Human beings are extremely smart. We discovered electricity, figured out how to get people on the moon, cured or eradicated countless diseases and are constantly coming up with even more innovations. However, sometimes, our brains just don’t figure out the easiest ways to do things without getting a little extra help from someone else. Put some scientists in a lab, and you’ll get a vaccine for COVID-19 within a year. Put some regular people in their kitchen, on the other hand, and they might not discover the best way to clean a microwave or blender for decades.

Someone recently asked on Reddit, “What’s something you did ‘the hard way’ for the longest time, because you didn’t know there was a much easier way?” And thousands of readers responded with their best life hacks. We’ve gathered some of their most helpful answers down below, featuring tips that you might be embarrassed to admit you never knew, but don’t worry: your secret’s safe with us. From keyboard shortcuts to cleaning tips that will save you time and effort, we hope you learn something new from this list of tips.

Be sure to upvote the replies that you find most brilliant, and then let us know in the comments if you have any more life hacks that might spare your fellow pandas from doing things ‘the hard way’. Then if you’re interested in checking out another Bored Panda article featuring products that feel like life hacks in and of themselves, you can find that right here.

#1

Cleaning the damn microwave. I struggled to scrub all the dried up bits off then a friend told me to just put a small dish of water in it and turn it on for a couple of minutes. Everything wipes right out. I was such a dumb a*s.

Image credits: patti2mj

#2

CTRL backspace to delete entire words instead of letter by letter

Image credits: chrisdante05

#3

Clean your blender by making a hot water and dish soap smoothie.

Image credits: AlterEdward

Everybody’s brain works a little bit differently. Some of us are better at math and science, while others might be more artistic and find it easier to learn how to play an instrument than memorize math formulas. We all have our strengths. But because our brains are all unique, we might not all do things the same way. For example, the way that you clean your apartment might be quite different from how your best friend cleans theirs.

I came to this realization very quickly after moving in with my partner. We both assumed that many things were obvious or implied, but upon having a conversation about where to hang photos on the wall, how to wash the dishes, how to organize the kitchen and countless other things, we realized that our brains are quite different. And aside from the occasional annoyance or miscommunications that this causes, our differences are usually a huge advantage. Two heads are better than one, anyway. 

#4

We had a pool when I was a kid, swam at the public pool all winter. So lots of water time. Worst thing was having to get out and go pee, because as a girl you’d have to pull your bathing suit down and sit there cold and naked and then have to pull on a cold, wet suit and it was sticky and icy and awful. I’d hold it until I absolutely had to go.

Occurred to me as an adult you can just pull the crotch part to the side, and it stays put while you pee.

EDIT: Thanks y’all, I am so gratified to learn I was not the only one! If I can help even one person avoid the awkward dance of pulling up cold, wet, twisted suit straps then my work here is done.

Image credits: A-D-T-P

#5

Existed.

Turns out I had undiagnosed ADHD. Getting a diagnosis and medication, at the ripe old age of 27, was life-changing. It’s like your whole life you’re walking against a current, never knowing any different; then, suddenly, the current is gone.

(Disclaimers: everyone’s ADHD is different; medication isn’t a magic “cure”; medication isn’t the solution for everyone, and that’s okay.)

Image credits: acover4422

#6

I’ve been opening pistachios with my thumbs for 30 years until I saw my wife use half a shell to wrench her next one open and then my mind exploded.

Image credits: man-panda-pig

The tips on this list are great because they might be opening up your mind to doing things in new ways that you would have never considered. If your parents never showed you that you could lock the trigger when filling your car with gas, you might not have ever realized. It’s amazing how smart we are when we really put our heads to a problem, but when we accept that “that’s just the way things are”, we can so easily turn our brains off and continue doing the same things forever. 

Whether we know it or not, we’re all in the business of working smarter not harder. Who wants to waste precious time and energy when they don’t have to? Not me! So when it comes to being more productive, we consulted Belle Cooper’s list on Zapier of tips for being more efficient. First, she recommends to resist the urge to multitask. Our brains are not meant to rapidly switch back and forth between tasks or information, so if we just do one thing at a time, it will give our brains a break and likely allow us to complete each task more accurately and efficiently.   

