Just sit down when you have to go!

The longer it is the more accurate it will be.

An alternative to sitting is to kneel in front of the toilet, if you are tall enough.

If your thigh bones are too short, the lip of the toilet bowl will be higher than you need it to be.

(I'm 5' 10" and it works for me.)

If you're uncircumcised, make sure to pull your foreskin back.

Doing so can improve your aim dramatically and should get you on target!

lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/22096/Vanessa De La Fuente Caro

okay, first off here...

there is no way to prevent "splatter" other than sitting, however, by using a little muscle control and some simple hand manipulation

the "splatter" may be severely reduced and overall aim improved.

While not the best advice for "High Pressure Streams" this seems to work best for "low or intermitted" streams.

First pinch shaft/urethra off and relax or lightly push using bladder muscles.

Second once PRIMED system is achieved, simply release pinch point while simultaneously pushing like normal.

Third once stream pressure has decreased to unsatisfactory level, pinch and repeat the process repeatedly.

NOTE : I find it best to use sphincter muscle flex to stop stream before "bare minimum" pressure is achieved, as this helps prime the pump so to speak for the next pulse.

Otherwise you may be at the can for quite a while.

Specifically regarding the "splitstream" issue: Sometimes a part of the opening to your urethra will be stuck to another part (for me, it's often after sex).

If you have the state of mind to think about it, you can gently pull apart the opening to your urethra, to make sure that it is unobstructed.

Then release your penis and pee as you normally would.

This solution is sometimes related to the 45 degree off-shoot issue, but not always.

I ALWAYS sit down on normal toilets, it's best to give the toilet seat a clean with toilet paper (nothing beats sitting down in someone else's pee ..).

The odd chance I need to pee in a urinal, I pull back the skin on my you know what to make sure that doesn't get in the way.

I also make a banana shape bend, so I'm really close to the urinal.

Basically sitting down is the only safe option, but if some weird circumstance dictates that you can't do that you could utilize a cup or a bottle to pee into and/or redirect your stream.

The target area would then be closer, and you reduce the risk of spillage.

This will however fail if you have "high pressure" pee stream...

Then your other option is simply to get closer to the target somehow.

Using a stall you could bend down towards the toilet bowl, and for a urinal get as close as possible.

Do be advised that you might get splashing if the angles are incorrect.

So in short, do sit down if uncertain

and it's possible.

If not, you're at risk of spillage, but can reduce the risk a little by getting closer to your target or utilize a catcher of some sort.

For a standard man and a standard toilet, it is hardly impossible to urinate "cleanly" 99.5% of the time.

Take enough to time make sure your penis is unencumbered (stretched out straight, not fouled by clothing, hairs, etc.)

Then practice until you can shoot straight.

Aim with your hand, as if using a water hose.

Aim for the water in the toilet.

If necessary, as the stream pressure changes, move your hips (and therefore your penis) closer to the target, in a straight line.

Basic boy lessons from childhood ;-)

I've seen this before and did some research on it.

It seems as though there is a place in a urinal that tends to produce less splatter, and they those little insert are put on that spot.

I couldn't find the article that mentioned that, but I have found that if I see one of those and hit it, the splatter is reduced.

Also its good aim practice!

Your urinary tract is what creates the stream and any obstruction in it can cause splatter or the stream to go off-target.

This can include dried semen from sex/masturbation and infection/inflammation.

Cranberries can help with this.

Washing thoroughly after sex/masturbation can also help.

Question: Most men know that sometimes a stream of pee can go in some unwanted direction, which can cause problems like dirty clothes or a dirty floor. Is there a way to prevent this from happening, or maybe a precaution to take?

How can I prevent pee from flying off-target?

There is really only one sure way to prevent pee from flying off-target and that is to sit down when you have to go. However, an alternative would be to kneeling when peeing. If you're uncircumcised, be sure to pull your foreskin back, and you should make sure that your penis is clean, particularly after sex or masturbation to avoid any obstructions to the urethra opening.

The options are to sit down on the toilet or kneel in front of it, make sure you pull back the foreskin, control the flow of urine with your fingers, make sure the sides of the opening at the end of the penis are not stuck together and not encumbered with hair or clothing, aim like you would a garden hose or pee into a bottle.

Hold the urethra closed with your fingers then release the urine from your bladder and use your fingers to release it from the end of your penis.

Make sure the opening at the penis end is not stuck together.

Sit on toilets and in urinals pull back skin and make a banana shape.

If you can't sit down pee into a bottle.

Make sure your penis is not encumbered with hair or clothing, stretch it out straight and aim like a garden hose.

Ain for the place in the urinal that produces less splatter.

The urinary tract creates the stream so make sure to wash thoroughly and avoid infectio or inflammation.


Knives are useful tools for cutting bagels and applying delicious spreads such as peanut butter or cream cheese, but luckily if you are missing this implement, you can still enjoy your bagel with 3 easy steps.

Rip your bagel into dunkable pieces.

Swipe them through the peanut butter or cream cheese.

Cram them into your gullet.

If you can find some dental floss or thread, you can use that to cut the bagel.

Wrap it around the circumference (as in picture), then cross ends and pull through.

Bagel ready for the toaster.

Look around and see if you can spot a letter opener (old usage was "paper knife").

It's likely to be sharp enough, with patience, to cut the bagel, and it will surely work to spread your peanut butter and cream cheese.

Failing

that, a plastic fork from the lunch room can probably be used to split the bagel (push the tines in repeatedly along a line where you'd normally cut; when you've worked your way all around, the bagel should split easily along the perforations), and will also spread the toppings, after a fashion.

find a piece of plastic like a telephone card or a credit card, abrade the edge against a rough surface like a stone or even bite little dents in it, or use any metal object, and use that to cut.

takes 2 minutes. find a magazine cover, glossy one, or a plastic film, put a book on the bread and use it as a knife, if it's abraded it will be faster. find a thin wire like a copper wire, abrade it, use it like a cheese cutter.

Some toasters in the UK* have a warming rack that can be used to heat bagels, crumpets and the like.

The warming rack is a pop-up that allows you to perch your larger items above the slots, to warm the item with the rising heat.

Simple use the warming rack to warm your bagel, and then dip it using @Sterno's method.

*Apparently this also applies to most of Western Europe, but not to the USA.

Unfortunately the USA is where most bagels are consumed, which rather limits the usefulness of this answer!

use a pair of scissors, either as a defacto knife, or in their intended way.

give them a clean first!

Take a bite of the bagel, then scoop your finger into the respective peanut butter or cream cheese, and place it into your mouth at the same time you have the bite of bagel in your mouth.

Mash up food in your mouth together.

It's a little bit involved, but it is satisfying doing things for yourself!

If you pinch the bagel with both hands, thumbs inside the hole and fingers around the circumference, then use enought force to break through the crust with your thumbs (those with long nails may find this easier), then pull gently apart, but not completely, you'll have separated a portion of the bagel close to the middle.

Rotate your fingers and thumb slightly and perform the process again.

Do this repeatedly and

soon you'll have two halves of the bagel, as though you'd cut them with a knife, though much more ragged.

They will now fit into the toaster.

For spreading, you can simply use your fingers, but if keeping your fingers clean is important or you can't wash them afterwards, use a napkin or paper towel wrapped around a finger or two to gather the spread and apply it to the bagel halves.

Your car keys might work in a pinch (for cutting anyhow).

Clean them thoroughly first, of course.

For spreading, a plastic spoon works just as well as a knife.

Failing that, you can always use your finger for spreading.

A bit messy, and unhygienic if others are sharing your cream cheese, but otherwise effective.

What is wrong with you all?

Have you forgotten about MacGyver ?!

All it takes to solve this problem is one of each of the following: Paper clip Pen Rubber band

Once you have secured the above items, follow these steps: Unwind the paper clip and STAB

the bagel where you will begin cutting it.

Then proceed to saw your way through it and around it until you have a nice bagel cut in two.

Pop these two slices in the toaster.

Dismantle the pen, leaving only the long housing piece.

Wash this piece and dry it.

Once your bagel is done toasting, spread your desired spreads on the bagel using your clean spreader from the previous step.

Enjoy!

But wait...

what about the rubber band, you say?

To be honest, we'll have to ask MacGyver why we'd need a rubber band here!

Nonetheless, this is as MacGyver-like as it gets without the real MacGyver.

For the meantime, I guess you can just wear the rubber band around your wrist as a bracelet as you eat your tasty bagel.

P.S.

After you've devoured your meal, bend paper clip back in place, wash the pen housing piece and reassemble the pen, take off your rubber band bracelet, and return these three items to their places before anyone finds evidence of what took place and starts hailing you as the office hero!

