25+ Hacks That Will Make the Winter That Much Easier

This article appeared in Brain-sharper and has been published here with permission.

25 Ways to Make Your Winter a Little More Bearable

It’s the most wonderful time of year — wintertime! While this is a season that’s just oh-so magical for some, others may not feel the same way. Cold weather can be absolutely insufferable for some people, especially when snow is involved. All you want to do is stay curled up underneath layers of blankets in bed. Unfortunately, though, you can’t because life just gets in the way. Luckily, we have put together some simple hacks to make your days a bit easier and hopefully more tolerable during these long winter months. Maybe it’ll even help to cure your seasonal depression!

Protect Your Windshield Wipers

Instead of throwing away your old socks, just put them to good use. For instance, you can use those fuzzy tube socks that you haven’t worn in years to cover your windshield wipers and keep them insulated from the snow and ice.

Protect Your Windshield Wipers

If there happens to be a particularly bitter storm, the socks will at least have reduced the damage just a bit. This tip also saves you time from having to pry the wipers out of the glue-like ice that forms on your windshield overnight.

DIY Mixture for Preventing Ice

In order to prevent your windshield and/or windows from icing up, we have just the hack for you! In a spray bottle, mix together two parts rubbing alcohol and one part water. Spray that mixture all over the windshield and windows in the evening when they’re ice-free in order to prevent ice from forming overnight.

DIY Mixture for Ice

You can also use the mixture to instantly remove ice that has formed from a temperature drop. And lastly, the mixture can be used to wipe down the inside of your windshield in order to stop it from fogging.

Cooking Spray for Easier Shoveling

Shovels are a must-have for anyone that lives in a snowy place. If you ever find that snow clings a bit too much to the shovel, though, you can try this little hack. If you have any cooking spray (i.e. Pam) lying around, spray a bit of that on the shovel.

Cooking Spray for Easier Shoveling

That’ll prevent the snow from sticking to your shovel, which will enable you to shovel a lot more. With the right amount of spray, you’ll find that the snow just falls right off.

DIY De-Icer

Have you ever wondered about the easiest and cheapest way to de-ice your driveway? Rather than spending a ton of money on a bunch of products to de-ice the driveway, you can make your own version of a de-icer. In a bucket, mix together half a gallon of hot water, one teaspoon of dish soap, and one tablespoon of rubbing alcohol.

DIY De-Icer

Once you pour this mixture onto your driveway, the snow and ice will begin to bubble up and melt. Make sure to keep your cooking-sprayed shovel handy to scrape away any leftover pieces of ice!

Use Newspaper to Dry Shoes

Soaking wet shoes are never fun to deal with and while it may be tempting to just toss them in the dryer, we have a more efficient method for you. Simply use newspaper to stuff the insides and wrap the outsides of your shoes.

Use Newspaper to Dry Shoes

For the best results, wrap a few rubber bands around the newspaper to keep them in close contact with the shoes. You may want to remove the insoles from your shoes, as well. This method works fast and won’t harm your shoes the way a dryer potentially can!

Use Kitty Litter or Sand For Traction

Getting stuck on a snowy road is one of the most frustrating things ever. If you’re lucky, though, you’ll have a bag of sand or cat litter to help you out of that pickle you got yourself stuck in.

Use Kitty Litter or Sand For Traction

It turns out that kitty litter is actually useful for more than one thing, as it can provide traction for your tires. The same goes for sand so if you’re not much of a feline lover, just keep a bag of sand stowed away for occasions like this.

DIY Hand Warmers

So, you’ve already run out of the hand warmers you bought from Amazon. That’s okay! All you need in order to make your very own is calcium chloride, water, and two sandwich bags (a small one and a large one). Start out by pouring the calcium chloride into the larger bag.

DIY Hand Warmers

After you pour water into the smaller bag, place it into the larger one. Once you break the smaller bag into the larger one, it’ll create a chemical reaction that’ll heat up. Just make sure this mixture doesn’t come into direct contact with your skin.

Blow Bubbles Outside

Not so much a hack but rather a form of entertainment. Go outside to blow some bubbles and watch them instantly turn into orbs of ice. You can use a regular bubble solution or a homemade mixture of one part water, four parts dish soap, and a dash of light corn syrup.

Blow Bubbles Outside

If it’s cold enough or if the temperature has reached subzero, the bubbles should freeze in a matter of minutes or even seconds right in front of your eyes!

Use a Credit Card as an Ice Scraper

This one may seem a bit obvious but if you’re in a bind, this is a simple solution. If a deep freeze hits you by surprise and your car is covered in ice, use a credit card to de-ice it.

