I love reading about inventive solutions to little problems people have in life, or shortcuts that add a convenience you didn't know you wanted. If you have any you use for anything at all (doesn't need to be animation related), share them!

Some of the ones I use frequently:

- When I have a stuffy nose and can't breathe through my nose, I press hard between my eye brows with my thumb and push my tongue to the top of my mouth. I do this for about 15 seconds and sometimes feel a little pop. I've been told this relieves pressure in your sinuses, which allows the mucus and crap in there to drain. Works for me about 4 times out of 5, but it doesn't work for everyone. It looks dumb so I don't do it in public, but when you're trying to sleep or getting really annoyed at not being able to breathe through your nose it's a great trick.

- Put a cup of water in the microwave when reheating pizza. Prevents the pizza from becoming slimey and gross.

- When eating something out of a bag like chips or popcorn, fold the bottom of the bag in like an upside-down bowl as you go. It pushes the contents of the bag closer to the top and makes the bag sturdier so you can set it down and use it like a bowl.

- In Windows 7 and 8 (DO NOT ATTEMPT ON VISTA, CRASHES EXPLORER), you can make a folder on your desktop that is basically an "everything" folder for things that relate to your computer. Some people call this the "godmode" folder. All you need to do is make a new folder on your desktop, and rename it to: GodMode.{ed7ba470-8e54-465e-825c-99712043e01c} You can change GodMode to any name, just keep the .{*} part. Once you make the change it turns into the godmode folder. I use this daily for quickly accessing things I need.

- Also in Windows 7 and 8, you can press Windows Key + X to bring up a handy quick access window for various things like screen brightness and sound levels. Similarly, Windows Key + P changes your monitor output if you're connecting to a second monitor or a TV. These are mostly useful on laptops.

- I started filing my t-shirts vertically after finding this so they were like DVD cases: I could see all of them at once and knew which one I was looking at.


- To make your house/room/apartment smell nice cheaply and quickly, you can use dryer sheets on the inside of a fan's housing to blow the smell everywhere. I've also done this with an air conditioner and it works about the same. I was told this works well because dryer sheets use oil for the smell or something.

- Non-stick Drawer Liner is cheap and should be at your local dollar store. Get a roll. This stuff is magical, and can be useful for many situations. For example, I have a drafting table that is designed to slide under where your're sitting to get close to you for a more comfortable drawing experience. It's portable and handy, but when I have my laptop on there and it's tilted forward a bit, my laptop slowly slides off as I use it. I just cut some of the drawer liner to fit under the laptop and boom, no more sliding laptop. Got a couch or chair that slides back when you sit on it? Put this stuff under the legs, no more sliding. Got a carpet or rug or some shit that moves constantly? Just slide this stuff under it. Pretty much any situation where you don't want something to move you can use this.

If you usually carry a lighter with you, learn how to open a bottle of beer with it. You'll always have a bottle opener on hand and it's an easy way to impress people at a party. You just press down on the bottle cap with the palm of your non-dominant hand, curl your fingers together and press them against the neck to create a leverage point, use your other hand to put the bottom of the lighter between the cap and your fingers, and apply force to pry the cap off. It's hard to explain so just look up a tutorial on Youtube if you're interested.

those are some neat tricks jeff. and exilement, just about every bro at every bar knows the lighter bottle opener trick XD

Two tips I find useful for art are:
1) draw/animate/whatever near a fish tank, I find it to be calming and helps keep me in the mood.
2) Flip a drawing horizontally (or sometimes adding a negative filter). This helps me to identify any obvious looking problems since I'm looking at it like a new picture, and there I can spot anything that needs fixing easier.

Also, this is a pretty nifty trick to do with empty glass bottles that saves getting rid of the,.

1. Left out a salad that has now become dry and stale? Want cold and crisp lettuce now? Well add a cube of ice to it. It releases water slowly to ensure that the veggies won't be completely soaked, while also cooling it down to the optimal cool temperature.

2. Not drinking enough water? Add chilli sauce to your food. And additional bonus, gain resistance to spicy things.

3. Setting up timetables for university. When given a whole bunch of options for classes, this is how I usually go about it. 1st setup subjects that have the least amount of flexibility, for example those that only have one time available. 2nd, setup subjects that take up the most amount of time. 3rd, setup remaining subjects. Also take into consideration the time it takes to get from class A to class B. I remember last year, I setup my timetable in a way that meant that I had 5 minutes to get from one end of the campus to the other.

4. Folder dividers. Don't buy the pieces of cardboard shit from Office works. They're expensive as hell and will fall off in a matter of weeks. Instead, use a plastic pocket and coloured paper instead. Cheaper and more durable.

Quote from Jeff

- In Windows 7 and 8 (DO NOT ATTEMPT ON VISTA, CRASHES EXPLORER), you can make a folder on your desktop that is basically an "everything" folder for things that relate to your computer. Some people call this the "godmode" folder. All you need to do is make a new folder on your desktop, and rename it to: GodMode.{ed7ba470-8e54-465e-825c-99712043e01c} You can change GodMode to any name, just keep the .{*} part. Once you make the change it turns into the godmode folder. I use this daily for quickly accessing things I need.

