Life is supposed to be a divine miracle that we appreciate every single day. We’re meant to enjoy the soothing sounds of the birds singing in the morning, soak up the sun’s rays on yet another gorgeous day, and bask in the delightful smell of a daffodil as it sways gently in the wind.
Ah, life. It’s so beautiful!
Well, until the “little things” start going wrong.
You know morning has well and truly broken when your zipper keeps on coming undone as you try to get ready for work.
And you definitely want to rip that daffodils head off when your ice cream melts and drizzles all over your new top.
Life would be infinitely wonderful and magical if only these little things didn’t keep getting on our nerves!
Life hacks, though, are here to save the day.
A life hack is a simple but super effective solution to life’s everyday teething problems. Whatever issue you’ve ever had, there’s likely a life hack for it. These hacks are so breathtaking with both their simplicity and ingenuity that you’ll be kicking yourself for not having thought of it yourself. Let’s take a look a 30 of the most amazing and useful life hacks!
Life hack 1: Turn Your Eyeliner Pencil Into A Gel
Applying pencil eyeliner can be so, so difficult. You shout in the mirror, wondering why one earth you didn’t just get a gel!
Oh sure, pencil eyeliner is supposed to be easy to apply, yet it mostly always doesn’t spread as thickly or as smoothly as a gel.
So what do you do when you want to look good, fast?
You turn your pencil eyeliner into a gel, of course!
To do this, place the tip of your eyeliner over a flame (you could use either a lighter or a hob) for about a second. Then, once it’s nicely cooled down, you can apply it on your as a gel with a special thin brush. Bingo!
Life hack 2: Re-Check Your Makeup Under New Light
Many of us get ready for work in a hurry in the morning, and many of us have to make do with awkward lighting, especially if it’s another dark and dreary winter morning.
The problem is that by using artificial lighting, we don’t always spot any areas on our face that we may have missed. Everything looks good – but it might not be so good!
Instead of giving up the ghost and going into work with only half a face on, why not re-check your makeup under different lighting on your commute to work? You could check yourself in the car, on the train, or even just anywhere outdoors.
Life hack 3: Remove The Stem From Your Strawberry
Strawberries are gorgeous fruits that come with many health benefits. Strawberries can boost immunity, improve the health of your eyes, combat cancer, and slow down the ageing process.
Strawberries are also deliciously tasty.
But isn’t the stem just a little bit (really) annoying?!
To remove the stem without yanking at it, you can instead drill a hole through the base of your strawberry with a straw and then push it right up to the stem. Voila!
Life hack 4: How To Make Your Eyes Look Bigger?
Ever wanted to have bigger eyes? Many of us have. I know I sure have. My eyes are impossibly tiny. Which kinda sucks because our eyes are meant to be the windows to our soul, and they’re pretty much our best selling point when it comes to guys.
But there is a way of making your eyes appear wider without having to resort to stretching them and applying Sellotape.
All you need to do is sweep your mascara in the direction of your nose – rather than the usual upwards direction. This will subsequently make your lashes look bigger, which will in turn widen the look of your eyes.
Life hack 5: How To Properly Apply Perfume?
I always thought that the best way to apply perfume was to spray yourself with it. Everywhere.
Surely it was the only way to smell nice and get noticed, I reasoned.
I quickly adopt a new nickname, though: Perfume Factory.
“Hey perfume factory, what’s new?” I’d get asked in the office.
It turns out that the best way to properly apply perfume is by aiming for your pulse points only. These points are found on the base of your throat, the inside of your wrist, behind your ear, behind your knee and inside your elbow.
Life hack 6: Crank Up Your Phone Alarm’s Volume
It’s never easy getting out of bed in the morning for work. Sure, we set out alarm to remind us to get up, but it’s not exactly the most authoritative thing in the world. All we have to do is press the snooze button, turn around and ignore it!
If, however, you place your phone in a glass, it will shake and rattle and produce a much louder alarm noise that you simply cannot ignore!
Life hack 7: Make Your Liquid Makeup Go Further
Isn’t it a drat when liquid makeup doesn’t last all that long? It’s like toothpaste; once you’ve used a certain amount, the rest of it gets lodged at the bottom where you can’t reach it or squeeze it out. You know it’s in there but you can’t get a it!
So you throw it away and buy a new one.
Here’s a trick: Once you’ve extracted so much from your liquid makeup tube so that no more is coming out, grab a pair of scissors, cut the tube open and scoop the remainder into a plastic pot.
Life hack 8: How To Make Your Lipstick Last Longer?
I really hate it when my lipstick rubs off really quickly. No sooner have I applied it for the night when it fades!
It’s a nightmare, especially if you’ve got a big night out planned, or you’re on a date.
