Following on from the kitchen hacks thread, and prompted by a thing I learned via the internet during the recent (very) cold snap, I thought it would good to have a more general hacks thread.
My recent discovery was caused by the doors on my wifes car freezing up to the point that I thought I was going to break the door handles before the door would move.
A quick google came up with the suggestion of cleaning the rubber door seals with a product called Gummipflege (as ever, it seems, the Germans have solved this problem). A wipe down of the seals later and the next day (the coldest yet) the door opened with absolute ease.
So thats my top tip – what are yours?
Strangely enough I’ve just shared this today.
Remember if your computer mouse ceases to work then half an avocado (ensure the stone is retained) makes a useful emergency mouse.
Looks eerilly similar to mine.
Need to get that boil lanced. It’s gone a funny colour.
Always disconnect the power before opening.
Note to self, that.
When using a spanner or a screwdriver- righty tighty, lefty loosey.
As much as possible, let gravity do the work e.g. mow a lawn on the downward slope, not up.
Also, our local council introduced food scrap bins a year ago. I’m never looking back. Kitchen bins are now pretty much bin-juice free and smell better.
How you get the mower back up the incline @Black-Celebration
Not an issue in New Z, it is all upside down.
I have an audio tip for speakers. Check how tightly the drivers are connected to the speaker baffle. This particularly pertains to woofers and mid-range drivers. Do this once a year as they tend to work a little loose with use. They should be a touch over finger tight, don’t over tighten them, you don’t want to strip the screw. I’ve found that checking this even on brand new fresh from the manufacturer speakers should be done as it’s something that seems to be overlooked. It won’t turn average speakers into giant killers but it will help just a smidgen whatever the make and model.
If after dinner you have leftovers, don’t throw them away. Put them in a plastic box in the fridge until they’ve gone off, then throw them away.
We have a variation to this in our house. You pop them back in the turned off oven to keep warm in case anyone needs seconds and then find them 2 days later, when you next use the oven. Hopefully before you tunr the oven on to preheat.
Goosenargh – c. Douglas Adams
Freeze them and then throw away in 2 years
Lady Podicle does a variation of this where she puts meat scraps in freezer bags in the freezer so she can throw them out on bin day. Predictably, our freezer is full of bags of uncertain provenance and defrosting something for dinner becomes a crap shoot.
Same with Lady thep and – I cannot tell a lie – me.
And if you’re cooking kale, add some olive oil at the end of the cooking process so you can slide it more easily into the bin.
Who let Viz ‘Top Tips’ in here?
‘A small hole in your front window will allow your canary to come and go as it pleases”.
To stop unwanted canaries entering your room fit a magnetic door over the hole and a magnetic collar to your canary allowing access and egress to your feathered chum and curtailing unwanted canary entries.
Escher’s Law states that any thread about “life hacks” will at some point include a Viz “Top Tips” comment.
Gummipflege. I must try and use that in a sentence. Reminds me that Mr Bump in Norwegian is Herr Dumpidump.
Anyway, to business. My hack is possibly the least fragrant of the thread. A quick way to unblock a toilet (yes, sorry) without having to call a plumber is to insert your fist as far into the u bend as possible and withdraw it at some pace. You would want to anyway but this forces a slight vacuum which is often enough to clear the block.
A plumber showed me this after I’d called him out to unblock our toilet. Very unfortunately I have had reason to employ this fix since and I can confirm it works. I can’t say I was happy about proving it.
Can I suggest a further hack? Some of those extra thick, durable and extra long rubber gloves??
Of course. Trust me, they’re taken as read.
Isn’t this the job of a big plunger?
I’ve no idea who’s job it was.
🤦♂️
And given back as brown.
Plunger first, then a bucket of hot-as-it-comes-from-the-tap water with a good dose of washing-up liquid in it. Application of rubber glove and fist only if still blocked after these actions.
Just ask a passing Dalek.
An unwound wire coat hanger always permits the eventual dismissal of unwanted overnight watchmen.
Take an extension lead with you when you go away which has several sockets so you can charge you and your parther’s phones as there often aren’t enough sockets in hotels.
Re hotels: always include teabags in your luggage. Even in the nicest, most expensive hotels there are enough teabags next to the weirdly small kettle. Also, calling reception to say “Can we have some extra teabags please?” makes you sound like every stereotype of a British person.
I do this precisely because I don’t want them to think I am American.
Quite right. Being mistaken for an American would be simply awful.
