13 Tips on Everyday Life That Our Parents Didn’t Teach Us

We never stop discovering new things about life — that’s the beauty of it. You may have gone decades without knowing some tricks that could make things easier or less time-consuming, but worry not, other people are nice enough to share their findings with everyone.

Bright Side wants to present a compilation of tips that we incorporated into our daily lives as soon as we learned them. Maybe you will find them useful as well.

1. If you don’t want to buy special sauce cups, you can just use regular muffin trays.

2. Make sure your house number is visible from the street.

It will help make deliveries easier and it’s better for emergency services in case they need to come to your house.

3. Wash your snapback with a balloon inside of it so it keeps the shape.

4. You can hang your shopping bags that don’t fit by hanging them on the back of the cart.

5. If your electricity goes down and you’re not sure if it’s just your apartment, look at the Wi-Fi connections list.

There will be no nearby Wi-Fi signals if the lights went out for everyone. This way, you will get your answer more easily than going out and asking your neighbors directly!

6. Always mention your allergies to the servers.

Instead of saying that you want a dish to be gluten-free, for example, specifically mention that you are allergic to gluten. Otherwise, the restaurant has the right to prepare your dish using the same equipment as the dishes prepared with gluten, so you might still get the ingredient you are allergic to in your food.

7. Put some coconut oil or any other skin-friendly oil on your hands after touching hot peppers so it won’t burn your eyes in case you rub them.

You can’t get red pepper off of your skin just by washing your hands with soap like you normally would because the capsaicin in it is fat-soluble. Use coconut oil (or even olive oil) instead and prevent unpleasant situations!

8. You can save some water and your time by turning your shower to hot water first thing.

The temptation to turn your shower knob to your desired water temperature is understandable, but it almost always turns out to be too cold because wasted cold water comes out first, and it may take time for hot water to heat up. So right off the bat, turn on hot water — this way, you will save time, water, and money.

9. If your dog is sniffing something while on a walk, instead of pulling the leash immediately, start counting down out loud for about 3 seconds.

Dogs can recognize human speech at least a little bit, so your dog will catch on to your countdown and stop sniffing before the countdown is over. This will prevent unnecessary stress for the dog from being pulled away out of the blue.

10. If you have trouble sleeping, using a humidifier could help.

There are a lot of factors that can cause restlessness, like, for example, dry air — especially during the winter. So using a humidifier could help you sleep better.

11. When you bring home a new plant, put it somewhere bright and don’t touch it for about a week.

In the wild, plants don’t move anywhere, so migrating from place to place is a shock to them. Give your plant some time to adjust by leaving it alone at first and letting it get used to the environment. There’s no need to water it straight away either if you don’t know for sure that it hasn’t been watered in the previous place. Putting plants through a lot of shocks at once (migration, re-potting, overfeeding, etc.) might cause them to wither.

12. Set 2 alarms in the morning — first a vibrating one, then an audible one.

Setting a vibrating alarm first will help gently pull you out of your sleep, and the second alarm with sound will make sure you are fully awake.

13. Brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand.

This way, you won’t brush your teeth too fast or press on them too hard. It’s also a good exercise for the non-dominant side of your brain, helping it develop.

Do you have a trick you can share? Do you already do some of the things we listed?