#7

I thought working hard (giving 120%) brought many benefits. Turns out, I still get the same benefits + my sanity by only working 80%.

Image credits: SuspectNumber6

#8

For dusting things like baseboards, windowsills, and picture frames, the best tool is a (clean) paintbrush. I always used to either use a cloth or something made specifically for dusting, but the paintbrush is much faster and easier. I keep a cheap 2-inch paintbrush exclusively for dusting now. Also works great on cobwebs.

Image credits: leftthestrick

#9

I used to own more than one color and style of sock. F**k that s**t

Belle also suggests taking more breaks, if you want to increase your productivity while working. While this might sound counterintuitive, there are various science-backed ways to take smarter and more helpful breaks. For example, the Pomodoro technique entails working for short sprints of 25 minutes at a time and then taking a short 5 minute break, plus a longer break after every 4 ‘sessions’. Another option that has proved effective is working for 52 minutes at a time, followed by a 17 minute long break. Of course, we can all choose the method that we most resonate with, but the point is that our brains and bodies are not meant to focus for too long without having a short break. We become fatigued, our attention span weakens, and our bodies need to get up and stretch or walk around every hour or so. In the end, you’ll be much more productive after allowing yourself some appropriate breaks.     

#10

Keep shaking the shaving gel and struggling to more than a quarter of the can out…till it dawned on me that they are pressurised and every shake causes it to lose pressure therefore makes dispatching it harder…I’ve now used many and actually got the bottom of every can by simply not shaking them…I’m 40 and also an engineer.

Had a complete and utter brain fart since I started shaving.

Image credits: pob125

#11

Hanging pictures. I used to meticulously measure and line up so my nails so they’d match the hardware on the back of the frame. Now I just use a piece of painters tape, lay it on the back of the frame, mark hardware on the frame and then remove the tape and place it on the wall and that gives you the exact placement for your picture hanging hooks and nails.

Image credits: Navyblazers2000

#12

My dishwasher is across the kitchen from my utensil drawer. For years, while unloading the dishwasher I would stuff as many utensils as I could in my hands. I’d inevitably drop some, and there are a few knicks in my hardwood floor from dropping forks and spoons.

One day at work, a coworker unloaded the dishwasher and removed the utensil basket and carried it over to the utensil drawer. I never felt so dumb

Image credits: regcrusher

Another tip Belle recommends for productivity is front-loading your week. If you knock out your biggest or most daunting tasks first, the rest of the week will be smooth sailing, and you can slowly ease into the weekend. It is natural for many of us to put tasks off and procrastinate when we can, but it’s best to fight that impulse. You’ll be much more excited for the weekend if the bulk of your work is finished on Tuesday, rather than having a mountain of stress to get through on Friday and then being left with no energy to enjoy the evening. Plus, we tend to have the most energy at the beginning of the week, assuming we’re refreshed from taking it easy at the end of the previous week or on our days off. Might as well make use of all that energy!

#13

Recently found out that if you deliberately spread your cheeks when you sit down on the toilet, everything goes a whole lot cleaner, and you save on toilet paper. As someone with IBS, kinda a game changer.

#14

For a while on Google Docs I would copy text from another source and quote it in an essay, but just using CTRL + V would use the same font from the website I’m quoting instead of the font that I want. If you use CTRL + LShift + V it pastes the text in the font that you want

#15

My BlackBerry had the worst predictive text system I’d ever seen. It kept suggesting accented characters, words that didn’t exist, and was a total clusterfuck in every way.

After a year or so I was browsing the settings and found that predictive text had been set to “French”.

Image credits: LateMojito

On a similar note, it might be smart to start scheduling tasks based on your energy levels. Aside from trying to do as much as you can in the beginning of the week, it can also be helpful to let your personal habits inform when you get things done. If you’re an early bird, make use of that time in the morning when you’re feeling the most fresh and energized. If you’re a night owl, it might be best to take it slow in the morning and pound out as much work as you can during the evening. In fact, you can actually figure out your chronotype online right here to help you know when you are the most awake and inspired. We all fall into the category of larks, third-birds, or owls, and knowing that information about ourselves can make a huge difference when scheduling tasks.   

