Unexpected life hacks you stumbled across

[Janboree]

I’ve just discovered that my body mist cleans my spectacles brilliantly. As good as my opticians cleaning spray and a lot cheaper. Added bonus it makes my glasses smell nice too and I didn’t like the smell of the glasses spray. I only used it as it was to hand and my other spray had run out.
Have other mumsnetters stumbled across any life hacks unexpectedly?

That would be alcohol in the perfume, presumably?

I use the car liquid that goes in the windscreen washer to clean my house windows. Works a treat.

use Dishwasher rinse aid on your windows and shower screen, then just use a squeegee to remove it.

And whiteboards

WD40 is great for getting superglue out of children’s hair.

This is not a "hack" as such and is probably common knowledge but I only learnt it a year or so ago - to get blood out of clothing, soak it in cold salt water, wring out, soak again in a fresh batch, wring out, then put in washing machine. It has worked for me on everything - whites, delicates, anything.

Keep a shredder and document box in the front hall. Then all post can be filed/shredded/recycled without coming any further into the house. If like me you have piles of paper which have built up over time, move a pile at a time into the front hall and do it bit-by-bit as you're sorting out the present post.

Put the clean linen for each bed inside one of the pillow cases as you're sorting the laundry and keep the full pillowcase under the relevant bed. Have max a couple of changes for each bed. Suddenly, there's no need to keep bed linen in a cupboard, there's much more room for towels and other stuff and the linen is all handy and in one place when you come to change the bed. I learnt this one on here.

Take all individually wrapped snacks out of the box/packaging as they come into the house and throw them in one big snack box. Save so much space.

Re jar lids, just use a teaspoon under the rim to lever up, you hear a slight pop as the vacuum is broken, then it's easy to take off.

Whenever I get poorly in the winter, I used to rub a bit of eucalyptus oil on the top of my radiator, so that it will scent the bedroom. 😌
Another one was some eucalyptus and water in a bowl, on top of the radiator, so that it is like a humidifier 🤧

Also for small waste paper bins, I keep the roll (of spare small bin bags) at the bottom of the bin, so that after I've emptied it, the bag is easily replaced. 🙃

Toothpaste removes sharpie from your coffee table when your kids have decided to go all out picasso on it.

My jam jar opening tip is to place the jar upside down on the worktop and slip the tip of an ordinary table knife down the side of the lid. There's a little "pop" as you break the seal and the lid easily comes off.

Guessing it can be heavily diluted and be easier to work with?

Top tip - there is a watch button you can click to get notifications on a thread without having to comment on it.

Hairspray does the same thing more cheaply and probably for the same reason

Tips I’ve picked up over the years -

The duvet set in the pillowcase one previously mentioned.

spray bottle with washing up liquid, water and some white vinegar for cleaning mirrors and the inside of windows.

if you put up lights outside for christmas, put them up in September / October whenever it’s a nice day (but don’t turn them on). Chances are if you leave it until you want to put them up and switch them up outside it will be blowing a gale.

you can buy mini silicon spatula things on amazon to get the last dregs out of squeezy bottles, and most important expensive skin care jars and bottles.

This is the way. It's like going from seeing in 720p to 8k.

Where do you buy the white vinegar, soda etc from?

Sharpie comes off if you draw dry wipe marker over it and and wipe off.

You must tell us how you found that out 😂

Yes, also roll a boiled egg before removing the shell.

Amazon do big bottles of both for about £8.00.

🤣🤣 Thanks!

And for neatly folding the fitted sheet to go in said pillowcase, see Martha Stewart’s folding method.

Put baking parchment over a candle wax stain and iron over it - the wax will melt and stick to the paper.

Keep the little bags of dessicant e.g. silica gel that you get in packaging. Put them anywhere that gets damp - (inside kitchen cupboard for example where people put away things that haven't been dried properly!) they will absorb moisture for ages.

Put drops of essential oils in your vacuum cleaner bag. The scent will overwhelm the horrible dust smell you get when you vacuum.

Put spent scented candle jars in your wardrobe or drawers to get the last of the scent on your clothes.

Freeze fresh herbs and parmesan cheese so they're ready for cooking when you need them.

I buy them from the normal supermarkets. White vinegar (about 35-60p/bottle) where the oils and vinegars are kept.

The soda crystals are down the cleaning aisle.