Hacks
In recent months we've all been at home a lot more than we'd like. This also means that we've had more time to do our everyday chores, like washing our car, maintaining our houses, and even entertaining our children.
So we've decided to compile a list of "hacks" for you at home to help you out in your everyday chores.
DIY Travel Cup
In today's fast-paced world, we'll welcome anything that can make our existence more simple - and affordable. Instead of buying one of those fancy car cups or $65 metal brand name cylinders, just make your own!
Pour your drink into a cup and cover the top of it with cellophone. Then, pop a straw through it, and sip on-the-go! Place a rubber band aronnd the rim for a little extra seal.
Fix Sink Clogs With Salt
Salt is one of the most useful minerals on earth. While most people only think it's for cooking, it actually has tons of handy uses - like unclogging drains! First, clear as much of the blockage as you can by hand.
Then take 1/2 a cup of salt and 1/2 a cup of baking soda and pour it into the drain. Then chase it down with vinegar. Beware, it will bubble up fast! But by the time that stops, the clog should be gone!
Clean With A Dishwasher Tablet
Let’s face it, no one likes to clean the bathroom. It's always a workout to get the tiles and shower sparkling clean. But we have a trick; dishwasher tablets! Take a sponge, cut out a small hole, and insert a dishwasher tablet.
Now when you go to clean your shower doors, instead of endless scrubbing, just rub this sponge over the door and wash away. It’s that easy. It even works on shower curtains, the tub, and faucets!
Sleep With A Bar Of Soap
We know this sounds bizarre but hear us out. It's been said that sleeping with a bar of soap can cure leg cramps at night and relieve restless legs syndrome.
Some suggest placing soap near your feet helps ions to go from the soap to your body and eventually your nervous system. These ions apparently ease cramps but there’s been no official clinical study on this yet.
Dish Soap Cleaner
Rather than spending money and time on expensive commercial products, why not use what you already have? Dish soap has an insane effect on cleaning toilets!
Take 1/4 cup of dish soap, 1/4 cup of baking soda, and 1/4 cup of water. Mix them together and pour them into the toilet. Stir the solution, then let it sit overnight. The next morning, do a light scrub and your toilet will dazzle!
Vinegar Surface Cleaner
As mentioned before, we can spend a lot of buying unnecessarily expensive cleaning products when in fact, there's really no need! Make a quick DIY surface cleaner with 1 cup of water, 1 cup of white vinegar, 1/2 lemon, and 15 drops of any essential oils you want for a good smell.
Mix it all together and clean whatever surface you want with it. It will do an amazing job with half the effort!
Hot Car Trick
If you ever get a dent in your car, there's no need to pay a mechanic anything! Simply boil some water and pour it over the area.
The hot water will make it much easier to push the dent out of the plastic. But there's also another good use for this trick...
Cold Days
Ever get in the car bright and early on a cold morning before work, start the engine and then realise you can't see a thing?
Get rid of the frost on the car fast by warming up some water and pouring it over the windows! Make sure to get all sides. Getting to work safe is better than getting to work fast!
Breath Easy
This might be one of the best kept sinus tips of our generation. When you're suffering from sinus problem like a blocked nose or a headache, try rubbing Vicks between your toes before bed and notice if you start to feel relief.
Many people swear by this, but we're still on the fence!
Alternative Cooking
The dishwasher isn't the first place you'd think of when cooking potatoes but apparently, it does the job just fine! Just line the potatoes up and turn it on.
Obviously, leave out the soap. Or if you just want to clean your potatoes using a dishwasher, you can do that too. Just turn it on, walk away for 10 mins and come back!
Hair Care
This one's for all the women and men who take their hair care seriously! If you want to really hydrate your hair, give it an oily mask, but do it without the mess.
Simply put you oil of choice in a pan, dip your comb in it and then run it through your hair. We recommend wearing a towel or old t-shirt for any extra residue!
Snoring Hack
In the past, if you were a snorer, or lived with a snorer, you simply just had to put up with it. But life's too short for sleep dreprivation and spending money at doctor's appointment doesn't always work out, so here's a hack.
There's a wathc-like device out there called Sleep Connection. Its biosensors detects snoring and immediately sends natural electrical pulses to reposition your body and end your snoring! Thank us later.
Make Onions And Garlic Last Longer
These two staples add a wealth of flavor to almost every dish! You can totally change the game when it comes to cooking with garlic and onions.
Although these veggies last much longer than others, there's a simple trick to further their longevity by about three more months. Take a paper bag and punch small holes all around the bag. Then fold the opening of the bag a couple of turns and secure it with a paper clip.
Fix Slow WiFi Without Upgrading
Normally, you call your internet provider for help, you wait on the phone for what seems like hours and in the end, they offer no help. All they suggest is to upgrade your plan to a faster speed by paying more.
Getting a WiFi booster is the only way to give you what you need! This will boost your internet speed and extends your WiFi to reach every part of your house! It's a savior hack for most of us working at home!
Perfect Avocados
Who doesn't love an avocado? Well, actually, many people don't but that's not the point here. Perfectly ripe avocados are hard to buy but not once you know this tip.
This is how you look for the perfect avocado: next time you're shopping for avocado’s, flick the dry stem off the bottom. If there's a brown patch under the stem, it's going bad so put it back but, if you see a bright yellow-green color, take it home!
Germ-Fighting Bedding
No one likes to think about it, but your bedsheets are drenched - infact, crawling with all types of bacteria. Even if you wash your sheets weekly. Next time you're shopping for bed sheets, look for ones with the ability to kill bacteria.