Question: I brought a bagel into the office for breakfast, but the only knife in the office sharp enough to cut bagels has gone missing. I tried to shove it into the toaster anyways, but it was too big. I've got some peanut butter and cream cheese, but no way to spread it, and I don't want to eat the bagel plain.  How can I go about eating this bagel with some spreads on it in order to add some flavour to it?

How can I eat my bagel when I lack a knife to cut it?

If you lack a knife to cut your bagel or apply spreads, you could simply rip up your bagel and dip the pieces in the peanut butter or cream cheese. Alternatively, you could simply try to cut the begal using either dental floss, a letter opener, an old credit card or very carefully with your fingers. Car keys may also suffice. As a last resort, you could simply eat your bagel whole and use your fingers to eat your spread at the same time.

The options are to tear up the bagels (possibly heating them first over a toaster) and swipe the pieces through the cream cheese or peanut butter, or use dental floss, a paper cutter, scissors, car keys, your fingers or a bit of plastic such as a credit card to cut open the bagels and spread the filling with your finger directly or wrap your finger in a napkin first.

Tear up the bagels and swipe them through the peanut butter or cream cheese.

Use dental floss or thread to cut the bagels in half.

Use a piece of plastic like a credit card, bite to make a sharp edge.

Warm the bagels over the top of the toaster and then tear up and swipe through the spreads.

Bite the bagel and use a finger to get the peanut butter or cream cheese into your mouth.

Cut the bagel in half by pushing your thumbs through and gently pulling apart then use fingers or a paper towel to spread the filler.

Cut the bagels with your car keys and spread the filling with a plastic spoon or your finger.


Yes, this happens so many times in our lives everyday.

Not just milk, but with anything that we may leave too long in the refrigerator tends to leave a pungent smell after its get spoiled, especially given the fact the the fridge remains closed all the time.

Now the trick is to eradicate the odour from the fridge.

The best options for this are citrus fruits .

Lime and oranges are perhaps the best solutions for this problem.

Place a few orange peels in the fridge, make sure they are fresh for maximum effect.

Alternatively, you could keep a small open container, with freshly squeezed lime juice near the vents of the fridge.

Or you could cut a few pieces of fresh lemons/ lime and place them near the vents.

Citrus smell always overpowers other odours.

But make sure you replace the peels regularly as the peels tend to dry up (by then it loses all its fragrance).

NOTE :

BE SURE TO THROW OUT THE MILK,

ALTHOUGH IT MAY APPEAR TO BE AN OBVIOUS SOLUTION, YOU SHOULD DO THAT FIRST.

Undiluted tomato juice - wipe the whole of the fridge over with it, including the racks and shelves, then wipe it off, and use a clean cloth with clean water as a final step.

Personally, I think its quicker to do a proper fridge clean, but you'll need Milton or sterilizing fluid (such as that used for babies bottles).

Dilute according to the instructions, use a clean cloth in the solution, wipe over the entire fridge, wash the racks and shelves and anything else you can remove that isn't food.

No need to rinse off, just dry the interior with a dry cloth afterwards.

Vinegar.

Vinegar is an excellent cleaning tool.

Clean the entirety of the fridge with vinegar (especially the place where the milk was), and then wait.

The vinegar smell might be even worse than spoiled milk, but it will leave about a day or two after the cleaning.

Clean your fridge.

Ideally gradually use up what's in it

so it's nearly empty already, then:

Turn it off Empty it out Take out all the shelves and drawers Using antibacterial spray, or other cleaning agents of your choice, wipe down the entire interior, making sure you get into all the nooks and crannies.

Take the opportunity to make sure the drainage hole at the back is clean and clear too.

Wipe it down with a damp sponge to rinse out all the cleaning chemicals.

Leave it overnight with the door open to dry.

Clean the shelves and drawers with soapy water in the sink.

Make sure it's completely dry before turning it back on.

I like to do this once a year regardless of the smell.

Keeping your fridge clean is just good housekeeping.

If this seems to be a lot of effort to you, read this article which goes into quite how much bacteria like to live in a cupboard that's essentially a store for slowly rotting food.

There are boxes of baking soda with tear away sides that have mesh underneath the cardboard.

They are fantastic at absorbing smells and won't spill if you bump them over.

One of the best methods I've found to get rid of smells in ANYTHING is to use some coffee grounds.

Place the coffee in some bowls spaced around the fridge and within about 2 days the smell will be gone.

I've used it to get smells out of microwaves, cars and even have used it to get smells off my hands by rubbing it into my hands (in this case I used used grounds that were still damp).

You'll be skeptical at first, but once you try it, you'll be sold.

Question: Someone in my house apparently forgot about a gallon of milk in the fridge for a few months, and now the fridge smells really bad. How can I get rid of this smell, aside from the obvious "throw out the milk"?

How can I remove the smell of spoiled milk from my fridge?

It is generally agreed that the most effective way to get rid of the smell of spoiled milk from your fridge is to clean it, either using vinegar, Milton or undiluted tomato juice. However, there are some other tricks that can help remove the smell, such as placing orange peel or some pieces of fresh lemon or lime, baking soda or coffee grinds in the fridge to absorb the smell.

The options are to leave some baking soda, coffee grinds, orange peel, lemon slices or lime juice out in the fridge, to wipe the fridge with tomato juice and then water, to wipe it out with vinegar or to give the entire fridge a proper clean,

Place some orange peel, lemon slices or lime juice in the fridge and replace peels regularly.

Wipe the fridge with undiluted tomato juice and then with a clean cloth and water, or clean with a cleaning product such as Milton.

Wipe the entire fridge with vinegar and wait for the smell to go.

Clean out your entire fridge with a cleaning product, removing all the drawers and shelves and leave open overnight to dry.

Leave a box of baking soda in the fridge.

Leave a few bowls of coffee grounds in the fridge and the smell will go in 2 days.


Hang out your laundry to line dry in your house rather than putting it in the dryer.

This will release a lot of moisture into the air.

Depending on how often you wash your clothes, this may be enough.

If it isn't a few damp teatowels hung on radiators (assuming they're not electric) will achieve the same effect.

'Traditional' humidifiers look like this:

It's just a ceramic container with a hook that hangs over the radiator.

Fill it with water, and the water evaporates as the radiator heats it.

You can emulate this with a dish or bowl hanging on your radiator.

If you have the space the easiest option is to place a container on top of the radiator.

It was not uncommon to add scents to the water, like lavender; this supposedly helped combat the 'stuffiness' of the room.

You can put many houseplants in the room, they will increase the humidity naturally.

Take some pots with plants which have big leaves.

Some examples: Fern Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily) Additional positive effect will be that they will absorb some unhealthy substances from the air indoor.

Of course they will need to be watered regularly.

If the room is small, you can create a solution using a bucket of water and a few kg of table salt (sodium chloride or potassium chloride).

Dump a large amount of salt into the bucket, and add water until the salt will absorb no more water.

This is what's called a saturated salt solution.

The solution will attempt to maintain the humidity level of the room at around 75%.

Additionally, you can use a bucket of water, a towel and a fan to do this more easily.

Large bowl of water in the room with you.

I do this when the kids have stuffy noses/colds.

Use a rice cooker full of water.

Unlike most electric kettles it will continue to run even with the water boiling, but will turn off (or to a lower "keep warm" state) when the water runs out and the temperature goes above 100°C.

You will need to be careful though; it can work too well and turn your walls into slush.

Use a really small rice cooker unless it's a really large room.

Taking a bath, or just fill your bathtub with some water will keep your room humidified.

Leave your bathroom door open after taking shower/bath to let the steam out and humidify your room.

My grandparents would set out trays of water in front of the (floor-level) ducts.

I've noticed that a large aquarium functions as a humidifier.

When I needed relief and didn't have a humidifer yet, I tried spraying water around the bricks of the fireplace.

I've held a hot wet washcloth up to my face to breathe through.

That helps as a warm compress for sinus pain and also provides humid breathing air.

Leave an electric kettle heating with water in it.

If you do this, however, you'll have to be vigilant for condensation on cold walls (behind dressers and bedsteads, for instance) or runoff from sweating windows causing mold growth.

The problems with your nose from dryness are nothing to what black mold will cause.

I'm going to elaborate on Umber Ferrule's answer .

Since my estate is rather cheap, I can afford to dedicate a couple of square feet to pretty large polyethylene basin like this : Several things to consider: evaporation happens at the surface of water, so area is significant parameter here (this makes square bowl/basin much better than round one)

it works best at open space with air circulation present allowing humid and dry air to mix freely

Brew beer.

