I wouldn't consider it a "hack", but I'm always baffled by the number of people who don't use any kind of content blocker on the web, then complain about full-page ads, pop-ups, and autoplay videos. It's like going to a cheap motel with a lady of the night without bringing condoms.
Working in IT.
Tell the truth.
We will get lied to straight to our face and when proven they are lying they double down and get annoyed.
We don't care that you spilt coffee on your keyboard, we just need to know it happened so we can get you a new one.
I think medical doctors have this same problem with lying and embarrassed patients.
if I suspect something was spilled, I always let them know that we have accidental damage coverage and things like spills are covered and that makes the truth come out a bit smoother.
Vote early. Almost every single area in the US has early voting at least 2 weeks before elections. People complain about long lines and lack of ballots on election day. You know what you get if you stumble into a polling place before that? A couple of bored poll workers in an otherwise empty building. You get your ballot, fill it out, and leave within 5 minutes. I seriously don't understand why this isn't used more.
There's been a misinformation campaign for years that early/mail votes "don't count" or get thrown away, so people wait until "real" election day to make sure things are "handled properly"...
When someone asks a thing like this on Lemmy, look up the same thread on Reddit (guaranteed to find it was recently also posted there) and copy-pasta some of the top posts. Guaranteed worthless internet up arrows.
I mean... you're not wrong. Just thought that it would be a great question to ask here. Also, with fewer users on Lemmy, there tend to be more genuine answers than on Reddit.
Using password managers. All of my friends and family refuse to use them but always complain about getting locked out of accounts due to forgetting login details. I leave them too it now.
The only one i can think of is people not saving their old toothbrushes. A small brush comes in real handy for a lot of situations
Mask. N95 or better. My wife and I never stopped, and she never gets sick despite being immunocompromised. I work in a place where illness is common due to the environment and I’ve been sick once in the last year, meanwhile all of my coworkers come in sick like twice a month. Apparently they’d rather be sick and miserable all the time than wear a mildly uncomfortable thing on their face.
So I play guitar. I had a problem where I would sometimes drop my pick. Then, one day, I had an idea. I took some copper wire and attached it to a pick through a small hole I burned into it with a needle. I wrapped the wire around my finger. Now I physically cannot drop my pick.
When you come home after a night of heavy boozing, just chug an entire liter of water before you go to bed. It prevents the worst part of the hangover, headaches, which are just from dehydration.
This used to work for me but these days the only way it works is if I pace myself with a big glass of water in between each alcoholic drink. The "chug a liter when I get home" only somewhat helps now, but barely.
Email management. Like at all. Set up filters and use the archive. There is a key to do that. And holy fuck 2432 unread emails? You should be ashamed of yourself
I am ashamed.
That's all newsletters. I promise.
Now you'll have a pile of emails you can actually parse, and all the newsletters clogging up your inbox will stop arriving in the future.
Do this every time your emails start to get away from you and you'll be golden.
Using shift + scroll wheel to horizontally scroll in a UI. Whenever I see my project manager going all the way to the bottom of the application and dragging the scrollbars to move horizontally it just kills me a bit inside haha.
i don't use my fingertips on public. door knobs, rails, etc. i use knuckles or fist or elbow or whatever. my finger tips are not for public use. started during covid, never got covid. barely ever get sick.
Until out of habit you rub your eye with your knuckle. Doh!
Cancel subscriptions when you sign up, fuck auto renewals and save some money if there's a gap before the next time you need or use the service, and gives you a chance to consider if it's worth the money or ethical concerns when manually renewing subs.
Fact checking.
So many people just believe anything they see or hear if it agrees with their worldview.
Middle clicking links to open in a new tab
Using chip clips when you can tuck one side of the bag in and roll the other down.
I saw a similar thread on Reddit about 12 years ago and one of the suggestions near the bottom that didn't have any comments on it is something I've incorporated into my daily life and it has made a huge difference: Adjust your car mirrors so you have no blind spots.
Most people have their side mirrors adjusted where they can see a portion of their own car in the mirror. This leaves you with large blind spots. To adjust them where you have no blind spots, sit in the driver's seat and lean your head over to the left as far as you can (basically putting your head on the window), then adjust the driver's side mirror to where you can just barely see your car in it. Then lean your head over to the passenger side about the same amount and adjust that mirror.
When adjusted properly if you can see a car in your rearview mirror, you shouldn't be able to see that car in your side mirrors, but as soon as a car is no longer visible in the rearview mirror it should be visible in one of your side mirrors. Then when it is no longer visible in your side mirror it should be in your peripheral vision.
It takes some getting used to, but once dialed in and you're used to it then it makes changing lanes a breeze. It also helps at night if someone behind you has bright lights because you'll only see them in one mirror instead of all 3.
Keeping an insulated water bottle around to drink from. How do people go to sleep knowing they either have to get up to take a drink or settle for some lukewarm side table water from a glass or plastic bottle??? Not to mention the waste I see with people using disposable water bottles (which have the time and place of course, but at home ain’t it.)