Especially this year.
Following on from Leedsboy’s tip about opening a frozen car door, another tip is to simply push hard on the edge of the door. Sometimes that alone can be enough to break the seal formed by the ice. If you are particularly muscle-bound (unlike me), don’t overdo the push.
Whenever putting together Ikea furniture or doing any similar sort of DIY, always retain any bits and pieces that might be left over or spare and keep them in your lucky box – so named because at some point you will find yourself saying “Lucky I held onto that.”
Keep a torch and a headlamp (one of those little lights you strap to your head) in an easily accessible place in case of a power cut at night. You can be sure that the batteries in one will fail at a crucial time, and having a back-up source of light is easier than searching for or replacing batteries in darkness.
Have a plastic bag handy when travelling. Like a towel in Douglas Adams’ books, it can be put to numerous uses.
On a plane, always watch the safety demonstration. I recall reading expert advice that no matter how many times you have seen it, watching it anew keeps it (and the location of the exits) fresh in your mind if the worst happens. IIRC those who ignore it are more likely to panic when the time comes.
That last one is absolutely true.
Mrs b is a stickler for it, and I am too. For the very least thing, it’s polite.
Man, it grinds my gears when people won’t even give the staff the courtesy of 2 minutes attention before a 9 hour flight, as they’re too busy doing something that absolutely has to be done in those 2 minutes…
In a similar vein, when you check into a hotel room, check out the fire escape route from your room. You never know..
Particularly good advice in Asia where the emergency sighs in hotels always seem to read “when there is a fire…”
If there’s that sort of emergency I’m more likely to scream than sigh.
We were advised that if you can, street facing windows, not above the 4th floor, dramatically increased your chances of survival if there were to be a fire.
Can confirm that this has been demonstrated with crash survivor studies. Count seat backs to exits etc.
Please sashay towards your nearest emergency exit…
Here is one I am eminently chuffed about!
Boiler goes kaput in the cold (freezing cold) weather. Rather than calling out an expensive engineer, check whether the condensation pipe has frozen. No me neither, until yesterday. Pipe from the boiler that goes outside to join drainage outflow. Pour warm water on said pipe, outside, and reset the boiler. Bingo!
My wife thinks me a genius!!
My cousin had that problem and someone suggested that as a solution, alas he’s twelve storeys up so not an option.
Two travelling tips if you’re backpacking … a door wedge for security and half a tennis ball as a sink plug.
I always carry a cable tie or two and two of those Ikea bag clips (large and small) when I travel. I’m amazed how useful they often are.
Your kinky love preferences are of only limited interest to us…
Not necessarily.
This damp time of year, when the inside of your car screens attracts condensation or even ice, place one of these on the rear parcel shelf and another one on the dash when you leave your car out overnight and you won’t have to clear the inside of your windows before you set off in the morning.
Every so often take them out of the car and leave them to dry out for a day on top of a radiator in the house.
https://www.gsfcarparts.com/products/reusable-car-and-home-dehumidifier-299g-bag-brn1711909?gQT=1&utm_source=awin&utm_medium=743363&utm_campaign=Affiliates&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=743363&awc=12707_1736785471_a0bed99be6547626e61914557f883937
I – well, my car – suffers from this, as I only drive once or twice a week. I’ll buy one and report back.
I use these – another recommendation! They do the job!
You can also blast your AC for the last few minutes before leaving the car, to de-humidify the interior
Or just open the windows.
Too cold for that in Canada
Well we get the opposite problem here in Singapore in that we get condensation on the outside of the windows as the aircon cooled inside is invariably colder than outside. This is fine for the front windscreen as one can use the wipers, but the side windows are a pain.
Should I strap a big-ass dehumidifier to the car roof and try and dehumidify the whole of Singapore ?
No, Rig up some loudspeakers around the city and use a PA system to broadcast Leonard Cohen records. His dry, laconic style should work just as fine in sucking up excess atmospheric moisture.
I don’t know if this suits the demographic but if you’re lucky enough to have some big bloody Lego kit to make, then put a nice fat white towel down on the table you’re working on first.
That way when (and you will) you drop a piece it will fall, but instead of hitting a table and bouncing (surely) off the table, the fall will be ‘muffled’ and it’ll more or less stay put where it lands. No crawling on the floor looking for pieces and, more importantly, no getting up again.
I wish I’d known that during the Lego years. People say you’ll miss those days when they’re gone but so far I haven’t had such pangs.
