Looking for some neat ideas/quality of life improvements aka lifehacks I guess
Honestly something I got for my partner - a silicone microwave popcorn bowl kinda like this one. I stumbled across it at Goodwill, still brand new.
It’s a medium sized, black silicone bowl with a vented cover - fill a recessed space in the bottom with normal popcorn and microwave for a few minutes.
No extra packaging, no grease, easy cleanup, and you can use cheap (or super nice) popcorn as you like. And it collapses down for storage.
They’re great. I’ve got one and love making popcorn with it.
Not recently but I have a travel charger for a good while now (year or two I think) that charges my phone watch and airpods. It’s a travel charger so it folds but it’s like a C shape with the phone on the outer curve of the C (it’s straight but I’m terrible at descriptions). The airpods sit at the bottom of the inside and the watch sits on top
It’s a neat little charger
I bought and installed gallery rails in the living room. We wanted to completely re-arrange alle the framed stuff there, and I didn’t want to turn the wall into swiss cheese. The hooks I’ve bought have been a bit beefy for some things I needed to hang, so I had to put a few of them to the grinder, but all in all this made the walls very neat, and easily to rearrange later.
I’ve seen some incredible 2D Christmas trees with gallery rails, if you celebrate.
We’ve done these as well our house is concrete so it’s really difficult to drill holes into so the rails make life much easier for rearranging art work.
We love our gallery rails. We haven’t done much rearranging yet but set up was a breeze. And it’s beautiful
Tiny refillable perfume bottle so I don’t have to bring a big glass bottle when travelling
My local discount zoo of a store was selling cold brew tea for a dollar so now I have twenty-four boxes of cold brew Watermelon Lime Zinger.
But seriously, for $1 that’s crazy economical and I am on some medication where it is paramount that I stay hydrated.My more normal snag is produce crates. The local asian market literally gives them away and they’re incredible tools for organization! They stack, you can take wire cutters to the plastic grill on side to make them into stackable cubbies, and they help organize the trunk of your car.
If I’m doing better in the spring I’d like to ise them to make raised beds for growing some veggies.
I finally got a carbon steel pan recently. It’s the only pan I use now, unless I’m cooking something acidic.
What do you like about it?
It has many of the benefits of cast iron and heats up more quickly. High heat searing is where it really shines. Steaks and burgers are just effortless.
I have a bunch of Le Crouset and stainless. I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time scraping and scrubbing burns off of them from searing.
This thing just works every time
Carbon steel woks are incredibly versatile, especially with a flat bottom.
Just got a nice big one for my birthday. Got to get it all seasoned up nice. I love it already
Not really bought but I printed out soap dish for my shower since the soap kept falling. I bought some filament for it at microcenter
Oooh, this sounds nice, I don’t know why I haven’t done one for myself. The ones I tried with suction cups don’t ever work.
Stl link?
This was the one I used. I like the drainage hole. First thing I did was drown it in water and it flows out really nicely. I scaled it down to fit in my shower so I recommend you measure it and your bar of soap to make sure it fits.
A three meter long USB-C cable. It’s been a game changer.
I just read the last word as “charger”. Time for bed
A USB extension cable can be quite handy if you regularly need to plug and unplug USB devices (e.g. security keys) from your desktop PC, especially devices that aren’t properly supported on front USB ports (e.g. security keys on a keychain with keys). Just put the end on your desk near your keyboard.
What for? To stay plugged to your phone while it’s charging? Terrible idea
Not all wall sockets are right above the table, for example.
You may get a phone call with 2% of battery, for example.
Yes, you may want to use your phone while charging, it doesn’t transfom into a brick.
We have a new recycling system brought in by the council so we have 2 massive sacks to store somewhere. I bought some large hooks from Screwfix and mounted them to the garage wall so they’re off the ground and out of the way. Fun fact: we now have 6 different bins!
France slashed this to two, on account of people doing it wrong or not doing it at all: glass / everything else.
At least my area, it’s privatized and competitive bidding. I just don’t believe in it in this context.
Six? That sounds excessive, even compared to some of Germany‘s complicated recycling systems.
Metal, glass, paper, plastic, compost and other?
In Japan, I have 7 bins plus cardboard. Burnables, nonburnables, plastic, paper, cans, pet bottles, glass bottles.
Paper & cardboard, plastic & metal, glass, food, garden, everything else black bag
what’s the difference between food and garden?
German recycling isn’t complex, it could be way more complex, for example with including different plastic types.
Ninja stars.
A good life hack is when you are being pursued place them into the ground in key spots where a pursuer might step.
Also work on throwing two ninja stars at once so you can increase DPS.
People down voting have no sense of humor.
Also ninja stars are legitimately so much fun to throw around if you have a safe spot to do it where you won’t wreck anything if you miss.
They are like throwing knives without the fiddly part.
Caltrops are better because they require less precision to deploy effectively.
And they’re extremely effective on cars!
Cool, and by cool I mean totally sweet!
