What other commonly known stuff should I know, but don’t?

[Lolabear38]

I found out maybe 6 months ago that you should clean out the filter in your tumble dryer on a regular basis, as it gets full of fluff and lint and is a fire hazard. I had no idea. I’m an educated woman, generally reasonably intelligent and practical, I just had no idea you were supposed to do this. I don’t know how. My friend mentioned it in relation to something and I immediately told my husband who looked at me like some kind of moron - turns out he’s been doing it for years!

I’ve been thinking about it recently and I’m starting to wonder what other commonly known stuff you’re supposed to be doing in day to day life that I’m just not. Any ideas? Can be household related or just general life stuff really. I’m starting to wonder what I might be missing out on/ putting us in danger of.

In what way are they intimidating?

Or tap the side of the jar lid on a chopping board until you hear the seal pop (sometimes needs quite a firm "tap")

At night time particulary. Sometimes they are isolated. Creepy if I'm on my own. Draughty. Petrol spills. The smell. Some fucker pulls up and gives me the eye. Watched too many movies where they blow the thing up (OK, that's not rational). Other people. God knows who else is going to pull up beside me. Weirdos and criminals drive cars and need petrol too. Road rage. Impatience leading to possible road rage as demonstrated by a PP above. To that PP if you don't want to wait behind me then make sure you get ahead of me. Linked to this; bad drivers.

I have no idea what went on the washing machine, but three failures makes a pattern in my mind so mesh bags (which I now only use to wash reusable make up pads) and bras are forbidden in the same load now.

You're overthinking - if it works for you, carry on 😊

Not wishing to extend the petrol station discussion, the trick with the long reach hoses is to line up the back edge of the bumper with the place where the hose comes out of the pump.
Then open the fuel cap, go and grab the pump, walk backwards straight across the back of the car, and shove the nozzle into the hole. One hand on the hose and one on the nozzle supports the weight better.
No need to stretch the hose right around or across the back window or any other wrestling moves needed.
I can't remember the last time I filled up on the "right" side as that's just how the queues always seem to end up.

Re milk bottles etc, remove a bit before freezing, to allow for expansion.

If I use part of a jar that is supposed to be used within a few days/weeks, I freeze in small plastic pots. Most things work - despite the "do not freeze" labels.

Cleaning silver; the easiest way to remove tarnish from small things is with a rubber - the sort used on pencils, not dicks.

I have to look at this every time I drive in to a petrol station! I swear every car I buy has the petrol cap on the opposite side to the last one, so I can never remember which side it is, or if I do remember, I have a little moment of doubt as I'm approaching a pump.

Another random thing I noticed one day and wondered why I'd never noticed before is that the cap of a tube of tomato puree can be turned around to pierce the foil cover when you first open it.

I swear every car I buy has the petrol cap on the opposite side to the last one, so I can never remember which side it is

Usually, it's on the left on cars built for the British, Japanese, Indian, etc., markets (i.e. countries where we drive on the left), and on the right on others. Most multinationals build cars for multiple markets and tend to have the cap on the right-hand side for the European and American markets; while they alter the controls for models to be sold in countries that drive on the left, they don't change the bodywork.

It would make much more sense to alternate the petrol cap side to make best use of petrol stations than to have them all on the same side.

There are loads I have known that I have realised others didn’t like oxos can be crushed on their little tinfoil package, some nappies change colour when wet, vests are intended to be brought down rather than over the head in the case of a poonami, all cosmetics have a best before by date for how long they will last after opening, some people don’t know you can unhook your sun shield in the car to cover the sides….

Hairdryers have filters you're supposed to clean too!! Mine nearly set on fire, it smelt awful, I asked my partner what was up with it and he asked me when the last time I cleaned the fluff off the inside filter was....ooooopss!!

Milk bottles now have clear tops rather than coloured because they can be recycled.. if you have green/ blue/ red tops take them off before recycling

Never heard of the pasta thing. I've eaten pasta that's been left out overnight many, many times.
Rice I am a bit more careful with but have in the past eaten it (unrefrigerated) from the previous day.
Seems my digestion can easily cope with these but not the speck of mozzarella I accidentally ate yesterday.😐

If you have unfortunately sat in chewing gum on public transport that won't come off pop your item in a carrier bag and bob it in the freezer overnight , It will just lift off. Had to use this more than once with the kids on the school bus!

How do you get into the hairdryer to clean the filter? You can't unscrew the end ?

My DH has a hairy chest and luxuriant hair.
My celeb crush has a bald head and no chest hair (although I know he shaves his head, so actually could be sporting luscious locks, though not likely given his advanced years).

Wow! Didn't know this! Thanks🙂

Your rear view mirror in your car, will have a little tab that juts out from underneath the bottom rim. If you are being dazzled by the headlights of the car behind you, you push that tab and it lowers the mirror, so it's not facing the back window anymore, but you can still see out of the back window (how?) and the lights no longer dazzle.

Been driving for 36 years, and I only found this out when DD started taking driving lessons. DH didn't know either. Super, super effective, a God send actually.

How else do people do it??? 🙃

Your rear view mirror in your car, will have a little tab that juts out from underneath the bottom rim. If you are being dazzled by the headlights of the car behind you, you push that tab and it lowers the mirror, so it's not facing the back window anymore, but you can still see out of the back window (how?) and the lights no longer dazzle.

My mum didn't know about this until I showed her last year. She also didn't know you can pull the sun visor out of the left-hand clip and swing it round to shield your eyes from sun coming in through the side-window.

Pop and bob

It's almost like reading take a break

Gas is only short for petrol. Diesel is diesel.
Gasoline and diesel are different types of fuel. You wouldnt want to get them mixed up in your engine!!!

Milk bottles now have clear tops rather than coloured because they can be recycled.. if you have green/ blue/ red tops take them off before recycling

But manufacturers told us for years that we could recycle the coloured ones. It's very hard to know what to believe about recycling. Personally, I don't believe any meaningful amount of stuff we put in recycling bins actually gets recycled because the rules are so confusing and most batches of stuff for recycling will be contaminated. If anyone here works in waste disposal/recycling, I'd be really interested to know what happens to stuff we put in mixed recycling bins. All of our glass, plastic and metal is supposed to go in the same bin; where my mum lives, paper & card go in with this, too. How does this get processed?

@Georgyporky
Cleaning silver; the easiest way to remove tarnish from small things is with a rubber - the sort used on pencils, not dicks.

With a rubber? That's not easy and fiddly!

The easiest way to remove tarnis from silver is to put it in a bucket or cup or something it fits in that is lined with aluminum foil shiny side up so it is in contact with the foil bung some bicarbonate of soda/ baking soda and boiling/hot water. Leave it. You don't need to lift a finger.

The tarnish is removed by electrolytic action instead of chemical-polish abrasion and doesn't damage the metal. It works very well on heavy tarnish and you can put a few things in at one time.

Great method.