My (SFW) List of Actually Helpful Life Hacks

Short: Loads of life hacks you are given on the internet are bad. Either to niche in use, fragile, expensive, or plain unhelpful; often a list of “XYZ great life hacks” are just a waste of time. Here are some – actually helpful! – life hacks.

Life hack	Description
Heel Lock Running Shoes	Running Shoes have a second hole a the top. Reloop the shoe lace on the same side through the second hole; then put it through the created loop on the opposing side; then tie your laces normally. (see Source #1) This locks your heel in the shoe and you won’t get blisters and your bridge is less pressed.
Whisk grabbing boiled eggs	You can use a whisk to fetch boiled eggs out of the water pot. Press your whisk against the egg until in slips inside. This way you can more easily chill the eggs under cool water (to make it easier to poach the eggs – bonus life hack) without burning your hands.
Re-heating pizza	To re-heat pizza use your pan (and not the microwave or the oven). Pour a small amount of water in with it and cover the pan. This way the pizza is less floppy and still tastes close to fresh, even the next day.
Using tape to hang multi-nail stuff on the wall	But tape on the back side of the thing you want to hang on the wall. Mark the spaces where the thing has its holds. Take the tape off and put it on the wall. Nail the dots. Rip of the tape. Hang the thing. Faaar easier than measuring the distance and painstakingly dot it.
Wooden Spoon stops pots from boiling over	Just that. Put a wooden spoon on a pot in a way that it crosses through the middle and extends over both sides of the pot. It prevents boiling over. Works best when the spoon is dry and cool. You can leave the pot unattended for a while now. That’s super nice.
Pretend not understanding inappropriate jokes but being willing to understand them	When faced with inappropriate jokes, a good way to show their inappropriateness is to pretend you don’t get them. Neutrally ask if they can explain the way its funny. This helps loads in not supporting the (sometimes subtly underlying) tasteless topics of the “joke”. And also you actually misunderstand a quite funny joke as an inappropriate one and get to laugh relieved.
Rubberband your sports short pockets	Use a rubber band to tighten your pocket in your shorts (e.g. when going for a run) to not be afraid of the contents (keys, phone, …) falling out. (picture see Source #3)
Connected zip-locked bags	You can connect zip-lock bags by flipping on of them inside-out This way you can have bigger things stored watertight
Aluminium removes onion and garlic smell from your skin – use your sink	After cutting garlic or onions wash your hands and rub your hands (with soap and water) against the aluminium of your sink. This way you can remedy one of the draw backs of using these common ingredients.
Cure curved rug edges with weight and water ice.	When an edge of your rug keeps curving up. Put some weight on it and cool the rug at that edge with ice. Less break-your-neck hazards and more happiness.
Sew two things together by hand with a straight line – Thumbnail	Mark two lines on your thumbnail of the hand that is holding the cloth. Make the gap between the two lines on your thumbnail match your desired distance of the sweing line from the edge of the cloth. Now line your thumbnail in a way to help you keep the distance. (See source #5)
Tape marking trick	When doing something where you need to tape many stripes and remove them after. Instead of ripping the tape perpendicular; fold it over-and-under itself (so that the stick part shows up forming a triangle) then rip it from the side of the roll. This leaves a nice part to handle the tape roll to tear the next piece. And it keeps a nice handle to remove the taped tape. (For better understanding see source #6)
Using knives to remove crown caps	Much needed in Germany. Missing a remover for crown caps (e.g. on beer bottles). Hold the bottle so that your hand forms a fist just below the cap. But the knive (cutting edge showing away outward from the bottle) in between your holding hand and the cap. Then leverage straight upwards with the handle. (Don’t use tork around the length of the knife) Works the same with just about everything long, solid, and with a clear edge (e.g. Ruler, piece of wood, …)
Travel pillows the right way around	Not as much of a life hack, more of a clarification. Travel Pillows are often put on the wrong way around. You put the part that needs to be connected behind your neck, not in front of it. This lets your head rest properly on it, instead of falling forward.
Using salt and water to remove super glue	Just like that.
Using water, aluminium foil and salt to clean siver ware	Put salt water and aluminium foil (under water) in a bowl and add your silver ware. After leaving it there for a while it will de-oxidize the silver making it shiny again.
Cola stops concrete from hardening.	If you are working with concrete and cannot stir the concrete to keep it agitated, but still need it to stop hardening for a while: Pour Cola Pop in it. The sugar prevents the hardening process. (See source #8)
Toothpaste cleans white shoe soles.	Modern sneakers often have white soles. You can clean them and make them shine white again with toothpaste. Just brush them with water and toothpaste and an old toothbrush.
Microwave your sponges.	After using your sponges, put them in the microwave to kill bacteria and have the vaporizing water clean and re-fluff your sponge. This way your sponges will last more than twice as long.
Pencil-sharpen plastic straws to create cable guide tubes.	You can put plastic straws through a pencil sharpener. Then use the resulting loopy thing to bundle cables and wires (e.g. your charger cables or your PC cables).
Using a flexible plastic bottle as quasi-plunger	When you have no plunger at hand, but your sing is clogged: Fill the sink with water. Tape the overspill (so no air can go through and the pressure needs to push the dirt). Fill the bottle with water. Then submerge the opening of the bottle as close into the drain as you can. Squeeze the bottle hard and fast. Its worse than a plunger, but better than nothing.
Water in mouth for cutting onions.	Have your mouth filled with water when cutting onions. The way I understand it, it helps block the “mist that makes you tear up” be breathed in – but no guarantee on that being true. Guarantee on it working though! Less tearing up that way.
Using spaghetti as candle lighters	Have not tested that yet and I know that you need to be careful to actually douse the tip in water after! But, apparently you can light up spaghetti and use the burning pasta stick to light candles if you don’t have any long match sticks at hand.
Remove sweat spots with baking soda/natron.	Let your white clothing rest in water with 1 or 2 packs of baking soda for a few hours before washing them in the washing machine to remove sweat stains.