You weren’t born knowing how to fold a fitted sheet. No one was. But somehow, you’ve made it this far—half winging it, half Googling it—learning that WD-40 removes crayon, and baking soda might as well be magic. We live in a world where your phone can guide you across continents, but you still can’t quite figure out how to reset the Wi-Fi without summoning your twelve-year-old nephew. That’s where these life pro tips come in—not as commandments from on high, but as whispered shortcuts from people who’ve stumbled through the same chaos and taken notes.
This list doesn’t teach how to master life. But it could give tips on trimming the fat off daily nonsense. Some of these hacks are so smart they’ll make you feel good. Others are so obvious, you’ll wonder if you’ve been sleepwalking. Either way, you’re about to upgrade the way you operate—one clever fix at a time. You might be prompted to try the ones that belong in your mental utility belt, and if you want even more low-effort genius, check out the LifeProTips subreddit.
1. Start a year off with an empty jar and fill it with notes of good things that happen. On new years eve, empty it and see what awesome stuff happened that year.
2. If you want to endear someone to you quickly, ask them for advice. Doesn’t matter what on, just asking for their opinion on anything shows that you respect them and value their input.
3. When making homemade fries, after slicing the potato, put the slices in a bowl of cold water to soak. This allows some of the starches to release into the water, which makes the inside of the fries more tender while allowing the outside to be crispier.
4. If you have to pay a company to work for them, it’s a scam. Walk away.
5. Put a sticker with a fake PIN number on your debit card. Make the numbers hard to read. If you lose it and someone tries to use it (3+ times) the terminal will lock your account and eat the card.
6. engage a door to door home security solicitor. They may be impostors casing the neighborhood for unprotected homes.
7. If a baby/toddler appears to hurt themselves (falls over, hits head, etc.) and they look to you, always meet their gaze and smile.
“I see this mistake made constantly: someone is watching their kid (who is just learning how to walk) run straight into a table that is conveniently right at head height. The kid looks around for mom (or whoever), not quite crying yet but definitely on the brink of tears, and the mom freaks out and puts on a horrified face to match. Kid sees face and begins to cry hysterically. This can be avoided for the most part by smiling and not over-reacting when your kid looks to you for help.”
8. When dividing up ground beef in Ziploc bags, flatten it out before freezing it. It’ll thaw faster when you need it.
9. If you ever check-in to a hotel in an area you don’t know, always grab the business card of the hotel.
“I went on vacation to Germany and my friend gave me the business card of our hotel and said “in case you need it.” I took it but was like i’ll never need it. Then I got hammered drunk with all our friends and didn’t know how to get to the hotel. Our flight was in 3 hours, but our shuttle was in 45 min. I asked the taxi driver if he knew the hotel we were at then he said “which one.” Then I remembered the business card, i pulled it out and gave it to the driver. He said “OK.” 5 minutes later i was back at the hotel.”
10. Check your cell phone signal when apartment/house hunting.
You don’t want to move into your new place and then realize you don’t have service.
11. When your dog gets loose, don’t chase it; lie down and pretend you’re hurt.
“If you chase your dog, its instinct is to run. If you lie down on the ground and act hurt (yelping, etc.), its instinct is to come check on you and make sure you’re alright. Feels like a dirty trick at the time, but it’s worth saving your dog from getting hit.”
12. When checking reviews online on sites like Amazon.com, also check reviews sorted by latest date first. Some merchants will start selling a lower quality version of the product after reaching a high ranking.
13. Before you start doing any wedding planning, make a wedding-only email account.
“The same could probably go for other things, such as college planning. I was married four months ago and I STILL get tons of emails from bridal shops, websites, etc. Do what I wish I did: Make a new email to give only to wedding vendors. That way, all of your wedding info will be together and when the wedding is over, boom. No unnecessary wedding emails.”
14. If night time thoughts are keeping you awake, write them all down
“I found that if I’m lying awake thinking of things, whether it be what I need to do the next day, or having a fake argument in my head, writing it down helps me clear my mind and helps me settle down to sleep.”
15. When streaming Netflix on a computer, if the stream quality is sub-par, press control+alt(opt)+shift+s in order to change the buffering rates. Changing to 3000 forces HD video.
16. If you suck at cooking, get a crock pot. Here is every crock pot recipe: Combine all ingredients in Crock Pot, cook on low 6-8 hours, serve. You’ll also save a ton of money.
“It’s probably one of the best investments I’ve made. I make of batch of whatever on Sunday and then I have lunch for the whole week.”
17. Looking for apartments in a new city? Make sure to reverse image search any images to avoid scams. Just right click the image and select ‘search google for this image’
18. Always take pictures of your apartment the day you move in and the day you move out.
“This would have saved me a security deposit fight or two. Take the pictures with the apartment completely clean and free of furniture or clutter.”
19. vacuum 2-3 tablespoons of cinammon. It will make your place smell amazing everytime you do the cleaning up.
“My son was exploring the drawers in the kitchen and spilled a shitload of ground cinammon on the floor. We cleaned it up with vacuum and immediately it filled the entire kitchen with great scent of warm cinammon.”Sometimes destruction and chaos lead to great discoveries.”
