# Your life-hacks (formerly known as tips & tricks)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 15, 2024, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267 "2024-07-15T12:59:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/1 "2024-07-15T12:59:58Z")
I am sure we had a lot of those tips & tricks threads before, but they are:
a.) fun
b.) quite inclusive so all can take part
I go first:
I quite often cut PET plastic bottles (think: Coke) horizontally some 15cm from the top … et voilá …
instant free funnel…
[ ](https://content.instructables.com/F81/JZ3U/IC7HNM69/F81JZ3UIC7HNM69.jpg)
I often do that, even as we actually do have funnels (which are always misplaced) … and I can tailor-make a funnel to my specific needs, e.g. a wide mouth bottle to funnel marmelade with chuncks of fruit that would clog a regular funnel.
so - what have you got …?
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### Author:  [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/2 "2024-07-15T16:01:40Z")
When walking in from the parking lot in Walmart or the like, I grab an empty grocery cart from the corral and push it to the store. I’ve found that cars rushing through the lot will give a wider berth to a scratchy metal cart than to a soft squishy human. Bonus, if the chosen cart is annoyingly misaligned and doing a “My Friend Flicka” imitation, I’m aware of it from this test run and can trade it for a better one inside.
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### Author:  [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/3 "2024-07-15T17:27:11Z")
The easiest and most effective emergency lighting solution, by far, is a good LED flashlight pointed at the ceiling.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/4 "2024-07-15T17:40:19Z")
> [@Al128](#):
>
> I quite often cut PET plastic bottles (think: Coke) horizontally some 15cm from the top … et voilá …
>
> instant free funnel…
🤯
How have I never heard of this before???!
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/5 "2024-07-15T17:41:35Z")
> [@pullin](#):
>
> When walking in from the parking lot in Walmart or the like, I grab an empty grocery cart from the corral and push it to the store. I’ve found that cars rushing through the lot will give a wider berth to a scratchy metal cart than to a soft squishy human.
I do the same thing. Plus, I feel like the cart is body armor.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/6 "2024-07-15T17:46:17Z")
I’ve posted this before, but my dish drying rack is a vinyl-coated steel wire shelf (like the closet kind) mounted up above the sink between the 2 cabinets on either side of the sink. Saves on counter space and out of the way. I mounted a 2nd shelf higher up for jars of dried food storage, and because I can see between the wires, I don’t forget what’s up there.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/7 "2024-07-15T17:55:47Z")
Slightly different but just as effective: a one-liter bottle with the bottom cut off makes a deep funnel that’s less likely to splash if you’re filling something way down deep in the engine block. Our A/C unit has a fill port for bleach or vinegar but it’s way _over there_ and has a pipe or two that makes it hard to pour. Beware all the liquid is out before you retract the funnel.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/8 "2024-07-15T18:04:24Z")
> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> I’ve posted this before, but my dish drying rack is a vinyl-coated steel wire shelf (like the closet kind) mounted up above the sink between the 2 cabinets on either side of the sink.
Excellent idea. I’m going to implement this.
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### Author:  [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/9 "2024-07-15T18:41:39Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> Our A/C unit has a fill port for bleach or vinegar
I’m pretty obsessed by bleaching the hell out of everything – are you telling me I can now bleach _the air_?
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/10 "2024-07-15T18:46:43Z")
This is common in [Finland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dish_drying_cabinet).
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### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/11 "2024-07-15T19:03:06Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> Slightly different but just as effective: a one-liter bottle with the bottom cut off makes a deep funnel that’s less likely to splash if you’re filling something way down deep in the engine block. Our A/C unit has a fill port for bleach or vinegar but it’s way _over there_ and has a pipe or two that makes it hard to pour. Beware all the liquid is out before you retract the funnel.
Funnel (variante 3):
if you need to side-fill something (e.g. the gas tank in your car) but dont have one of those special funnels with accordeon spout, again, a pet bottle comes to the rescue:
Jam the mouth of the bottle into the tank-intake, make a mental note of what side-part of the bottle bottom you need to cut away, and then vertically fill the now diagonally sitting bottle.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/12 "2024-07-15T19:12:39Z")
If you wash the razor blades then dry them immediately ( use a hair dryer on low) they will last a _long_ time. It isn’t the course hair that ruins blades-it is the rust.
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### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/13 "2024-07-15T19:14:58Z")
plastic ketchup/mostard/mayo bottles:
once empty, cut them in half and you’d be surprised how much of the good stuff you can still spoon out (and that would go to waste, otherwise)
aahhh …
and those wooden kebab skewers, when feathersticking them, make for a great hair-retrieval-device to get long hair-“bunnies” out of your bathroom sink (father of 3 teenage girls ;-).
[ ](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/kqEcVip9hpLWv1rISK6SD_muYODBEVTff2Xh3BcfCAE-SBddM9L7CEiTTvzpujhYsrV1_rCnUHM2gN2GKNrx7Bn72uBAPXulezfoYAY)
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### Author:  [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/14 "2024-07-15T19:23:04Z")
We need a second picture that shows how well that feathered stick actually works, having de-glogged a sink.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/15 "2024-07-15T19:28:43Z")
And in probably in Duluth too.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/16 "2024-07-15T19:35:47Z")
> [@Al128](#):
>
> I quite often cut PET plastic bottles (think: Coke) horizontally some 15cm from the top … et voilá …
>
> instant free funnel…
That reminds me of a mosquito-fighting trick I learned-- cut the funnel-shaped top off, fill the remaining container with a mix of yeast, warm water and sugar. then put the inverted top into the container. Place a few of those strategically around your yard. Mosquitoes will detect the carbon dioxide given off by the yeast, fly into the container, and won’t be able to find their way out.
I have a large yard, and tried this one Summer with about a dozen of the things throughout the yard. It seemed to work really well for awhile, but you have to regularly replace the yeast water, and I didn’t keep it up.
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### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/17 "2024-07-15T19:50:07Z")
> [@Toxylon](#):
>
> We need a second picture that shows how well that feathered stick actually works, having de-glogged a sink.
sorry to say, I misread you post, and de-glocked the sink, to predictable results:
[ ](https://magicman.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/basin-repair-before01.jpg)
.
.
on the upside:
no hairy mess this time!
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### Author:  [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/18 "2024-07-15T19:52:42Z")
Thanks for the pic, but I was really going for a joke here: who would want to see hair fished out of a sink?
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### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/19 "2024-07-15T19:54:07Z")
> [@solost](#):
>
> That reminds me of a mosquito-fighting trick I learned-- cut the funnel-shaped top off, fill the remaining container with a mix of yeast, warm water and sugar. then put the inverted top into the container. Place a few of those strategically around your yard. Mosquitoes will detect the carbon dioxide given off by the yeast, fly into the container, and won’t be able to find their way out.
makes a lot of sense (CO2 wise)… I am thinking if that could be a last-ditch-bedroom solution for the pesky suckers flying around at 3 a.m.
Anyone willing to test this? (FWIW: we are in full winter here 😉 )
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-life-hacks-formerly-known-as-tips-tricks/1004267/20 "2024-07-15T20:24:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> This is common in [Finland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dish_drying_cabinet)
Very cool! I like mine even better because it doesn’t block the light from the window behind it.
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