Almost everyone who has odor and germ-fighting sheets will tell you they are the most comfortable sheets they’ve ever used. They also help regulate temperature and keep you cool and sleeping through the night better!
Sore Throat Fix
There's nothing worse than waking up with a sore throat. That raw, scratchy, and just plain sore feeling is horrible, but we know an enjoyable way to soothe and relieve it! Bust out a big bag of marshmallows and enjoy! Sap from marshmallow plants has been used for centuries in the treatment of coughs, colds, and yes, sore throats.
According to health officials, the marshmallow coating which consists of gelatin is what aids in soothing and relieving a sore throat. Who knew, that everyone’s favorite s’more ingredient was more than just a fluffy filling!
A Great Kick Starter
Sometimes it's hard to wake up feeling refreshed, especially when you're about to spend another day working from home again. But instead of reaching immediately for coffee, try kickstarting your morning with a refreshing glass of water with added fresh squeezed lemon.
Lemon water is very beneficial. Drinking it first thing in the morning can flush the toxins from your body and help your digestive system to stay on par for the rest of the day. In return, you should have way more energy!
Pre-Shower Sweat
It's hard to get a proper routine going when you're working from home. especially when time is hard to come by. This is where a pre-shower sweating session can be just as beneficial as a proper workout.
Challenge yourself to schedule a “mini” workout each day, performing lunges, squats, and push-ups right before you get ready to shower. Whether you shower in the morning or the night, this will make you will achieved, and happy before bed or refreshed and energizedfor your day in the morning!
Keep Your Kids Entertained
Parenting is the hardest but most rewarding job in the world. But, we're sure with all that's been happening lately, it feels more hard than rewarding right now. So why don't we make things easier!
This hack is called “pennies for entertainment”. Next time your kids are demanding fun, glue some coins to their shoes. This will have them tapping away in a world of fun. And you can just sit back!
Track Water Intake
Let’s all admit it, some days drinking water is surprisingly hard. However, there is a very clever method to help you keep track of your water intake throughout the day. All you have to do is take a clear water bottle, and with a permanent marker, divide the bottle into 200ml/1cup sections.
Then, next to each section, write the time of day to drink that portion, i.e. 8 am, 10 am, etc. These servings marked on the bottle will tell you how much of the 8-cup recommendation you drunk throughout the day!
Use WD40 In Your Bathroom Faucets
Over time, hard water can make cause things become harder to work with. Your shower or bath faucets are a perfect example! Hard water build-up makes the hot water stiffer and more difficult to turn. The same can happen with the shower or bath diverter spout.
But here's the hack, instead of taking apart your faucet or paying a plumber to come to fix it, just use a WD40! Take a can of WD40 with a long flexible hose and spray it inside the faucet. This will loosen up the hard water and make the diverter work smoothly again!
Stretch!
Being at home all day working can have such a bad effect on our bodies, so take stretch breaks! By stretching the body's muscles mid-way through the day, you'll also receive an energy boost.
Stretching also improves focus and concentration and significantly boosts your mood. Start small and set aside 5 minutes a day to do this. Your work team will thank us for it!
Rubber Bands Around Door Knobs
If you're a light sleeper and wake up to the sound of a door close or if you're on a work call and don't want to be interuppted by banging doors, this tip is for you! To stop the loud noise door locks make is easy.
Take a rubber band, wrap it around each doorknob, and over the lock/latch. This allows you to open and close the door without a sound, letting anyone who's in the house sleep. Wrapping a rubber band around the door is also a good way to stop a child from locking a door on purpose or accident!
Sleep With Socks On
It's a debate that still causes friction today; those who sleep with socks and those who sleep barefoot. Who's right? Well it turns out, sleeping with your socks on is a resounding positive behavior for attaining a higher quality of sleep.
Socks help your feet warm up quicker, which in turn dilates the blood vessels in your feet. This then sends a signal to your brain that it’s time to switch off, and go to sleep. Recent sleep studies have shown sock-sleepers fall asleep 40% faster then barefoot-sleepers. Are you persuaded?
Up Your Gym Game
As stated before, making time to stay active can feel like an unattainable schedule for most business professionals. But, if you up your game, and only work out for 20-30 minutes a day, this will make more use of your time.
It's about quality, not quantity. Go hard for 30 minutes and then relax. If you want to, listen to a podcast while you're working out. It's all about being creative and finding what works for you!
Baking Soda For Produce
Baking soda is one of the most versatile must-have items in any kitchen. It's a staple that can be used for just about any cleaning task and baking task! So instead of spending money and time researching the latest scrub, turn to this OG product. By just adding a couple of teaspoons to 1-2 cups of water, you will have yourself a fantastic produce scrub.
If you want, you can add the ingredients into a spray bottle for an easy solution to rid your place of pesticides, dirt, and anything else. Once cleaned, make sure to rinse afterwards!
Upcycling Baby Food Jars
Anyone with a child will tell you that the baby food jars are taking over their home! If you don't like the idea of simply throwing away a perfectly good jar, and leaving it to sit in a landfill for all of eternity, then do this!
Take those clean baby food jars, and use them as a storage container for your spices in your spice rack! Label them and decorate the lids for an extra cute and organised look!
No More Smelly Sneakers
Smelly sneakers are a pet peeve for many people! The odor is one that seems to linger once it's appeared. Not only is it gross and a nuisance, but it can be an embarrassment in social situations. Well, fear not because there's a way to get that persistent funk out of your shoe, but it requires a four-step process.
First, wash the sneakers and allow them to air dry. Then, sprinkle them with deodorizing power. Next, stuff them with newspaper and allow them to set overnight. Finally, place them into your deep freezer. And viola, fresh as a daisy!