Life Hacks

[Ellie]

This is based on an image I saw with a list of "cheats" or hacks for life. It was a fun read but the advice was actually quite interesting and useful! Silly things that you don't realise which actually improve your lifestyle.

This is general discussion not rec room or forum games, so please give content to your posts.

I'll start this off:

Keep your curtains open even at night
The added sense of space makes tiny dorm rooms and such feel a lot larger, especially if there are lights in the distance or you can see the moon. Curtains are good for keeping out the light, but at night it's already dark so there is no need. You'll also find you wake up as it gets light instead of when your alarm goes off.

 

[Necrile]

I've got three, and theyre all from 4chan. Enjoy.

Spoiler: Coffee

Spoiler: Hoodie Laptop

Spoiler: PBR Burner

 

[Ellie]

I was rather hoping we could come up with our own rather than building up a roster of premade shit, but those are cool.

 

[Anski]

Spoiler

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[Ellie]

Know where to buy stuff
Pound shops can be cheaper for some things but most of their goods are shit. Poundland Toblerones are slightly smaller than the originals but are still Toblerones, and the difference is a couple of triangles. Pound shops are not always the cheapest places to shop though: sugar is 78p in my local Morrisons, from the top of my head, and nobody pays a quid for two jewel cased CD-roms.

 

[Daxis]

Sleep with lots of noise

turn on the tv or leave the radio on. Your brain adjusts to the sound, and is less disturbed by other sounds while asleep. Thus, you are less bothered, and get more/better sleep.

 

[regi]

Spoiler

http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic.htm
Have to debunk the polyphasic sleep myth, I'm afraid. As interesting as it sounds, it's probably not a good idea to tamper that much with your circadian rhythm and sleep schedule. At most, try biphasic sleep (one short siesta nap in the middle of the day and ~6 hours at night.

 

[Brewmeister]

Curtains are good for keeping out the dark....

:huh:

Leave your Christmas lights up all year
I installed Christmas lights up under the eaves of the house with electrical staples, with the plug end near an outside outlet.
Come December, all I have to do is pull the cord down & plug it in.

 

[Perihelion]

That reminds me, we really should put the Christmas decorations away...

 

[Ellie]

Printer Ink
When the box to your printer says "includes sample cartridge" single use only, it's normally just a normal cartridge. That's what I've found in my past three printers anyway. I rushed out to get proper ink thinking the single use one was therefore no good; it lasted a good 50 pages or so.

 

[Glitchfinder]

Printer Ink
When the box to your printer says "includes sample cartridge" single use only, it's normally just a normal cartridge. That's what I've found in my past three printers anyway. I rushed out to get proper ink thinking the single use one was therefore no good; it lasted a good 50 pages or so.

Typically, it's a standard cartridge that they haven't bothered to fill all the way. Usually, you get anywhere from 1/4 to 3/4 of the standard yield for that specific cartridge. That being said, if it is one that can be refilled, it can be refilled up to full yield.

 

[BlueScope]

Hell-a-awesome topic... nothing too interesting so far, and unfortunately, the sleeping stuff should only be interesting for people who sleep longer than 3 hours a night unlike me if I have to... but yeah. Lemme see if I got some...

If you see oncoming police and you know you're way too fast,
don't brake.
Instead, use the retracting acceleration force of a downshift - if they don't see braking lights in their rear mirror, and see you're driving regular speed, there's no way they're going to come after you.

After dropping or stupidly shaking a soda bottle,
carefully circle the fluid all around the insides.
That way, you'll re-collect most of the lost carbondioxide, and the reaction upon opening will be a lot less. This partially works on soda bottles that've been opened a few days ago to get some fizzyness back into it.

And of course...
use Intel and nVidia, not AMD and ATI
...because you're not buying cat food for your dog either just because it's cheaper!

 

[moog]

this is a good ass thread

 

[Ellie]

If you think a security guard is watching/following you...
They are. Don't worry about it, that's their job. Sure, if they stop you and search you that's another matter, but a security guard that didn't look out for suspicious activity isn't a very good security guard.

