Topic Wiki

Food:
  • If you get a piece of eggshell in with the eggs while cracking them, use the other half of the eggshell to fish it out instead of trying to use your fingers or anything else.
  • If you want to separate the yolk from the white, take an empty clean water bottle, squeeze the bottle, place the mouth over the yolk and slowly release the bottle. The yolk will get sucked up into the bottle with minimal/no white.
  • When boiling eggs, add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda to the water. Makes them really easy to peel and doesn't affect the taste.
  • If you have a room temperature bottle (and esp can) that you want to get cold fast, wrap a wet paper towel around it and put it in the freezer. It'll be ice cold pretty quickly.
  • Microwave rice from TJ's
  • Open a can of corn,put salt pepper and cheese on top, microwave or oven it (super easy lunch)
  • 2 slices of old pizza from the fridge, lay them cheese sides on top of each other and put them in a sandwich maker. Instant calzone.
  • For chulent of course.. Using only navy beans, chulent mix a big no no.
  • If you're going to freeze ground beef, put it in a gallon ziploc and squeeze/spread it flat to fill the bag. You can stack them in the freezer and it'll defrost much faster (without the outside spoiling while the inside is still frozen).
  • To easily melt a small amount of chocolate / butter, put it in a ziploc bag and put that into a mug of hot water for a few minutes. No mess! You can cut a hole in the corner to pipe chocolate too.
  • Shredded cheese lasts longer in the freezer, but will clump up, before freezing add a little bit of cornstarch (1tbs) and shake vigorously. The pieces will stay separate and it'll be easy to use.
  • To cool down baby food without blowing at it (which may add your bacteria to the food) wave your hand at it.
Travel:
  • If you want a hot meal on any plane, bring a tradition soup or oatmeal packet and use the free hot water they offer with tea. Great for traveling in general.
  • Before you go on a long flight, freeze a JJ cappuccino.  If it's frozen they let it on the plane. Once you get up from your nap on the plane there is nothing as refreshing as an iced cappuccino. It should still be freezing but not frozen.
  • When packing a suitcase, put your socks inside your shoes. It will save a little space and stop your shoes from getting crushed.
  • The aisle seat armrest usually has a little button underneath by the hinge that allows you to lift it. Makes it much easier to get in and out of your seat, especially if your tray table is open with stuff on it.
  • When we go on trips My wife packs the childrens clothing in individual ziplocs for each day of our trip. Like that she doesn't have to look for all the matching stuff.
Computers:
  • You can open links a in new tab by clicking with the scroll wheel.

    Quickly toggle between tabs.

    1) Excel and most internet browsers: Ctrl + PgUp/Dn
    2) Google Sheets: Ctrl + Shift + PgUpDn
    3) chrome: control-tab / control-shift-tab
alternatively ctrl+number tab from left
   
  • Widows+V will open up your clipboard with all recent stuff copied.
Every day/Home:
  • If you are drilling into a wall, open an envelope and tape the flap to the wall under where you are drilling and it catches all the plaster/dust that comes out. Makes cleanup after a small drilling a breeze
  • Open glass jars with rubber gloves, Or a rubber band around the lid.
  • When you first open a bottle of soda or seltzer or pop, begin by slowly turning the cap one-quarter turn and wait about 10 seconds, watching for the small bubbles to slow down, and listening as the sssst of escaping gas gets quieter.  Then turn another 1/4 turn, and wait another 10 seconds till it quiets down.
  • If you get chewing gum on your clothes, put the clothes in the freezer for a bit, it will be much easier to remove the gum afterwards.
Stores:

  • Check out at the pharmacy in the grocery store when the regular lines are long.
Perscriptions:

  • GoodRX.com, even for meds that are covered. My insurance can have a $15 copay, but coupon from GoodRX gets me the medication for $7. When insurance doesn't cover the medication, it's a fraction of the cost. I've seen discounts of 90%
Holidays:
  • After Yom Tov, especially Pesach, make a spreadsheet. What on the menu went over well with guests and kids. What did you run short on and need to have more next time around. What did you way overbuy on. That way there is no need to reinvent the wheel next year.

