Not exactly life hacks, but shortcuts that can help computer users:
holding CTRL and pressing the arrow keys will move the text cursor whole words, instead of 1 character at a time. Also works with Delete and Backspace
CTRL + Home will move the cursor to the start of the file, CTRL + End to the end of the file or textbox.
Windows 10 users can use the Xbox bar to record their screens. By default, the shortcut is Windows button + Alt + R
For anyone that uses the sink to wash dishes, have a net/grid to cover the hole. Once it’s full, just pick it up and dump the contents in your food trash.
You can use any type of soap to create barriers that ants will avoid. If you plug a hole with some soap (try a piece of soap bar that’s wet/soft), the ants won’t reopen it.
Cinnamon works wonders against ants. Just put a little down where they are coming in. They won’t walk on it, and it messes up their ability to follow pheromone trails.
If you absolutely want to kill them for some reason, the liquid borax baits seem to work the best in my area. Just make sure they cannot be reached by pets or small children.
On the topic of Excel, it’s one of the few programs where the scroll lock key does something. It allows you to switch between moving the cell selection and scrolling with the arrow keys
I miss real keyboards for the numberpad and the Home and End and the Pages Up and Down. Plus all the satisfying noise they made. Had no idea I needed this, too.
Look into mechanical keyboards. They aren’t cheap but there have been serious improvements and you get all the real keyboard features you want. Plus clickyclicky.
thanks. I only have it on my work laptop but I will check that out. Given they did that with cut and paste I guess I should have looked harder at the other icons.
It’s more about you going to a poor country, and raising the cost of living of the communities there by telegraphing to landlords and retailers that you will happily pay X% markup for goods and services.
Yes, many. Rent is 3% of your salary and you don’t believe that that automatically grants you far more buying power than others?
You will never have to make the choice of paying for treatment or food, and retailers and insurers see this as a stat they can bank on to jack local prices.
Of course it grants me more buying power, but that doesn’t mean I’m using it. 80% of my income goes to savings, my lifestyle is no different to my next door neighbors, for whom the 20% I do spend is all they have. The only difference is that for every month I work, I can retire 4 month early.
Fair enough. To be fair, I don’t know you. I just wanted you to be in the category of digital nomads that I can rage against because the world is expensive and unjust, and if I’m suffering through it then so should you.
But that’s not fair to you. Sorry for pinning my frustrations on you, and I’ll try to be better in the future
No worries, it happens. Thanks for speaking it out though rather than just walking away, that really says something about your character. Much appreciated!
Locals: shop around for the place that sells it at the lowest cost. Take extra time to go to different stores for different products even if they’re all available in one place. Regular price too high? Vote with your wallet and don’t buy it. Good price but you don’t have much money? Buy less.
Wealthy foreigner: This is cheap. I’ll take it.
No one needs to know your income. The price may be the same for everyone, but if you’re willing to pay a higher price, then they’ll be more likely to keep the higher price, thus reducing everyone else’s buying power. If you buy more than the locals and help eat up their stock, that again incentivises keeping prices where they are, or even increasing them. The storekeepers don’t care about how much money you have. They look at whether things sell or not, then make their decisions based on that.
There’s only one supermarket near me, everybody goes there.
And everybody buys all the rest online. I don’t shop in malls because the prices are inflated. Even if I don’t need to watch every penny, it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.
Depending on where you live, yes. I’m in the far outskirts of a mid sized city (12 million people…). If you live dead center, the rents easily quadruple and more. My salary is also above the local standard, so it’s really a mix of both.
There’s a HUD study that basically says the same thing. That people who receive housing vouchers and live in HCOL areas have better outcomes than people who live in LCOL areas. Not just because income to housing ratio is better, but also because of better education and job opportunities in high density areas.
You also have the advantage of percentage based employer retirement contributions and health insurance costs being relatively similar, so you’re getting more benefit from higher pay.
Our rent is high. Our pay is high. But almost everything I need is within a 10-minute walk. I haven’t driven in months but I need new shoes and I’m 100% okay with that.