#16

Weightlifting

Rest days actually help you build muscle, not the other way around.

#17

Not me but a friend of a friend hated having baths. She said it was uncomfortable lying back against the taps because they would dig into her back.
It never occurred to her to lie at the other end!

Image credits: robertodurian

#18

I have mixed hair and would always brush from root to end because that’s how everyone else did it and how I was taught. Wasn’t until I was watching a movie in my late 20s and a character’s maid brought up that the character with mixed hair needed to brush out the knots on the end before working up to the roots. I gave it a try and then got confirmation at work from other girls with similar hair that that’s how it’s supposed to be done when you have a certain type of tight curls…the years I spent crying while having chunks of hair ripped and torn out ?

Image credits: 2baverage

Many of us keep running to-do lists throughout the week, month, or our entire lives, but have you ever considered creating one for each day? Blogger Leo Babauta recommends designating your Most Important Tasks (or MITs) each day to ensure that you accomplish at least those 3 things. Of course, it’s always great to do more than 3 items on your to-do list each day. But when you make sure that at least those 3 tasks get completed, you will feel like you’re on a roll of productivity and everything else gets to count as a bonus. You’ll likely be feeling the inertia, and you won’t want to stop most days, even after your MITs are accomplished. 

#19

Pumping gas. For years I held the handle the entire time. Life changing when I realized I could lock the trigger in place

Image credits: likes_big_books

#20

Parchment paper. No more scrubbing off baked- on cheese and sauce. If it goes in the oven, I use parchment paper.

Image credits: ethottly

#21

Putting the colander inside the pot on top of the food and using like a lid to drain.
Instead offpouring the food into the colander and then putting it back in the original pot

Image credits: ClassicTower475

Do you often feel a slump in your energy levels in the afternoon? You might wonder if it’s smarter to take a power nap or down a cup of coffee, but why not do both? That’s right, you can actually take a ‘coffee nap’ in the afternoon, which, according to Healthline, entails drinking a cup (or even two) of coffee then taking a quick 15-20 minute power nap while waiting for the effects of the caffeine to kick in. Power naps should not be longer than half an hour anyway, to prevent yourself from falling into too deep of a sleep, so the short coffee nap is just perfect. Now, I’m not recommending you go overboard and start drinking 5 cups of coffee a day, but don’t sleep (pun intended) on the suggestion to take an afternoon nap or have an extra cup of coffee. Your body, and likely your productivity levels, will thank you.

#22

Tying a tie from scratch every time. Barring having to wash it, tie it into a windsor knot and leave it like that for easy use every single time.

Image credits: tinathefatlardgosh

#23

As a kid, whenever my bicycle wheels got warped (I crashed into stuff a lot), I would fix them by smashing the rims with a hammer. It mostly worked.

Eventually I learned that you can just tighten and loosen the spokes to straighten warped wheels. So much easier, and much less destructive.

Image credits: ClownfishSoup

#24

A few things.

One, put an absorbent-fabric scrunchie on each wrist before washing your face. They stop the water from running up your arms when rinsing and getting the insides of your robe sleeves uncomfortably wet.

Two, before leaving on a trip I change my bed linens and towels, so when I get home exhausted my bed is fresh and crisp.

Three, if it will require ironing, don’t waste my money. I will wear it exactly once.

Another great way to increase your productivity might be to turn off all notifications. Switch that phone to airplane mode if you have to, and don’t worry about what else is going on in the world. I promise, you can text your friend back or respond to that email in an hour or two. Similarly to how we don’t want to be multitasking very often, our brains should not be occupied with work and whatever is happening on our cell phones at the same time. You will be more focused and more productive by eliminating distractions, like Instagram and Facebook notifications. 

#25

Windows Key + V opens a list of your last 10 copies.

I think the option is turned off by default also so pressing Windows Key + V enables it initially.

