12 Hacks to Wipe Your Daily Struggles Once and for All

#Lifehack is one of the most popular hashtags on social media, and videos related to this topic can register up to millions of views. It’s no surprise that people are always looking for ways to make their lives easier. With the everyday hassles and endless to-do lists, techniques that help us save time and resources do come in handy. Plus, they give us a sense of independence when we are able to fix problems by ourselves.

We at Bright Side love sharing hacks that could make our lives better, so we’ve rounded up 12 tips and tricks for you guys to try.

1. Use dryer sheets to repel insects.

Dryer sheets have the ability to fend off pests, according to one experiment. In the test, gnats (or the family of insects that include flies and mosquitos) were released in two chambers. One had moist media and the other one had a dryer sheet. The results showed that 45 percent of the gnats collected at the end came from the chamber with the moist media, while only 18 percent came from the compartment with the sheet.

Apart from helping you enjoy a mosquito-free slumber, dryer sheets also have multiple uses outside the laundry room. These include taming flyaway hair, freshening up shoes, fighting garbage odor and cleaning scorched stains from your cookware.

2. Draw on your thumbs to sew a straight line.

Small and quick sewing fixes can be done by hand, but it may be hard to achieve a perfectly straight threaded pattern. Fortunately, one Twitter user shared a pretty smart hack that could make your stitches look better. Simply draw two lines on your thumb. You can use the outer one to align with the edge of the cloth, and the inner one as a marker for where the thread should line up.

3. Avoid wasting food by making notes on the freezer.

With the help of an erasable marker, you can make a checklist on the door of the freezer, and indicate which food are stored inside and how much of it is in there. You can also write the date when they were placed in cold storage. This method can help you avoid wasting food because you won’t end up buying redundant stock, and the visible expiry date can guide you in your consumption.

4. Improve access to items inside the fridge with the help of a Lazy Susan.

When we fill up the fridge, older items get pushed all the way into the back, and they get lost in the abyss until we unearth them again (usually after a very long time.) Sometimes, it can also be a hassle to take out everything in the front just so we can reach that ketchup bottle in the far corner.

One culinary expert divulged the perfect solution to this dilemma — a Lazy Susan. Not only does it help you organize ingredients and food, it also allows you to have easy access to all the products. And it’s easy to clean, too.

5. Use a peeler for uniform cheese slices.

For queso lovers, you can try “slicing” your block of cheese with a vegetable peeler instead of a knife. It will help save you time, and it delivers thin, uniform pieces that would look perfect for that charcuterie grazing board. There’s no special tricks needed, you just peel it like how you would normally take out potato skin, as shown in this video.

6. Beat that stubborn silicon rubber band with a sewing tool.

As one Reddit user puts it, “These tiny bands are great for fine hair, but taking them out is a hassle.” The seam ripper, which is a tool used to cut and remove stitches, can save you from the pain caused by strands getting pulled out of your head. Just slip the hook carefully under the rubber band, and cut it up to free your hair.

7. Use a remote control car for hard-to-reach places.

When this person needed to spread an Ethernet cable across a drop ceiling, instead of taking out a ceiling tile every now and then to reach the cable and pull it across, this guy used a remote control car to do the job. “I just routed the cable through the chassis and secured the body with body clips. No tape, no zip ties.” The wire was successfully pulled across, and zero effort was made to remove ceiling panels — that’s a win-win in our book.

8. Put tape around the nail cutter to avoid flying “debris.”

The tape prevents the projectile nails from flying away and scattering on the floor. This will make cleaning up easier, since the sticky part will already catch most of the clipped nails.

9. Boost your cellphone sound with a mug or glass cup.

Sometimes, the cellphone’s built-in speakers are not loud enough, especially if you are in an area with a lot of background noise. But instead of buying Bluetooth speakers, you can simply put the phone inside an empty glass or porcelain cup. This will cause the sound waves to bounce around and get amplified. Now you can listen to music or podcasts at a better volume.

Here are some additional tips for this DIY speaker hack:

• Avoid plastic cups, because they do not work as well as glass or porcelain.
• Make sure the phone is resting comfortably inside and that it is not forced in.
• The part where the phone’s speakers are should be on the bottom part of the cup.
• Try different cup shapes and sizes, sometimes they can affect the sound intensity.

10. Unclog your shower head by submerging it in vinegar.

Shower heads, when not regularly cleaned, can accumulate grime, minerals and bacteria. Instead of disassembling it and cleaning the inside parts manually, a quick fix is to fill up half a plastic bag with vinegar, and then wrap it around the shower head.

Make sure the head is completely submerged, and hold the plastic in place by tying it with a rubber band. Leave it for about an hour, and let the vinegar dissolve the stuff that built up inside. When the time is up, remove the bag, scrub the head with a brush to clear leftover dirt, and leave the shower running with hot water for a few minutes or until it is completely rinsed.

11. Use nail polish to fix a broken screen door or window.

These screens help block insects or airborne debris, and a small tear can defeat its purpose. But before you take out that wallet to purchase an entirely new one, if it’s just a minor rip, consider sealing it with a clear nail polish. The coating can act as an adhesive for small holes, and its clear color will make it unnoticeable. You can watch this video to see how it’s done.

12. Save on the water bill by putting rocks inside your toilet tank.

Before throwing out used plastic bottles, try this hack that allows you to save up to 10 gallons of water per day. Fill the container with pebbles or rocks and water, then place it inside the tank. Make sure that it is not touching any working parts of the toilet.

This trick will make your tank fill up with less water, which means less aqua wasted when flushing as well. Not only will you save money, you will be helping the environment too.

What interesting hack have you tried and proven to be effective? Do you have other tips and tricks that you can share with us?