If I could move to a place with the same or better climate, keep my jobs and still have the daily living improvements of this area for a little cheaper, I would.
Keep a set of swimwear in your car. If you go to a place and forgot your swimsuit? Got the backup. Go to a hotel and find out they had a pool you didn’t know about? Backup in the car. Accidentally shit yourself? Got at least something on you. Do I shit myself enough to worry about it? Not since I was a baby but now I know I got swim trunks in my car just in case.
This works for so many occasions too. At a watermelon eating contest? Backup in the car. Going to a funeral? Backup in the car. Need to bury a body? Backup clothing, right there.
Not recommended for lycra or spandex suits, or any suit that has elastic closures, particularly during the summer months. They will rapidly degrade in the heat of the car. My wife left hers in the car after a vacation (never used it). It was tucked in the trunk. Found it a month later and it disintegrated in the wash.
Putting a case on your phone, if the phone is newer you can get a good resale price, doubly so if you use a screen protector as well, it also prolongs the use of your phone and makes you realize how much ewaste is created by not keeping older devices up to date with software and repairs when its still in working order.
I had my last phone so long(about 5-6 years I think) that I was forced to get a new one because it was no longer supported.
I know they have to have a cut off somewhere, but around 5 years doesn’t seem like that long for a device. Maybe I’m just getting old, or planned obsolescence or something.
But yes, having that phone for a longtime prevented ewaste and saved me quite a bit of money. Be nice to your phone and it’ll go longer than the company supports it.
Long live LineageOS. I’m a big fan, I’ve been using it for years, while it was still called CyanogenMod. I used it on my HTC Magic in 2009, and my Galaxy S in 2011.
I used Cyanogen on my HTC Dream, the first android phone! It still only lasted a few years, because the tech was sooooo fresh. But it would have not lasted as long if I wasn’t using Cyanogen!
I’m an iPhone bitch now, and I’m typing this on a six year old iPhone that’s about to get a new software update. Still as fast as when I got it. I’m updating this year though, because I desire a 120hz screen and USB-C.
Was going to put lineage os on my current phone 3 years ago (I have a motorola one action) but Motorola locked the phone so I wasn’t able to save it from android 11
Also for the screen protector get a privacy screen protector. It’s just a glass screen protector with a polarising lens to make the screen opaque at oblique angles, so eg someone sitting next to you can’t see your screen. Obviously not foolproof, just don’t be viewing anything super sensitive on your phone if there’s other people next to you, but it’s good for just getting more privacy while using your phone on the bus or something.
Also, buy a mainstream phone that is guaranteed to get updates. I’ve saved money from buying lower tier phones in the past, but then they stop getting updates within a few years, making them worthless. With a mainstream phone you can sell it and upgrade every few years.
Yes to the case, no to the screen protector (depending on your phone model).
Most phones have some version of gorilla glass or ultra scratch resistance glass. If you’ve got this, you probably don’t need a screen protector. Your screen is probably harder than any screen protector you can buy, and that protector will scratch, and now you need to replace the screen protector to get rid of the scatch, over and over again until you just live with a scratched up protector, and a perfectly good screen underneath.
While we’re at it… unless you are doing some extreme sports, I recommend a cheap, lightweight case with some key features.
Corner protection: Your phone corners are where it will break when you drop it. Get a case that completely encloses the edges of the corners, and provides good protection there.
Raised bezel: You don’t need to go overboard here, but make sure that your case edges extend past your screen. If you lay your phone screen down on a table, no part of the screen should contact the table.
I used to get OtterBox and ultra duty cases, but lately, I just get a cheap plastic case with a rubber/soft plastic edge for corner protection. No screen protector, and my phone looks brand new. Just avoid getting sand in the same pocket as your phone, or putting two phones in the same pocket.
I always read these and go “fuck yeah I could stand to feel like a new bloke as well” and then I remember I don’t drink and thus can’t quit it either. Fuck the baseline.
It’s just compose ~ ~ (tilde tilde). The compose key sequences are often the most logical thing you can think of. Emacs C-x 8 is good but you have to try and guess the unicode name of the character.