Image credits: XabiAlon

#26

I didn’t know what cruise control was in my car until my bf turned it on for me one day. Life changing on long trips

Image credits: DeckTheHalls_WithMe

#27

After taking a shower, you can dry yourself off (after turning the water off, of course) while still in the shower stall to prevent the bathroom floor from being wet

Image credits: three-sense

Are some of the tips on this list blowing your mind? I hope you’re not suddenly regretting all of the hours you wasted doing these things the hard way, but remember that it’s never too late to change your ways. You can start implementing these tips today! Keep upvoting the life hacks that you find most useful, and then feel free to share any of your own in the comments down below. And if you’re interested in finding out even more ways to make your life easier, be sure to check out this Bored Panda article next.

#28

As a digital artist, I started out coloring inside my lines with my stylus, meticulously not missing any blank pixels inside the lines. Then on a new layer, add the shading, doing the same thing but being careful to make it look like a shadow on the figure.
Three years later I learned there’s a toggle on the magic wand tool so when you select a space, it selects only that contiguous space and not jump across lines so select the same color (or lack of color) space on a layer. I could basically fill an entire drawing and then go back and just fill in the details where the lines touched so the selected area didn’t reach those crevices.
Four years after that I learned about increasing or decreasing your selected area by N pixels.
Somewhere in there I also learned about layer clipping for shading (only colors on the occupied space of the layer it’s clipped to) and layer masking.
Tl;dr: basic coloring and shading in photoshop went from 4 hours to 4 seconds.

Image credits: Lachtaube

#29

I’m 47. Since the age of (approximately) 21 have been picking and peeling the plastic wrappers off the top of wine bottles. Using my fingernails or knives sometimes. Often coming off in several pieces bit by bit. Can take a few minutes depending on how strong the plastic is and how much wine I’ve already consumed. Then, this year, I watched a friend just make a fist on it and it slides right off. Comes off in a split-second. Mind blown.

#30

Up until the end of high school, every time I’d take a shower, I would turn on the water while standing in front of the shower head, and brunt the cold. I was later informed by a friend that he turns the shower on first, then steps in once [it’s a good] temperature. I truly made his day when I told him I was dumbfounded at that advice

Image credits: DTux5249

#31

Putting a towel over the sink to catch your hair when you shave. For like 20 years I had to feel like i was trying to do counterforensics to not invite the ire of every woman I’ve been around. One drunk night with a buddy I was talking about making some kind of electrostatic hair catcher and he’s like “Why don’t you put a towel down?” Mind= blown!

Thanks for nothing, dad.

#32

Ooh I have one: How to avoid getting steam-burned when using a double boiler!

I used to set the full double-boiler–bottom pot+top pot+lid–to boil on the stove, then I would gingerly place what I wanted to boil into the steaming top pot, trying hard to avoid getting steam-burned; which almost always resulted in me getting burned anyway.

Then one day my partner witnessed me attempting to place eggs into the steaming upper pot while trying not to drop the eggs in too hard, steam-burning myself as I went, & he said, “in the future leave the top pot off while you wait for the water to boil in the bottom pot, & you can take your time placing the items you want to steam safely into the room-temp top pot. Then when the water comes to a boil, place the top pot with the items inside onto the boiling bottom pot, & you won’t have to worry about getting burned.” My jaw dropped & I stared at him for a full 30 seconds like he had solved the mystery of life.

Now, whenever I go to steam something, I think of my partner & it makes me grateful that we don’t all think alike.

#33

The snip tool on Microsoft. I used to click print screen and then crop down everything. Snip tool is a game changer.

#34

When I was a kid I was bad at nail clippers. I knew to put my nail in the chompy bit at the end, but I didn’t realize that the handle/lever folded out. So I would just squeeze really hard until I broke my nail off in the blades. This went on for an embarrassingly long time before my mom saw me and taught me how to open the lever.

Image credits: tomyownrhythm

#35

Copy pasting on a computer by meticulously highlighting, right clicking, then selecting the copy option. Didn’t know about CTRL+C/V for way too long

#36

Dating – when I was a kid I thought you had to have some elaborate scheme or hook to get someone interested in you

Later I realized all you gotta do is be honest and up front.

#37

Cleaning things off of glass.

I used to spend a long time with unpleasant solvents and/or abrasive scrubby sponges to get soap scum and bird c**p and other such residues off of glass. Now, I use a razor scraper and shave the stuff off the glass. Often, I don’t even need to use a cleaning solvent or water. Razor scrapers are amazing. And they’re mis-named. You don’t use them to scrape anything. You shave or plane the junk off of glass and other hard surfaces with the blade.

