Alex Carson
#1 Protect Your Pencil Before You Sharpen It
Pencils have a tendency to break or crumble apart when you try to sharpen them. If you are on your last pencil and you really need to use it, put it in the freezer for a few minutes. This will harden it up enough that it won’t break apart when you try to sharpen it. This trick is especially helpful for pencils that have already been sharpened down half way.
#2 Never Lose a Nail Again
When you are hammering a nail into the wall, it is easy to drop one of the nails on the floor. Rather than finishing the job, suddenly you are on the floor on your hands and knees trying to find the nail that fell. A great way to keep from losing your nails is to glue a magnet to the end of the hammer on the handle. You can stick the nails to the magnet, keeping your hands free and preventing you from dropping the nails.
#3 Dry Your Dishes Out of Sight
If you hate the way your clean dishes clutter you counter when they are drying in the dish rack, there is something that you can do about it. Rather than spending extra time that you might not have on drying the dishes, empty out the cabinets near or above the sink. Next, put a dish rack inside of the cabinet. Finally, remove the shelves in the cabinet and replace them with more dish racks. You can tuck the dishes in the cabinet to dry and all of the water will drop down to the dish rack in the bottom. Nobody will ever need to see your dishes drying again. Also, you will have more counter space.
#4 Toast Your Bread For a BLT
The perfect BLT is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. If you toast the bread in the traditional manner, you cannot get the soft, chewy middle. Instead, take two pieces of bread and put them in on toaster slot together. The outside of each piece of bread will be toasted and crispy. The inside will be soft and chewy. If you toast your bread this way, you will be able to make the perfect BLT every time.
#5 Don’t Waste Your Perfume
If you have used almost all of your perfume and you cannot get any more to spray out, you don’t have to waste it. When there is just a bit of perfume left, pour what is left into your lotion bottle. It will make your lotion smell like your perfume and you won’t have to waste what is left.
#6 Make Peeling Hard Boiled Eggs Easier
If you struggle to peel your hard boiled eggs or if you don’t have the patience, there is a way to make peeling much easier. Start by taking a pushpin and gently push it into a raw egg. Be sure not to push too hard because you can break the egg. After you have made your hole, pull out the push pin and boil your eggs like you normally do. When they are ready and you take them out of the water, the shell will fall right off the egg. Thanks to this trick, you will never need to worry about peeling an egg again.
#7 Stand Up Your Phone With Your Sunglasses
If you want to watch a video on your phone hands-free, your sunglasses can come in handy. Simply put your glasses down on the table with the lenses faced down. The arms of the glasses will hold up your phone so you don’t have to. This will allow you to eat, type, or do whatever it is that you are doing that makes it impossible for you to hold your phone while you watch the video.
#8 Use Your Keurig To Boil Your Water
If you are making noodles or a cup of soup, there is no need to sit and wait for your water to boil on the stove. Instead, use your Keurig. A Keurig can boil water in less than half the time that it would take on the stove. Rather than waiting 10 minutes to eat your soup, you can eat in just 2 minutes if you heat the water with your Keurig.
#9 Freshen Up the Smell Of Your Paint
If you are planning on painting the interior of your home but you hate the harsh smell of the paint, you can actually do something to make it smell better. All you need is a bottle of imitation vanilla flavor. Simply pour some of the vanilla flavor into the paint and stir it well. This will make the house smell more like vanilla and less like paint.
#10 Protect Your Car When Pulling Into the Garage
If you have a tendency to come dangerously close to hitting the garage wall when you pull in, there is a way that this can be prevented. Simply tie a tennis ball to a string and hang it on the ceiling close to the wall. When you are pulling into the garage and you see the tennis ball, you will know that it is time to stop. Not only will this protect the front end of your car, it will also protect the wall of your garage.
#11 Change the Way You Put Your Clothes Away
Most people fold their clothes and they put them away in the drawer on top of one another. If you want to save space in your drawers, fold your clothes and put them in the drawer vertically, rather than horizontally. Not only will you be able to fit more clothes in the drawers, but you will be able to see everything that you have without needing to rip your drawers apart.
#12 Label Your Cords With a Bread Bag Tag
If you have several appliances plugged into your power strip, it can be hard to know which plug goes to which electrical item. The best way to know what plug goes with what is to use bread bag tags. You can write the name of each appliance on the bread bag tag with a marker and put it on the cord right above the plug. If you need to unplug something, it will be labeled and you won’t need to struggle to figure out which plug goes with which appliance.
#13 Bring a Fitted Sheet To the Beach
This is one of the most clever tricks that will make your life easier. When you are laying out on the beach on a nice day, the last thing that you want is for sand to get all over your blanket. To keep this from happening, you should bring a fitted sheet. You can hold up the sides with your cooler and your bags, and you won’t need to worry about shaking the sand off your blanket over and over again.
#14 Keep Your Pens From Being Stolen
If you are in class or at work and your favorite pens are always disappearing, there is a way to keep it from happening. All you need to do is buy a package of red pens and take the ink from your blue pen and put it into the red pen. Since most people don’t write with red pens, you won’t have to worry about yours being stolen.
#15 Clean Between the Keys On Your Keyboard
Over time, dust, dirt, and food can get stuck in between the keys on your keyboard. Rather than buying a can of air to clean your keyboard, you just need a post-it. Take the sticky end of the paper and run it between the keys on the keyboard. This will clean everything in between the keys.
#16 Find Your Luggage Quickly
When your plane lands and you go to pick up your luggage, it can take some time. Since many people have the same color and style of luggage as you, it is necessary to check the name tag on every bag. If you tie a brightly colored piece of fabric to the handle of your bag, it will stick out, making it much easier to find yours.
#17 Replace Your Deodorant With Toothpaste
If you tend to sweat a lot and the sweat comes through your shirt, you should start using toothpaste. It will keep you smelling fresh and it will keep your clothes drier than your deodorant will.
#18 Take a Picture Of Your Business Cards
If someone gives you a business card, it is easy to lose it. If the information that you have on the card is important, you should take a picture of it with your phone. If your wallet is stolen or if you misplace the card, you will have a copy of it backed up either in the cloud or in your Google photos. This will allow you to keep the information even if your phone is stolen along with your wallet.
#19 Iron Your Shirts Inside Out
Ironing a button-up shirt can be difficult. You need to move the iron between each of the buttons to keep from tearing one off. Instead, iron your shirt inside out. This will allow you to iron right over the buttons. It is much easier and less time-consuming.
#20 Keep Old Newspaper In the Bottom of Your Trash Barrel
If you throw away food or cans with liquid still inside, the liquid can leak out, through the trash bag and into the trash barrel. When this happens, you will need to go through the hassle of rinsing out the barrel. Instead of going through all of this trouble, keep an old newspaper at the bottom of the barrel. This will absorb all of the food and beverage juices and it will keep them from filling the bottom of the barrel.
#21 Keep Your Stick Shift Cool On Hot Days
On a very hot day, your stick shift can get so hot that you don’t even want to touch it. The best way to prevent this from happening is to cover it with a coozie when you park for the night. It will keep the sun from beating down on the stick shift and it will be cool when you are ready to drive.