« Last edited by qooldude on July 07, 2022, 12:22:43 AM »

Author Topic: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!  (Read 215850 times)

Offline good sam

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #300 on: June 16, 2020, 09:00:47 PM »
Alternatively, open a yogurt just a little bit, insert a plastic spoon at a slant, freeze. "Instant" frozen yogurt (might be more exciting for kids than regular yogurt)
I bought these for that purpose, mixed reviews from the kids.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MDUDWHH/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_ASw6Eb1W2PFZV
If you don't care why would you comment?
HT: DMYD

Offline justaregularguy

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #301 on: June 16, 2020, 09:01:27 PM »
download ditto on your computer to be able to copy many different things and then have a clipboard with recall as opposed to copy paste copy paste
with the shortcut windows key + v mentioned above (in wiki as well) you can view many copied items too. Not sure how different this ditto thing is :o
nothings impossible- the word itself says Im possible

Offline yungermanchik

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #302 on: June 16, 2020, 09:08:26 PM »
Did you try installing other languages for the main keyboard? You can then search for on screen keyboard in the start menu or under accessibility settings
And then pin on-screen keyboard to taskbar
Small people talk about other people.
Average people talk about things
BIG PEOPLE TALK ABOUT IDEAS.

Online etech0

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #303 on: June 16, 2020, 09:09:01 PM »
And then pin on-screen keyboard to taskbar
On that note, you can press start-r to open the run box. Type osk and press enter to open On Screen Keyboard.

You can also type excel to open Excel, winword to open word, notepad, outlook, chrome, and many more.
Workflowy. You won't know what you're missing until you try it.

Offline gozalim

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #304 on: June 16, 2020, 09:17:31 PM »
She'd your own cheese don't buy it already shredded.
what's the easiest way to shred
(shredding + cleanup)

Online etech0

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #305 on: June 16, 2020, 09:17:55 PM »
And you can make your own shortcuts to any file/program you like.

(This is a little geekier but can save you tons of time.)

Create a folder somewhere and call it Shortcuts or anything you like.
In that folder, create shortcuts to whatever you'd like to access quickly.
Give the shortcuts short names (eg: docs for documents, xl for excel, mus for music)
Copy the path to your shortcuts folder (it will be something like C:/Users/etech0/Documents/folder/shortcuts)
Press the start button and type Environment Variables.
Click Edit the System Environment Variables.
Click Environment Variables.
Under System Variables, click Path
Click Edit
Click New and paste the path to your folder.
Click OK three times.

Now you can press start-r, type any of the shortcuts you configured, press enter, and it'll open that file or folder or program.
You can add more shortcuts to your shortcut folder and they will work as soon as you add them.
(I like to have 'shrt' as a shortcut to my shortcuts folder, to make it easier to add more.)
Workflowy. You won't know what you're missing until you try it.

Offline yelped

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #306 on: June 16, 2020, 10:12:28 PM »
There are some better ways to open shortcuts.

Small tip: Windows key + digit will open whatever that icon is on the taskbar. So windows + 2 will open Google Chrome if that is your second program pinned to the taskbar. You can pin anything to the taskbar.

Offline justaregularguy

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #307 on: June 16, 2020, 10:19:42 PM »
As a small hack/fix if some programs seem to magically disappear from the taskbar even after you click pin to taskbar try running it as administrator (Start menu>instead of ‘open’ click ‘run as administrator’ )and then pin it. Worked for my slack app which kept disappearing. (Funny side story-I called Microsoft technical support and they suggested I install a new version of windows and maybe that would clear up the disappearing act but turns out I figured it out on my own  ;D)
nothings impossible- the word itself says Im possible

Offline Mikes@Micro

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #308 on: June 16, 2020, 10:34:17 PM »
Are we ready for a spinoff thread in Tech Talk?
Quote or engagement  equals full throated endorsement and vote!
H/t PinchosL

Online etech0

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #309 on: June 16, 2020, 10:46:27 PM »
There are some better ways to open shortcuts.

Small tip: Windows key + digit will open whatever that icon is on the taskbar. So windows + 2 will open Google Chrome if that is your second program pinned to the taskbar. You can pin anything to the taskbar.
+1
Are we ready for a spinoff thread in Tech Talk?
+100
Workflowy. You won't know what you're missing until you try it.

