Share your random, minorly useful tips and tricks.

In My Humble Opinion
181

As I have gotten real bad about leaving the lights on when I park the car:

Have spare battery (keep it charged using a cheap trickle charger) and jumbers in the trunk (along with those latex gloves I mentioned) - beats calling a wrecker, and, if you keep the spare charged, you can maybe install it the next time your main battery goes belly-up. So far, the $60 battery has saved me about $225 in tow-truck fees.

Oh yes, keep a flashlight in the glovebox, bungee cords and glass cleaner in the trunk.

And here’s one that might be considered unkind, but, as it is not entrapment, I have a clear conscience:

When driving long-haul, do so in the wee earlies - the drunks are home, the kids are in bed, and it’s just you and the pro truckers - and the state police.

For those wishing to exceed the speed limit: (not an endorsed practice):

STAY DOWN! - let another schmuck find the cops - take position in the no. 2 lane, going the speed limit - remember, no traffic - pretty soon some fool will blow by you in no.1. He/she is your bush-beater - stay about 2 miles behind him/her, and the cops will nab him - allowing you to continue your journey, at the limit, in lane 2.

And, since this has become entirely too common locally:

Yes, kids, your bodies also need nutrition - or you WILL pass out in a public place and inconvience a bunch of people.
If you must party 7/24 AT LEAST take the multivitamin/mineral/whatever - they will give at least a shot at staying conscious until you get home. Also note that these pills can zip right through an empty digestive tract, so have some fruit, cookies, anything bulky and ready to eat - have something in your stomach before taking the pill.

Mods - I have recently seen 2 kids (19-24, I’d guess) pass out in public. Their friends confirmed that they had not eaten recently, but had consumed various recreational drugs, This is not an endorsement of such activity, but a sincere hope that we will see fewer young adults dropping unconcious.

And to clean various surfaces: go to paint store, get either “Goof Off” or “Goo-Be-Gone” - these are mild solvents which will clean all kinds of crud (including dried latex paint) without damaging the stuff you’re cleaning.

182

A few kernels of popping corn in your various salts/saltlike seasoning dispensers will help prevent clumping.

183

Good one. This works with plain white rice too, which is less noticable in salt then poppingcorn is.

Salt attracts water like mad (hence the clumping, and that’s also exactly why salt is so useful to remove stains, as other posters have noted). So put a little salt in the jar with spices, when you don’t want the spices to become damp or go soft.
I put salt in the jar with whole nutmeg-nuts, and with broth-blocks (I don’t know the English word for them, the little brown tinfoilwrapped cubes one uses as a soup-base).

184

Two more threads like these.

185

I still don’t get it. :frowning: If the mouthpiece is for speaking into, why would covering it be of any use?

Is there some kind of echo of the background noise being picked up by the mouthpiece and heard in the listening ear, or something?

186

Yep. That’s it exactly. It’s much easier for your brain to filter the conversation from the noise if they’re coming into seperate ears. You know how, when you listen to music through headphones, you can tell which parts are being played into your right ear as opposed to your left? Same deal, only with words and noises rather than bass and keyboards.

187

If your toilet totally blocked, unbend a coat hanger, stick it down there and use it to chop up the stuff.

If you can’t get a new CD out of the tray, push down on the middle plastic knob with your thumb and the CD will pop out.

188

When showering keep the towel within reach of being inside your tub/stall.

When done, dry yourself INSIDE the tub/stall and work top down. Gravity does a lot of the work for you and this prevents my biggest pet peeve, sopping wet bathroom carpets.

Someone’s (or your own) dry socks will thank you.

189

I’m at a loss as to why anyone would carpet their bathroom.

Admittedly, my aunt apparently put astroturf in hers in the late 70’s. My family denies she was taking any recreational drugs. I remain unconvinced.

190

Cold floors during a midnight pee break, for one thing…

191

Actually, we have a rug over the tile, not carpet. I just assumed that’s what BwanaBob meant.

192

Ah! Here’s a tip for you from my Daddy:

When running radiant water heating in your floors, coil a few extra coils of tubing in front of each toilet. Your toes will remain nicely baked, even at 3 am on the crapper.

193

This may or not be true. Experiment. There will be a test.

I am told that if you’re on a phone conversation, and then pause, holding the hand set against your chest, to say something to someone else, whatever you say will be heard by the person on the phone.

E.g., To your office cohort: "This is the asshole we’ve been stringing along about a refund."

If this proves out, how many people have you alienated over the years? :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

194

Chronos with a time tip. Whodathunkit?

195

Right! Also, don’t just try to push stuff though when using a toilet plunger. Rapidly push the plunger up and down, so that it breaks up the clog.

196

Before you spritz lens cleaner on your glasses, let luke warm water gush over them — both sides — to wash off any small particles of grit, etc… This will help prevent scratches that could result if you simply spritz and then rub those little bits all over your lenses, even with a soft cloth.

And by the way…

Accoding to my optician, if you get the new scratch-resistant coatings on your lenses, you shouldn’t use hot water. It’ll wash away that coating.

197

Yet two more threads like this one.

198

It’s a known fact that a toddler can quadruple it’s weight at will. This is excellent advice.

199

X-ray, are you a doctor?

200

Don’t use a knife to peel ginger. The peel can easily be scraped off with a spoon, with less waste.