It’s the interrobang. It literally means “?!” Like WTF?! But in one symbol. It mattered when “cost per letter” or typesetting spacing mattered. I still like it and use it often enough. As for chess, honestly, yeah, it could be used for that.
If you can’t find something and you’ve looked everywhere, get a flashlight and look again while pointing the flashlight. It has worked for me every time.
A Coast G20 flashlight is about $10 on Amazon, and has a very tight spotlight circle “inspection” beam. It’s my go-to for searching because it makes you focus on a small area.
I dunno, I just got some and just… got more hahaha. Even my shittiest flashlights are way brighter than any smartphone’s LEDs.
I mainly keep them everywhere so I can quickly take important cat pictures. Shining the brighter ones at the ceiling makes for perfect lighting for indoor cat pics. I don’t like using flash on animals, and my I keep my room pretty dim. But gosh dangit cats are so cute.
haha I guess their fur requires a special kind of lighting that I never thought about. I assumed funny internet cat pics were more moments of spontaneity than diligently prepared shooting sets hehe
Thank you. It’s worse than you think. I’ve recently uploaded 20,000 photos to my laptop… which now has about 30k photos on it. A majority of those are of my cats. The quantity exploded when we got baby kittens.
10,000 years from now, once they dig out the digital backups and find your strangely well-preserved collection. They will immediately assume from the sheer proportion of photos of yourself vs your cats, that cats were the dominant life form who kept humans around as pets
The D4V2 you were looking for in the above post has RGB AUX LEDs and I think a button light iirc. You can set them to a bunch of colors on high or low brightness, or even have them show the battery level. On low-brightness, depending on color, they can stay on 24-7 for 2-6 YEARS before running the battery down (hell, on high, they can stay on for 1-3 months before needing a recharge). They are wonderful for finding it in the dark.
AUX lights make it one of the best nightstand lights. Anduril 2 makes it have some cool tricks too. I have mine have high red aux when unlocked so it can be used as a darklight just by unlocking it, then it auto locks after a minute of non-use and the aux goes to low and uses colors to display battery level.
Look up an ANDURIL2 video guide or the graphical control layout to see how it is all done. (Videos help a lot)
Ohhhhh the fancy RGB lights! I have them on high brightness/cycle RGB because I use the hard lock when they’re not in use. I do have like 20 18650s from when I was vaping a mech mod so I change them out frequently! It’s insane that they can last that long in low brightness! I should totally change my mode to show battery level using the colors—I just have to read the maps of how to use one button to do that for both (my D4V2 is on the old version of the firmware and my D8 is on the new!)
I also am struggling to find out how to change my D8 to only light up one side or the other—I got warm lights on one side and cool/insanely bright on them other. I’d love to switch between them but I don’t wanna bother people and even with tutorials it’s tough for me to find exactly how to do that. Also The Map… my goodness.
The DT8? The flat one? I didn’t know that came in dual-channel. If it is ANDURIL2 then when it is on (single click from off) it is 3H (click-click-clickHOLD) to get into the tint ramp, which on a dual channel should slide between channel 1 and channel 2 (granular and smooth is selected in the deeper settings).
You know the pop culture reference we use for someone who has misplaced their cellphone, “have you tried calling it?”
This will sound absolutely silly, but one day a friend was looking for some trinket which wasn’t a phone, and playfully I asked, “Have you tried calling it?”
They doubled down and started actually calling it, “Trinket… trinket, where are you?”
And wouldn’t you know it, within minutes they found it, and so far this has worked about 99.9% of the time.
So like using a flashlight focuses your eyes, having someone call it out loud kind of quiets the mind, too. It’s wild.
I never tried calling it like a pet, but I normally say “where is this damn thing?” And then find it shortly afterwards. I’m guessing speaking the object out loud let’s the object know you are looking for it. That way the object can show up and act like it was there the
I use my hands to kind of do the same thing. It’s probably the behaviour they modeled Monk’s “hand thing” after. It still helps even if I’m searching using my memory and spatial awareness to recall and search through something I am not currently looking at. Somehow, narrowing the scope physically with my hands helps. It’s probably a muscle memory or proprioception thing.