Use a Credit Card as an Ice Scraper

You may not have an actual scraper handy but a hard piece of plastic can do the trick just as well, and don’t worry — it won’t damage your car. But maybe you should also think about investing in a real scraper once you have de-iced your windshield and windows.

Use Hand Sanitizer to Unlock Your Car

So you can’t get your key in the car door and you’re freezing your little butt off outside. Your car lock might have frozen but we luckily have the perfect hack to save the day — hand sanitizer!

Use Hand Sanitizer to Unlock Your Car

You may think it’s just for germs but hand sanitizer happens to have enough alcohol in order to thaw out the locks so you can get in your car without freezing over. Just squirt some inside the lock, wait a few seconds, and insert your key until the ice breaks.

Leave the Oven Door Open

Trying to save some money on heating? Try cooking your meals using the oven rather than the stove. When you’re done cooking, you can turn the oven off and leave the door open to heat up the house a bit.

Leave the Oven Door Open

Not only have you made yourself a delicious meal to eat but you’ve also saved a few bucks by not playing around with the thermostat as much. Plus, you won’t have to walk around the house with a ton of layers on now that your oven is keeping you toasty.

There’s a Noodle in My Boots

As we said before, everyone loves winter attire! Winter boots are the absolute best until they lose their shape and go flat at the bottom of your closet. In order to maintain the body and keep your boots alive, you can cut up a pool noodle and stick it into your boots.

There’s A Noodle in My Boots

When you’re not wearing them, the noodle will help to preserve their shape. This means you’ll be staying stylish and you won’t even have to spend unnecessary money on a new pair of shoes.

Zip Ties on Your Bicycle Wheels

So you want to go for a bike ride but you don’t have any snow tires. All you have to do is attach some zip ties to your bike tires for extra or added traction. After all, it’s not hard to slip and crash on an icy path when you’re riding a bike.

Zip Ties on Your Bicycle Wheels

Save yourself an injury and a trip to the hospital, and just put a few zip ties on your wheels to prevent slippage. When it’s not icy, you can just remove the ties with a pair of scissors.

Draft Blocker

We’ve come to realize that pool noodles aren’t just for floating around in the pool. In fact, these foam floaty devices have a lot of practical uses around the house. During the wintertime, you can even use a noodle to prevent a draft from coming in.

Draft Blocker

All you have to do is cut the noodle to the width of the door and then slide down the length so it can essentially ‘hug’ the bottom of the door. If you want some added protection, wrap the noodle in an old shirt or pair of pants.

Insulate Windows With Bubble Wrap

You probably thought that bubble wrap was just used for packing protection but it’s actually handier than you think. It happens to be an excellent window insulator thanks to the small pockets of air trapped within the bubbles.

Insulate Windows With Bubble Wrap

Simply spray the window with water and adhere the wrap with the bubble side facing the glass. After applying the bubble wrap to your windowpane from the inside, tiny bubbles serve as a network of insulating pockets filled with air.

Cover Your Side Mirrors

A little planning can go a long way and save you quite a lot of stress the next morning when you need to leave for work and of course, get yourself that morning coffee. If you know that there’s a storm a-brewing, just cover your car’s side mirrors with plastic or sandwich bags to prevent ice from forming overnight.

Cover Your Side Mirrors

Secure the bags with clothespins or rubber bands to ensure that they stay put. You can thank us later when you realize just how much of a time-saver this little hack is…

Shut the Doors

It’s one of the most obvious things yet we all forget to do it, but just shut the doors! During the wintertime, when the cold is almost intolerable and you’re trying to keep yourself warm, you can heat up a room pretty easily by concentrating all the warmth and heat into a smaller space.

Shut the Doors

Do this by closing off the rooms that aren’t being used at that particular moment. If you have a study or office that doesn’t really get much use, close the door so you don’t waste the heat in that room.

Tin Foil in the Fireplace

This next one isn’t just a tip for winter — it’s also a cleaning hack. You want to use your fireplace but it’s a big pain to clean the ash away after the fire has burned. Measure the base of your fireplace and just make an easy-cleanup tray using nothing but some tin foil.

Tin Foil in the Fireplace

We recommend that you double up on the layers of foil since it’ll be under the fire. You can just fold up the foil and toss it in the trash after the fire has burned to ash.

Run Your Ceiling Fan in Reverse

If you have a ceiling fan, this hack is for you. Your fan most likely spins counter-clockwise, a normal setting in order to keep the room cool during the summer or hot weather. During the wintertime, though, you can flip the switch down in order to make it spin clockwise or in reverse.

Run Your Ceiling Fan in Reverse

This will circulate warm air back down to the floor level as heat naturally rises. And there you have it — a quick and cheap way to avoid turning up the thermostat and keep warm. Talk about efficiency!