Even paint comes off of glass super easily with a razor scraper.

#38

I took the kids to and from school daily for years. They ride the bus now and I swear I feel like I got a quarter or my day back. Plus, they like it.

#39

When looking at something in the sky through binoculars, look at the object and then put the binoculars in front of your face.

#40

When you learn that *scissors* –
cut your pizza, it’s *legit*!
Pizza cutter? Leave it, brother.
Piece of utter *s**t*…

Image credits: truthorbrick

#41

Putting out candles without releasing a bunch of paraffin smoke.

Don’t blow out the candle or snuff it. If you do that, the wick releases a bunch of smoke and stinks up the place. Use a toothpick or a dental pick or any comparable tool (or even buy a “wick dipper” tool from a candle shop) and dip the candle wick under the molten wax. The wax quenches the flame instantly without any smoke at all. Just be sure to lift the wick out of the molten wax so the wax doesn’t solidify over the wick and leave it inaccessible.

The other benefit of this is that it leaves the wick coated in wax, ready for the next time you light it.

#42

I always used a sive to get coffee grains out, until i learned of a coffee filter. ?‍♀️

#43

Asking women out.

Ignore everything you saw on tv/films/video games, read in books/websites, or heard from people with long list of tips/steps or ideas.

Just tell them you find them attractive or like them. From there ask for their number or set up a date and time.

We tend to make this way harder than it should be.

This also applies to women wanting to ask a guy out.

#44

Mental illness. Should’ve been in therapy at eight years old but I chose to raw dog it and now I’m unpacking that.

#45

This is pretty funny but I didnt realise that taking paracetamol could make you feel better during a cold/flu until my early 20s, I just used to stubbornly suffer

#46

If you hold the space bar on your cellphone it’s way easier to ~~select words in a text you want to copy~~ move the cursor where you want it to be (sorry, wrote this while tired). Did it the hard way, the way you get angry at your fat fingers for far too long.

To clarify:

Write some random word in a text message. Hold space bar for a second or two. Slide thumb back and forward on the space bar and the cursor will move. Makes it easy to just remove one letter in a long misspelled word.

#47

There’s a scene in some teen movie where the girl was trying to convince her brainwashed boyfriend that he was brainwashed, that she wasn’t the enemy, yadda yadda.

One of the things she said to him to convince him that she knew him intimately was “you always double knot your shoelaces.”

I remember watching it thinking “well, yeah. Doesn’t everyone? If you don’t double knot your shoelaces, they’ll come untied!”

It was enough of a weird moment that it made me wonder if there was something I was missing about the way people tied their shoes. And lo and behold, after some furious googling it turned out that I didn’t know the difference between a square knot and a “granny knot”, and I had been tying my shoes wrong for my entire life.

Image credits: AirborneRodent

#48

As a kid, I wore a uniform to school. It was a jumper and then eventually as I got older it was a skirt. I definitely did not realize I could KEEP IT ON and just LIFT THE HEM. My honor roll brain but very dumbass self had me completely taking off my dress or skirt every time I went to pee.

On the bright side, I’m very good at zipping up my own dress from the back

#49

Alt+Tab to navigate through open windows. I didn’t know this was a thing until college and it changed my life.

#50

CTRL+F to find exactly what I’m looking for In a long a*s article, online book, or essay. Saved me many many many times.

#51

I always ignored “soup vegetables”, thinking it was an old people’s thing and that I wouldn’t cook soup stock myself. Until I decided to try them, about two years ago.

What it really means is, you get a small portion of different vegetables. Carrots, leek, celery and parsley. All bundled up nicely, and for an affordable price. There’s no-one telling you to use ALL the stuff together. Just think of it as getting a little bit of each without annoying the cashier. 🙂

#52

That you turn the deodorant to lift the hard plastic off. Learned this about 5 years ago. I’m 36 years old. I struggled needlessly for so long trying to pry that damn thing off.