They look simple, but it’s genuinely hard to launch them with the right spin to keep them stable.
just ninja star stuff
I mean if you are familiar with the mechanics of throwing a football correctly, or throwing a frisbee or you just are comfortable throwing fairly hard then it isn’t too difficult to learn to throw them.
Honestly a baseball pitcher doesn’t have to adjust their form much to throw a ninja star, they just have to work out the handgrip. An over the head baseball throw is perfect because the spin plane makes missing a little to high or low much more likely than missing left or right which is what you want anyways.
These are the ninja star shapes I have found most ergonomic, durable and plausibly sharpenable. They have enough meat in the blades that they can slam into a rock and be dented instead of chipping badly, and you can put a normal human arms strength into the throw unlike smaller ones that you have to gingerly throw unless your form is really good. The one on the bottom right looks kinda odd like it needs more teeth but it is the easiest to throw seriously hard (highest spinning radius to weight ratio) and you can easily sink it into wood all the way down to the base of the blade where the other two perpendicular blades finally halt it going any deeper. The top left one is surprisingly effective too and much more durable.
The big ones are way easier to feel the right rhythm to the snap in the throw as you can physically feel the momentum in the longer/heavier span of the wider ninja star where-as with smaller ones you just have to know the right form because you get no feedback on how to correct your form.
If you get a comically big ninja star then anybody can throw it fairly well because the wide span makes feeling how power builds up in a snap extremely intuitive. If you have ever had a moment where you pretended to be a ninja and thrown those three bladed metal brush cutters for weed whackers you know what I mean.
Also, be careful, they actually aren’t joke weapons at all and they are MADDENINGLY easy to lose because they just want to keep rolling and rolling. Maybe a try a magnet in a plastic bag on a string that you throw into brush when you lose one (like magnet fishing on land) it has worked for me before. You will lose them, it’s part of the ninja star life.
image source but you can buy these anywhere you can buy army navy type stuff
If you’re at all mechanical or work on cars/bikes or a homeowner, the Knipex Pliers Wrench is an excellent tool. It’s a set of leveraged adjustable parallel jaw pliers. So basically you can grab nuts, bolts, or anything with flats with tremendous leverage, and you can do it quickly on a range of sizes. Almost infinitely better than a crescent (adjustable) wrench, fills the spot of a whole set of open-ended box wrenches, and they’re excellent German engineering. Come in a range of sizes (bc there’s still different uses for big and small). Roughly $50-60 each, but sets are cheaper per. Plus, harbor freight makes a nice dupe of the 10in/250mm for $40 (find a coupon tho).
I was on the fence for a while, but I adore the tool and wish I had it years earlier. For most people, a 7in/180mm and 10in will fill most needs. The hype is real. Lifetime warranty too if you buy from authorized retailer (habor freight is also lifetime eyy)
I bought a cheap ring light. I look a lot better on webcam now even when it’s dark outside. Don’t know yet if I’ll be making YouTube videos any time soon, but I’m definitely a step closer now.
Small squeezable bottle for my mouthwash. It’s a lot lighter to lift up and takes up way less space on my sink. The one I have is fairly large for a travel bottle (about 7 in tall by 2 in wide) so I only have to refill it every 1-2 weeks.
Another item I like a lot is my garlic press. It’s great for adding a strong garlic flavor to sauces without adding any crunchy texture. The garlic dissolves into the sauce (for the most part). It’s also super good for garlic bread too. If you’re getting one, I highly recommend a metal one since I’ve heard the plastic ones don’t last long. I have the Kuhn Rikon brand because I figured it was a “buy it for life” item but there are other cheaper steel presses too.
A fluffy blanket
An electric blanket. Fuck utilities costs, eats next to nothing and so, so comfy.
Electric blankets are peak-cozy. Like a warm shower but dry.
I have one too but you have to put it on your matras because it’s quite rigid. Do you have one in an actual blanket form?
Yeah I have this one
aw heyo yee fluffy blanket
A spray bottle for oil to easily coat a pan or food in oil without using huge amounts of it.
be sure to get one of those metal/opaque ones specifically made for oil, as it degrades when exposed to sunlight (btw, that’s why oil bottles are coloured and not transparent)
It won’t make you sick of you dont, but exposure to light will get rid of its health benefits
I did not know that, thanks!
Too bad they clog easily.
Use a plastic squeeze container like a ketchup bottle. Lots of pizza places and others use them when you buy bulk ranch or other sauces. Ours are from Jets pizza and they rock
Maybe if you are using the aerosol cans with lecithin in them. I’ve never had just plain oil clog up a pump sprayer
Every olive oil pump sprayer I’ve used has …
This one has worked great… https://www.amazon.ca/FLAIROSOL-Dressings-Continuous-Professional-Technology/dp/B0BLHJSPHW
Okay this sounds like a great idea.
I use a little dish and a silicone brush. I think whether or not it will clog will depend on the oil a lot.