Park Facing East

There’s nothing worse than waking up in the morning to discover that you can’t get your car out of the snow — now you’re late to work and you definitely don’t have time to stop for your morning coffee. Here’s a little tip to avoid getting snowed in.

Park Facing East

If you park facing east, most of the ice on your windshield and around your car will melt away when exposed to sunlight. You’ll save some precious time and energy so you can get your coffee and still make it to work on time!

Use a Razor to Shave Off Pills/Lint Balls

Everyone loves winter attire and sweater weather! But what happens if your old cool coats and/or sweaters are pilling? Don’t fret! You probably have a razor lying around the house somewhere. Just use that to shave off those stubborn, little lint balls and your clothes will be as good as new!

Use a Razor to Shave Off Pills/Lint Balls

Not only have you restored that favorite sweater of yours but you also saved yourself some money and a trip to the mall. That sounds like a win-win-win if you ask us!

Use a Hot Water Bottle

Hot water bottles aren’t just for tummy aches, muscle pains, and cramps. In fact, this age-old rubber bottle is a great way to keep warm and cozy all night long, especially if it has a wool or fleece cover!

Use a Hot Water Bottle

Instead of wasting an unnecessary amount of energy and power with an electric blanket, just boil up some water and pour it into what will become your favorite winter buddy! That little bottle will keep the water toasty until morning…

Bathtub Humidifier

We know how painfully cold this time of year can be and just how dry the air can get. To avoid dry or cracked lips and skin, you can repurpose your bath water — that is, if you’re someone who likes taking baths.

Bathtub Humidifier

Rather than draining the hot bath water as soon as you get out, you can actually allow it to sit in the tub until it reaches room temperature. The warm water will add some humidity to the air in your house. Now you won’t have to worry about slathering on the moisturizer or lotion…

Grapefruits for Health

Wintertime and flu season are two peas in a pod. Luckily, we have some things you can do at home to help boost your immune system during these brutally chilly months. Promoted to treat and prevent infections, grapefruit seed extract contains antioxidants and antimicrobials that will help kill bacteria as well as yeasts.

Grapefruits for Health

You can get it in the form of liquid concentrate or capsules. The liquid can be applied topically to surfaces as a disinfectant or to the skin as an antiseptic. The capsules, which contain high amounts of disease-fighting antioxidants, are to be taken orally.

Garlic’s All You Need

Another powerful supplement to prevent yourself from getting sick is garlic oil. Garlic is known to be antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal — all things that lead to getting sick. If you don’t have any garlic oil lying around, cooking with garlic will suffice. Make sure to have your meals with lots of garlic.

Garlic’s All You Need

You can always brush your teeth if your breath stinks, but at least you’ll be preventing yourself from catching the flu. And if you’re already feeling under the weather, garlic will help you bounce back much faster.

DIY Space Heater

You can stay warm and toasty while making a dent in your heating bill by using materials easily found around the house. For this simple DIY space heater, light some candles and place them directly under flower pots. Feel free to use any candles you might have, tea lights work well but most should be fine.

DIY Space Heater

If possible, use an “orchard terra cotta flower pot” as these pots come with a hole in the bottom that provides the flame with oxygen.

Sunny Days

When we’re in the middle of winter we long for those bright sunny days we enjoyed in the summer. But the sun does come out somedays so if you happen to have a sunny day, use it to your advantage by utilizing the heat from the sun rays to help warm your home by fully opening the curtains.

Sunny Days

Even when the external temperature is low, any warmth radiated from the sun will help your home stay warmer.

Keep Your Hands Soft

Winter can be rough on your hands, that cold and dry atmosphere makes for a lethal combination when it comes to your skin. So while we all want those soft and silky hands, we need to make a dedicated effort to get them. First of all, it’s essential to moisturize as dry skin leads to premature aging, then wear cotton gloves over your hands.

Keep Your Hands Soft

This will help to lock moisture into your skin and keep your hands warm while you’re at it!

Work It Out

While winter may mean we spend more time indoors, it doesn’t mean that we have to lose our level of fitness and all that hard work we put in during the warmer seasons. So make the most out of it by investing in the right workout clothes that won’t make exercise seem so unappealing.

Work It Out

Pick up a hat, gloves, and an extra layer to be sure the cold weather isn’t preventing you from being comfortable and snug during your workout.

Happy Feet

In the winter and throughout the year, keeping warm is essential, and there is probably nothing’s worse than suffering from freezing toes. To make your boots or winter shoes are instantly warmer, simply add insoles made out of sheepskin wool or even an old felt sweater.

Happy Feet

They say the most ergonomic design would be 6mm thick, as this is the most comfortable and gives enough support for every pair of shoes. Now that’s one way to make your toes happy.