For example, if I want to find something to eat in the fridge. I generally won’t be able to think of anything by just opening the fridge and looking through it. Unless there is something super obvious like a leftover pizza box or something else impossible to miss like that. Just trying to search by looking at each shelf only increases the odds of finding something by like 5%. But when I use my hand and slowly move it down the shelves, I can somehow think more clearly about what is on each shelf than I could without using my hand. And, as I mentioned, it also works even if I am no longer looking in the fridge. I can do it with the door closed and still more clearly recall what was on each shelf.
It also helps when scanning through my whole house looking for something, with and without currently having eyes on it. Like scanning through the whole house room by room while still sitting at my computer, I do a much better job if I am pointing my hand at the place I am thinking about as I scan.
I should probably mention I am Autistic, my spatial awareness and proprioception are two areas I have seemed to benefit. But it’s very easy to get confused or distracted if I have too much information at once. So that is mostly what is going on. I can’t just imagine that I am pointing at something in my imagination to gain the benefit, I have to be literally, physically pointing. Although I can translocate, like not be at my house or fridge and still scan my house or fridge by pointing relatively where each thing would be if they were there.
It’s not limited in scope as far as I can tell. Though it is kind of limited in resolution. The bigger the area I am scanning, the less detail I can recall about it when I am not there, or “looking through walls”. But when I am there, I can go as fine grained as the search demands, just takes longer.
I heard that, at least in countries where we read left to right, we also look for things left to right. And if you reverse this and look from right to left that you’re more likely to notice something you otherwise missed. So I do that. But I have no data to confirm if it works…
Further, if you drop something small, like a screw, set the flashlight on the floor. This will make all the small things cast long shadows and stand out way more.
When I was in the end of my PhD, everything except writing my thesis made me feel guilty. I ended up learning to find joy and peace in doing laundry and washing dishes. They became my guilt-free breaks — I had to do these things. FYI - I didn’t enjoy washing dishes before.
Washing dishes has become a really powerful part of my day, haha. Not only is it still a guilt-free break but it is a daily reminder to be mindful. I’ve noticed that whenever I drop and break a dish, my mind is not present. In fact, in those moments my mind might actually be drifting somewhere negative.
Maybe not so much a “hack” as a … lesson? Or something? But yeah, the whole cliche about having the right attitude and being present and mindful. I try to apply it in other parts of life, not just the dishes.
The flip side of this is productive procrastination, where you do all the menial tasks before doing the task you don’t want to do. Generally you aren’t even aware you’re doing and most people can go their entire lives never knowing the term exists, and yet they’ll do it all the time.
Yeah I was like wow I am so enlightened for the first part of the response and then I was like oh my god I am so seen. I. Am. The. Best. At. Doing. The. Second. Most. Important. Thing. I. Need. To. Do.
everything except … made me feel guilty learning to find joy guilty free breaks
How‽ This is perhaps the single most impactful problem I’ve in my life. I just don’t know how to beat this. I don’t end up doing anything else because I could be doing my thesis. But I also don’t do my thesis. Could you talk a bit more about how you got out of this line of thinking? Between this and ADHD I feel like I’m going suicidal. I haven’t had a vacation/gap/break ever where I’ve felt free and happy to enjoy.
Honestly, I still haven’t fully solved the problem. I wish I could give you a great answer.
Sometimes I have no struggles working and taking breaks, other times I fall into this same trap you’ve just described. I think it amounts to a lot of different factors — some weird paradoxical mix of procrastination, fear, insecurity, passion, displeasure, and overconfidence.
I’ve learned, though, to accept certain tasks as completely necessary in life (like doing the dishes) so that I am able to do them guilt free. At least I can do that. I feel you though. In a general sense, I still struggle with the problem.
I think part of it amounts to making a decision and sticking to it rather than being on the fence. Maybe that’s discipline? E.g., “this morning I will go on a run, make a nice breakfast, wash the dishes, get started on laundry, read or play music for a bit, and then finally I will sit down to work.” Then, when actually executing the first part of the plan, just ignore the ever living fuck out of any feeling of guilt. But, again, I am still putting that into practice.
