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AIBU?

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Original poster

Have we reached peak 'hack' yet - please!!!

63 replies

Feedingthebirds1 · 04/06/2021 22:48

Why is it that anything somebody famous, or a SM influencer, does has to be a 'hack'? Brand new and shiny, that no-one's ever thought of before, and you MUST try NOW?

Things I have read today...

Duchess Kate (and while I'm getting riled up, why do the glossies and newspapers still insist on calling her Kate Middleton, when she hasn't been that for over 10 years?), anyhow, apparently she uses a face flannel to remove her makeup. Well who knew you could do that? But because Kate does it it's a hack and we're all stupid for not realising that we could do it too. Well let's face it, we obviously didn't, but now that KATE does it...

Stacey Solomon used something that wasn't a bathroom shelf as a bathroom shelf (it was a plastic shoe rack). Yup, that was Stacey's 'genius hack' for bathroom storage.

Apparently it's a hack to put a sock over your hand to clean venetian blinds. My grandmother used to do that. But no, somebody's just thought of it and called it a hack.

And it's a beauty 'hack' to use cream blusher instead of powder because it's quicker. Well blow me down with a feather. How could I have been so dumb as to not have worked it out for myself about 20 years ago??? I mean, wake up and get with the programme Feeding.

Anyone else got any? Or shall I quietly mutter to myself in a corner?

OP posts:
TotallyObsessed4 · 04/06/2021 22:52

No I agree. I just think people want to come across more intelligent than they are! 🙄

Mycatismadeofstringcheese · 04/06/2021 22:55

I am peak hack.

DD is always coming up with hacks she’s watched on YouTube. It usually involves cutting up a perfectly good piece of clothing and then realising it is now unusable.

(I’ve started saving things that she has grown out of and are too worn out to give to charity ..... ooh is that a hack? quick someone, YouTube it)

ThatsNotMyReindeer · 04/06/2021 23:04

You need this guy 🤣

EastWestWhosBest · 04/06/2021 23:08

I agree. ‘Life hack’ or just how to do shit as we used to call it.

I’ve been using a flannel to take my makeup off for years.
I do remember a while ago there was one of these companies that advertise heavily on Facebook selling reusable make up wipes. All guff about not being disposable. The comments were all ‘you’ve just invented the flannel’. There are those of us who are old enough to remember before everything was disposable.

Original poster
Feedingthebirds1 · 04/06/2021 23:17

Just seen another one - a hack for a DIY mullet (yep, apparently that's this season's haircut, along with the 'wolf'). Turns out the 'hack' is the (in)famous MN haircut that's been around for years.Grin

OP posts:
ree348 · 04/06/2021 23:19

...completely missing the point here but thanks for the tip on the Venetian blinds! :-)

PatMustardsBigTool · 04/06/2021 23:23

Agree. And it unreasonably pisses me off when accompanied by "I was today years old when I..." urgh.

PatMustardsBigTool · 04/06/2021 23:24

When I found this out - that should've said. Need a Mumsnet edit hack...

AntiWorkBrigade · 04/06/2021 23:27

Yes. ‘Hack’ used to mean something that was genuinely a clever new idea. Now it just seems to mean ‘tip’.

I was reading ‘hacks’ for learning a new language recently. They were all bog standard language learning techniques. Make flash cards. Learn practical words first. (Really? I thought I’d start off with angling terminology.)

youkiddingme · 04/06/2021 23:29

I've been using a face flannel to remove mine for forty-odd years. And the term hack hacks me right off. Not to mention seeing stupid blog posts or competitions asking for tips on the simplest activities. "Share your tips on getting the cleaning done" - err just do it.

Pintsizedrudy · 04/06/2021 23:37

Yes! YANBU... It’s like the “hack” where you fold the covers into the empty pillowcase so you don’t have to find the rest of the sheets... Surely that’s common sense?!

Pieceofpurplesky · 04/06/2021 23:50

Yes! Really pisses me off.

And don't get me started on HAUL.

A friend sent me photos of her 'Zara Haul'. Er, just two tops you bought love.

EastWestWhosBest · 05/06/2021 07:42

And while we are here what all this ‘edit’ business from clothes shops and the like? ‘Shop the summer dress edit’. How is that a real sentence?

HollowTalk · 05/06/2021 07:45

Did you watch gogglebox last night? They had a breakfast program on where one of the hacks was to balance your McDonald's food on the lid of your soft drink. Apparently it makes a table.

TheQueef · 05/06/2021 07:46

We've bastardised the holy sanctity that used to be
Take a Break Viz top tips.

There's nothing new under the sun Sad

BlueDucky · 05/06/2021 07:48

@Pieceofpurplesky

Yes! Really pisses me off.

And don't get me started on HAUL.

A friend sent me photos of her 'Zara Haul'. Er, just two tops you bought love.

Haha yes this always makes me laugh.
BlueDucky · 05/06/2021 07:49

she uses a face flannel to remove her makeup. Well who knew you could do that? I wondered what that square of cloth in the bathroom was for.

Pinuporc · 05/06/2021 07:56

DD is always coming up with hacks she’s watched on YouTube. It usually involves cutting up a perfectly good piece of clothing and then realising it is now unusable.

🤣🤣

My teen DD is always coming up with beauty hacks she has seen on tiktok or youtube. They are mostly the same sort of shit that was printed in Jackie and Just 17 circa 1992

Camomila · 05/06/2021 08:04

I thought this was going to be a thread about hackers (I've been watching Scorpion on Netflix)

I agree most hacks should just be called tips.

I'm ok with the term "ikea hacks" though because often those are cobble together two bits of furniture and get something completely different.

Stanleysaysyes · 05/06/2021 08:04

I am peak hack.

DD is always coming up with hacks she’s watched on YouTube. It usually involves cutting up a perfectly good piece of clothing and then realising it is now unusable.

^This is priceless! Grin. I live with teens (one mine, one someone elses's) who like to lecture me about what I am doing wrong; and this has seriously brightened my day! Grin

Monsterpage · 05/06/2021 08:07

@Pintsizedrudy

Yes! YANBU... It’s like the “hack” where you fold the covers into the empty pillowcase so you don’t have to find the rest of the sheets... Surely that’s common sense?!
Great tip! Thanks 🤣
MoiraNotRuby · 05/06/2021 08:34

My hack is not to use blusher at all, if I look too pale I slap myself in the face Blush

DaughterOfEvening · 05/06/2021 08:41

I can again never use a flannel, no matter how new or clean it may be, to remove my make up since the incident of the shit stripe.

Slathered face with cleanser, warm and wet flannel applied to face, noticed a familiar stink, removed flannel sharpish and discovered a ginger swathe upon the reverse side.
Someone seemed to have used the flannel to have a “wash down at the sink”

I still have flashbacks.

BlueDucky · 05/06/2021 08:58

DaughterOfEvening the hack here is to have your own flannel

DaughterOfEvening · 05/06/2021 09:20

Anything the the bathroom here is fair game apparently. My muslin cloths have been used to clean the dog’s teeth 🤮

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