29 Popular “Life Hacks” People Say Aren’t Worth The Trouble
I’m willing to try a life hack, but I need to see some savings pretty early in the process. If step one means buying supplies and step two means clearing my afternoon, I’m starting to feel less bad about the problem I originally had.
The internet has a way of making ordinary tasks feel like something you’ve been doing wrong for decades. I don’t need a new way to open a banana.
These people shared the popular life hacks they think are wildly overhyped in this AskReddit thread, including shortcuts with suspiciously long instructions and money-saving tricks that treat your time like it’s free.
Some might work for other people. For this crowd, the old way was doing just fine.
1. “Two Ingredients” And Apparently Your Entire Kitchen
“Those YouTube videos of an ‘Amazing Quick Meal With Two Simple Ingredients’ that take 12 more ingredients, 4 different kitchen appliances and half an hour to produce something that looks like fried vomit.”
2. Saving Time By Spending All Afternoon Setting Up A Productivity App
“Almost all ‘productivity apps.’ They take more time to set up and maintain than they will ever save.”
3. The Fitted Sheet Is Going In The Closet Either Way
“That way they fold fitted sheets. It’s just as easy for me to ball them up and toss them in the closet.”
4. Your Pantry Looks Great, But Where Did The Expiration Dates Go?
“Putting everything in your pantry into jars.
Yes, it looks nice, but it’s not practical.
It usually takes up more space, especially when running low, but also usually isn’t big enough to handle a refill before you’ve completely run out.
You lose all your use-by dates.
You don’t have a reference for which brand you bought last time in case you want to buy similar again, or different.
They break if dropped.”
5. Driving Across Town To Save A Dollar On Gas
“People that will drive across town, or really any distance at all, to save a nickel on a gallon of gas!
This one drives me crazy. It’s like, ‘Even if you have a 20-gallon gas tank, it’s still only a dollar.’ You’re going to use that up in the travel time to and back. Please stop telling me you’re saving all this money. It’s absolute nonsense!”
6. A Mango Shouldn’t Require This Much Equipment
“Most tips on how to prepare food in a slightly less efficient way: ‘Remove a mango rind easily! All you need is a knife, spoon, glass, plate, a colander, your firstborn child, and three blind mice…’
My dude, mangoes and avocados are soft fruits. You can just scoop them out with a spoon.”
7. Free Salt, Provided Your Time And Utilities Are Also Free
“I don’t know if this qualifies, but I keep seeing spam videos of people taking seawater and boiling it for ‘free salt.’ You can literally get a thing of Morton salt for like $1.50.”
8. Getting Up At 5 A.M. Is Not A Personality Requirement
“Waking up at 5:00 a.m. If it works for you, cool, but not everyone is an early morning person.”
9. The Car Already Had A Perfectly Good Volume Knob
“Touchscreen controls in cars.”
10. Unplugging Your Way To Almost A Dollar In Savings
“Unplugging all your normally ‘always-on’ appliances, then plugging them back in to use them, then repeat… all to save 75 cents’ worth of power in a year.”
11. Congratulations, The Workflow Now Has More Work
“AI in the workflow just so your company can say they rolled out AI and integrated it into their workflow. But it interrupts workflow.”
12. Monday’s Dinner Is Still Here On Saturday
“Meal prepping sounds disgusting. Enjoy this food you made six days ago, for the sixth day in a row.”
13. Making Laundry Detergent Has Somehow Become A Construction Project
“When people post about making their own clothes washing ‘detergent.’
‘Just buy these four products, a bucket, and mixer for a drill, etc. Grate these soap bars, mix with these powders, cook in a pot with water, then add to the bucket with more water. Then mix with more water to 5 gallons.’
And end up with 5 gallons of terrible ‘detergent’ that will gunk up your clothes, break your washer and probably give you rashes since your clothes are full of that stuff.
Just buy a good detergent on sale for about 8 bucks and use 1 to 2 tablespoons per load and you’ll get clean clothes and a long-lasting washer. The largest jug of detergent will get you like 200 loads when you use the CORRECT amounts, not what they ‘recommend’ on the bottle.”
anon
14. The Coupon Savings Came With A Second Job
“Hardcore couponing. The average person is spending more driving to all the different stores than they are saving. Plus, all the hours spent clipping, organizing and planning could be spent on other things. And I say this as someone who did hardcore couponing for 2 years.”
15. Your Phone Does Not Need An App For Every Errand
“Downloading almost all apps. Web version is fine and doesn’t eat all my storage.”
16. The Internet Already Has All My Journal Entries
“Not sure if it’s a ‘life hack,’ but people have suggested I ‘journal.’ No thank you. I prefer to write my thoughts into the void of the Internet, thank you very much.”
17. The Shortcut Has Added Eleven Minutes
“Waze. If I wanted to save three minutes which became 14 minutes, I would have stayed on 101.”
18. A Gallon Of Water And A Full Calendar Of Bathroom Trips
“Drinking a gallon of water a day. Having to find a restroom every hour definitely complicates things.”
19. Turning Friendship Into A Test Nobody Knows They’re Taking
“Anyone who says, ‘If you’re always the one reaching out, you don’t have real friends.’ It’s a great way to end up making everyone lonelier.”
20. All Those Bubbles Look Like They’re Accomplishing Something
“Any ‘hack’ that involves mixing vinegar and baking soda to clean better. The bubbles do nothing, the carbon dioxide does nothing and the sodium acetate you make… also does nothing.”
21. The Gadget Drawer Is Full, And The Knife Still Works
“Kitchen gadgets. Nearly all of the problems they ‘solve’ could be done just as easily with a quality sharpened knife.”
22. Finally Concentrating? Time For The Timer To Go Off
“Pomodoro technique. Everyone loves it online, but I find switching tasks every 25 minutes more distracting than helpful.”
23. Apparently We’ve All Been Opening Juice Boxes Incorrectly
“Internet has told me that I’ve been opening juice boxes and milk cartons wrong all my life.
I feel like I’ll continue with the old ways. They may be ‘wrong,’ but it’s how everyone I know does it, and it has served us alright.”
24. Some Things Worked Fine Before They Needed Wi-Fi
“Using tech for so many of the things we already have or had ways to take care of.
My life has definitely not been made easier by a lot of tech things.”
25. Opening A Banana Has Never Been My Biggest Time Management Problem
“Opening a banana from the bottom. Saves literally no time or trouble.”
26. Saving Two Dollars Shouldn’t Take Your Entire Afternoon
“Hacks that save a dollar or two but take a lot of time to execute. You may as well just work another hour in a job.”
27. Growing Your Own Comes With A Few Extra Steps
“Growing plants so you don’t have to buy them.”
28. Combining Two Routines Has Raised A Toothbrush Storage Question
“Common ADHD hack I see is brush your teeth in the shower. Like, where are you putting your toothbrush so it’s not getting soap on it? Just feels unsanitary. I get the idea behind it, but not the application.
Edit because some people are misunderstanding: I’m not saying people with ADHD do this. I’m saying it’s a hack suggested a lot in the ADHD subreddits to help people who forget to brush their teeth.”
29. Checking In Constantly Can Start To Feel Like Another Obligation
“Check-in-all-the-time culture. It doesn’t build connection, it builds burnout. If you want to connect, show up.”