Page 16 | What hack has blown your mind?

MindblownMia · 2025-12-01T14:36:04+00:00

On the weekend I burnt some black felt onto my iron and it was impossible to get off. I tried spraying it with cleaner, scrubbing it with a sponge and scraping it when hot but nothing worked. I was about to give up when I learnt that if you pick up a piece of paracetamol or ibuprofen with some tweezers and then wipe it all over the hot iron, the marks literally disappear. My mind has been blown. My mind was also blown when I learnt on Mumsnet that the stripes on a super king duvet go horizontally not vertically 🤣 I just thought none of my duvet covers fit 💀 What other things like this have blown peoples minds? I can’t keep living without all these amazing hacks 😂

PigletJohn · 02/12/2025 18:44

Sarover · 02/12/2025 17:48

Huh?

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If you look inside your microwave you will see a panel resembling a frosted glass window.

The beam of waves pass through this to the inside of the oven and bounce around inside until they are absorbed by the food.

If food splashes onto this window is not cleaned off, it can overheat greatly and burn a hole in it.

The window panel can be removed and replaced with new. The material is quite expensive and charged per square inch or something. I think they used to be made of heatproof mica but probably a synthetic material now. It can be cut to size but probably best to buy one made to fit.

diddl · 02/12/2025 18:46

Bloozie · 02/12/2025 15:48

Oh I have a lighting fires hack too... Assuming you use logs:

Place two logs horizontally across the bottom of your grate, with the bark edge of one facing you and the other with its back to the back of the fire - so it creates a valley between the two logs
Put a firelighter at either end of the valley, each one poking a tiny bit over the end of each log so you can see it when you come to light it
Lay kindling vertically across the gap between the two logs, like you're laying a train track. It will bridge the gap.
Now lay kindling the other way across - you normally need two rows
Put a third log on top
Light each firelighter.

I have never had a fire do anything other than get off to a roaring start - it heats the chimney superfast and starts drawing the smoke up, rather than the horrible smoky starts you can get. No need for newspaper.

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I think I need a video for this!

diddl · 02/12/2025 18:49

ToadRage · 02/12/2025 12:42

Not necessarily a hack but everyone comments on it. My husband built me a laundry chute. He noticed i was struggling to carry heavy baskets of washing down the stairs, so he took out the floor/ceiling between the airing cupboard and pantry cupboard, bracketed a huge pipe to the wall, cut a hole in the bedroom wall, put on a little door on it so now i just put the washing down the pipe and it lands in a basket in the kitchen.

Edited

My husband would just carry the baskets!

diddl · 02/12/2025 18:50

I keep reading the thread title as "what the heck has blown your mind?"

NotForTheMoneyandNotForTheApplause · 02/12/2025 18:55

Underconstruction · 02/12/2025 14:12

I remember a jar being passed around our dining table. No-one could open it. When it got to my dad he passed it straight on to my great aunt who tapped around the edge with her knife and it popped open. Dad grinned and said he know he wouldn't be able to do it but she would so better not even to try and have an 85 year old open it effortlessly after he'd failed.

Is that not what everyone does, I've done it since a child and my children have since they were old enough to be spreading their own spreads

It's less than a seconds work to break the seal, why would you do it any other way?

nomas · 02/12/2025 18:57

NotForTheMoneyandNotForTheApplause · 02/12/2025 18:55

Is that not what everyone does, I've done it since a child and my children have since they were old enough to be spreading their own spreads

It's less than a seconds work to break the seal, why would you do it any other way?

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Because it doesn't always work.

There's one jar of pickles that I've tapped the shit out of but it won't open.

HonestBrickQuoter · 02/12/2025 18:57

Flowerpower63 · 02/12/2025 05:52

More of a tip than a hack…but get a duvet cover the size up from your bed size. So much more comfortable especially when you’re sharing a bed and need that extra bit of duvet. We have a king size bed and super king duvet and it’s great not fighting over the covers 😄

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Actually mine is- get 2 duvets - we have a John Lewis one that actually came as two duvets buttoned together so we separated them. Put a plain white duvet cover on one and the "nice" duvet cover on the other. Layer them on the made bed with the white one on the bottom; sleep with one each. (This is particularly useful if you have different preferred sleeping temperatures- you can have one person with a higher "tog" duvet than the other.)

Pennyfan · 02/12/2025 19:01

Try levering gently with a bottle opener under the lid. I always find the long one in a tin opener is better than a stubby one. Just lever gently until the button pops up and I can guarantee it will open or your money back.

NotForTheMoneyandNotForTheApplause · 02/12/2025 19:02

nomas · 02/12/2025 18:57

Because it doesn't always work.

There's one jar of pickles that I've tapped the shit out of but it won't open.

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Do you mean that because of one jar that didn't open you use a more time consuming convoluted method for all of them?

Who can be bothered with elastic bands and or gadgets, surely by the time you've got them out of the drawer or cupboard and faffed about you could have opened a whole supermarket shelves of jars 😁

nomas · 02/12/2025 19:04

Pennyfan · 02/12/2025 19:01

Try levering gently with a bottle opener under the lid. I always find the long one in a tin opener is better than a stubby one. Just lever gently until the button pops up and I can guarantee it will open or your money back.