To add: drink water throughout the day in general. Especially where tap water is safe to drink. You're going to pass up the opportunity to improve your health and daily wellbeing, easily and for free? WHY?
Random side note. I actually prefer room temperature water. Sensitive teeth. And i try to keep my backpack as light, so it's a one layer water bottle for me.
Buying another box, bag, etc. of soap, toilet paper, tooth paste and whatever long lasting product before it runs out. It doesn't expire (fast), therefore I always have a second, full bag as a buffer, and as soon as I have to open the second one, I put it on the shopping list so there is always a buffer bag and I don't get annoyed if I still forget to buy one or it's out of stock.
It's been years since I had to use some weird substitute for toilet paper.
Use https://fallingfruit.org/ to get free, fresh food. Maybe once a week ill hit up the fruit trees and get a huge amount of free citrus, mangoes, almonds, loquats and fresh herbs (lemongrass, rosemary and lavendar mostly). There is also a ridiculous amount of olive trees on public land in my city, if I had the time and inclination to brine them properly I could probably make 20kg a week during the fruiting season. But I could never use or even give away that much olive.
I havent paid for limes, lemons, oranges or mandarins in years and I consume at least a couple kilos a week.
In the US, if you're a first time homebuyer you can buy a home with zero cash in hand. You can roll closing costs into the mortgage and have no down-payment. You'll pay more out of pocket for a few years but in many areas it's still cheaper than rent - and rent just keeps going up while a mortgage stays the same. Many states also have free programs where you can take a class and they'll give you a grant towards buying a home.
Credit unions tend to have the best rates. Get into a credit union even if it's just a secondary account that you toss $5 into each paycheck.
Also, there are programs through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for first time homebuyers that prioritizes them over investors. This is the easiest way to get into homeownership but the houses are usually fixer uppers.
People don't do this because it's not a good idea for almost everyone. If you don't put money down, your monthly payment will be astronomical, and THEN you will have to pay PMI on top of that (which isn't applied to the mortgage OR interest) until you hit 20% paid. That money is thrown away and depending on where you live, it can be close to a rent payment on its own, without the actual mortgage payment. If you can afford a massive mortgage with PMI, you can afford to save a down payment. The only time I would do what you suggest is if my income was way more than rent and I was in a rush to move into a house.
Fannie and Freddie are legit, use them!
Home cooking. It is super easy and about 100x healthier. Don't know how? Get the America's Test Kitchen Best Skillet Recipes book. Lots of super easy things in there. Once you get in the habit you really only have to do it 3-4 times a week, and there are lots of frozen meals.
using an ad blocker. personally, i use ad blockers for years and when i work on a friends laptop im shocked how much ads there are actually. i cant count on a hand how mucn i told my father he should use ad blocker browser and extenstion. and he wont do it. recently, i changed the DNS server on a router level to nextdns, where it blocks ads and trackers. he told me its amazing how smoother the experience is now
password managers. as an IT specialist i have about 300 login details for many services, personal, work and clients. every login has its own password and eventually email too. and i know sooooo many people who forgot their passwords (they have about 3 very similar ones but ok) and try them all until they find out they had to creat a new for that specific service. and they are so unaware about the dangers (for example fishing, SE, ...) with this method.
Having hand sanitizer in your everyday bag. I’ve been doing it way before the pandemic and it’s a quick and easy way to disinfect while you’re out and about and not near a restroom to wash your hands.
Want to get free food a couple of times a month? Just go on eventbrite and meetup and look up free events in your area. If you are in a relatively large city, chances are there are a ton of free events every week where you can just show up and get free food in exchange for a little socializing.
A user on Lemmy a while back (can't recall their name) had said that when they get fast food fries, they don't salt the fries, they salt the ketchup.
I will confirm that this is a fantastic idea because it makes every fry taste equally salted, and gives the salt a way to actually adhere to the fries instead of just ending up in the bottom of the container or on your table.
My own recommendation where I can't believe more people don't do it is buying no name/store brand stuff when getting groceries and supplies. I'm pretty sure a lot of people don't do this because marketing has pushed them into thinking these are "inferior" or are not as good, but 7 times out of 10 the no name/store brand stuff is equal in quality or better while also being something like 20-40 percent cheaper. Just because something is different than the name brand stuff does not make it worse, just different. Like you DONT need a more expensive type of aluminum foil for example, the cheapest aluminum foil is identical in quality.
For me it's reminders. I use slack for work, and whenever anything comes up that I need to take care of (personal or work related) I'll tell slack "/remind me about tomorrow/next week".
I've been doing this for years. I have it on my phone and computer so it's easy to view and add new reminders whenever I need. I didn't think slack is crucial to use but I find it to be the most convenient, even more so then dedicated reminder apps
When eating fries, salt the ketchup. All the salt usually just falls off the fries. Game changer
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