A 5 gallon batch of beer simmers and boils for 2-3 hours (depending on the recipe and strength of your stove).

In a 2 bedroom apartment brewing 1 or 2 batches per weekend has certainly kept the air more humid.

Question: It's winter, it's cold, and the heat is constantly blasting throughout my house. This is making the air very dry and uncomfortable to breathe, particularly at night when I'm trying to sleep.  Are there any decent ways to humidify my bedroom without actually buying a humidifier? The only one I'm really aware of is running the shower with hot water, but I don't want to leave that much water running overnight. Plus, I don't sleep in the bathroom.

How can I humidify a room without a humidifier?

There are a few ways to humidify your house without buying a humidifier. One trick is to hang out your laundry to dry in the house instead of using a dryer or simply handing some wet tea towels on your radiators. Alternatively, leaving a bucket of water or salt water in the room will also help humidify it and you could leave your bathroom door open after taking a bath or shower. Furthermore, you could use a rice cooker full of water, and house plants are also a great option for keeping your house humid.

The options are to hang out laundry indoors, leave damp teatowels hanging on radiators, hang water containers next to radiators, get some house plants and water them regularly, place a bucket of heavily-salted water or just a bowl of ordinary water in the room (possibly with a fan blowing over it) or an open space where air cirulates, have a slow boiling rice cooker, take a bath/shower or just fill the bath and leave the door open, set out trays of water next to any floor level ducts, get an aquarium, spray water around fireplace bricks or try breathing through a warm wet washcloth, leave a kettle boiling or take up beer brewing.

Hang out your laundry indoors and maybe leave damp teatowels on a few radiators.

Hang a container full of water next to the radiators - add lavender to further combat stuffiness.

Get lots of house plants and water regularly.

Keep a bucket full of water with a few kg of salt dissolved into it in the room, or just a bucket of water with a fan blowing over the top.

Place a large bowl of water in the room.

Place a rice cooker full of water in the room and switch on.

Take a bath or shower or just fill your bathtub with hot water and leave the bathroom door open.

Set out trays of water next to any floor level ducts, get an aquarium, spray water around fireplace bricks or try breathing through a warm wet washcloth.

Leave an electric kettle boiling - but look out for possible mold growth

Place a large plastic basin in an open space where there is air circulation.


Here's a variation of the binder clip idea:

First, even a large binder clip won't bite a large portion of a "perfect bound" book.

There's a sort of fan-out that happens, and I find that a binder clip won't hold more than about 50 pages.

So I clip the binder on the lower (or upper) edge of the book.

Second, the binder clip alone doesn't hold most books open.

Instead, with a bit of an angle, you can manage to slip the end of a pencil through one hoop-handle of the binder clip. ...

then rest the spine of the book on your pencil.

Voila!

The book now pulls on the binder and holds itself open.

Binder clips might work, but a chip clip might work even better.

The length of the chip clip might be more suitable for keeping the book open.

I don't happen to have a chip clip handy, but I just tested my theory with a pants hanger, which seemed to work fine, and might even be a better option still.

(I think the style on the right might be better for protecting the book binding from damage.)

How about using a paper clamp to hold either side together?

You can do a search of "book holders.

" I think most works best with hard-cover books, but certain models look like they will work well for paperback books as well, for example these two seem to have longer arms to keep the pages open ->

This may sound odd, but if you have a glass-top end table, or set of glass shelves, and if you can remove the sheet of glass, then you could open the paperback book and place the glass on top of it on the counter.

The weight of the glass will keep the pages open.

A wire rack of the kind made for mail organization will do a fine job of holding paperbacks open, if they aren't too thick.

If you like to read the epics, you might need to get heavy wire cutters or a rotary tool and clip off one of the rack's wire arches to let the thicker book fit; you can use an unaltered slot to hold thinner books.

Question: I have a new paperback book I want to lay besides me and look at, while I work at my computer.   What are easy-do-it-yourself ways of keeping a book open that wants nothing more than fold together?

Book holder for paperbacks

There are a few ways of holding a paperback book open, though the simplest might be to use paper clamps or binder clips on either side. If you have a glass-top table, it might be possible to remove the pane of glass and place the book underneath, replacing the pane of glass to hold the book open. A wire rack made for mail organisation may also be suitable for keeping the pages open.

The options are to use a binder clip plus pencil, a chip clip, a paper clamp on each side or a wire rack from a mailing room.

Use a binder clip to hold about 50 pages and then slip a pencil through the hoop of the clip to hold the rest open.

With glass-top tables, place the book under the glass.


Warm the honey to make it less viscous (you may even need to add a little water), then pour through a fine strainer or cheesecloth.

How to remove these ants and consume honey?

I'll answer the first part first.

If there are only a few (less than a dozen or so), in the jar, you can use a long, pointy object, like a chopstick, and push the ants one by one to the edge and work them to the surface, where they can be picked out.

If your honey has so many ants in it that you cannot easily remove them all, consider giving up on that bit.

In the summer you could put it outside and let bees take it back.

To consume honey, place small amount in mouth, mix with saliva, and swallow.

(just kidding xD)

Slowly sink a drinking straw into the honey, aiming for an ant.

The ant should be smaller than the straw and should wind up inside of it.

Plug the open end (at the top) with your thumb, and quickly lift the straw out of the honey.

You can then blow on the clean open end to eject the honey-plus-ant into the trash or sink.

Repeat for each ant.

Simply take a spoon and scoop them out bit by bit.

They will be on the top and close to one edge since they can't negotiate very far in the goo.

Rinse and dry the spoon after each scoop to clean it.

Did it yesterday to a seven pound plastic pail full of honey.

There were some honey worshipers gathered at the edge of the lid where I was sloppy pouring some last time I used the container.

Put the lid on securely to avoid the problem.

Rinse off the container to discourage the critters in the future.

Removing ants from honey: Bought a brand new bottle of honey, used it once and somehow the cap did not close well.

Next day a black layer of ants on the top.

Problem was, it was the plastic "pouring type" bottle, so very narrow at the top, while most of the ants were in the wider part of the neck.

I switched on my gas hob, held a sharp knife in the flame for a few seconds and sliced off the neck of the bottle.

All the ants were dead and right at the top.

With a strong back light, I was able to remove every single ant with a spoon, not losing much honey in the process.

Poured it into a tight fitting glass jar.

No need to throw away the honey or "eat" the ants as suggested!

How about a honey siphon with irrigation hose?!

Put some grapefruit extract around the pipe to prevent ants from migrating.

It’s a slow flow but it works.

What I do is this : freeze honey.

Remove honey and put in the middle of a bowl of water.

Scoop a teaspoon of honey in mug.

Add tea and hot water.

Ants will float to the top.

I scoop out ants using spoon and discard them in the sink.

The rest is good to go.

Question: I have this bottle of very good honey. I was not able to use more than a few teaspoonfuls in the past few days. Today when I opened the bottle I see small ants have entered the bottle and floating in the honey (and are dead). How to remove these ants and consume honey?

Remove ants from honey

There are a number of things you could try to remove the ants, and one effective way might be to heat the honey to make it less viscous and then pour it through a fine strainer. Alternatively, you could use a straw, a spoon or a chopstick to simply remove them one by one.

The options are to warm and strain the honey, use long objects such as a chopstick or a straw to remove the flies, just use a spoon (as they are sure to be close to the surface) or put the honey in mugs of tea and take off the ants as they float to the surface.

Warm the honey to make it less viscous and pour through a strainer.

Use a long pointy object like a chopstick to get the ants out.

Use a drinking straw lift each ant out and then blow it into the sink or trash.

They are bound to be close to the surface so just scoop out with  a spoon.

Freeze the honey, place in a bowl, add a spoonful to a mug of tea and the ant(s) will rise to the surface and be spooned out.


If you have a fire pit, or something similar that can contain a small fire, burning the documents will make it very hard to recover the information.

Just be sure that the part where the information is located is burned, and use a stick or something to break down the ashes.

Blender or food processor with water.

Turn it into pulp.

There isn't much substitute for the standby methods, burning or shredding.

Most secure is to crosscut shred, then burn, and finally disrupt the ashes by grinding into fine powder or washing down a drain.

Bath full of water, and then a sharp knife swilled around once they are nice and soggy will do a great job of destoying everything.

Add bleach or something corrosive to ensure ink is wreaked beyond readability.

If you don't mind manual labour, you can tear it by hand.

Since tearing it by hand isn't perfect, you can cut out the important part and scatter it across different locations.

This will avoid people finding the jigsaw puzzle pieces!

Also, if you are really bored, you can compete with someone else (that you trust) to see who can tear the most number of papers at once

Take the papers to your local copy shop and let them shred it for you.