Instead of constantly heading to the bathroom to reapply, though, you could make use of this amazing life hack trick: All you need to do is apply your lipstick before laying a tissue on your lips. Then, dust some powder (make sure it’s translucent) onto your lips. It will set and stay on for a lot longer.
Magic!
Life hack 9: How To Make Your Own Lip Gloss?
Lip gloss doesn’t have to be that expensive, but it isn’t exactly cheap, either. Sometimes, we just don’t have the extra money to buy lip gloss, while sometimes we run out of it at the wrong time.
So what do we do? We make our own, of course!
To make your own lip gloss, you need to grab your broken eye shadows. Then, instead of throwing them away, you should crush them into powder before mixing with petroleum jelly.
Bingo! Your very own DIY lip gloss.
Life hack 10: How To Better Cover Up Dark Circles and Puffy Eyes?
Aren’t dark circles and puffy eyes horrendous? Often, they appear after a night of drinking, but they can strike after any sleepless night.
And they always seem to come at the worst time.
If you’ve got a date, bam! you get to wake up with puffy eyes.
If you’ve got a job interview, bam! you get to wake up with puffy eyes.
But while most of us dot the areas with our concealer, most of us know this isn’t very effective. Instead, you should apply your concealer in a triangle shape. Make the bottom a your lash line and the top at the base of your cheek.
Life hack 11: How To Fill A Big Container With Water?
We’ve all got those big containers that we need to fill with water in order to perform everyday cleaning jobs.
Not only are they incredibly awkward to move around the house – but they’re also really difficult to fill with water because they just don’t fit in the sink!
Rather than struggle with trying to somehow make your big container fit into a sink before you eventually start tearing your head out in frustration while flooding the kitchen floor, you can do this life hack:
Get a dustpan, balance it on your sink with the handle facing you. Place your big container on the floor, switch the tap on and watch the water flow out of your dustpan – and straight into your container!
Life hack 12: How To Protect Your Charger Cord?
Charger cord’s are absolutely vital. Without a charger cord, we’re pretty much doomed as soon as our phone loses its battery power. Life stops and we go into a panic.
But as well as going missing, charger cord’s can also bend – and break. Not cool!
There is a really handy way of preserving the life of your cord: Take an old pen and remove its spring.
Then, wrap it around your cord. This will help to keep it in tact. Lovely!
Life hack 13: How To Squeeze More Clothes Into Your Suitcase?
You’re going on holiday and the question, as always, is which clothes do you take and which do you leave at home?
With only so much space in your suitcase, you can only take a few tops, a few dresses and one or two pairs of jeans.
Unfortunately, this means there are some tough decisions ahead and you’re probably going to lose lots of sleep as you toss up whether to leave behind your little black dress or your flowery summer number instead.
But hold on a minute. If you want to get more space out of your suitcase, why not roll up your clothes?!
Life hack 14: How Not To Send Accidental Emails?
I work remotely from home, and I’m always firing off emails to clients.
Unfortunately, I frequently send emails by accident before I’ve finished composing!
This is embarrassing and it wastes time for the client who has to read a pointless email. It also looks really unprofessional.
To stop this from ever happening again, I now leave my recipient field blank until it’s time to send the email.
Because I’m smart like that!
Life hack 15: How To Keep Your Tin Of Paint Nice And Clean?
We all have to indulge in some home DIY at some point or another. When it comes time to paint our bedroom, we all turn into amateur painters who leave a messeverywhere.
Perhaps the worse kind of mess when you’re painting are the blobs of paint that find their way onto the sides of your tin of paint because you’ve got no where else to wipe your brush after dipping.
While a few blobs of paint on the side of your tin are not the worst thing in the world, they’re still unsightly to look at. To stop this from happening, tie a rubber band around your tin of paint and dab the brush on that instead.
Life hack 16: Homemade Ice Cold Water
We’re always told to drink more water, especially when we’re out and about because it’s important to stay hydrated.
So we buy a bottle of water and take it with us when we go for a walk, a run, a cycle and so on.
The problem is that a bottle of water quickly gets warm, especially in hot weather. So what do we do?
We make it ice cold, of course!
To get prepare a bottle of ice cold water at home, fill one up about a quarter with water, then stick it in the freezer.
Once it’s nicely frozen, fill the rest of the bottle up with water and there you are – ice cold water!
Life hack 17: Check Your Phone While Looking For A House
Ever bought a house only to find that you can’t get a signal? It’s a total pain and it means you have to break your contract and choose a new provider.
This costs money and time.
To avoid this situation from happening, take your cell phone with for house viewings and check to see if you’ve got a signal. If you haven’t, the house might just not be worth it!
(despite the balcony and swimming pool)
Life hack 18: Hide Cash In Chapstick
Chapstick ensures that dry lips never become a big problem. Once a tub of Chapstick is empty, you throw it away and buy a new one.