Upcycle!

There’s no need to throw out you treasured sweaters if you find it difficult to part with your old knitted garments, turn them into mittens. First, send them through the washer and dryer and transform them into a soft, dense material that can be repurposed without unraveling!

Upcycle!

Then lay the pattern pieces over the sweater, pinning each of the pattern pieces. Then cut them out and stitch the mitten together, leaving lower edge open for you to insert your hands.

Finger-Knitting

Have you ever tried knitting? Tried but found it was too hard? Never tried but wanted to know how? Well, this finger knitted scarf is very simple, fun and easy! much easier than those pesky knitting needles! For this project, all you will need is yarn and your hand!

Finger-Knitting

It may seem tricky but with the right tutorial, you will find it just takes a few minutes to learn and that it’s not nearly as complicated as it seems.

Vitamin D

Adults, especially in wintertime, may experience aches and pains in their bones and muscles  — it turns out that it’s due to a vitamin D deficiency. Most people can get enough vitamin D from sun exposure during the summer months, but for many during the wintertime can be inadequate.

Vitamin D

During the colder season, it’s much harder to get enough vitamin D because people bundle up inside more often, and the sun also stays lower in the sky. Taking a vitamin D supplement can help prevent that from happening.

Outdoor Fridge

As the temperature drops to a more chilly climate, it means that your fridge doesn’t have to be limited to the inside of your house. You can keep food cold without even plugging it in and save on energy. In below-zero temperatures, regular fridges may seize up, cease to function, or otherwise get damaged.

Outdoor Fridge

So if you consistently experience these temperatures, it would be wiser to turn the fridge off, since the temperature outside is colder than the fridge itself.

Sock and Glove Compartment

There is a good amount of snow and ice on the ground in certain parts of the world during winter. Those who don’t wear the proper shoes may notice that the water will seep in and eventually soak their socks, and there’s nothing worse than getting your socks wet.

Sock and Glove Compartment

Nobody wants to walk around with wet socks! So keep extra pairs of socks in your glove compartment. You never know when you may need an extra pair!

Give Yourself Some Traction

Speaking of socks, it’s always handy to pack an extra pair in the glove compartment of your car. They wouldn’t be for cold feet, though. Instead, by keeping a pair of socks in the glove box, you’re saving yourself some precious time. How?

Give Yourself Some Traction

Well, let’s say that your car gets stuck and you need to push it over ice. Well, we guarantee that the wool of the socks will create much more traction when put over your shoe than you would have with just your shoes alone.

Reflect Heat Back Into the Room

It’s no secret that apartments and houses can get pretty chilly during the wintertime, especially if your homes are dated and lack insulation. In order to keep yourself warm, you can use something as simple as kitchen bakeware but note that this tip will work best for those that have a radiator.

Reflect Heat Back Into the Room

So, place a sheet of tin foil against the wall behind your radiator. This way, it’ll reflect the heat back into the room rather than getting absorbed into the wall.

The Stinky Truth

This next hack is for all those adrenaline junkies and hikers out there — your lives are about to change! While you may use antiperspirant on your armpits to stop them from smelling or sweating, you probably didn’t know that deodorant has multiple uses. Aside from rubbing some on your pits before you set off for your run or hike, try rubbing some on your feet as well.

The Stinky Truth

This will stop blisters from forming plus the fact that it’ll keep your feet warm during the winter season.

DIY Toilet Seat Cover

No one likes waking up in the middle of the night just to pee, especially during the winter. Not only are you tired but it’s also seriously freezing! The worst part about it all? Sitting down on the toilet seat. We don’t know about you but sometimes it gets so cold that we’re literally shivering.

DIY Toilet Seat Cover

A quick tip for anyone that hates this as much as we do — just cover the toilet seat with a pair of socks and you’ll be good to go!

I Can See Clearly Now…

There’s no doubt that the cold can damage your car over time, including your headlights. Lucky for you, we’ve got just the hack that’ll help you maintain your vehicle for as long as you can…and all you need is some toothpaste! In order to improve the clarity of your headlights, you can actually rub toothpaste into the headlight cover using a toothbrush.

I Can See Clearly Now…

Continue to rub until you feel and see the headlight progressively getting cleaner. Then, spray warm water onto the headlight and wipe away the toothpaste with a cloth!

Shave Away the Fog

How many of you would agree that it’s such a pain getting into your car during the winter and all the windows are just completely fogged up? Yeah, it can be pretty annoying to have to wait for your car to heat up for a good ten minutes before you can even drive it. Luckily, this household item would come in such handy — shaving cream!