This is probably the easiest way to take care of them.

For example, Fedex/Kinkos will shred documents for 99 cents per pound (around 100 sheets per pound depending on paper size and thickness).

Folding the paper onto it itself several times, then cutting the result as small as you can with strong scissors (nibbling away mm by mm), a carpet knife, bolt/ wire cutters, sandpaper/whetstone ... will give you a lot of cutting for a little :)

I mention wire cutters because good wire cutters WILL cut paper too, and will probably survive a stack of paper better than average scissors :)

In cases like this, I tear or cut them into strips and put the strips alternately with the old paper and with the compostables (fruit and veg remains).

Anybody wanting to recreate them will have to sort through huge amounts of old paper and rummage through disgusting compost.

Has anyone suggested simply burying them?

It would take a bit of effort to dig the hole, but the paper would biodegrade in no time.

Alternatively, mix them in with garden waste and potato peelings and the like and it will all eventually become compost.

Use that on your garden and nourish your plants with those unwanted reports and correspondence.

How to completely destroy sensitive paper documents—without shredding or burning.

You'll need an old pair of panty-hose with no holes in them.

One pair of panty-hose will be enough for two "treatments.

" Cut off a leg of the panty-hose.

Put your documents into one leg of the panty-hose and knot it tightly closed.

Toss it into the washer.

Put it through a wash cycle with some detergent. Done. Discard

the wad of wet fibre residue without removing it from the 'bag.'

I have not yet found any personal information that survives this treatment.

Eating the doucment always works and you don't need fuel source or nearby water source.

I have thought of 2 solutions for this: Burn the document.

Use a match to ignite its edges (Be careful) and let it burn slowly (NOT in flames).

The fire will slowly eat through the document.

Burn it until the essential part of the document is gone, then put it out by blowing at it.

For safety reasons, it may be best to do this above a bathtub filled with water.

Also, be careful not to burn your hand.

Throw the document into water.

After several minutes, it will be extremly soft and easy to rip.

Just remove it from the water and rip it by hand into tens or hundreds of small paper pieces, easily.

Question: I have some documents that have sensitive information on them, which for obvious reasons I do not want others to get their hands on. How can I destroy these documents so that others cannot read them? I don't have access to a paper shredder, which is generally the recommended way of destroying them.

How can I destroy sensitive documents without a paper shredder?

There are many ways that you can destroy documents without shredding them, and the most obvious ways will be either to burn them or put them in a blender with water and turn them into a pulp. You could also add bleach or something corrosive to wreck the ink beyond readability. As a last resort, you could always shred the documents yourself by hand.

The options are to burn the documents, pulp them with water in a food processor, cross-cut shred them and then burn and grind up ashes, soak in a bath with a little bleach, tear up by hand, get a copy shop to shred them, fold and cut with scissors, compost them or place in a panty hose leg and run through the washing machine.

Burn them thoroughly in a fire pit or similar.

Pulp them with water in a food processor.

Cross-cut shred them then burn and grind up the ashes.

Soak in a bath of water with a little bleach.

Fold up several times and cut with strong scissors.

Put them in a panty hose leg, tie up the end the run it through the washing machine.

Burn them or soak in the bath and tear into pieces.


One way is using the bottom of a ceramic plate or cup.

On the bottom of some of these, you'll find unglazed ceramic where it's been cut, using this you can rub the blade of the knife along this unglazed edge, and because it's harder than the material of most knives (not hardened steel maybe)

it will cause the edge of the knife to align, the same way a toning rod does.

A toning rod works because it's harder than the material it's toning, causing the material's atoms to align and eventually getting rid of microscopic dents and edges which gives the knife the most perfect possible edge for cutting.

Due to this, you can actually use another knife to sharpen one, if you carefully use the back of your knife, and run the knife to be sharpened up and down it, pulling towards you at an angle of about 45 degrees.

If you have high grit sandpaper you can use that to sharpen your knife.

Wrap it around something hard (tile/brick) and you can make a makeshift blade sharpener.

You can use a leather belt.

Put some water on the belt and sharpen the knife on the "soft" side (the side facing towards your body when you wear it.)

You may be able to sharpen the blade by using a brick or stone as a whetstone.

You can use a steel rod.

My family always keeps one aout of a box when we are moving(aka every 2 years).

How you do that is you take out a steel rod( should have a meatel, thick stick and a heavy duty plastic handle)

take the dull knife and at a slight angle drag it aross the meatal part.

Doing that miltiple times at a kind of fast speed will sharpen your knife.

A piece of cardboard can be used to sharpen a knife, especially if the knife isn't extremely dull and just needs that final touch to give it a razor's edge.

Just sharpen the blade on the edge of the piece of cardboard as you would if you were using any other material.

Run the entire edge against the edge of the cardboard on both sides.

It is difficult to verbalize exactly how to do this without showing an example, so I found a useful YouTube video HERE .

Question: While there is a question about sharpening a knife in the wild, I have a different issue. We are in the midst of moving house, so my honing iron is packed away in a box god knows where.  I have a blunt knife, how can I sharpen it?

How can I sharpen a knife?

There are many different items that you can rub a knife on to sharpen it, including the bottom of a ceramic plate (the unglazed ceramic where it's been cut), another knife, some high-grit sandpaper, a brick or a leather belt.

The options are to use the base of a ceramic plate or cup, to whet the knife on the back of another knife or a sheet of high grit sandpaper or to use a brick or stone as a whetstone.

Run the blade over the back of another knife at an angle of 45 degrees.

Soften a leather belt with a little water and run the blade along it.

Try using a brick or a stone as a whetstone.


The easy way: a siphon.

You need a hose long enough to reach from the bottom of the source vessel, over the edge, and to a lower point outside the source, and a way to place the receiving vessel below the source.

Fill the hose with your liquid

(if it's not something you'd want to drink, there are pump-hose combinations available for this operation), and as long as the lower end is below the surface of the liquid in the upper vessel, and you don't allow air to enter the upper end, the liquid will flow.

Flow may be slow, but the siphon requires no effort to maintain, and can be left unattended as long as the receiving vessel is large enough not to overflow.

Easiest solution when you can't carry the larger vessel is to use a Baster Syringe(I

think everyone knows them as the turkey syringe)

, it might be a bit tedious, but once you've emptied the large vessel enough you might be able to carry the vessel and finish the task at a faster pace, unless the vessel itself is already too heavy or in reality just too large to handle.

Another option(and probably a bit messier one) is to use an old cup(or whatever measure works best) and start taking out the liquid, then use a funnel to pour it into the smaller vessel, and if it's cooking oil what you're transferring you can put a coffee filter in the funnel

that way you can avoid any residues to enter the smaller vessel.

Even if Zeiss Ikon has already mentioned a siphon, I have to mention that you can actually use some sort of cloth that soaks water (i.e your tshirt) as a siphon.

Just make the whole thing wet, and make sure that the part sticking out of the container hangs lower then the top of the liquid in the big container that you want to drain.

And preferably a good deal lower.

Get some bendy straws , join them together to create a 'hose' by inserting the end of one straw inside the end of the next straw, until you have a suitable length.

Seal the connections with tape to prevent liquid/air escaping.

place one end into your source container, and the other end over your destination container, which must be lower than the source.

repeatedly seal and unseal the destination end of the 'hose' with the pad of your finger to create suction and start siphoning the liquid.

Question: When I have liquid in one big vessel/container like a big cooking pot, barrel or reservoir which is very heavy, it is difficult to lift and pour out the liquid in other smaller vessels. Could you suggests other methods for moving the liquid into other smaller vessels.

How to move liquid from one container to another

There are at least two good methods for transferring liquid from a very large vessel to smaller vessles. One of these is a siphon, which you could create using either a hose or some bendy straws taped together to prevent liquid/air escaping. Just make sure that the part sticking out of the container hangs lowere than the top of the liquid in the big container. Another method would be to use an old cup to start removing the liquid and then use a funnel to pour the liquid into the smaller vessels.

The options are to set up a siphon or to ladle the liquid out from the larger to the smaller vessels using a funnel if needed.

Set up a siphon with a hose, makeshift tube or strip of cloth running from the large vessel to the smaller vessels which are located at a lower point.

Use an old cup or similar and ladle the liquid out into the smaller vessels using a funnel if needed.


I have always just used a little Vaseline on the inside of my nose.

I have the same problem and dab a Q tip in olive oil or avocado oil and rub it around the interior bases of my nostrils every morning, and then let it sit for a good 3-4 hours before blowing my nose.

It has proven very effective.

Coconut oil is also a very effective moisturizer for a dry nose as is baby oil.