I will try this.

nomas · 02/12/2025 19:04

NotForTheMoneyandNotForTheApplause · 02/12/2025 19:02

Do you mean that because of one jar that didn't open you use a more time consuming convoluted method for all of them?

Who can be bothered with elastic bands and or gadgets, surely by the time you've got them out of the drawer or cupboard and faffed about you could have opened a whole supermarket shelves of jars 😁

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Haha I seem to open most jars ok by hand, it's just the bastard pickled ones.

Arlanymor · 02/12/2025 19:05

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 02/12/2025 18:08

I gave up ironing when my kids were toddlers and discovered the fun to be had from opening all the drawers and throwing their lovingly ironed clothes around on the floor, then kicking them all about.

Nobody has ever recoiled in shock from my clothing. I do have an iron, but if I HAVE to iron I just iron the bits that will show and shove a jumper over the top.

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I whole-heartedly agree!

EleanorReally · 02/12/2025 19:12

MySilentLions · 02/12/2025 09:59

I saw Prof Hannah Fry doing the breath one. She’s really fun to follow on SM. And I say that as someone who didn’t enjoy any form of maths or science much at school!

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yes i saw this too, she is great fun to follow

Underconstruction · 02/12/2025 19:12

Obviously not or the jar wouldn't have been passed around the table. Maybe a thread such as "things I already know and feel smug about" would suit you better.

OneForTheHoneyTwoForTheSnow · 02/12/2025 19:16

I use the inside out trick for duvet covers but am 5ft with a super king duvet so hold it over the stairwell once I've got the first two corners and then let gravity do the rest.

Bloozie · 02/12/2025 19:21

diddl · 02/12/2025 18:46

I think I need a video for this!

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It’s a variant of the scandi method - of which there are oodles of videos online - but that method you put the firelighters on top of a pile of wood so it burns down. This way was shown to me by a chimney sweep as being more foolproof.

I’ve drawn a picture. It may or may not clarify matters… The logs don’t have to be perfectly symmetrical or nicely quartered. As long as they are roughly the same height and you can bridge them without the kindling sliding off and wedge a fire lighter in, it’s fine. And it doesn’t have to be perfectly neat - though it’s very satisfying when you lay a perfect jenga fire. see below when it uploads.

JacknDiane · 02/12/2025 19:21

Best thread ever

EleanorReally · 02/12/2025 19:22

EleanorReally · Today 04:29

I meant to say Bottle opener but i happen to use a tin opener that incorporates a bottle opener!

using a tin BOTTLE opener to lift up the lid on a jar
ingenious hack
either that or take a breath and then as you are breathing out open the jar

Tinkerbellflowers · 02/12/2025 19:31

I have a hack/thing that I do, and I just said to my husband, I wonder if other people do this... With scented candles where the sides never burn, I break off the wax and use chunks of it as wax melts.

PigletJohn · 02/12/2025 19:34

Microwave window. Easy if you have the correct screwdriver

diddl · 02/12/2025 19:34

Bloozie · 02/12/2025 19:21

It’s a variant of the scandi method - of which there are oodles of videos online - but that method you put the firelighters on top of a pile of wood so it burns down. This way was shown to me by a chimney sweep as being more foolproof.

I’ve drawn a picture. It may or may not clarify matters… The logs don’t have to be perfectly symmetrical or nicely quartered. As long as they are roughly the same height and you can bridge them without the kindling sliding off and wedge a fire lighter in, it’s fine. And it doesn’t have to be perfectly neat - though it’s very satisfying when you lay a perfect jenga fire. see below when it uploads.

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Wow!

Thank you-that's fabulous!

No wonder I was getting confused-I was thinking of a splint instead of a firelighter!🙄

LupaMoonhowl · 02/12/2025 19:37

JacknDiane · 02/12/2025 19:21

Best thread ever

Agree!!
(and great username 😀)

Lifestooshort71 · 02/12/2025 19:39

diddl · 02/12/2025 18:49

My husband would just carry the baskets!

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Now, this is the husband I'd like to clone, not the one that makes it easier for me to do!!

ClaudiaWrinklemum · 02/12/2025 19:51

The duvet rolling thing sounds like a right faff! Surely the inside out trick is much easier?

The bedding in a pillow case would be pointless for me because I store my bed linen dirty, rolled into a ball and shoved in a cupboard. I always wash it directly before putting it on the bed so it’s fresher.

A great one from an ex work colleague. Kids with chickenpox, as soon as the spots appear stick them in a bath with some ‘Dead Sea Majik’ brand bath salts. I have no idea how it works but it’s actual magic. I know tons of people who’ve tried it and the spots just dry up and disappear- no itching or scars at all.

Connachtfive · 02/12/2025 19:51

Themidnightelf444 · 01/12/2025 16:47

If you can never find scissors in a garage, garden shed, utility, or laundry room; buy a long retractable dog lead and tie the handle to a peg or a fixed point up at shoulder or head level. Then attach the pair of scissors to the clip which would usually attach to the dog’s collar.

Then you have pull-out scissors that can always be found, that you can use in a large area of the room, and when you’ve finished, they just retract back up to the peg for next time.

I usually buy a neon yellow lead and bright orange scissors so they are easily visible.

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🤭😂🤣