
Ask HN: What are some of the best life hacks you use? - DesHacker
Life Hacks is for using best practices in life.<p>I love this one from Reddit:<p>Staying at a hotel? Ask the Front Desk to borrow one of the hundreds of phone chargers left behind by guests, and leave yours in the car.
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halfjoking
The other day my shirt got caught on something and my bottom button was ripped
off also leaving a small hole where the button was. I noticed my shirt had a
tag on the inside of it with extra buttons attached. I ripped off the tag and
used the button while still attached to the tag by putting the button through
the hole where the old button was. No needles, no thread... I held my shirt
together by the power of life-hacking.

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brendanmc6
The best homemade pizza: Everytime I make this for someone they text me a
picture a week later doing it for someone else.

Make a dough, 2 to 24hrs in advance. Take a dough ball and make a crust. Heat
a pan on your stovetop as hot as you can get it. Turn the top broiler on in
your oven on max as well. Crust in pan, add sauce mozza, parma, salt. quickly.
As soon as the bottom begins to get some char, move the pan directly under (or
slide the pizza off onto the oven rack) and position it as close as it will go
under the blazing hot heating elements. Finish with some basil.

This is the key to a crust that is both charred but still soft and moist
instead of that crunchy unevenly cooked abomination you get when you cook in a
home oven.

www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/09/hacker-free-neapolitan-pizza-for-a-home-
kitchen-recipe.html

~~~
appleflaxen
related: when you have leftover pizza, reheat on the stove. medium heat for
7-8 minutes with a cold start (electric stove) is usually adequate for me, and
it's almost better than when the pizza was fresh.

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appleflaxen
when you need a phone number for the discount at CVS or Safeway, use your
local area code followed by 867-5309.

(in case you've never heard the song, listen once, then remember...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WTdTwcmxyo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WTdTwcmxyo))

there is always someone who has used this number for an account

You get your discount, they get your points, and the shopping analytics
company gets noise.

win/win/win

Sometimes more than one person has used this number. If they ask you "which
one" or "what's the name", just say "the first one" or "Jenny Song", which are
popular options for the account.

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raviojha
The 5 min rule. If anything can be done in 5 min, don't schedule it, do it
right away!

~~~
modells
Ah yes, also a GTD rule, IIRC.

Longer = defer, delegate, don't.

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tmaly
Buy two of something in bulk so you always have a reserve on hand.

Use Reminder app on Iphone for stuff, but also use Things 3 app as I can
organize things into projects and it will still pull in the reminders from the
Reminder app.

Use the Clever Dripper to make really strong coffee. Once you have kids you
come to appreciate strong coffee.

My local library lets me borrow audio books for free on an app, I use this for
learning new things on my commute. If they do not have an audio book I want, I
buy it outright on audible rather than paying for the subscription every
month.

If you have a vegetable or flower garden, and deer eat everything, you can use
something called bobbex deer repellent. Or you can also make a similar mix
yourself using garlic, onion, and putrefied eggs

If you have any fobs on your key ring that have broken, you can get a steel
clip and some 30 minute epoxy and repair them.

If your tools are scattered all over the place, you can buy relatively cheap
durable toolboxes now that can keep everything together. It is far cheaper
than having to buy a tool again because you can't find it.

Make it a habit to keep your keys in the same place, put up a set of hooks it
you have to. This will save you much trouble.

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soneca
Boil a lot of water on Sunday, put it in bags and freeze it for the whole week
when you need to cook pasta, make a coffee or tea. It saves a lot of time!

~~~
majortennis
wtf

~~~
m3mpp
Could be a sterilization thing, or he's full of crap :)

~~~
rohit2412
Well he has to boil it again, pretty sure it's a joke

~~~
rthomas6
No it's already boiled, you just have to unfreeze it

~~~
maniacalrobot
Not sure why the need to freeze it, just keep it at boiling temp until you
need it

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badpun
Offload all the mundane aspects of life into TODO lists in iPhone Reminder app
(that are also shared on iPad, and web via iCloud) so that they don't clutter
my mind so much. Go through them and execute on tasks whenever you have some
otherwise unoccupied time. Have separate lists for different categories of
tasks. Mine are currently:

\- regular reminders - thing to do soon/soon-ish

\- things I need to do at a specific date, but no sooner, set with reminder
for that date & time (ex. go pick up car from the mechanic on Friday
afternoon)

\- recurring reminders (ex. backup laptop weekly, send monthly invoice to
client)

\- list of stuff I'm waiting for (ex. stuff from amazon, reply to email from
client)

\- less important stuff to do/explore, whenever I have some free time (ex. try
to find comfortable and not terribly-looking 100% waterproof pants so that I
can take long walks in the rain)

I also keep a list of recommended media (books, movies, tv series) to consume
next.

All in all not terribly original, but it took me a while to arrive at this
system, so maybe it'll be helpful for someone.

~~~
sigjuice
I have arrived at nearly the same system. I also share certain lists with my
spouse’s iPhone. And Siri works great for adding things to lists. e.g. “add
milk to my groceries list”

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Kagerjay
A couple

Tape. I own 10 different types of tape. Duck tape, the rainbow colored one, is
great for visual identification + slight adhesive. You can just take your
keyring / keyfob/ roll a few inches of 1" wide tape, it has many uses.