I used to use Vaseline but after reading about the possibility of contracting pneumonia as a result (because it's a petroleum product), I switched to coconut oil and/or baby oil...or any vegetable-based oil (olive, avocado, etc) to relieve nasal dryness.

I apply a bit (doesn't take much) each evening and morning and no longer have problems with nose bleeds which were beginning to be an on-going problem for me.

You need: -A large bowl -A towel

-Hot

water Directions Bring several cups of water to boil and then pour into your bowl.

Place your face over the bowl (not too close though, as the steam can be quite hot) and drape a towel over your head and the bowl to trap the steam.

Breathe deeply for 5-10 minutes, and then follow up 15 minutes later with an application of coconut oil.

If you don’t feel like making up a bowl of hot water just for your nose, even inhaling the steam from a cup of tea or taking a hot shower can really help.

Not much of a lifehack, but you could just opt for a nasal spray like: http://www.amazon.com/Ayr-Saline-Nasal-Soothing-Ounce/dp/B0010NSC1U?ie=UTF8&keywords=nose%20moisture&qid=1461915929&ref_=sr_1_1_a_it&sr=8-1

Any nasal spray containing soothing oil will do wonders.

Some products use aloe, others use sesame oil.

People where I live (VERY arid Namibia) put a small dab of petroleum jelly on the tip of one of their fingers and stick it in their nose and try and spread it evenly.

This also works very well.

Having to wash you hands all the time, is a nuisance though.

Try putting a humidifier nearby to where you spend a lot of your day, and see if the moister air helps.

Also be sure to drink plenty of water/other liquids throughout the day.

Some people have recommended Nasal sprays.

However, that could potentially have a longterm impact, such as chemical dependency, on your nose if you useful often (e.g many times per day).

I would recommend buying a humidifier if you can place one in your room.

Or, if not, another trick is place bowl of water or a wet towel nearby as you work or sleep.

It will add moisture to the air as the water evaporates from your bowl or towel.

Therefore, keeping the air moist and preventing your nose from getting too dry.

No substance containing any kind of oil is good for a dry nose.

It can get into your lungs and cause an abscess.

You should only use water based moisturizers or sterilized or distilled water which is what most commercial products are made from.

read the medical literature on the internet.

Don't depend on unqualified opinions.

A humidifier in your bedroom while you sleep is a great option, as well as Secaris nasal gel.

Question: It is a daily problem. Please guide about what can I do to keep my nose moist from inside most of the time.

My nose is always dry from inside and therefore very irritating. How to keep it moistened?

There are a number of different products that you might consider applying to the inside of your nose, including vaseline, olive oil or coconut oil. However, some people do not recommend applying oil-based products. In addition to this, you should make sure that you drink plenty of water throughout the day and might want to consider getting a humidifier for your bedroom while you sleep.

Try running a little petroleum jelly, olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil or baby oil inside your nose or try a nasal spray (although some consider these options best avoided) or use a humidifier.

Dab a Q-tip in olive oil or avocado oil and rub around inside the nose.

Apply a little coconut oil or baby oil each evening and morning.

Put a humidifier nearby and also drink plenty of water.

Avoid chemical nasal sprays and either use a humidifier in your room or a bowl of water.

Avoid anything containing oil as it can cause lung problems - use a water-based moisturiser instead.

Have a humidifier in your bedroom when sleeping and use Secaris nasal gel.


Have you tried ginger?

It's something that actually helps with my motion sickness.

Ginger supplements or ginger candy, taken 30-60 minutes before the daily trip could do wonders.

And it's actually Mythbusters tested and approved (Small sample size, so YMMV).

You won't be able to avoid it, I'm afraid - in sensitive people, it's caused by a mismatch in the information the brain receives - the movement causes messages to be sent from your ears and certain receptors in the neck to your brain that you're moving, but the eyes are sending an opposing message, that is, you're not moving.

And in some people, that causes nausea.

The only way to avoid it is not to read, and actually, the way to never feel sick on buses, cars and coaches is to always look through the front window, at where you're going, or out the back window, where you've been.

Looking out the side windows can cause nausea too.

Sadly, I speak from experience....

You could take motion sickness pills if you want to get rid of the feeling completely, however I'm not sure if that would be your best choice if you are experiencing this problem every single day.

I have motion sickness as well.

Usually standing up on the bus helps, make sure you don't ride bus on empty stomach.

Another trick to reduce the sickness is to not look down and try to look at farther objects like buildings and hills rather than sidewalks.

Don't try to focus your attention on anything inside the bus, you need to look out of the window.

Avoid sitting in the back of the bus also helps.

Definitely don't read anything or keep looking down to check your phone.

It's a common occurrence when people lack compound vision and are less tolerable to ambiguity.

If you do have ocular differences try looking up "Anisometropia Ambliopia" this can be fixed with contacts as glasses are further and create discrepancies.

This is my idea as it only seems to be when your reading, but your not alone

I have the same );

Where you sit in the bus can make a big difference.

But the optimal position depends on the person.

Some people say to sit as close to the front as possible, but to always face forward, never to the side or backwards.

However, for me, I found that I get less motion sick while reading if I sit on one of the forward facing seats over one of the rear wheels.

Motion sickness usually happens when look out the side window in a moving vehicle.

It is caused by perceptual differences between the senses.

If reading in a vehicle make sure that your focus is on the page and not your surroundings .

This should minimize the effect.

I've encountered the same thing, and have noted this seems to be more prevalent in situations where 1) I am unfamiliar with the travel route and/or 2)

there are lot's of twists and turns.

You have the advantage in that your commute to/from school will typically follow the same route each time.

The key, I've found, is to first become familiar with the route: where are the sharp turns, steep inclines or declines ... and where are the frequent stop and start sections.

You'll know you are "familiar" with where these things are in your route if you can successfully sleep through the trip yet still wake up in anticipation of ...

say a stop or two before ...

your stop!

This happens because your body has learned to subconsciously anticipate and acknowledge where and when those changes in the travel direction will occur.

Once you've mastered your route you can successfully read without becoming motion sick.

You may have to pause to look up and just watch the road during the tricky areas (sharp turn, steep incline/decline, frequent stop and go), but should be able to resume reading during the rest of the trip without the motion sick feeling.

Hope this is helpful!

We used to avoid seasickness by drinking half a beer before sailing, not surehow practical that would be for your situation.

Question: I am a student who use public transportation. I usually spend   2 hours   a day on the bus going to work, and use this time to study or just relax reading something.  But the movement make me feel  very sick .  Are there any tricks to avoid feeling sick  when reading in a moving vehicle? I want to continue using this time to read.

Avoid feeling sick reading in a moving vehicle

It is not clear whether this is avoidable or not, however, motion sickness pills or ginger might alleviate the symptoms. It may also be possible to fix this problem with contacts. Ultimately, the trick will be to make sure that you focus on the page and not your surrondings. You may find that where you sit on the bus also will make a difference but this will depend on the person.

The options include eating some ginger, avoiding reading, trying motion sickness pills, standing up on the bus, ensuring you have a full stomach, looking out of the window and avoiding sitting at the back of the bus. You may need to get your eyes tested and if you do read try to focus only on the book and not the surroundings as well.

Try eating ginger as a supplement or in a ginger candy.

The only way to avoid the nausea is to stop reading and look out of the window.

Try motion sickness pills, standing up on the bus, ensuring you have a full stomach, looking out of the window and avoiding sitting at the back of the bus.

The nausea may be due to an eye problem so get your eyes tested.

Sit as close to the front of the bus as possible and always facing forwards.

When reading make sure you focus only on the book and not on your surroundings.


You can drill it out using e.g. a cordless drill with variable speed, or a pin vise.

I use a 1.5 mm drill bit.

Pin vise:

Make sure not to put pressure on the glue bottle during drilling, or the glue will come gushing out.

Clean the drill bit immediately after use to prevent the glue from drying on the bit.

If you do get dried glue on the drill bit, you can scrape it off with a knife.

My usual technique is to use squeeze the nozzle with a pliers a few times to loosen the dried glue, then have a good poke around with needle or pin.

Part marked as 'citation needed'

however I just discovered this on Wikipedia doing a totally unrelated search.

Three potential workarounds, as prevention rather than cure...

The reaction with moisture can cause a container of glue which has been opened and resealed to become unusable more quickly than if never opened.

To minimise this reduction in shelf life cyanoacrylate, once opened, can be stored in an airtight container with a package of silica gel desiccant.

Another technique is to insert a hypodermic needle into the opening of a tube.

After using the glue, residual glue soon clogs the needle, keeping moisture out.

The clog is removed by heating the needle (e.g. with a lighter) before use.[citation needed].

