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Samara Veler

Comes up with creative and rational solutions to problemsUpdated 1y

What are 10 extremely beneficial life hacks that everyone should know about?

I don't know if all of these count as "life hacks," but here are eleven extremely beneficial tips that have aided me tremendously in my life:

Shake out each individual article of clothing before putting it in the dryer or hanging it up to dry. This does wonders speeding up how quickly the laundry dries, plus it makes all the clothes dry more evenly! Then, when the dryer finishes, you can take your used-up dryer sheet and use it to clean your dryer's lint trap. It works perfectly every time! The dryer sheet basically attracts all of the lint from the filter — even lint stuck along the edges and the corners of the trap. You can also use your used dryer sheets to clean other types of filters, like air filters and the filter in your vacuum.

You can roll a single-sided piece of tape around your finger with the sticky-side facing outward to make a barrel-shaped double-sided piece of tape. You can use this double-sided piece of tape to attach papers and posters together, to the wall, or to anything else without any of the tape showing; to secure multiple pieces of fabric that you'll be sewing together; or to close the gaps that can appear between the upper buttons (around the bust) of a lady's button-up or button-down shirt so that there's never an embarrassing or uncomfortable clothing mishap.

This is barely a life hack, but I would advise that you always keep stamps in your wallet if your wallet has a tucked-away pocket for them to hide. I have come across so many occasions where I was relieved to already have a stamp on me and not have to wait until the next day to send whatever surprise letter or bill that I suddenly needed to send.

You can keep bread and bagels in the freezer, but try not to keep them in the refrigerator. The reason for this is that the water in the bread will redistribute if it's in the refrigerator, which causes the fluffier inside bit to become harder and the tougher outside bit on the crust to become softer. That leads to the bread becoming stale faster. However, when bread is in the freezer, the water within it doesn't redistribute the same way because it freezes in the cold. The water is less able to travel. So, it's actually better to store bakery goods in the freezer than in the refrigerator if you intend to make them last longer because they will get less stale less quickly.

You can reuse jars and containers from store-bought food. For example, many brands of lunchmeat that you can buy come in plastic tupperware containers. Those are actually good for multiple uses storing your leftovers in the fridge, and they would otherwise be thrown away! Those containers are good for even more uses if you hand-wash them. Just be sure to never microwave them. Jars should be somewhat self-explanatory, but consider the fact that many jars are plenty big enough to hold a couple of servings of food, and that you already know that the seal in the lid works because you just used it to store the food that came in it. Jars are especially great for keeping leftover soups, curries, and sauces.

You can use both paper and plastic bags that you get from stores as trash bags (or trash bin liners). Especially if you go through a lot of trash or live in a small apartment, you can keep a smaller garbage can and line it with bags that many people receive automatically. That way, you can be more conscious of the trash you're creating while also reusing a bag that would normally have been thrown away. If you have cats, then I especially recommend buying a tiny, lidded garbage can to keep next to the litter box and scoop cat poop into. You can line the tiny garbage can with plastic grocery bags super easily. If the bag has a hole in it, then you can either use it for something else, throw that one away, or use it to double line your cat litter receptacle.

Even if you own your mattress, a mattress protector can save you a lot of headaches — especially if you ever eat or drink in bed. If you have a child or an elderly parent, then assuredly they should also have their mattresses protected. It isn't some sort of insult; it's literally just a precaution to ensure that all of you can enjoy your mattresses for the maximum amount of time possible.

If you ever put pepper on your food, then buy a peppercorn grinder. Where I live, they sell already-set-up glass ones that are ready to grind your pepper immediately. At least get one of those! Your taste buds will thank you for not buying the pre-ground pepper that comes in those little tins and shakers.

Keep a spare rechargeable battery and phone charging cable with you when you go out. You never know what will happen while you're away from your charging cord, and you will almost always wish you had a more charged phone than a more dead phone. I recommend the Amazon Basics portable charging bank, 5,600 mAh, if you have an iPhone 7 or equivalent. It can charge my phone from dead twice over, and it's lasted me three or four years so far.

You can roll your laundry up into little cinnamon-bun-esque logs if you're tight on space or traveling. To do this, all you need to do is fold the laundry like you normally would, but then, once it's folded into a square (if it's a shirt), or folded to half its normal length (if it's a pair of pants), then you can begin to roll the item into a roll from the looser end of the garment (e.g. the end of the shirt that has the waist opening, or the end of the pants that has the pant bottoms). You can roll most underwear like this, too. Finally, you can fold your socks so that they lie flat and stackable by lining both pieces of the pair up together and rolling the top of one sock carefully over the top of the other, then pulling gently down to include both socks into the fold before you straighten the pair out again and smoothen any remaining crumples in the fabric.

If you are microwaving something in a bowl and it looks like it might boil over, then you can just place two unpainted wooden chopsticks a small space apart from one another across the opening of the bowl to prevent the contents from overflowing! The unpainted wooden chopsticks prevent the boiling liquid from spilling over the sides of the bowl. I don't know exactly how it works, but it looks like the bubbles gather in the gap between the two chopsticks and then get popped before they have the opportunity to breach the rim of the bowl. I've used this method to cook rice, soup, curry, and noodles in my microwave, and it hasn't failed me yet. (I spent a year living in motel rooms where the only available kitchen appliances were a mini fridge and a microwave, so believe me when I tell you that discovering this eleventh extremely beneficial life hack changed my life.)

—

I’m sitting by the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel, writing this post in a cabana.

I don’t really like sun or pools but I like people-watching. Sometimes I write a sentence and then I look at all the people and listen to their conversations.

And after this post I think I’m going to read.

I’m going to finish reading, “Worry”.

(trying not to worry too much)