Offline SwellCindy

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #310 on: June 17, 2020, 12:23:47 AM »
My favorite hack:

When something drips onto the floor of the oven, sprinkle some baking soda onto it. No smoke, no alarms going off, etc. You're good til the next scheduled cleaning of your oven. This is something I do often, as 1- occasionally, some oil from the potato kugel will run over 2 - challah seeds often scatter to the bottom when re-warming on erev Shabbos, and the next time I use the oven during the week I want to prevent a burnt odor or kitchen fire.  Baking soda is excellent to have handy in the kitchen altogether, it can put out a grease mishap in seconds (it chokes the fire). 

In case anyone is unaware, the primary ingredient in a fire extinguisher is baking soda (aka sodium bicarbonate). Not to be confused with baking powder, which can ch"v escalate a fire... Although baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate as well, it contains add'l ingredients which make it more flammable.

Offline Mootkim

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #311 on: June 17, 2020, 02:53:58 AM »
When eating a piece of watermellon you always get your cheek all wet when you get closer to the bottom by the green part. I always cut the corners of the peel leaving just the center of the peel part to hold and that way you dont get dirty at all when you get to the bottom.

Online moko

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #312 on: June 17, 2020, 06:45:54 AM »
When eating a piece of watermellon you always get your cheek all wet when you get closer to the bottom by the green part. I always cut the corners of the peel leaving just the center of the peel part to hold and that way you dont get dirty at all when you get to the bottom.
I just peel the melon first so we don't have to worry about that

Offline Mootkim

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #313 on: June 17, 2020, 09:51:27 AM »
I just peel the melon first so we don't have to worry about that
That is good for when you cut up your watermelon into little pieces but sometimes the situation calls for specifically slices with the peel (like at a bbq). That's when you use this trick

Online etech0

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #314 on: June 17, 2020, 10:20:01 AM »
Here is another option:
Workflowy. You won't know what you're missing until you try it.

Offline Josef.koney

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #315 on: June 17, 2020, 10:59:02 AM »
And you can make your own shortcuts to any file/program you like.

(This is a little geekier but can save you tons of time.)

Create a folder somewhere and call it Shortcuts or anything you like.
In that folder, create shortcuts to whatever you'd like to access quickly.
Give the shortcuts short names (eg: docs for documents, xl for excel, mus for music)
Copy the path to your shortcuts folder (it will be something like C:/Users/etech0/Documents/folder/shortcuts)
Press the start button and type Environment Variables.
Click Edit the System Environment Variables.
Click Environment Variables.
Under System Variables, click Path
Click Edit
Click New and paste the path to your folder.
Click OK three times.

Now you can press start-r, type any of the shortcuts you configured, press enter, and it'll open that file or folder or program.
You can add more shortcuts to your shortcut folder and they will work as soon as you add them.
(I like to have 'shrt' as a shortcut to my shortcuts folder, to make it easier to add more.)
For programs , click properties on the shortcut, there's a option for shortcuts there.

Offline Yo ssi

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #316 on: June 17, 2020, 11:40:59 AM »
For all those using Gboard (Google's Keyboard):
Drag the space bar left or right to move the cursor
Hold the backspace and drag left to backspace full words at a time!
« Last Edit: June 17, 2020, 12:27:34 PM by Yo ssi »
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Offline Joeymc

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #317 on: June 17, 2020, 11:44:52 AM »

For all those using Gboard (Google's Keyboard):
Hold the space bar and move left or right to move the cursor
On Android? I don't have a cursor and if I hold the space bar it pops up language options.

Hold the backspace and drag left to backspace full words at a time!
Works for me, thanks!
120 characters? Hmm, I wonder what I could write with 64 characters. Boy, it's gonna be hard to use up 15 characters. W-

Offline Yo ssi

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #318 on: June 17, 2020, 12:25:13 PM »
On Android? I don't have a cursor and if I hold the space bar it pops up language options.
Sorry my mistake, don't hold it just drag.
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Online moko

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Re: Life Hacks, Post Your Favorites!
« Reply #319 on: June 17, 2020, 12:28:58 PM »
That is good for when you cut up your watermelon into little pieces but sometimes the situation calls for specifically slices with the peel (like at a bbq). That's when you use this trick
we peel even when slicing. Just less messy.