The polymerisation is also temperature-dependant: storage at zero degrees or below stops it, so keeping it in the freezer is also effective.

Source:

Wikipedia : Cyanoacrylate

Depending on the size of the head opening, i usually find a sharp stanley knife will allow you to cut out the solid glue enough

so you can use the contents again.

But yea

if its really bad, get your smallest drill bit out,

sometimes even a mini screwdriver will do the trick and is quicker then setting up a drill.

You could also use a pin or similar-sized pointy object and heat it up (ideally with a lighter) and push the hot tip through the dried glue/nozzle.

This has helped me on more than one occasion with minimal damage and spills.

If the glue is based on something called cyanoacrylate (ie crazy glue).

To dissolve or loosen use acetone.

Acetone is commonly used in nail polishes.

You can get the clear kind and dip the end of the device pictured Hobbes post.

Then you're good to go...

According to the package instructions, nail polish remover can be used to remove Krazy glue residue.

In my experience, once open, the Krazy glue won't last very long for a second application.

I have been getting "single application" sizes of the stuff.

Question: I have a super glue bottle. The glue inside it is fine, but it has frozen in the nozzle part, that makes it useless.  How to fix this ?  Thanks

Unfreeze super glue stuck in bottle nozzle

There are a few ways you can try to remove set glue from the nozzle, and possibly the most effective will be a cordless drill with a small drill bit. You could also consider loosening the glue with pliers and then unblocking the nozzle with a pin. Other techniques include suing a stanley knife or dissolving the glue with acetone or nail polish remover.

The options are to drill out the glue, to loosen it by squeezing with pliers and then poking it out, to cut it out with a Stanley knife and poke through with a mini-screwdriver, to heat a pin and push it through the glue, to soften it with acetone or nail varnish and to consider purchasing only single use tubes in the future.

Drill it out, avoiding putting pressure on the bottle.

Squeeze the nozzle with pliers to loosen the glue then poke it out with a needle or a pin.

Cut out the solidified glue with a Stanley knife or poke with a mini screwdriver.

Heat up a pin and push through the solidified glue.

Try nail polish to soften or just buy small 'single application' tubes of the glue.


I use windex or any other brand degreaser (not corrosive).If

it proves too hard to remove, just keep in mind that sometimes due to heavy use the "shine " on the pad is not grease or dirt, but a pad that got its surface worn out over use the same way mouse buttons or keyboard keys get worn out and shiny.

I've always used rubbing alcohol, but that's out of laziness.

Any alcohol based solvent will begin to wear away at the plastic if you use it too frequently.

I clean my laptop every few months with 70% Isopropyl Alcohol, and haven't noticed any wear or functionality issues, but just be cautious of it.

To clean any salt residue, use water, or something water-based (but only a small amount).

I just lightly dampen a cloth and wipe.

Never pour water directly onto the surface that you want to clean unless you know for sure that it's waterproof.

According to JOFEL (a plastics manufacturer), most laptop trackpads are made from ABS plastic.

This is from their website:

I use cleaning spray for glasses on a paper towel and it works fine.

But as stated by Arana, it can just be that you plastic is worn.

It then becomes smooth and shiny.

As prevention is far better than cure, by personal experience the best solution to an oily touch-pad (or touch-screen) is to avoid having it in the first place.

How?

Wash your hands before any touch-pad/touch-screen use, but not with soap, you have to use a mild water-detergent solution -- any detergent will do.

The reason for this is that most detergents consist of amphiphilic compounds.

(Amphiphilic (from the Greek αμφί, amphi: both and φιλíα, philia: love, friendship) is a chemical compound possessing both hydrophilic (water-loving) and lipophilic (fat-loving) properties).

Detergent removes any oily traces on your fingers but you have to be a bit cautious when washing your hands because as human skin contains fatty compounds, prolonged exposal to a detergent may wear down your skin.

But you can very easily avoid that through the following procedure: Use ¼ of a spoonful of detergent dissolved in a bowl of lukewarm water and bath your fingers in it for about 30 seconds.

Then rinse your hands with plenty of water and wipe them up thoroughly with a towel.

That’s it, you are done and good to go.

Using your touch-pad/touch-screen with your hands cleaned this way never allows any oil buildup on these surfaces and this additionally eliminates any danger of causing any damage to your machine while cleaning it.

Use a soft and non-abrasive cloth for cleaning your laptop.

Even paper towels and tissues should be avoided as they contain wood fibers.

You can use a clean eyeglass cleaning cloth, though.

Interestingly, if youIt is suggested to avoid cleaning the laptop with regular or tap water as it may contain minerals and chemicals.

Furthermore, do not use soap solutions, window cleaners, or other similar detergents as they can harm the screen.

Ammonia and other strong solvents should also be avoided.

If you wish to use liquid cleaners, use Diluted Isopropyl alcohol on a cloth is the best for removing oils and grease.

I had the same problem with my P1 Gen2, i7-9850H

(a quite expensive laptop), and had a wide range of discoloration on my touchpad.

It seems discoloration but actually it's oil, smeared from your fingers which got deep into the plastic.

To remove, use only a detergent like Palmolive OXY (full is about 3 CA$) + water on a clean cotton cloth.

I used it as above rubbing firmly for a minute or so and afterwards used the same cloth washed completely just with the water.

The detergent + water completely removed the oil left on the trackpad.

Now my trackpad is as new.

Question: Any good ways to remove oil build-up on the touchpad of the laptop?It's always getting oily ( not sure it's oil or not ). Is there any way to avoid or remove it?

Remove oil build-up on the touchpad

There are few different ways of removing oil build-up from a touchpad, and an alcohol-based solution may work but could wear away the plastic over time. Using a cleaning spray or cloth for glasses may also be effective. Alternatively, you could use a detergent solution with a soft, non-abrasive cloth. Normal soap is not recommended.

The options are to use 70% isopropyl alcohol and water or something water based for any salt residues, to use a spray for cleaning glasses, to avoid paper towels which can be abrasive and to rub with a cloth that has detergent on it. Avoid in future by washing hands with detergent before use.

Use 70% isopropyl alcohol and water or something water based for any salt residues.

Use a spray for cleaning glasses and a paper towel.

To avoid in future wash your hands with a mild water-detergent solution before using the computer.

Use a soft and non-abrasive cloth - not paper towels or tissues as they contain wood fibres - with diluted isopropyl alcohol to remove grease and fat.

Put some detergent on a clean cloth and rub the pad with it for a minute or so then wipe with damp cloth.


Anything you can suspend in water that will look white will be a particulate of some kind (like paint pigment).

Any particulate larger than colloidal size will fall out of suspension over time.

Dyes will stay dissolved (as food coloring will) but dyes don't have the property of reflection, so can't look white.

The best I can suggest is colloidal chalk, which is produced by a reaction between lime water and carbon dioxide.

Children's chemistry sets used to include instructions on how to make lime water, and you can blow your breath through the solution to provide the carbon dioxide.

An alternative solution would be to find a way to recirculate the water, so that whatever you suspend (water color pigment, for instance) will stay suspended rather than settling out.

An aquarium pump and airstone is one option.

You will surely have trouble, over time, with algae growth that will turn your pretty white water green, brown, or reddish, but there are algicides you can add to the water to slow or prevent this (they're sold for fountains, to keep them from filling with pond scum, and for water beds).

You could try adding something to milk to sterilize it.

Household bleach may work, but may also turn it clear

(bleach turns coloured things white, but I'm not cure if it turns white things clear).

Campden tablets (sodium metabisulfite) as used by homebrewers for sterililising might be a better choice.

You didn't say what you need this for, so I don't know if it has to be a liquid or just look like a liquid.

I have heard that food photographers will use PVA glue instead of real milk.

Commenting on another answer gave me the idea to use an anis spirit (ouzo, sambuca, pastis, raki) mixed with water.

The ouzo-effect results in a milky solution which, according to the Wikipedia article, is very stable due to the small particle size in the range of microns and the chemical interplay.

I will try this (and suggestions in the other answers) out and update the answer (comment on answers).

The stuff only has to look milky; not be milky to achieve your goal.

When I shoot liquids for advertising that I want to glow (or look like they do) such as a glass of frosty beer or a jar of marmalade jam, etc, I put a reflector card behind the subject and let the light show through the liquid.

Using this technique allows me to vary the lighting in a very controlled way that mixing unknown substances don't.

If your liquid stuff is too thick or too thin you won't achieve the effect you're striving for.

All you have to do is slightly angle the reflectors for each test tube or flask in your set-up.

Product photographers have been doing this for years.