Shave Away the Fog

All you have to do is spray some on the inside of your windows and then wipe it right off. It contains many of the same ingredients that are found in defoggers.

DIY Shoe/Drying Rack

After a long day of rain and/or snow, our shoes can get pretty dirty, especially for kids. To stop your house from becoming a complete pigsty, you can create your own pebble boot tray. All you need is a tray or baking sheet of sorts, as well as some rocks and/or pebbles.

DIY Shoe/Drying Rack

If you dry your boots on this little DIY masterpiece, the ice and mud will drain through the rocks to the bottom of the tray leaving your foyer absolutely mess-free!

A Wintertime Treat

This one isn’t so much of a hack as it is a suggestion. If you aren’t making hot chocolate during the wintertime, you’re doing it all wrong. Hot cocoa is honestly the perfect treat for the chilly season — it’ll help you stay warm and comfy, plus the fact that it’s absolutely delicious, especially with the mini marshmallows!

A Wintertime Treat

There really is nothing like a hot cup of piping chocolate to keep your body heat up and your tummies happy.

Quilt it Up

In order to try and keep the heat inside your home, you can also try using old quilts and we’d have to say that thicker, the better. Not only are these thick blankets sort of decorative but they’re also perfect for warding off all the brisk, cold air that inevitably busts through your bubble-wrapped windows during the winter season.

Quilt it Up

Not only that, but it’s also a simple energy-saver that’ll keep you toasty when you need it most.

Slip-Proof Shoes

Slippery lanes and driveways are a huge problem, especially in the wintertime when it’s constantly raining and/or snowing. In order to keep yourself from slipping, try sticking some small screws into the bottom of your shoes. This will help you gain traction while you’re walking through the slippery snow.

Slip-Proof Shoes

While the soles of your shoes are thick, though, be careful not to push the screws far enough through that your feet are exposed to them on the inside of the shoes.

40+ Hacks That the Prove Human Imagination Is Limitless

40+ Hacks That Prove Human Imagination Is Limitless

There are plenty of things you do in your daily life that could be easier. We don’t just mean with the purchase of expensive electronics to automize your tasks either. Instead, we’re taking a look at some hacks with items around your home or to solve common problems that prove the human imagination is limitless when it comes to problem-solving.

Put on a Bracelet With Ease

Jewelry often features small fasteners to open and close the jewelry. These help the fasteners blend in and not detract from the overall design.

Put on a Bracelet With Ease

Yet, there are drawbacks to this. How are you supposed to work the clasp on your bracelet when it’s so small and positioned on your wrist? You can reach for a safety pin to hold the chain in place — and give you a little more reach — while you work the clasp.

Don’t Smash Your Fingers!

It’s a problem that even cartoons have made fun of for years. So, when it comes down to it, is there any surefire way to avoid accidentally smashing your fingers with the hammer?

Don’t Smash Your Fingers!

It stands to reason that the best way to do this is to make sure your fingers are out of the equation entirely. Then, how do you possibly hold the nail? A clothespin that you might already have sitting around will do the trick just right!

Keeping it All Together

Have you ever had a zipper on your jeans that just wouldn’t stay up? It’s a pretty noticeable problem that might leave you foregoing that pair of jeans altogether.

Keeping it All Together

That is unless you know a way to solve the problem. It’s not hard to do either — you just need a paperclip and the pair of jeans in question. All you have to do is hook the paperclip into the zipper and hook the other end over the button of your pants when you zip them up.

Stay Comfortable With Dry Feet

Canvas shoes are stylish but they aren’t exactly great for durability or keeping you safe from the elements. If you wear them in the rain, your feet are going to get wet.

Stay Comfortable With Dry Feet

You could stop that problem, though, with just a little beeswax and a blow dryer. Start by covering your shoes with the beeswax and then hit it with the blow dryer. Continue to use the blow dryer until the beeswax is no longer visible.

Packing Up

Packing for a vacation, business trip, or move can be daunting. After all, you want to bring everything you need and you might not have a lot of space to do it.

Packing Up

Not to mention, you don’t want to pack things together that would interact negatively. For instance, your shoes could dirty your clothes. You can get around this by slipping your shoes into a shower cap before you throw them in your suitcase.

Sweet Summer Treats

On a hot day, there’s nothing quite like enjoying a cold popsicle. They come in a variety of flavors and they’re cooling as they are tasty.

Sweet Summer Treats

How can you keep this tasty treat off of your hands, though? After all, popsicles can make quite a mess if you aren’t careful. You can use a cupcake holder to catch all of the drippings while you eat. Once you’re done, just discard the disposable holder.

Getting the Last Bit

If you’ve ever used a grater before, you know they’re handy. You also know that things get a bit dicey when you only have a small bit of food left to grate.

