Practical hacks to make your everyday life easier: ‘It worked almost immediately’

Sounds too good to be true.

When a Reddit user asked the question, “What’s an insanely useful life hack that sounds fake but actually works?” thousands of people rushed to the comment section of the thread to share small — some very unexpected — things that can make your day-to-day life easier.

The answers ranged from health tips to cleaning hacks to food tricks. Here’s what people shared.

Health

“If you are in a boring meeting or driving or otherwise in the middle of something where nodding off is unacceptable, just hold your breath,” one person shared.

“If you hold it long enough, your body will send a rush of blood to your brain, which in turn will make you suddenly feel wide awake. The effect is not long-lived, though, but it can save you when you just need to stay awake and alert for just a bit longer.”

“If you get a mosquito bite, run a spoon under hot water (not hot enough to burn obvs) and then press the back it to the bite, and repeat that a couple times — it helps ‘cook’ the itchy protein so that you don’t have that large histamine reaction!” advised another user.

“If you burn your tongue, put sugar on it,” suggested one person.

“Was in Mexico with a partner several years ago, and he got overconfident with hot sauce. He started freaking out and the waiter came over and advised him to pour a sugar packet on his tongue. It worked almost immediately, and I’ve always wondered if it was psychosomatic or a real thing!” someone wrote.

“Putting a tiny bit of salt in bitter coffee makes it not bitter,” someone else shared.

“Sniff alcohol wipes when nauseous. Or in a pinch, hand sanitizer. The isopropyl alcohol somehow instantly stops nausea, even faster and more efficiently than ondansetron,” chimed in someone else.

Cleaning

“To clean any stained Tupperware, place a folded-up paper towel with a bit of dish soap and water in and close the lid. Shake vigorously, and it will come out spotless,” another comment read.

“Micellar water can clean a white shoe so it looks almost as brand new as when you bought it,” a helpful commenter wrote.

“If you don’t want to iron your sheets, put some fabric softener and water (1:5) in a spray bottle and spray on them. You can then ‘iron’ them by hand and they smell nice,” a commenter shared.

Travel

“If you have trouble with turbulence on airplanes, try this: Hold your feet slightly off the floor, and very slowly ease yourself forward and back in your seat. This minimizes your contact with the aircraft, which means you feel the turbulence less….” someone wrote.

Mental health

“If someone is having a panic attack, gently force them to keep close eye contact with you and focus on your face. Then, ask them to tell specific but random information unrelated to the stressful situation, like their telephone number, types or dogs, how to go to one place from their home, etc.,” a comment read.

“A panic attack is all about attention collapse. This way you help them first to stop paying attention on the situation, and then “reset” their brain by focusing on something totally different and therefore breaking the vicious circle,” the commenter continued.

Everyday life

“If you crack an egg and get some of the shell in the egg, wet your fingers and you can get the shell out easily now,” a comment read.

“When you sign up for rewards accounts/apps for restaurants, put in a different birthday month/day for each one. That way, you’ll get a freebie 1-2 times a month all year long instead of just on your own birthday,”

“If you get into your car and it’s super hot, you can push the hot air out faster by rolling down your passenger window, putting the air on full blast and opening and shutting your driver’s door several times….” a helpful user shared.