If you choose the colours for the card reflectors, you can get any colours you want sitting right next to each other.

Green next to fluorescent red is easy to achieve this way without using coloured liquids at all.

For white, use a white card.

For blue, use a blue one, etc.

Trim the cards carefully

so they don't show.

LED lights are adjustable but you'll find the stray light hard to harness.

Different hues of stray light will mix giving you neutrals which will diminish your intended effect.

You'll see the problems in the final shot.

If you were shooting functional props for motion pictures, your way would be necessary due to handling by the talent, angles for shots would be uncontrolled, and the lighting problems for that situation are difficult.

Inorganic soluble cutting oil used in industrial machines such as lathes and mills.

It's mixed with water, stays in solution as far as I know, and doesn't mold.

Mica powder.

I made a hallow key chain shaped like a milk carton with “milk” inside.

I used baby oil and mica powder.

Question: I want to color water white/cloudy/milky, so that it disperses light nicely. I have tried to dissolve soap in it, which worked very well, but the dissolved particles sink down after half a day and the effect is gone.  Are there any better ideas than buying food color (since we're talking about a life hack)? The fluid should also not be prone to molding, which I guess will happen when milk is used.

How to color water milky/white, - non-molding, non-sinking?

It is unclear whether there is a non-particulate solution to this problem and the particles will therefore sink over time. However, colloidal chalk might be an effective way to produce this effect. It's possible that to achieve this effect you could use milk, PVA glue, soluble cutting oil or mica powder.

The options are to use colloidal chalk, circulate the water with an aquarium pump and use a steriliser to keep clean, use sterilised milk or PVA glue, mix water with an anis spirit, position card refelectors behind the container, use baby oil mixed with mica powder or use inorganic soluble cutting oil in water.

Use colloidal chalk or find a way to circulate the water for example with an aquarium pump.

You could sterilise the milk or use diluted PVA glue.

Mix some anis spirit (ouzo, sambuca, pastis, raki) into water to produce a stable cloudy solution.

Use card reflectors of the right colour positioned behind the container.


Try: Soak the duct tape in a few sprays of WD40 and if you can spray anybeneath the tape, that would be best.

Start peeling the tape with a scraper or a putty knife or a blade orby hand.

Spray more WD40 over the peeled off duct tape and let it soak for 5minutes or so and then scrape some more.

Optionally If you have any SOS Pads or steel wool, consider scrubbing the soaked duct residue with it as well.

Heat it by leaving it in the sun, pouring hot water, or else heat gun/hair dryer.

This will soften the adhesive and allow you to peel off the tape.

Remove residue with non-polar solvents (anything oily).

Heat the tape and use a paint scraper or try to peel it off the door, if that does not work, then pour hot water and try then.

Also, if there is some of the glue left on the door, take another strip of tape and repeatedly put it on the area with the residue and then take it off again.

I have used brake cleaner to very easily remove glue residue.

You can get it at home depot or an autoparts store.

After removing the layer of the duck tape by heating it with something like a hair drier, use dish washing sponge and warm water and baking powder to remove the adhesive residue.

I will suggest you a serious of methods.

All you need is a blade , spray bottle,oil and some kerosene.

By blade, try to peel out edge of tape that is stuck on door.

If you can get a spray bottle , take some oil and water mixture.

When you start peeling off from door, do not try to give it a full shot.

Because, tape may break and you will have to do step 1 again.

Instead apply force randomly.

In between, if you find it tough to pull, soak adhesive part of tape with liquid taken in spray bottle and wait for it to take action.

In the case of oil, I would prefer you to use vegetable oil that you use in your home as a common lubricant.

After taking away entire tapes, you can give door a nice rub with kerosene to remove left back adhesive particles.

If the plan is to clean and paint this old rusty door I would use a hand held propane torch and burn it off.

Then scrape or wire brush it.

Question: I need to remove large amounts of colored duct tape from an old, rusty door.  What is the cheapest and easiest way to accomplish this?

How can I remove large amounts of duct tape from a door?

Soaking the duct tape with some WD40 or hot water will help, as will applying heat or leaving it in the sun. Then, you should be able to use a scraper or a putty knife to remove it. Brake cleaner may also be effective. If the plan is to clean and paint the door afterwards, you could burn the duct tape off with a torch and then remove the remaining residue with a wire brush.

Soak the duct tape with WD-40 and peel off with a putty knife and use steel wool to scrub off any residues or heat the door to soften the adhesive then peel off the tape (or use a scraper to remove it) and remove residues with non-polar solvents, use a brake cleaner, lift bit by bit whilst spraying with vegetable oil or burn it all off with a propane torch and then scrape with steel wool.

Soak the duct tape with WD-40 and peel off with a putty knife - use steel wool to scrub off any residues.

Heat the door in the sun, with hot water or a hair dryer to soften the adhesive and peel off. Use non-polar solvents to remove residue.

Heat the tape and remove with a paint scraper or by peeling. Use other strips of tape to remove residue.

Use a blade to lift the end of the tape and keep spraying small amounts of vegetable oil from a spray bottle as it comes off. Once removed polish with kerosene to get rid of any residues.

Burn the tape off with a propane torch and then scrape or wire brush it.


i know this seems a bit simple and slightly suprised that it hasnt been sugested allready.

keep one unopened carton in the fridge at all time, this will mean that you will allways have at least one carton of cold milk at all times (unless you use a carton in the time it takes to chill another carton)

Milk box acts as an insulator.

Keep an empty glas decanter in your fridge.

Pour milk in decanter and put it back in frigde.

Large surface of cool decanter will quicker cool milk.

Even a bit quicker, if a larger surface of a flat bowl is used.

Train your habbits .

When dumping a milk cardboard always put a new milk back in fridge.

First week will be hard to train your habbits, than you will do it without thinking anymore.

Try a post-it (with a smiley) on milk cardboard for the first week.

If speed is your main criteria, the various life hacks to cool water fast will also work well for milk.

See our Quickly Cool a Bottle of Water thread.

The fastest (and most practical) technique I found is wrapping a bottle [of milk] in a wet paper towel and putting it in the freezer.

For an average half-liter-sized bottle, you will have deeply chilled milk in about 20-30 minutes.

You can also use this technique with your original cardboard container, but cardboard does not transfer the heat as well, and it will simply take longer to cool a container with a larger volume.

To get any liquid cold super fast (less then 3 minutes), put 4 to 5 ice cubes in a plastic bag.

Those soft ones that you get from a roll at the grocery store work best but make sure they are made for food if you use other ones.

Then put the milk on a large bowl, put the bag of ice cubes in the milk.

Do not close the bag to let air out, but don't let milk get in the opening of the bag

either so hold the opening with your hands.

Move the milk and bag around for a few minutes and you'll have ice cold milk without making it watery!

You can hack a bag with cling wrap if you can't find any soft bags safe for food.

This technique will work for a single serving of milk, not for an entire carton.

First, get an empty ice cube tray.

A metal one is preferable, but plastic will do.

(It's even better if the tray has been in the freezer for a while already, but that might be too much to ask.)

Pour the warm milk into the tray.

Spreading it out this way, rather than keeping it in a carton or bottle, will increase its surface area.

Increased surface area will speeds up the cooling process.

Put the milk-filled ice-cube tray in the freezer.

You can also lower the temperature of your freezer, temporarily.

And you could put something already frozen and flat (like a packaged frozen dinner) on top of the ice cube

tray to assist with the temperature transfer.

I haven't tested this, but I imagine the milk will become cold within 10-15 minutes.

When it's cold enough for you, you may want to carefully pour the milk into a large mixing bowl or cake pan, and then pour it into your cereal bowl or glass, to prevent spillage.

freeze some milk in a form so you can crush it easily, when you need cold milk, get the frozen milk and crush it (more surface aria) then put the crushed frozen milk into a funnel with a coffee filter in it (the filter is to stop you getting chips of milk in your cereal) and then pour the milk through the funnel.

Don't forget to put more milk in the freezer for next time.

This could also be done with frozen water but that could effect the taste of the milk.

You will have to experiment with how much frozen milk to non frozen is needed

one possible way of freezing the milk so you can crush it is by putting it in freezer bags and laying them down so that it forms a thin sheet when frozen.

another idea is freeze a half full bottle of milk on its side or better diagonally if you can so there is the largest surface of milk open to the air.

when you need to chill room temp milk, pour exactly the right amount of milk into the bottle.

swirl and shake it (not too much as you will mix air into the milk and you will get too much milk) then pour it out slowly, frozen side down.

Then put it back in the freezer

i do

n't how long milk is still fresh when frozen so you may need to occasionally replace the frozen milk.