Getting the Last Bit

If you’ve been holding the food with your fingers, this puts you at risk of scratching or scraping them on the grater as you grate the last of the food. So, to avoid that, try holding that piece of food with a fork as you grate it away.

Solve Your Stinky Shoes

Once and a while, everyone’s shoes start to stink. After all, your feet get sweaty and stinky throughout the day and your shoes absorb that odor.

Solve Your Stinky Shoes

However, you can’t just jump into the shower and wash your shoes the same way you do your feet. So, what’s another solution? You can actually grab a few spare tea bags and drop them in your shoes. You can swap this out for rice and baking soda if you want to dry a pair of shoes out, too.

Using the Space

Why can’t you just have one baking pan on hand? Well, what if you need a different size or you’re baking more than one thing?

Using the Space

As for the issue of different sizes, you may not need to panic and head to the store if you don’t have a small enough baking pan. This person found that aluminum foil creates a great barrier that will keep your casseroles cordoned off into their zone.

Keep Your Cords Tidy

Now that practically everyone has electronics, it’s a common problem to figure out what to do with all your spare cords. You don’t want them tangled, after all.

Keep Your Cords Tidy

You can actually keep your empty toilet paper rolls to help with this problem. When you wrap your cords up, slide them through the roll to keep them wrapped up the way you wrapped them. It’ll help prevent tangles and any potential damage to the cords.

DIY Laptop Protector

Working outside is a great way to get a breath of fresh air while you work. However, it’s harder when you’re worried about protecting your laptop at the same time.

DIY Laptop Protector

Overheating can do a number on your electronics and the sun can make it hard to see. If you have a spare cardboard box sitting around then you have a solution, though. Just cut one side out of it so you can see your screen and position it to create shade over your laptop.

Reaching the Wick

Once you burn a candle down far enough, you might run into the issue of having trouble lighting it. The wick just gets too hard to reach!

Reaching the Wick

As long as you have a box of spaghetti lying around, you have a solution! Light one end of the spaghetti on fire and use it to reach the wick down in the candle’s casing. When you’re done, blow the pasta out and toss it.

Protect Your Peanut Butter

If you’re a fan of peanut butter, especially natural peanut butter, you know that one downside is that it tends to separate. When it does, you have to mix it before using it.

Protect Your Peanut Butter

The only problem is that if the oil sinks to the bottom, it can be harder to mix. To avoid this, put your peanut butter in the cabinet upside down. This way, if you open it and you need to mix the oil back in, it’s all on top and easy to mix.

Funnel in a Pinch

Adding oil to your car requires a few things other than just the oil and your car. Namely, you’ll need a funnel to make sure the oil gets where it needs to go.

Funnel in a Pinch

If you don’t have a funnel, you aren’t quite out of luck, though. So long as you have a screwdriver, you have an alternative. If you pour the oil straight down the screwdriver’s metal arm, the oil will flow down the length of the screwdriver, creating a narrower flow.

Keep Your Keys Close

It’s happened to almost everyone from time to time. You’re heading out for a run or to the gym only to grab your keys and realize that you don’t have pockets.

Keep Your Keys Close

This can cause quite a problem because you probably don’t want to take a spare bag with you on a jog if you can avoid it. If you’re afraid of losing your house key, just bend down and loop it into the laces of your shoe.

Giving a Fridge New Life

Switching over to a new fridge leaves you with a, well, fridge-sized problem. What are you supposed to do with the old one, just take it to the dump?

Giving a Fridge New Life

If you want to reuse a few components, we have an answer for the shelves. Since your garage or shed can always benefit from more storage space, why not just remove the shelves from the fridge door and attach them to the wall to hold whatever you need to store?

Kickstart Your Rose Garden

Growing a rose garden is a great way to add a touch of natural beauty to your home. But, it can also lead you to wonder how to get started on such a thing?

Kickstart Your Rose Garden

If you have rose cuttings, you might be able to get started with a potato from your kitchen too. All you have to do is take your cuttings and insert the stem into a small, raw potato. This will offer moisture and nutrients.

Make the Most of Your Cart

There are a lot of little things that could be improved about regular grocery shopping. To start, we’ll just focus on one small hack you can use while you shop.

Make the Most of Your Cart

This person found out that if you aren’t using the child’s seat in the front of your cart, it’s still handy and not just for fragile groceries like bread. With the seatbelt, you can also lock your drink into place to prevent spills.

Make Pouring Easier

When your child is feeling a little under the weather, you don’t want any added problems. In fact, simplifying things can go a long way in making sure everyone rests.

Make Pouring Easier

You can make measuring out cold medicine easier by only cutting a hole in the seal of liquid medicine rather than removing the whole thing. In doing this, you create a more controlled and slower flow that’s easier to pour and measure accurately.