Always wear stout boots when building with lego.
General Hacks? I think I have one of his albums in dub.
It never failed to make me smile when I worked at the MOD that the rubbish bins were labeled General Waste.
Major Roadworks always gets me.
Major Major lives!
In the days of reserved parking spaces, the signs read: “MOD vehicles only”.
Always expected to see a line of Lambrettas and Vespas
I always think of Day of The Triffids when I see the Heavy Plant Crossing road sign.
Hack for the driver: no heated seats in your car? Sit on the shiny side of your windscreen sun reflector.
I presume take it off the windscreen first?
But that would let the warm sunshine in..
Spend a fortune on box sets and expanded reissues of favourite artists, play them once, then sell them in 5 years time for a fraction of what you paid for them. Works every time.
Buy them on release day, then watch as they plummet in value shortly afterwards.
This may be a hack. I saved it from Facebook – gotta be true. Seems plausible and I have a banana skin in the watering can as we speak.
Can someone try this and report back?
Mrs M insists we do this. Pour it on the strawberry patch, along with coffee grounds. Eventually get 3 or 4 sad little strawberries, complete with holes where the caterpillars have stuffed themselves
I have a book about that.
If you need the know the time and your watch has stopped, go in the nearest store and buy something. The current time will be conveniently displayed on your receipt
The best one that I’ve learned recently is the hack to use your phone to test fuses. Simply hold one end of the fuse and prod the other end on the screen. Having the calculator app open is good. If you can press the buttons as if you were touching them with your finger, the fuse is good, If you get nothing, the fuse has blown. I’ll never reach for a meter to test a fuse again.
All about electrical impulses in the keypad.
It’s why fingers in gloves don’t work, but (weirdly) sausages do.
If it’s cold outside, always travel with a frankfurter.
And why, when I watched an episode of Midsomer Murders recently, I shouted at the telly.
Someone in a paper suit and blue plastic gloves picked up the victim’s phone and was able to type in the password to unlock it. With their gloves on.
I saw that one.
What got my goat was when they drove off to the pub to celebrate, found a parking spot straight away and didn’t have to pay for the drinks they ordered – probably why they didn’t drink them
Changes in capacitance are what matters, and some gloves will work actually if they can conduct. I can tell you from personal experience that cats can also make phone calls 😉
“Hello? Dog Pound? This is Tiddle… I mean Mr Smith…” etc &c
Cats Make Phone Calls sounds like one of those slacker bands from the early noughties who had one good song but released 3 albums before the record company noticed.
What set of circumstances led you to operate your mobile phone with a sausage? Don’t answer that…..paging Moose….
Here’s a dull experiment to try at home.
1. Dial with an ungloved hand – works, obvs.
2. Dial with a rubber gloved hand – doesn’t work.
3. Dial with an ungloved hand holding a sausage – works.
4. Dial with a rubber gloved hand holding a sausage – does it work??
I’m not sure if the change in capacitance of the sausauge is enough, or whether the E-field needs a tiny current path to ground as well.
So.. to clear this up. In the movies the flaw with eye scan security systems is I can kill you, scoop out your eyeball and present it to the scanner and get in. If touch screens rely on electricity in your finger then, if I kill you and cut off your finger, can I not use your finger’s print to unlock your phone because it is dead and can’t carry electricity? Asking for a ..er.. friend.
If my theory is correct, you’d have to hold my hacked-off digit either without (electrically insulating) Latex/rubber gloves, or with gloves made of conductive material.
Too much mint and basil growing in your herb garden? Simply pop the leaves into ice-cube trays, add water and freeze.
When making a G&T, simply add basil ice-cubes, or, when making spag bol, chuck in a some frozen mint.
Open freezer in 12 months, throw them all away.
Repeat the following year.
Mint in spag bol? Are you deranged? Or did you get them the wrong way round (I’m praying it was the latter. Else I’m phoning social services for the sake of your nearest and dearest).
Didn’t label them, as soon as they freeze they look the same, so we had a 50% lucky dip. After one minty bolgnese and one basily G&T, they all went to the back of the freezer and remained untouched.
Ah. Now I get it. Although the idea of some basil in a G&T was quite appealing.
You get herb-infused gin all over the place now, so why not basil?
Just don’t put basil the ratatouille.
A two-pint plastic milk bottle works very well as a welly boot shaper.
I am puzzle. Why do you need to shape welly boots?