27 Unobvious Tricks Everyday Items Do

Next time you follow a recipe where you need to separate egg yolks from whites, try this. Peel a clove of garlic and rub your fingers with it. Carefully break an egg into a bowl. With your garlicky fingers, pick up the yolk. Voilà. You can now marvel at how perfectly it separates from the egg white.

If it’s egg-peeling time, there are two easy ways to do it. When cooking eggs, add a teaspoon of baking soda to the boiling water. This will make peeling eggs much easier. You can also place them under cold running water as soon as they’re ready. The eggshells will come off much easier. And you won’t burn your hands while peeling the eggs.

The sides of roads have sleeper lines for a very important reason. Their main function is to alert those drivers who doze off behind the wheel. When a car starts steering off the road, the tires go over the lines, and the sound wakes the driver up.

Those price tags and labels that come glued to your Tupperware are easier to remove than you might think. No need to waste hot water and soap trying to remove them. Take a hairdryer instead. Blow some hot air directly onto the tag for a minute or so. There you go: the label comes off at once.

White household appliances might get yellow with time. To make them white again, use this simple trick. Apply bleaching cream to the surface of an item. Wrap it in plastic and let it stay this way overnight. The next morning, check it out. It’ll be as white as when you first bought it.

When you buy a pack of cans, opening it might turn into a problem. You probably tear a hole in the plastic and try to squeeze a can out of there. But the bottom of cans was actually designed to make this part much easier. Grab a can and rub it over the top of another can from the pack. A circle, the exact size of a can, will be cut out. This way, you can easily remove the new can from the pack without destroying the entire thing.

Now, to the art of lime-squeezing. When you pick limes at the grocery store, you never know how juicy they are. And often, when you bring them home and squeeze them, almost no juice comes out. Try heating these citruses in a microwave for 30 seconds before cutting them open. You’ll see that the juice will come out much easier! But be careful — they’re going to be hot, and you don’t want to burn your hands.

If you’re hanging out with your friends and feel like listening to some music but don’t have a loudspeaker, there’s no need to worry. Place your phone in a cup or bowl. The sound will get louder instantly.

If you don’t have a hanger at hand but still need to hang your shirt, this trick is for you! Most dress shirts have a tiny loop on the back between the shoulders. And you can use it to hang your shirt.

How about the worst-case scenario: your phone is running out of battery, and you are running late. Try this simple trick: switch on airplane mode. Your phone will charge to 100% in no time.

You can run the sticky part of a Post-it note along your laptop’s keyboard. This will help remove tiny bits of food and dust that get stuck in between the keys.

Avoid putting really hot food into plastic containers. Hot plastic releases all kinds of toxic chemicals. And we don’t want our food to absorb that nasty stuff, right?

What can be better than a bubble bath in the evening? But the bubbles are not only pretty and smell nice. They also keep the water temperature hot for longer. This way, you can enjoy a long bath without it getting cold too quickly.

You got home craving a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. But your peanut butter now has two layers, and the oil is at the top. To avoid getting disappointed, next time, store a peanut butter jar turned upside down.

Your screwdriver and wrench can work together to remove that stubborn screw. Grab your screwdriver’s handle with the wrench, and use it to apply more force. This method will also help you reach more difficult areas!

There is a reason why your coffee stirrer looks like a straw. It has holes in it because it reduces the amount of plastic manufacturers have to use. Plus, they prevent the stirrer from floating. The holes in the stirrer get filled with coffee, which, in turn, makes it heavier.

And speaking of coffee, you should never buy the product that is more than 18 months old. Make sure to look at the “best before” date when buying it.

If you’ve ever had trouble with those classic salt and pepper shakers, the ones you may see in diners, I’ve got a trick for you. Instead of shaking your entire arm to try and get some salt out of the container, try rubbing the bottom of one container with the bottom of the other. Grab the salt and hold it so that the bottom of the container faces downward. Now, while holding the pepper shaker upright, rub the two bottom parts together, creating circular friction between them. After this, the salt will spill effortlessly!

After a long day of hiking, your shoes might smell funny. Well, I’ve got good news for you. Put dry tea bags inside your shoes and keep them in a dry place for a while. The tea bags will absorb bad smells and make your shoes dry.

If you’ve torn your flip-flop while taking a walk, there’s a way to save the day. But only if you have a bread clip with you. First, push the strap back into its hole. And then attach the bread clip to the bottom of the flip-flop strap. Here you go!

Your body needs a daily amount of vitamin C to boost your immune system. But oranges are a tricky fruit to peel. To avoid getting juice sprayed all over your face, start by cutting off both the top and the bottom parts of an orange. Then, cut the peel vertically. Hook your fingers under the opposite sides of the cut and open your orange!

If it’s difficult for you to figure out how much detergent you need to wash your clothes, here’s a tip for you. Usually, detergent caps come with markings that indicate the exact amount of liquid you should use per wash. It helps your detergent last longer.

Permanent markers are not as permanent as you might believe they are. I can prove it! Let’s say you used a permanent marker — thinking it was a regular one — to draw something on a whiteboard. Good news for you: you don’t need to throw the board away yet. There’s a way to save it!

Get a regular marker and use it to draw over the lines left by the permanent one. Let it sit for a while so that both markers blend in together. The thing is, the ink of the regular marker contains a solvent that dissolves the pigment the permanent marker contains. Now, take a paper towel and rub the whiteboard clean! The marker will come off easily.

If you need to peel peaches, use the technique called blanching. First, heat up some water. Wait until it starts boiling. Soak the peaches in the water for about 20 seconds. Then put the fruit into a bowl with cold water and leave them for about 5 minutes. There you have it: the peel will come off nicely and easily.

That plastic lid covering your drink can be used as a coaster. Take the lid off and put it on the table. The bottom of your cup will fit perfectly into the lid’s inner ring. No more stained tables from now on!

Bristles on escalators are there for safety reasons. They remain stationary while the escalator is moving, preventing people from standing too close to the sides. This helps to avoid accidents, like getting your shoelaces stuck.

If you pay close attention to elevator doors, you’ll notice they have a small hole in them. This is a keyhole, and only authorized personnel have the key to it. They use it in emergency situations or during a regular maintenance routine.