55 amazing life hacks you’ll wish you’d learned about sooner!

Have you ever come across a really amazing life hack or tip that makes you want to shout, “How did I not know about this???” Well that is exactly how I felt when I came across most of these life hacks below.  

55 Amazing Life Hacks You’ll Wish You’d Learned About Sooner:

1. When attempting to proofread your work, paste it into Google Translate and click on the speaker icon to have it read to you in order to notice mistakes.

2. You can use @gmail.com and @googlemail.com interchangeably. Perfect for signing up to a website twice without setting up two accounts.

3. Test your battery life with this simple bounce hack.

4. Love to play music while working? Play a video game soundtrack. They are designed to work as background music and not disrupt your focus.

5. You can turn Youtube videos into .gifs just by adding ‘gif’ to the beginning of the URL.

6. The difference between ‘who’ and ‘whom’ is the same as the difference between ‘he’ and ‘him’. If you can rephrase the sentence and replace ‘who’ with ‘he’, then ‘who’ is correct. Ex, “He did it.” -> “Who did it?” “She did it to him.” -> “She did it to whom?”

7. If you’re looking for something and it’s not in the first place you look, put it there after you find it. This is where you will tend to look again.

8. When starting something new, search for “Things I wish I knew when starting X”

9. If you’re still hungry shortly after you’ve eaten, know that it takes your mind 8 minutes to decide whether you’re still actually hungry, bored, or just dehydrated. Drink a glass of water and wait 8 minutes before getting seconds.

10. If you are away from news for a while and want to catch up search “[month] [year]” in Wikipedia. This will give you all the major world news for that month

11. Use the extension “/html5” at the end of any youtube video to make it load as HTML5 instead of Flash! Much more efficient at loading videos and plays back more effectively! Or use “https://www.youtube.com/html5” to automatically make ALL videos HTLM5!

12. Remove security from a .pdf file by printing to .xps then back to .pdf

13. When camping, strap a head lamp to a gallon jug of water to fill the entire tent with ambient light.

14. If you need professional looking photos of a small item, use your bath as a white backdrop.

15. Use this diagonal method to wrap a gift faster and with less paper and tape

16. When giving a speech, replace “but” with “however”, “although”, or even just a pause so your listener avoids negating the first part of your sentence.

17. If your bag gets lost when flying on most major airlines, go buy replacement clothes/shoes/sunglasses etc. and keep the receipts, you will get reimbursed by the airline. So long as the total amount is less than $500 most airline reps can approve it without going through corporate.

18. Entering a raffle? Loosely fold your entry to make it ever slightly more grabbable.

19. When showing someone a photo on your phone, zoom in the tiniest bit first. It’ll keep them from being able to swipe to see other photos.

20. After age 25, keep a box of wedding, baby, and sympathy cards with stamps on hand at all times. You will always be prepared for any occasion.

21. Car stuck in the snow? Throw a floor mat upside down under your tire to give it traction.

22. When wearing a tie on a windy day, slip a coin down the inside of the hem to keep the tie from blowing all around.

23. Put a sticker with a fake PIN number on your debit card. If you lose it and someone tries to use it 3+ times, the machine will eat the card.

24. Wrapping your sandwich in a paper towel before placing in a plastic bag or container will keep your sandwich from getting soggy.

25. When you receive a business card, write where you met (and when) on it with a pen right after.

26. If you’re struggling with a concept and are looking for help or more information, Google the subject with “site:.edu” and “type:.ppt”. This will give you PowerPoint lectures from universities.

27. Hold drinks with your left hand at networking events. Having to switch hands when being introduced to someone makes you appear clumsy.

28. Make a video of your sick pet during one of his/hers episodes and show it to your vet.

29. Likewise, make a video of your sick car when it’s acting up to show your mechanic. It is inevitable that you won’t get it to repeat the sounds or behavior when you need to.

30. If you ever lose your smart key, instead of paying $100+, buy a blank key on Ebay, have a locksmith cut it, and google the simple instructions on how to code it yourself.

31. When the content height and width become larger than screen size, hold the shift key along with your mouse to scroll horizontally.

32. Turn on airplane mode when playing a mobile game to get rid of ads.

33. To undo a Microsoft Word document that’s written in all caps, using SHIFT + F3 will toggle all lower -> capitalized first letter -> all upper.

34. When looking for more reliable, professional sources for academic writing, try adding PDF on the end of your search

35. Close your shower curtain after your shower to prevent mold from growing. When bunched, the curtain holds water in for much longer and gives time for mold to grow.

36. Grammar tip: “e.g.” is for listing examples, “i.e.” is for rephrasing.

37. Attach shower rings to hangers to increase capacity in hanging up items such as hats, ties, belts, and scarves.

38. On all your hoodies, sew a line through the hood string on the top of your hood. It’ll stop the string from being pulled out or uneven.

39. Use a picture of your favorite takeout menu as the contact photo. No more searching desperately for a menu in the junk drawer of your house.

40. Wet your nail clippers before you use them so the clippings don’t go everywhere.

41. If you receive a spam text message, forward it to 7726 (SPAM). Your carrier may help put a stop to unsolicited ads on your behalf.

42. When shopping for flowers online, add items to your cart, enter your contact information, and close your browser. Very often, you’ll promptly receive a discount code email.

43. Memorize a dimension of something you always carry. That way you’ll always have a way to measure something when a ruler isn’t handy.

44. When providing your email to other sites, add a dot “.” symbol in the middle of your email username. This will allow you to filter spam out.

45. To avoid burning microwave popcorn, all you have to do is count to 3 (a thousand one, thousand two, thousand three) in between “POPS”. If you can make it to “3” without a kernel popping then it is time to stop the microwave and enjoy perfectly popped goodness.

46. Whenever you are purchasing something online and see ‘discount code’ box, Google search for discounts before finishing checkout

47. Tie a rubber band/hairtie to the label of a hoodless jacket to make it easier to hang up

48. Before recycling used batteries, cover one or both ends with a strip of tape to prevent accidental shorts and fires.

49. Don’t fry bacon. Bake it. Comes out crispy and perfect every time.

50. Throw in half or whole of a lemon/orange to help with a smelly garbage disposal.

51. Google Chrome has a built in Task Manager. If it freezes, hit Shift + Esc. 

52. Store your ice cream tubs in freezer bags in the freezer. This will keep them “just opened soft” for a long time.

53. Use a staple remover to save your fingernails when trying to add things to your key ring.

54. Freeze grapes to chill white wine without watering it down.

55. Wrap a wet paper towel around your beverage and put it in the freezer. In about 15 minutes it will be almost completely ice cold.

Have you tried any of these life hacks that have worked for you? What are some other amazing life hacks that have changed your life?