1\. Have an idea at night → dump a stickynote with tape on doorknob, remove it
morning → logit in computer notetaking platform

2\. Have an idea anywhere → take a stickynote, dump it in your wallet → logit
in computer

3\. Important reminder to do something? → place it in associated location.
E.G. if you need to bring backpack to work tomorrow, clip your wallet onto it.
E.G. Need to reminder yourself something tomorrow? Throw a stickynote
inbetween keys on keyboard. E.G Need to call someone in the morning →
stickynote a reminder on your phone in morning.

Done, I strongly don't believe in a todolist app, it adds no value. Discipline
is life. Simple is better.

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beenBoutIT
A big part of why tuna salad from restaurants and delis tastes so good is that
they start with very dry tuna. When preparing canned/jarred tuna I mix in some
dehydrated onions after draining, cover and allow the mix to sit in the
refrigerator for 15min. Add mayonnaise and other ingredients when the onions
have rehydrated. The onions act as a desicant and get the tuna bone dry while
adding some onion flavor.

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shahbaby
Using an ebike as an alternative to owning a car or calling an uber.

I save a ton of money, in many situations it's faster than a car and it's more
enjoyable.

~~~
gt2
I'm not sure it's great advice -- unless it's a bike friendly city (mostly non
US, and even then, selected cities) and/or you are an experienced rider, the
increased risk you are taking is substantial[0].

0: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2016/05/12/how-
saf...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2016/05/12/how-safe-is-bike-
commuting-perhaps-less-than-you-think/?utm_term=.3fd194ad1f74)

~~~
shahbaby
It's not really about the city, one just needs a short commute and have daily
amenities within a reasonable biking distance, this is the hardest part.

For a daily bike commute, 10 minutes or less is ideal, 10-20 is doable, 20-30
is approaching the limit for me. Unlike a car, the longer you are outside on a
bike, the longer you remain exposed to the elements.

With that said, a throttle controlled ebike should not really be compared to a
regular bike.

Regular bikers need to think about incline, wind and their personal fitness.
They are not just commuting, they're doing a workout and their probably in a
world of pain.

The ebiker's mind is less clouded. They do not have to worry about any of
those factors and this makes the experience more like driving a
car/motorcycle.

I personally enjoy riding my ebike far more than taking an Uber.

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mattakinz
Dr Bronner's soap for it's various uses. Laundry, cleaning, body wash, hand
soap, etc.

~~~
modells
I'll earn a hippie badge someday: rubber tramp in a VW to save rent and 32 oz.
bottles of the OCD miracle. A few drops on a microfibre towel first since it
acts as a surfactant, otherwise water goes everywhere. Able to get sniff-test
and actual clean using around 240 ml of water; with hair-washing, around 720
ml. Works great for shaving. It seems strongly concentrated as it can irritate
the skin (or I'm a wimp). Suggest 10:1 - 50:1 dilution for hygiene. If someone
is extra funky, also add 10:1 hand-sanitizer... there's a tiny risk of using
EtOH but it would seem less than legacy EtOH mouthwashes.

~~~
creep
I tried using this stuff as general purpose shampoo and it destroyed my hair.
I was only washing my hair once every two weeks (natural oils, you know) and I
thought it'd be good to clear up the scalp of extra oils but instead it sucked
me dry.

~~~
beenBoutIT
How much did you use? I've used it as a shampoo almost every day for months on
end with great results, although I only use a dime-sized amount and I add
water with it.

~~~
creep
Do you mean that you put it in a spray bottle with water?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I think I used it like normal shampoo. To be fair, my
hair would be decently oily by that point.

~~~
beenBoutIT
No, just making sure that the hair is wet enough to distribute the smallest
possible amount of soap. The trick is to figure out the minimum amount of soap
you need to get all of your hair and scalp sudsy. I've used a shampoo-sized
dose of Bronner's and had basically the same bad experience you described.

~~~
creep
Oh okay, yeah I definitely didn't find the minimum. Maybe I'll give it a try
another time-- the stuff is cheap and natural and whatnot.

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quickthrower2
Sorry to be that guy, but I have to mention
[https://www.xkcd.com/1715/](https://www.xkcd.com/1715/) &
[https://www.xkcd.com/1567/](https://www.xkcd.com/1567/)

~~~
sloaken
You are not SORRY, you are proud of yourself!

~~~
quickthrower2
s/sorry/pretty-please-dont-downvote-me/ :-)

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janci
I do not pour the boiling hot pasta water to the sieve, but cover the pot with
the sieve and turn it over. That way I have 1 free hand.

~~~
jawarner
I'm having trouble visualizing this. One hand is on the pasta handle. Where is
the other? What is your secret to no spilled spaghetti?

~~~
janci
You align the pot handle with sieve handle and hold the sieve-covered-pot with
one hand. The other hand is free. (ie. to turn on cold water to cool down the
sink when you pour boiling water there)

~~~
wst_
I assume you cook for one, max two. Unless you have a pretty strong hand.

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throwaway71778
When I need to apply moisturiser for my hands, I squeeze a bit on the back of
my palm (knuckle side) and then rub the other hand over without ever touching
the moisturiser with fingers.

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mothsonasloth
I keep empty bread bags for my pack lunches. It saves having to buy sandwich
bags. Even better if the bag is greaseproof paper

Keep butter wrappers in the fridge and use them to grease oven trays for
baking.

WD40 to clean audio jacks with a Q-tip

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bedane
works with umbrellas as well

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george009
Advice other people as i feel more inspire and blame my friends for their work
as a get more inspire -thousand.careers