Fix Your Clogged Drain

It’s a bane of any homeowner’s existence. You walk into the bathroom one morning to take a shower, only to notice the water pooling at your feet instead of draining.

Fix Your Clogged Drain

It’s fine, though! All you need to do is clean the drain out from time to time. Try running hot water into the drain and then add a cup of baking soda. Now, very slowly, add a cup of vinegar as well before flushing again with hot water.

No Windows? No Problem?

We all want a little light in our living situation. It’s why big windows and a lot of natural light are a great selling point for real estate.

No Windows? No Problem?

When this person didn’t have any windows in their basement, they bought a few old windows and put them up. First, they added a frosted effect to the glass and added some LED panels behind them. This way, it offers the illusion of daylight anytime you want it.

Working Together

Reusable zipper bags are incredibly handy. Not only can you wash them and never worry about buying new ones, but they’re also an eco-friendly option too.

Working Together

On the other hand, they can seem almost impossible to dry if you aren’t sure what to do. We recommend using your drying spring-loaded salad tongs. You can use these to hold open the reusable bag while it dries and you can let your tongs dry in the process.

Disinfect LEGOS in the Dishwasher

LEGOs are well-loved by fans both young and old. When it comes to anything that kids commonly play with, you need to worry about how to keep them clean.

Disinfect LEGOS in the Dishwasher

In the case of LEGOS, you can actually clean them in your dishwasher. Start by throwing them in a laundry bag to keep them contained. Then just run the dishwasher as you usually would but stop before you hit the drying cycle. Let the LEGOS dry on a towel instead.

Renewing Your Pasta

One of the best things about a big dinner is enjoying the leftovers the next day. However, not every dish seems to reheat as well as the last one.

Renewing Your Pasta

For example, pasta out of the microwave is often drier than it is when you first make it. You can avoid this, however, by adding a splash of milk or a bit of cream, you can cure this dryness and restore the sauce to the glory it had when you first made your dish.

Secure Your Buttons

There’s nothing quite as inconvenient as looking down only to find you’ve lost a button on your shirt. Can you make sure it doesn’t happen?

Secure Your Buttons

You can cut down on the chances of the threads fraying and wearing out on you, leaving your buttons behind. Just grab a bottle of clear nail polish to seal the threads in place on the button. Make sure to use clear nail polish unless you want to alter the buttons’ appearance.

Keep Them Safe

Traveling with tall plants can present a challenge to any plant lover. After all, you want them to stay safe like any other plant you might purchase.

Keep Them Safe

There’s a solution that can work if you travel in a large enough vehicle. A closed ladder is a great way to create sectioned-off spaces where you can place your plants. You just might want to take a second and secure everything with a few extra ties.

Creating a Thumb Bandage

Cutting or hurting the tip of your finger can be annoying. Even worse, it can be hard to protect it with a bandage that stays put.

Creating a Thumb Bandage

You can turn any bandage into a suitable bandage for the end of your finger with a couple of strategic cuts, though. By cutting into the end of each side of the bandage, you can get a little more flexibility and grip out of it when you place it on your thumb.

Lost and Found

If you lose something small on the floor and can’t see it, you might think all hope is lost. It’s the way that many a piece of jewelry, screws, and more have disappeared.

Lost and Found

Your vacuum can help you out here. Of course, you don’t want to just suck the item into the vacuum with the dirt. To avoid this, pull a sock or secure a piece of fabric over the end of the vacuum. This way, it’ll pick up the missing item without devouring it.

It Works for Little Kids

It’s only fair to note that this hack won’t work for everyone. However, if you’re trying to please a young child, a trick like this could help.

It Works for Little Kids

When you get down to the end of a loaf of bread, someone has to eat the heel of the bread. Given that it’s mostly crust, it isn’t quite popular. If you want to hide the heel of the bread, you can make a sandwich using the heel crust-side-in.

Keep the Breakouts Away

If you struggle with acne, there’s a long list of tricks and tips that you can use to help reduce your breakouts. One that might help is actually not a change to your skincare routine.

Keep the Breakouts Away

Instead, make sure to change your pillowcase daily to reduce acne. When you sleep, your pillowcase absorbs the oils from your skin. That means over time, the oils on your pillowcase can irritate your skin, causing breakouts. Changing the case regularly can help a lot.

Unstick Those Stickers

It can seem like putting a sticker on something means it’s there forever. This belief can be particularly concerned when it comes to furniture.

Unstick Those Stickers

All hope is not lost, though! You can change things up and remove the stickers with just a putty knife and blowdryer. The blowdryer will allow you to soften the adhesive and make it more removable while the putty knife is easier to remove stickers with than your hands.