But a Chapstick tube is actually a handy way to hide away a few dollar bills whenever you’re walking in an unsafe area.
No one will think to steal your Chapstick – unless they’re a mugger with very dry lips – which means you’re guaranteed to come away with all your money in tact!
Life hack 19: Paint Your Keys
I have so many keys. So many, in fact, that I always forget which one is which – because they all look the same!
I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve stumped myself trying to unlock my front door. I’ve wasted so much time trying to find the right key, and grown terribly frustrated when I keep trying the same key!
To save yourself a heap of time and hassle, why not paint each key so that you know exactly which is why?
You don’t have to merely dab them with an X or Y; you can get super creative and splash them in glitter!
Life hack 20: How To Feel Less Rushed?
I hate it when I’m having a rushed day. I’ve got this to do, that to do and I complain that there just aren’t enough hours in the day.
My friend calls me up asking if I want to hang, my boss shoots me an email asking if I can pop into the office, and my tax return arrives in the post requesting changes. And I just want to scream.
So what do I do to make sure my day never feels too rushed? I wake up an hour earlier! Simple but brilliant. You feel so much more relaxed!
Life hack 21: How To Solve A Cracked iPhone Case?
iPhones are a bit of a big deal. They’re super expensive, look smart, and can do pretty much anything you need and want them to do.
But they’re also really fragile, and once you’ve dropped it on the floor, you can be pretty sure it’s never going to look the same ever again.
A cracked iPhone screen is totally reason to cry, but instead of living with a rubbish, splintered screen for the next year, you can pimp your phone by using highlighters to colour the cracks!
Life hack 22: How To Make Your House Smell Heavenly?
I’ve got a really big issue with household fragrances, such as potpourri. Although a bowl of potpourri nicely perfumes your room, disguising all those hideous smells from your friends and family, it also makes my throat sore.
As do scented candles and pretty much every other sweet smelling thing you can think of!
So I hit on an idea one day: I boiled orange peels with a pinch of cinnamon. The smell was divine. Try it!
Life hack 23: Trash Can For Your Car
Sure, some sedans come with lots of storage holes in the interior, but lots of cars don’t – such as my super-mini.
The problem is that your car then gets really messy. Litter gets everywhere, and you’ve soon pretty much got a mountain of wrappers loitering around your interior. Not cool.
A great way to solve this problem and clean up your car is by turning a used cereal container into a trash can! Ace!
Life hack 24: Amplify Your iPhone
Listening to music from your iPhone is pretty great – but it’s not always so loud.
A cool trick to get more oomph from your iPhone’s “speakers” is to drop your phone into a pot bowl.
A pot bowl makes for a great amplifier, and you’ll be rocking the house parties in no time.
Life hack 25: How To Clear Up Foggy Headlights?
Headlights get foggy. The more you use your car, the foggier your headlights will get.
Cleaning them up is ridiculously hard, and for some reason soap and water just doesn’t seem to work.
What gives?
No idea, but what I do know is that if you use toothpaste instead, your foggy headlights will be cleared up in no time at all.
Life hack 26: How To Keep Cookies Soft?
If you’re like me and regularly pack cookies in a plastic container as part of your packed lunch for work, you’ll no doubt know that cookies get hard real quick.
The amount of times I’ve almost broken my teeth on cookies is totally crazy.
Then my friend gave an awesome life hack: To keep cookies soft in containers, put a small piece of bread in there too.
Hey, it works!
Life hack 27: How To Store Your Bagels?
While we’re on the subject of plastic food containers, check this hack out:
Bagels are not always easy to pack in a container because of their unusual shape.
But have you ever thought that they look just like a fatter version of the compact disc?
Take an old CD spindle and slip a bagel inside. You’re all sorted!
Life hack 28: End A Jar Of Nutella The Right Way
It’s a nightmare when a jar of Nutella is almost done. As you forage around for the last of the chocolate, all you can do is dream wistfully of the time when this jar was full.
It’s time to start ending a jar of Nutella the right way – by dumping a few scoops of ice cream in there!!
Life hack 29: How To Remember Everything You’ve Ever Lent?
I’ve got a pretty scattered brain. Whenever I lend a friends something, I instantly forget what it was.
And because I lend things to people often, this becomes a problem when it comes to asking for stuff back.
“Chelsea, did I lend you … no? I didn’t? Well, who did I lend it to?”
To stop this from happening, I now take pictures of my friends holding the item I’ve just lent them.
Because I’m smart like that (yeah, right).
Life hack 30: Stack Your Clothes Vertically
We’ve been conditioned to stack our clothes horizontally. Don’t ask me why!
Because think about it: How much time have you wasted going through all your clothes to find a top you want to wear? Too much time!
Stacking your clothes vertically means you get to see everything in front of you at a glance.
What are your favourite life hacks?
Stay happy!
