Life Hacks We’ve Tried + How They Worked

I’m sure if you have ever cruised the internet or social media, you’ve come across lists of things like “10 Life Hacks To Make Your Life More Simple” or “8 Crazy Ways To Clean Your Sink”. I know it’s so click-baity, but they get me every time. I am a marketer’s dream, LOL! In any case, I am here today to share some of the life hacks we have seen on the internet and then put into practice in our life. If that sort of thing is your jam, too, then today’s post is for you!

Life Hacks We’ve Tried + How They Worked

Toothpaste To Clean Your Headlights – Our Acura is a few years old now and she’s starting to show her age. Shhh! The headlights on the car were starting to become a bit hazy looking and Dane saw that you could use toothpaste to clean the headlights. Turns out — that life hack is totally legit. Dare I say, those dang headlights look as good as they did when that Acura came home from the dealership. I have no clue how or why it works, but…it does! 

Baking Soda For Water Marks + Grime – I’m no clean beauty banner child, but my friend Courtney was sharing hacks on her Instagram story for weeks about using baking soda instead of other cleaning agents since it’s healthier. I had absolutely nothing to lose so I used her recipe (saved as a highlight on her Instagram page!) and got to town scrubbing our rental bathtub (that likely has never been replaced since this place was built in the 60s-70s). LAWDY! I have used all sorts of different scrubbing solution and potions from the grocery store and nothing made that stupid tub shine (as shiny as it gets) like this baking soda combo. Color me impressed! 

Peeling Bananas From The “Bottom” – We eat our fair share of bananas in this house thanks to our smoothie bowl and acai bowl obsession. This means that I’m peeling quite a few bananas to pop into the freezer. I was reading an article I saw rolling around Facebook that said if you’ve ever watched a monkey peel a banana, you’ll notice that they don’t grab it stem side up, they flip it around and peel it. You guys, my mind was kind of blown the first time I peeled the banana this way. No struggling with a stiff stem and turning the top of your banana to mush. I’m a convert!

Onion Bits To Onion Powder – If you follow me on Instagram, then you might have seen this one in action. Our Costco doesn’t sell regular onion powder, only onion bits. But for a large container, you can’t really beat the $3.99 price tag considering the small bottle at the grocery store for powder is $3. That said, I don’t want onion pieces, I want powder. My simple solution is to buy the bits for $3.99 from Costco, blend them into powder on high in my Vitamix and then pour it back into the container as powder. Problem solved and I’ve got twice as much powder for a fraction of the cost!

Frozen Garlic Pieces – Again, another hack I shared on Instagram stories, is freezing garlic. I buy the large bag of peeled garlic from Costco for around $10, but it goes bad within a couple weeks, and there’s absolutely no way I can eat that much garlic in that amount of time. The bag is huge! My solution is to freeze it! When you need garlic in a recipe, take out a few pieces and chop them or grate them into whatever you’re making. Problem solved and fresh garlic on demand!

Coconut Oil For Burns – When I burned the heck out of my arm in a hot oven earlier this spring, I was really convinced it was going to leave a gnarly burn. The day it happened, my mom suggested to coat the burn in solid coconut oil mixed with lavender essential oil. I started it the day I got burned and continued doing it every day for probably around 3 weeks. The burn healed BEAUTIFULLY and you would probably never even know it was there!

Andddd – I think that is all I’ve got for you. Now, if you’ve got a life hack — I want to hear it! What do you have for me? Have you ever tried any of these?