Image credits: dissaray07

#53

Most modern laptop touchpads allow you to scroll if you move 2 fingers up and down the touch pad

Image credits: mildewmoisturizer

#54

I was in medical school before I learned that you can pull the ends of the shoestrings to untie your shoes. I had always pulled on the loops and then I had to untie the knot that was leftover…

#55

Frying bacon. I now bake @ 375 for 27 minutes on a cookie sheet covered with crinkled up aluminum foil. No mess perfect bacon every time

Image credits: muser8

#56

Peeling bananas by pulling on the stem, instead of pinching the end.

#57

Work related thing. I used to create letters which used the same template for the bodies, but had certain things like names and titles different with each letter. I used to do them all manually before learning about the mail merge feature of Microsoft Excel. This fantastic tool changed my life, the task length went from multiple hours to less than an hour.

#58

cooking without a doubt, well I always cooked on high heat mostly because I always saw my mother doing it but it turns out that I cooked on high heat because the food we usually cook like that is cooked that way, later when I discovered that everything burned I discovered that I could lower the heat.

#59

Peeling garlic. I’m still getting better at the knife whack method, but already saving a bunch of time.

#60

Knitting. I grew up using the “English method”. This involves holding the yarn in one’s right hand. To make a stitch, one has to let go of the right needle and sort of “throw” the yarn over the needle tip. It is a pretty dramatic looking movement.

Then I discovered the “Continental method”. Here one holds the yarn in one’s left hand. To make a stitch, one sort of picks up the yarn with the tip of the needle. It requires very little hand movement.

So it is a lot easier on the hands, and theoretically faster.

I say theoretically as I am so used to the Englush method that I can easily do that quickly whilst watching TV. But I still need to look what I am doing with the new method. But it is getting quicker.

I have been knitting for nearly 50 years, and only doing the new method for 3 or 4 of those.

And now I can knit for longer without hand cramps and pains.

#61

I used an app to scan QR codes that would send me to a random scam site first and then to the actual url of the QR. A guy selling street food told me to use my camera app to read his QR. Uninstalled the other app immediately.

#62

Dishes. Just clean them as soon as you’re done with them and put them away. Stacking them up makes a bigger chore.

#63

Shredding chicken.

Using two forks or whatever is for suckers.

Bust out the hand mixer and use that on your cooked chicken.

3 chicken breasts shredded in 1 minute.

Try it. It’s basically magic.

#64

I have a shelf that I got as a kid. My dad’s office was getting rid of old stuff so he grabbed it for me. The damn thing is heavy AF. We’re talking probably 150-200lbs, 6ft tall, 3ft wide, 1.5ft deep, with removable/adjustable shelves.

Half a dozen moves with friends, up/down multiple floors of stairs. One of my buddies notices small recessed screws. The f*****g thing comes apart like an Ikea piece of furniture! The individual slabs are still 40-50 pounds on their own but it no longer requires a crew of 5 to move anywhere!

I’m so tempted to get rid of it, but it’s a good piece of furniture. Far sturdier than Ikea stuff, but not as aesthetically pleasing.

#65

I’ve been loom knitting socks for years and going from top to bottom, and casting off with a seamless method of grafting the toes together. If you mess up, it takes forever to fix.

Then I learned how to knit socks toes up with a super easy seamless cast on called the Kitchener cast on. It saves me like 2 hours per sock and looks amazing.

#66

I drove for years without realizing the rearview mirror could easily flip down to prevent glare at night without actually adjusting the position. I was manually adjusting it every time I drove at night and then adjusting it back for years until I noticed someone else do it the easy way.

#67

There are a bunch of Italian pastas which are some sort of oil-based emulsion with pasta water. The most famous of these is Spaghetti aglio e olio.

The hard way, which everyone seems to do, is to cook the spaghetti in a separate pot, then prepare the garlic and oil, then put the spaghetti into the pan and attempt to make an emulsion with the pasta water.