20. When heading out to an amusement park, or any other large volume attendance venue, take a good picture of the children individually, before you go in. That way if, god forbid, they get lost, you have the exact details of what they are wearing and what they look like to give to the authorities.
21. When studying a subject, pretend that you’ll have to teach the material you’re studying.
It changes your frame of reference and forces you to pay more attention to the material. You imagine in your head how you’ll explain the material to other people, and in such, you’ll gain a greater frame of understanding. I’ve been doing this for a number of years now, and it never ceases to be useful.
22. To study for a test, pretend you are able to have a cheat sheet and fill it with as many short and concise notes that would help you pass your test. By the time you are done, you will have successfully studied.
23. If ever in a large crowd and faced with having to yell “somebody call 911”, don’t, and instead explicitly point to someone and say “YOU, call 911”. This will prevent the “Bystander Effect”.
24. If you buy something on Amazon and the price goes down within 30 days of your purchase, you can e-mail them and they will refund how much the price went down. I bought a Razer Nostromo gaming keypad for $60 less than a month ago and it went down to $53. I e-mailed them and asked them to refund $7 dollars into my gift-card balance, and they did 🙂 It only applies to items sold by Amazon LLC, though. It’s something they do but don’t advertise, and in my humble opinion it’s pretty awesome
25. When done cooking bacon or dealing with a pan of hot grease, line the inside of a bowl with tin foil, pour in grease, wait until solid, fold up and then discard.
26. When heating leftovers, space out a circle in the middle, it will heat up much more evenly.
27. If you notice a group of ants exploring your house but are unsure where they are coming from, gently poke/semi-squish a few of them with your finger and they will lead you back to their source.
28. If you see a deer crossing the road, assume other deer may immediately follow and drive with caution
29. When responding to advice, say “You’re right” instead of “I know”
“This is for people (like myself) who tend to sound like a know-it-all because when people give you advice, you almost always respond with “I know.” I learned that replacing “I know” with “You’re right” is a great way to show that you’re actually listening to someone, that you care about what they say, and gives them credit for trying to help you (while not negating the fact that yes, maybe you DO KNOW the thing that they are telling you). It also helps you sound less like a jerk and more like someone who appreciates advice. I’ve learned that changing just this simple phrase is super helpful in smoothing over social interactions.”
30. To ensure good flavor, store your produce at home the same way it’s stored at the grocery store (if its not refrigerated there, don’t refrigerate it at home)
31. Put wooden spoon across boiling pot of water to keep from boiling over.
32. Mosquito bite? Press a hot spoon (e.g. the one you stirred your coffee with) onto the spot. The heat will destroy the protein that caused the reaction and the itching will stop.
33. Buy restaurant-grade stuff. It lasts practically forever, and you can always find replacements to match
34. When feeling down; clean.
“When feeling unaccomplished, bored or even a little depressed – start cleaning or organising something. Be it your place, car or notes. After you’ve finished you’ll feel as if you’ve achieved something (especially if it was a huge mess in the first place.) It’ll distract you if not, make you forget what it was that made you feel down etc. in the first place.”
35. Before cleaning your microwave, run it for 5-10 minutes with a bowl of water in it to loosen up the dried out gunk
36. When you call 911, the first words out of your mouth should be, “I need [service] at [address]. Again, that’s [address].” This way the operator has the pertinent details up front and can already have the appropriate people dispatched while you’re telling your story.
37. Be prepared when driving in extremely cold weather by putting blankets, snacks, and a small tool kit in your vehicle in case you have any car troubles on the road.
Also, try to avoid keeping bottled water/drinks in the car especially in subzero weather because they can explode. If you’re stuck in the snow, then just use that for liquids. Bonus: use a cup to put the snow in for easier consumption.
38. If you’re dropping somebody off at their home, make sure that they are able to get in before you drive away.
39. If your roommates’ cell phone alarm is going off and they are not in the room, call the phone and it will disable the alarm.
40. When composing a professional e-mail, do not put in the person’s e-mail address until you have typed the entire e-mail.
41. Write your signature in blue ink so that you distinguish an original copy of a document from a copy.
42. When an elderly person can’t hear you, speak deeper not louder.
“Learned this in med school and I use it everyday”!
43. When traveling, bring your packing list on the trip with you; that way you have an easy checklist when you’re leaving to make sure you don’t leave anything behind.
44. Do online shopping in a private window so you don’t get ad spammed into oblivion when browsing later on
45. Smelly shoes? Leave a teabag in each overnight, and odor will be gone.
46. Learn to use spices by cooking them one at a time with white rice to become familiar with their flavor and intensity.
47. If you get into a fight with your SO, parents, friends, etc., try not to think of it as you vs. them, but rather, approach it as you two vs. the issue.
48. Save non-emergency police telephone numbers in your telephone. You will be much more likely to report minor accidents/suspicious activity/lost dogs/etc.
49. Try not to let yourself feel hate or grow angry when dealing with folks who are mean-spirited. Instead, study them for clues on how not to live. You’ll find you have more patience and energy for the things in your life that really matter
50. If your family members constantly call for help working their home media systems, photograph all of the remotes. When they call, you can be specific about the locations, colors, and labels on buttons.
51. when you’re really mad at someone for something they did, always start the conversation by asking “what happened?” And avoid criticism. You never know what really happened unless you ask.