Just Out of Reach

Especially to shorter people, a high shelf can pose quite a challenge. How do you check what’s in all those boxes when you can’t see inside them?

Just Out of Reach

You don’t actually have to take down each individual box to see what’s inside. You can employ the use of your front-facing camera to help you out. This way, you have a live feed that you can see which shows you what’s up there from a perspective you can actually see.

Don’t Boil Over

It’s easy for cooking to get messy. Sometimes, things spill or they splash or maybe even boil over — and that, in turn, causes some chaos on the stovetop.

Don’t Boil Over

There’s an easy way to avoid boiling over at the very least. All you need is a wooden spoon — you can even use the spoon you’re cooking with. When you’re leaving your food to boil, lay the spoon across the top to keep the pot from boiling over.

Creating a Trash Box

If you’re feeling under the weather, you probably don’t want to get up and down all the time. In fact, you probably just want to lounge about and rest.

Creating a Trash Box

So, where do you put your dirty tissues as you use them if you don’t have a wastebasket nearby? You can use a second, empty tissue box for the job. With these two boxes, you have a handy option for ones that are ready to use and an entire box to toss when you’re ready to get up.

Upgrade Your Rug

Nothing feels better underfoot than a comfortable rug. Not every rug has the plush feeling that you’re looking for, however.

Upgrade Your Rug

As for this hack, you can make any rug feel a little lusher without looking any different at all. All you have to do is purchase a bit of carpet padding that’s relatively inexpensive. Place this under your rug and it’ll add a bit more spring to your step.

A Runner’s Solution

There’s nothing quite as uncomfortable as walking around all day with blistered feet. Yet, it seems that they seem to be unavoidable sometimes.

A Runner’s Solution

These blisters are caused by friction which can come from the seams in your socks, for one. Luckily, if you turn your socks inside out, that thicker seam is on the outside and reduces the chance of blisters. It’s a trick that runners often use to protect their feet while they’re running.

A Moving Tip

Moving is a stressful process. In the end, you have to make sure that everything you own is in order enough to safely make it from one home to the next.

A Moving Tip

Moving clothes can seem like it takes up a lot of space all on its own too. To make packing clothes easier, don’t start to take down and fold everything in your closet. Instead, place a trash bag over a group of hanging clothes to protect them in transit.

Rescue a Phone Charger

As handy as our phones are, their chargers aren’t all that durable. On the other hand, they could be if you knew what steps to take.

Rescue a Phone Charger

Take a pen that you don’t use anymore and take it apart. Work the spring over the end of the charger and then slip a bit of shrink tube over it. Position these close to the end of the charger where they often crack and fray and blow-dry the tube so it shrinks to fit.

How to Store a Cake

Cake containers are a handy tool for making sure your stored cakes stay safe and pristine. If you don’t have one, though, you might be wondering what to do.

How to Store a Cake

You can actually use regular Tupperware to store cake. Yet, if you place the cake down in it, it’s hard to cut a slice out. To avoid this, store the cake on the lid and use the larger body of the container to work as a lid.

Give it a Boost

If you find that your phone isn’t loud enough even at a high volume, what do you do? Are you doomed to listen to a low volume unless you get a speaker?

Give it a Boost

Alternatively, you could opt for a lower-budget way to turn up the volume. If you put the phone in an empty glass with the speakers facing the bottom, the sound will bounce and sound louder. It’s a great trick for music or even alarms.

Sweeping Up

Anyone who has tried to sweep up before quickly realizes a design flaw. When you sweep everything into a dustpan, there’s an inconvenient line of dirt left.

Sweeping Up

This can be particularly problematic when it comes to cleaning dangerous materials like glass. Don’t worry, however, because you can solve the problem with a little painter’s tape. This reduces the gap that you have to clear when you’re sweeping your dirt pile into the dustpan.

Solving a Stink

Once in a while, even the best of us catch ourselves smelling a little ripe. Maybe you woke up too late to catch a shower or simply forgot deodorant that day.

Solving a Stink

So, what do you do if this happens and you don’t have your deodorant handy? Do you have to run to the nearest store or all the way home? You could or, according to this life hack, you could use a half of an orange or a lemon to combat B.O.

If You’re Feeling Vengeful

When you go to the mailbox, you probably pull out junk mail addressed to you quite often. The best reaction is usually to toss it in the recycling bin or the shredder.

If You’re Feeling Vengeful

If you’re feeling particularly vengeful, you could cost the company a little bit of money. It might not make a difference in the long run but it can make you feel a little better about the junk mail you get. Not to mention, if you rip it up, the business is likely charged per piece of mail returned.