To peel garlic quickly and easily, put the clove in the microwave for 15 seconds!” [/psv]
I yelled, “Are you kidding me!” at the radio. It makes me crazy to imagine some novice cook thinking that this is a good idea. You can get the garlic out of its peel a whole lot faster than that.
Like so: Place garlic clove on your cutting board. Rest the flat of your knife on top of the clove, holding the handle loosely with your left hand. Give the flat of the knife blade a firm, fast smack with your right palm, crushing the garlic. (Don’t do this with an itty-bitty paring knife, get a chef’s knife. If you’re hinky about smacking the knife, I suppose you you can use a pan or something to crush the garlic, but I’ve never cut myself doing this.) Remove knife and easily separate peel from the crushed garlic.
This takes 2 seconds, tops, and is actually rather fun, especially if you have lots of garlic to process.
---
### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/105 "2005-04-01T16:17:07Z")
You can get permanent marker off of a dry-erase white board by first going over the offending drawing with a dry-erase marker and then erasing.
---
### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/106 "2005-04-01T16:23:25Z")
For those who have never heard of [Heloise’s Helpful Hints](http://www.heloise.com/), a source of more tips and tricks like the ones in this thread.
---
### Author:  [@Walton\_Firm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walton_Firm)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/107 "2005-04-01T17:37:07Z")
To easily pull a wire through a cable duct, even when the duct already contains several wires and/or contains some nasty sharp bends:
What you need is a vacuum cleaner, an old audio cassette and a length of string. Hold the hose of the vacuum cleaner on one end of the cable duct, maybe propping a towel around it for a better fit. Feed the tape from the cassette into the other end of the duct. It will follow the air stream, neatly navigating any tight spots and bends in the duct, and end up in the vacuum cleaner hose. The cassette tape is not strong enough to pull copper wire through the cable duct, however, so you need to first pull the string through the duct with the tape, and then pull the wire through the duct with the string.
---
### Author:  [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/108 "2005-04-01T18:15:49Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#):
>
> In California, you can turn [bold]LEFT[/bold] on RED from a one-way street onto another one-way street.
If you use “Preview” you can avoid posting errors.
---
### Author:  [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/109 "2005-04-01T18:20:04Z")
Lots of lovely stuff here - even a few I’ve discovered independently. And I’m sure I have plenty to share - it’s just that I don’t tend to remember them until confronted with a situation where they’re required.
Still, one that hasn’t been mentioned - ever drink from a soda can with a straw? Oh, sure, some folks are content to just drink from the can, but straws can be handy. The problem is, the bubbles in the soda attach themselves to the sides of the straw and try to throw it out of the can. Easy solution : when opening the can, leave the pull-tab bent as far forward as possible without pulling it off. Use it as a little sconce for the straw. Holds it nicely in place.
---
### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/110 "2005-04-01T20:02:50Z")
> [@missbunny](#):
>
> You can buy those too, if you don’t want to make them - they are called “pettipants.” You’re right; they make walking in a skirt much more comfortable.
Thanks, [great tip](http://www.underworks.com/pettipants/). I had invented them more or less myself, as I hadn’t seen them in stores anywhere in Holland. Which is odd, with Dutch women being so practical and bicycling all the time and all.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Wing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Wing)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/111 "2005-04-01T21:03:35Z")
I discovered this tip after having Lasik surgery. When having to use eye drops, I used to do the tilt your head back with the bottle of drops poised over the eye, look up at the drop of solution, flinching and squinting while waiting for the drop…to…fall (and invariably ending up with most of it in my eyelashes). I now look in the mirror, gently pull down my bottom lid and pop the drops right inside. No more suspense, no more flinching and the drops go where they’re supposed to go. I’m not sure why I had so much trouble with drops before, considering I’d worn contacts for 30 years.
Another eye drop tip, passed on to me by an optometrist years ago: If you’re using eye drops that tend to leave a nasty aftertaste (since all those ducts and sinus and things seem to be connected…), gently pinch the bridge of your nose very close to the eyes and hold for a few seconds. It helps cut down how much of those drops you end up tasting.
---
### Author:  [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/112 "2005-04-01T21:14:27Z")
**Little Wing’s** reminded me of a tip from our pediatrician: When you are trying to put drops in a baby’s or child’s eyes, put the drop on the child’s nose, right by the inner corner of the eye. When she blinks the drop will run into the eye.
As the mother of a kid who gets conjunctivitis easily, I can testify that this works.
Another kid/baby one: The tolnaftate ointments sold for althlete’s foot and jock itch can help clear up diaper rash quickly.