- Also in Windows 7 and 8, you can press Windows Key + X to bring up a handy quick access window for various things like screen brightness and sound levels. Similarly, Windows Key + P changes your monitor output if you're connecting to a second monitor or a TV. These are mostly useful on laptops.

nice, thanks jeff.

Quote from Jeff

- When I have a stuffy nose and can't breathe through my nose, I press hard between my eye brows with my thumb and push my tongue to the top of my mouth. I do this for about 15 seconds and sometimes feel a little pop. I've been told this relieves pressure in your sinuses, which allows the mucus and crap in there to drain. Works for me about 4 times out of 5, but it doesn't work for everyone. It looks dumb so I don't do it in public, but when you're trying to sleep or getting really annoyed at not being able to breathe through your nose it's a great trick.

- In Windows 7 and 8 (DO NOT ATTEMPT ON VISTA, CRASHES EXPLORER), you can make a folder on your desktop that is basically an "everything" folder for things that relate to your computer. Some people call this the "godmode" folder. All you need to do is make a new folder on your desktop, and rename it to: GodMode.{ed7ba470-8e54-465e-825c-99712043e01c} You can change GodMode to any name, just keep the .{*} part. Once you make the change it turns into the godmode folder. I use this daily for quickly accessing things I need.

- Also in Windows 7 and 8, you can press Windows Key + X to bring up a handy quick access window for various things like screen brightness and sound levels. Similarly, Windows Key + P changes your monitor output if you're connecting to a second monitor or a TV. These are mostly useful on laptops.

Holy shit it actually worked, mang, thanks
Also, about the windows key + X, I think it didn't work...for me :I

Quote from Jeff

- I started filing my t-shirts vertically after finding this so they were like DVD cases: I could see all of them at once and knew which one I was looking at.

example (Click to Show)

Well that seems convenient

Quote from Jeff

- Non-stick Drawer Liner is cheap and should be at your local dollar store. Get a roll. This stuff is magical, and can be useful for many situations. For example, I have a drafting table that is designed to slide under where your're sitting to get close to you for a more comfortable drawing experience. It's portable and handy, but when I have my laptop on there and it's tilted forward a bit, my laptop slowly slides off as I use it. I just cut some of the drawer liner to fit under the laptop and boom, no more sliding laptop. Got a couch or chair that slides back when you sit on it? Put this stuff under the legs, no more sliding. Got a carpet or rug or some shit that moves constantly? Just slide this stuff under it. Pretty much any situation where you don't want something to move you can use this.

Available only in murrica? Or to the rest of the world? Because damn, I want it, but I don't want to ship one.

-Orange Juice is the best beverage for hangovers.

-Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night and remembered you have to do something in the morning? like, idk, buying eggs? And even when you're asleep you dream stuff related to it? Write it down. leave it in your night table and it'll go away from your mind.

-Research about lucid dreams. Learn how to artificially induce them. There are ways to do it here. Steps 1, 2
and 9 were the only ones I used to accomplish it. Its a great experience and way to release stress.

If you've been exposed to a stomach bug, the acidity of drinking grape juice is supposed to help clear out the potential bacteria, preventing you from getting the virus.

Quote from Firefly

If you've been exposed to a stomach bug, the acidity of drinking grape juice is supposed to help clear out the potential bacteria, preventing you from getting the virus.

I can confirm this. For example, if you drink Blueberry Keifer (a cross between yogurt and a milkshake) the beverage's flavor makes it difficult to tell if it has gone sour during a storm. I had accidentally drank a few sips, but instinctively drank grape juice immediately afterwords. I did not get sick.

• If you put your phone in airplane mode, it will charge twice as fast.
  
• If you want to cool down your coffee but don't want to dilute it with ice-cubes or the like, you can pour a batch of coffee into an ice tray and freeze it. When you need to cool it down, take out a coffee-cube to cool it down and have it still taste good.
  
• Putting a Lazy Susan in a large fridge is both cool-looking and effective.
  
• If you need to light a match and it's windy out, you can splinter the match slightly so it retains the flame easier. Example here.
  

There's to my contribution.

EDIT: For the shirt tip you gave Jeff, doesn't taking one out mess up the two next to it and unfold them?

Quote from ForgottenUser

EDIT: For the shirt tip you gave Jeff, doesn't taking one out mess up the two next to it and unfold them?

Nah! You can't just rip them out like DVD cases though. I usually just compress the shirts to the right of the one I want a bit with my hand while taking it out and it doesn't mess anything up.

Also, you can use this technique to quickly fold shirts while putting them in:

If you ever get the urge to call someone in a moderating position a "dick" or "faggot", don't do it.

This is a good idea:

I frequently prowl for life hack pictures. I regularly use most of them and it has made small stuff much easier to do. I will post them here.