Pepsi is cheaper
If you're stuck between the two, pick up a pepsi max, as the bottle contains 600ml to pepsi/coke's 500ml. That said, a bottle of 45p store-brand cola is exactly the same as a bottle of £2 coca cola any day. If you don't want sugar but also don't want aspartame, Sainsbury's diet cola (at time of writing) didn't contain aspartame.

Know when to shop
At around 6:30, small stores of larger chains, such as Tesco Express, chuck out their old sandwiches and cakes as they know they won't sell them all. Bread for 10p and such. That said, a meal deal is still cheaper than a sell-by-date sandwich and other parts of the deal together, so if you're getting a whole meal deal buy it just before lunchtime, when the products are fresher.

Don't buy ink deals in Argos
If it's with a cheap printer. Well, make sure first. I bought a printer with ink in a bundle deal; wrong ink for that printer. Thanks, Argos.

Multipacks and large boxes aren't always cheaper
A 1kg tin of Nescafe ends up costing you 50p more than buying two 500g jars. Bigger doesn't always mean cheaper, and supermarkets are very good at tricking you with things like this.

 

[Ellie]

Buy set priced goods from department stores
If you're buying goods that you know won't be discounted, such as magazines, some toys and electronics, basically things that are never on sale and always the same price in any store, go to John Lewis, Selfriges, etc. It's a nicer shopping experience and there will be less people at tills as those sorts of store are generally much more expensive.

 

[Ellie]

A lot of local trains
...Let you buy your ticket on the train and many stations don't have ticket barriers. Now I am not suggesting anything dodgy, but they often don't check tickets, so one could conceivably get on at one station, off at the next, without buying a ticket. As the only place to buy said ticket is on the train from the ticket bloke, it's not your problem, it's theirs.

Don't buy train tickets from Virgin stations
...I've found they charge a lot more than network rail staffed stations and even East Midlands Trains stations. They tried to charge me over £15 for a ticket to Leicester that was £7 from the next station along on the line (Wolverhampton = Virgin, Birmingham New Street = Network Rail managed). A ticket from Wolves to Brum was £2.90, so that's quite a saving for getting exactly the same trains.

If a toilet is out of order
Wait a minute for the cleaner to finish rather than going next door. Think about it logically.

 

[Glitchfinder]

A higher price does not mean a better product.
Typically, there are three categories in any specific type of product. The "cheap" product that costs a lot less, but ends up costing more in the long run due to replacing it, in whole or in part, or because the product itself is too low in quality to really use. The top tier, which is most expensive, is expensive to lure people into buying it with the logic that "it costs more, so it must be better." Typically, the price is higher because it has a few features you'll never use and won't find in the lower end models, or because it's purposely set as the "high-end" variation with no real difference in quality. However, the middle road prices, where the product costs more than the cheapest ones but less than the most expensive, are typically the best deals. These products are the ones that do what you want, without adding too much and without inflated pricing to inflate the sense of worth.

 

[Ellie]

Chucks ruin your feet
Converses, and other basketball shoes, might look trendy and hip but they're ruining your feet, get some proper sneakers which will cost you a lot less. Chucks have very little padding and perfectly flat soles. The canvas is very good for rubbing holes in socks and giving you blisters.

 

[Ellie]

Don't wear high heels
If you use a computer. When you sit at a desk, your back naturally learns to curve forwards, arching your back. That is, if you don't follow all the posture guides they show you (which you don't, almost certainly). Wearing high heels reaks havoc with your balance - your lower body bends forwards to compensate for your feet, and your upper bends backwards to balance that out, which combined with the poor posture obtained from your computer means your lower body is swayed and your upper body has to respond by bending back, meh here's an image:

 

[Venetia]

Wyatt uses strange, foreign nomenclature
Wyatt posts a lot, and is pretty good at it. But if you have lived your whole life outside of the UK, you will likely find 90% of Wyatt's posts to be mainly littered with gibberish nouns, and occasionally, some gibberish verbs & adjectives. When Wyatt gives tips, remember to check your xenophobia at the door and keep wikipedia handy.

Here is a link that may help: http://www.translatebritish.com/