People shared the brilliant everyday wins they learned FAR too late in life – 27 proper game changers

Not only is the phrase ‘life hack’ way too overused, it’s also the sort of thing that’s likely to make us stop reading the moment we come across it.

But stick with us – please! – after Redditor slart_n asked this.

“What everyday activity did you do wrong for years, before someone finally showed you an important trick?”

And while we desperately try not to describe any of these as ‘life hacks’ – gah, we’ve used it again! – some of these are proper genius.

1.

‘I just remember that one dude being told you could wait for the shower to warm up instead of having to stand in it cold as it warms up lmao.’
Mythril_Bullets

2.

‘You can take the silverware basket out of the dishwasher when unloading it. 💀’
877-Cash-Meow

3.

‘Sliding your thumb on the spacebar of your phone will move the cursor.’
UnfairMicrowave

4.

‘If you’re mounting something to the wall that has pre-designed holes on the back, rather than measure between the holes and try to space the nails/screws accordingly, stretch a single piece of painters tape (blue tape) across the back of the piece from just before the beginning of the first hole to just after the last one.

‘Mark each hole with a pencil/pen on the painters tape, then place the tape on the wall and voila, you have a perfect mounting template. I suggest you do a quick check with a laser level on the wall just to make sure your marks are level before drilling.’
darthva

5.

‘Using a gift card to sign up for free trials.’
dadddieslittlefox

‘Wait, what?’
LukeMcDuck

‘If there are no funds to withdraw, you don’t have to worry about canceling the recurring subscription. The account simply gets closed due to lack of a valid method of payment.’
Glimmer_III

6.

‘Opening a beverage can.

‘I keep my fingernails very short and sometimes it would be a bit finicky to open the tab on a can.

‘I was damn near 40 years old when my buddy showed me you’re supposed to push down on the hinge portion of the tab with your thumb to raise the other edge of the tab so you can get your finger under it. I felt like an idiot.’
funklab

7.

‘Those tiny, obnoxious cans of tomato paste. You can take both ends off with the can opener, and use a wooden spoon to push on the top. It comes out clean like a push pop!’
knittybitty12

8.

‘Taking the safety cap off of deodorant.

‘I used to try to get my finger nails under it and pop it off. They were quite a pain in the ass to get off. In my late 20s my roommate was talking to me while unpacking her groceries and she opened her deodorant and just twisted up the stick so that the cap came off. I was shocked.’
dinosarahsaurus

9.

‘I used to open bananas by pulling the top, then I saw some documentary with monkeys opening them from the bottom and it’s ten times easier. I also learn that I’m more stupid than a monkey that day.’
PreZEviL

10.

‘Not an everyday activity, but someone showed me I’d been wasting celery for years. When it goes limp and loses its crunch, you can just soak it in water overnight, and it makes it crisp again.’
joec_95123

11.

‘Put on pillow covers. I used to shove the pillow in there and struggle with it until my wife showed me how to flip the pillow case inside out and cover the pillow while flipping right side out.’
Immediate_Papayas

12.

‘Rinsing my hair. I used to rinse with hot water and assume I just had frizzy and dry hair. Rinsed with col water once and realized I’d lived far too long with frizzy hair for no reason.’
Clawffee

13.

‘If you’re trying to hang a picture by catching the crosswire on a nail in the wall, slide a fork down over the nail so the prongs are behind the nail head and the fork is angled away from the wall.

‘Slide the wire down behind the fork, and it will be guided right onto the nail. Then just pull up the fork. Saves a dozen attempts to “catch” the nail on the wire.’
GSNow

14.

‘How to properly secure a towel around the waist after a shower. Instead of tucking the hem inwards, you fold it outwards and down, much more secure, you can like, run around and not worry about it falling off.’
archetype1