---
### Author:  [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/113 "2005-04-01T22:01:22Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#):
>
> Similarly - if you’ve got onion or garlic odors on your hands, coffee grounds will eliminate the smell. If you’re like me, there’s probably some good soggy ones still in the filter from the morning pot. Scoop some out, rub 'em over your hands along with a little dish soap, and rinse. (You can use fresh grounds, too.) I make a kitchen hand soap out of melt-and-pour soap base, vitamin E oil and fresh coffee grounds - it works wonderfully.
Rubbing some coarse salt - kosher salt works for me - into your wet hands does the same thing in case you don’t have grounds available.
Someone earlier mentioned Chap=Stick to ease the red icki-ness around irritated nostrils, also some Carmex rubbed just under or around the nostrils will open those nasal passages nicely.
Dumping cat litter, or anything nasty into the garbage? Drop a layer of newspaper on top of it, this will help the odor from reeking you out of the house.
---
### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/114 "2005-04-01T22:08:59Z")
> [@cher3](#):
>
> Another kid/baby one: The tolnaftate ointments sold for althlete’s foot and jock itch can help clear up diaper rash quickly.
This reminded me of something: The tolnaftate ointments for athlete’s foot are _identical_ to the tolnaftate ointments for jock itch; BUT the price isn’t always identical, so buy whichever one is cheapest. That means you might end up using jock itch cream on your feet, but it doesn’t matter because they are the exact same stuff.
---
### Author:  [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/115 "2005-04-01T22:17:04Z")
> [@MisterThyristor](#):
>
> When talking on a phone in a noisy environment and you can’t hear well, put your hand over the mouthpiece. Your brain is perfectly capable of filtering out the noise in the other ear, it’s when the room noise is mixed in with what you want to hear that the brain can’t filter it out.
I expect it’s just me, but I’m having difficulty understanding this. The “noise in the other ear” \*\*is \*\* “the room noise mixed in with what you want to hear” , and I don’t understand how covering the mouthpiece affects what you hear. Is this a whoosh?
---
### Author:  [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/116 "2005-04-01T22:36:07Z")
> [@ianzin](#):
>
> I expect it’s just me, but I’m having difficulty understanding this. The “noise in the other ear” \*\*is \*\* “the room noise mixed in with what you want to hear” , and I don’t understand how covering the mouthpiece affects what you hear. Is this a whoosh?
No, “the noise in the other ear” isn’t mixed in with what you want to hear (the phone conversation), it’s just noise you’re trying to ignore for now (the TV, etc.). Covering the mouthpiece keeps the noise you’re trying to ignore in one ear and the noise you’re listening to in the other, thus making it easier to block out the former in your head.
---
### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/117 "2005-04-01T22:39:32Z")
Don’t put the medicine in your mouth first _then_ drink the water. Then you have to taste the nasty stuff. Get a half a mouthfull of water, tilt your head back, drop in the medicine and swallow. You barely ever taste a thing.
Instead of double knots, tie normally but go twice around the first loop. They stay tied, and they’re easier to untie than double knots.
---
### Author:  [@rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rabbit)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/118 "2005-04-02T05:48:32Z")
Regarding removing sweat stains (or other grease type stains for that matter), no one seems to have mentioned just applying a little bit of laundry detergent on the stain. Pour directly on the stain and rub it into the fabric. (I use liquid. I suppose with powder you’d want to make a paste of it first). I do this, then toss in with the rest of the clothes and head on down to the laundry. By the time I toss it into the machine, its had a chance to get into that stain, and invariably clothes come out stain free.
However, Im told that some articles of clothing can actually be STAINED by this process, so ymmv.
If you work with aquariums, you can buy silicone at most hardware stores that can be used on aquariums at a fraction of the cost of the stuff they sell in pet stores. (Where I live its $3 vs $20. Just read the label. Will say aquarium safe).
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2005, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/119 "2005-04-02T08:18:34Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#):
>
> Still, one that hasn’t been mentioned - ever drink from a soda can with a straw? .
One thing on that- the combo of plastic straws and diet soda seems to be something which makes a nasty taste to me- I have found dudes who don’t like Diet, but find that not using a plastic straw can make a difference.
Speaking of that- if you hate diet, but need to cut the carbs/calories- after about a fortnight to a month of a 100% switch to Diet- the sugar soda will then taste nasty and too 'syrupy", and the diet will taste “normal”. Hard to believe, but it really works.
---
### Author:  [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2005, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863/120 "2005-04-02T08:53:39Z")
I second the suggestions about using laundry detergent on driveway stains and on oily hands.
GO-JO or GOOP hand cleaners, the original kinds without pumice, take body oil stains off car armrests and windowsill upholstery. They also get tar off carpets and floor mats.
A burn remedy I learned years ago at Micky D’s was dill pickle juice. Ice was also good, but it was always handier for the grill guy or the fry guy to grab a pickle slice to slap on the burn than to go up front to the serving window or out back to the machine for ice.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863.md?page=5)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-random-minorly-useful-tips-and-tricks/296863.md?page=7)