The easy way uses 50% fewer pans and results in a better sauce. Do it all in one pan. Cook the garlic, pepper flakes, and olive oil in a 12″ pan, (I always add a little squirt of anchovy paste as well) then put the dry spaghetti straight into the pan. Barely cover it with water (use less than you think you need, and reserve a cup of water on the side to add water if it boils down to fast), add only as much salt as you intend to eat in that dish (I use umami salt), then bring that water to a boil. Let the water boil, and when the spaghetti soft enough, use tongs to arrange it into a circle in the pan so it cooks more evenly, while all of it is just under the water level. Poke and jiggle it just enough to keep the pasta from sticking to each other. When there’s 2-3 minutes until it is al-dente, turn it and stir it and begin to emulsify the oil into the starchy water. Most of the water should absorb into the spaghetti and the rest will boil down and leave you with just enough to make the emulsion for the sauce. Because you’re doing it all in one pan, all of the starch released into the water by the pasta gets rather concentrated, and this makes the emulsion that much creamier. And you only have one pan to clean rather than two.

#68

cleaning water off the shower floor. my shower is a room and I used to use a mop to try and clean up the water. pain in the a*s. window squeegee is the way to go.

#69

Math, back when I believed “you won’t always have a calculator on you”

#70

If you’re picking citrus from a tree, there’s an easy way.

Citrus seldom grow straight down from the stem. Get your thumb underneath the side where the stem makes an acute angle, then nudge the stem away. When the fruit is ripe it comes right off.

No twist-twist-twist needed. No pruning shears needed.

#71

Rolls of foil have tabs on the packaging to prevent the foil roll from coming out. For a long time as a kid I didn’t know this.

#72

My credit union is fairly far away. When I learned the concept of shared branches I was able to shorten my trip considerably by choosing among three other credit unions that are closer.

Thanks for asking. This is a very good question.

#73

Buy and use vacuum bags… only once I moved out, I was able to find out that there is little to no disadvantage to using a vacuum that doesn’t need bags.

#74

I’m sure all my fellow programmers can relate to the feeling of:

“Wait, the library has a function for that?! I’ve been coding it myself this entire time!”

Repeat ad infinitum.

#75

I used a broom and dust pan to clean hardwood floors. The wife pointed out that I could just use a vacuum cleaner and it changed my life.

#76

Mine was Carl+Alt+Del to lock my computer, then one fateful day a coworker showed me that windows key + L does the same thing faster.

#77

Some really specific s**t at work; batch plotting in CAD. Printing a project with 100-200 dwgs, I was importing everything, then deleting all the as-built and other work orders, leaving just the WO I wanted to print, before plotting to pdf. Hunting through the layout list took forever and was prone to accidentally deleting one row too many.

Then I realized I could just plot *everything* to pdf, and use file explorer’s search feature to separate everything in one automated step; search for my WO, move them to their final destination, delete everything that’s left.

#78

Up until just the last 6 months or so, if I wanted to do a Google search I’d always type www.google.com into the address bar and to the actual Google front page before doing the search, even though we’ve been able to just type searches directly into the URL bar for quite a long time now.

One of those old, ingrained habits I guess. Though if it helps redeem me slightly, I didn’t actually type the full www. and .com, because of a trick a friend showed me in ~2005 where you can just type a word into the address bar and press Ctrl + Enter so it automatically puts them there for you – so I’d type google and press Ctrl + Enter. I remember thinking that was wizardry when my friend showed me haha, even if it’s mostly redundant now.

#79

When I was in architecture school, I used this software called Rhino for 3D modeling. Still do professionally. Any designers will know what this is, but a lot of it involves meticulously drafting lines of various complex dimensions and forms. There is a command called curveboolean that reads the inside and outside of a closed poly line, and without it you’d be spending a very long time doing essentially manual labor on your computer to make the right shapes. I lasted until my second year of grad school before knowing this command exists. I know this is a little esoteric but anyone who has used it before will know how painful that is.

#80

If you hold down the “0” (zero) button on an iphone it will bring up the “°” degree symbol.

#81

Literally every single thing I’ve ever learned to do in Excel stems from a situation like this.

#82

Press the middle mouse button on a website tab instead of pressing the small x.

Works also to open a new windows explorer window if you middle mouse button press on a windows explorer window on the taskbar (sounds more complicated than it is).

#83

While playing Skyrim, I didn’t know that you could fast travel to places you’ve already been so I would just run for miles and miles.
Source: boredpanda.com