Yeah, I think it does boil down to accepting the situation and just doing it. Or forcing the self to do it after rounds of negotiations and arguments. One problem that I see with this- at least for myself- is that it leads to me doing just the bare minimum and then subsequently getting mad. I don’t really know, I’m also trying to figure things out for myself. Maybe medication is the answer
This is a great way to think. Some people are so frustrated with waiting in line at the bank or market. For me, it’s just another unintended break where I get to relax.
Do a bunch of things at once, not in parallel, but in series.
It makes sure I’m staying in the mood of being productive and keeps myself motivated, as I can keep focusing on the tasks. Of course, still take breaks if you need it.
If you are cramped for storage space for cleaning supplies, you can buy and hang a shoe cubby on the back of a closet door and use it to store all sorts of things.
The pockets tear so easily,do not expect them to last more than a few months if you are placing anything heavier than a pair of slippers or flip-flops in them.
I worked at a factory that produced food with onion as one of the main ingredients. The best trick was to breathe with the mouth. Breathing with my nose would always make my eyes cry.
Learn to cook the base of meals in different cultures. Like a Sofrito.
Most of the best classic dishes in the world really start with three or four ingredients and are just variations. You shouldn’t overthink it or buy rare ingredients. You’re better off picking one and mastering the basic steps. Learning to cook isn’t about learning to recreate a chef-cooked meal. It’s about learning to cook simple, cheap ingredients.
Hey that’s a quality life changing hack right here. Food is the most important thing with sleep.
Would you have a list of those base meals maybe ?
@dephyre mentionned refried beans with rice in the thread. @DeltaTangoLima responded with bottled (canned) pasta sauce. I’d say learn how to make ratatouille and store (can) some when you can get the ingredient (green bell pepper, zucchinis, eggplan, tomatoes) at the right time of the year.
It’s usually just to take a small amount of delicious oil or fat — whatever you have on hand — and saute diced onions with diced bell pepper (or local equivalent) until the onions are slightly transparent. Keep going if you want the onions start being brown and have a sweet flavor. That brown is just the natural sugars coming out of the onion and is what “caramelizes” means. Caramel is sugar. And then add garlic and/or ginger and whatever spices you like.
If you want to, add meat. If you don’t, do not. (Often, that very oil step is done from browning meat and not wasting the fat.)
If you want soup, add a lot of liquid and whatever and cook it slowly. If you want paella, jambalaya, jollof, biryani, or equivalent — every culture has a rice dish — use the rice recipe on the bag as if it were water. (Use stock if you have any but water works fine.)
There are dishes that are different. Like fried rice and French Toast use old rice and toast respectively. Baking is a science. But anyone can make a pot of delicious with a few ingredients and it’s a 10 minute, one pot meal.
Is it even a life hack, or an essential life skill. Most us didn’t formally learned, but have seen/helped our parents from an early age and one day, we ended up in a student room meaning it was time to cook
When the pandemic happened, there were people who didn’t know how to make the easiest meals. I was shocked. So, my rule on recipes is that nothing is too basic.
I started watching Babish & Weissman’s channels on YouTube during the pandemic. Both of them put out easy to follow videos, but they also include links to recipes in the video description, so you don’t have to write it all down.
The Basics with Babish videos are great because they show multiple dishes with a given protein.
Weissman does get a bit snooty & high priced at times. He also gets a lil too juvenile for my taste, but that’s my taste…
With his higher priced dishes, he does typically offer cost cutting options as goes through, which is nice.
I really like that both Babish & Weissman tell you why they’re using certain ingredients. That little bit of why helps me with substitutions if I ever don’t have or don’t like something used.
I just found a japanese comfort food staple: Ochazuke - green tea rice. It just needs a couple of ingredients and is super quick. I was blown away by how good and comforting it was. Its Comfort in a quick bowl. And it’s super adaptable. You can basically add anything as tipping.