I say only put the milk you want to use in the "chilling bottle" as mixing milk from different containers can reduce the life of the milk plus you would have to then either freeze the remainder milk or use the rest of the unfrozen milk before the frozen defrosts otherwise you will have to replace it.

this will work for 2% or less, i dont know at what percentage of fat milk can no longer be frozen in a domestic freezer.

My method is similar to the one by BrettFromLA, but I place a coffee mug or water glass into the freezer.

When I want a cold drink, I pour the liquid (milk in your case) into that mug and put the main carton in the refrigerator for later.

It's amazing how fast a liquid chills when the glass or ceramic cup

it is in is at below freezing temperature.

For faster results put the milk filled freezing mug back in the freezer for a few minutes.

For a larger volume of cold milk, just freeze more cups.

An alternative is to get some ice rocks (sometimes called whiskey stones) and freeze them for use in your cup of milk.

Question: For me, it's impossible to drink milk without it being cold. And sometimes, I'm about to enjoy a bowl of cereal and milk, but I find out there's no milk in the fridge, which means I have to get one from the storage room, which means it'll be warm.  I've tried the "Water-Ice-Salt" technique, but it didn't work for me, probably because the milk container is made of cardboard.  What lifehack exists for this?

How to make milk (cardboard container) ice cold fast?

There are a few different ways that you can quickly cool milk down. One would be to keep an empty glass in the fridge or freezer and decant the milk into this glass to cool it down. Another technique would be to wrap the milk container in wet paper towel and put it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. And finally, you could pour the milk in a bowl and then immerse a bag full of ice cubes in the bowl and move it around until the milk is cool enough.

The options are to keep an unopened carton in the fridge, keep a glass decanter in the fridge, place the carton in a wet towel and then in the freezer, place ice cubes in a plastic bag and the plastic bag in the milk, pour the milk into an ice cube tray and put in the freezer or keep some frozen milk in the freezer and mix with tepid milk as required.

n't how long milk is still fresh when frozen so you may need to occasionally replace the frozen milk.

Keep one unopened carton in the fridge all the time.

Keep a large glass decanter in the fridge and pour the milk into it to cool down.

Wrap the carton in a wet paper towel and place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

Put 4 - 5 ice cubes in plastic bag, put the milk in the bowl, put the bag of ice cubes into the milk for a few minutes.

Pour the milk into an ice cube tray and put in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

Keep some frozen milk in the freezer and mix a little with the tepid milk to cool it down each time.


This might take some training, as it is counter-intuitive, but it works like magic for me: As soon as you feel the urge to sneeze building up, exhale completely .

You might have to try a few times to find out how early in advance you have to start, and how fast or slowly you have to exhale.

The idea is to have exhaled completely at the "point of no return", but also that you don't suffer.

In the end, if there is not much air inside you to burst out explosively, it will not make a significant noise.

Good luck!

Personally, I hold in every sneeze.

I can't say I recommend it, as this article points out:

"The risk of a hearing loss injury due to holding a sneeze is low.

However, it is not impossible.

Wiki's page on sneezing does a good job explaining what happens in a sneeze.

Basically, nose hairs send a signal to the brain, which starts a massive response in the upper body's organs to expand and then contract the chest violently.

Since this signal is sent through the nerves, there are lots of ways to try to stop the sneeze completely.

For example , some ideas from this wikiHow page are rubbing your nose, pinching the bridge of your nose, pinching the tip of your nose, pulling on your ear, etc.

These suggestions come from the idea of sending another signal down the nerve and thereby sort of messing with your brain.

Simple trick which always works is to press right below your nose.

In most cases you will completely avoid sneezing.

Good luck!

If you can't avoid the sneezing, then sneeze into the crook of your arm.

When wearing a long-sleeved, preferably soft and thick piece of clothing, this will muffle the sneeze to a good degree.

This solution has the advantage that it's available in time for every sneeze.

And in general, it is microbiologically much safer than sneezing into your hand – as in, potential germs will not spread with the next handshake, touching things etc..

Sneeze into a folded towel or pillow will muffle the sound.

While the sensation is building up, try to force the sneeze out, with all your willpower.

It sounds weird but actually works.

Anytime I was on the verge of sneezing and tried to force it out and get it over with, the need to sneeze subsided.

Using that actively requires a little bit more willpower, since you're trying to build up the intention to do something you actually don't want to while trying to avoid doing it involuntarily.

Make sure to blow your nose afterwards, the cause of irritation will probably still be somewhere in your sinuses.

If you're awake when you sneeze, trying to hold your breath or plug your nose before the sneeze comes out makes the sneeze a lot less explosive and therefore quieter.

Keeping your mouth closed will likely help as well.

Question: How do I prevent myself from sneezing loudly? Apparently my loud, embarrassing sneeze wakes up neighbors of my presence in the building.

How to avoid a loud, embarrassing sneeze?

If you want to simply avoid sneezing, you try a number of techniques. These include exhaling completely just before you feel you need to sneeze or disrupt the sneeze response by pinching the bridge of your nose, pulling on your ear or touching just below your nose. It may also be that trying to force the sneeze out early actually makes the sneeze sensation go away. Finally, if you want to just make your sneezes less loud, you could muffle them using your elbow or a pillow or folded towel.

The options are to exhale fully every time you feel the need to sneeze, hold the sneeze in, press down on the skin below the nose to prevent the sneeze, try to sneeze into a folded towel or pillow or the crook of your arm to muffle the sound, try to force the sneeze out before it erupts or plug your nose and block your mouth.

Exhale fully every time you feel the need to sneeze.

Press down on the skin beneath the nose.

Sneeze into a folded towel or pillow to muffle the sound.

Try to force the sneeze just before it erupts.

Hold your breath or plug your nose just before the sneeze comes.


To deodorize sneakers and tennis shoes, an easy solutions to eliminate odor is to wash them in a laundry machine with detergent, cold water and no spin cycle.

Before washing, separate the shoe laces and insoles from the shoes.

It is really important to turn off the spin cycle or the shoes will be destroyed.

(cough, cough)

After washing, you'll need to dry them.

Leave them in the sun for a couple of days, on a cloths line hanging from the tongue.

If you live in a humid area where two days isn't enough, consider investing in a shoe dryer .

Various sources on the internet warn to avoid using bleach with the shoes in the washing machine.

I personally always use a little bit of bleach just to make sure the shoes are perfectly disinfected.

Please note, don't do this plan with leather shoes or sandals.

put socks filled with rice in them when not in use, the rice will absorb the moisture.

you can occasionally put the rice socks into a coolish oven to pull some of the moisture out of them so they can work better in your shoes.

Refer to my answer here: https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/a/14156/17827 Sodium Bicarbonate really is a wonderful substance, it helps with a lot of things, lessening effects of bad odor is just one of them.

Do read my other answer.

I made a boot dryer with two tubes (pvc?), a coffee can, and a computer fan.

Wear your shoes/boots in the shower, then rinse well, drain for a while, stick the dryer in them overnight.

No stinky!

('Til next time.)

Make sure that you get 2 pairs of shoes.

Use each one on alternate days.

If you are using one pair then keep other pair open in sun for that day.

For next day replace dry shoes with wet shoes.

And keep them in sum.

Andso on..

What would be the easiest way for you to be able to dry your footwear?

I would suggest an oven you heat up for less than a minute empty.

Turn it off.

Then put your shoes in it on a tray that is room temperature.

But if you do that wrong, you will have burnt shoes. :(

But an oven that is already heated just a little bit will dry anything out pretty well.

Also, you can put shoes in a regular dryer, or in the sun coming through a window.

Anything to get the temperature up just a little bit so the water evaporates faster.

Also, and this may not apply to you at all, but most smell from shoes come from bacteria that grow naturally on your feet.

That bacteria will build up throughout the day in your socks, then be washed away when you wash your socks.

If you are NOT wearing socks, you will have LOTS of bacteria in your shoes, and they will always stink, wet or not.

The only way to get rid of it is to wash your shoes regularly, which is not good for them.

Good luck!

The smell is caused by bacteria.

Place the shoes in a freezer overnight and allow them to warm up to room temperature normally the next morning.

This process will kill the bacteria.

Consider placing the shoes in a plastic bag before putting them in the freezer to prevent contact with food.

Question: During rainy season, footwear is often wet and due to moisture in air and cloudy weather, it takes time to dry. And it ends up with odour which is very unpleasant in nature.

How to deodorize the bad odour in footwear due to wetness?

There are a few potential techniques for getting rid of bad odour from damp footwear. One option is to wash them in a laundry machine with detergent, cold water and no spin cycle and then to leave them in the sun to dry. Other possibile solutions include filling them with socks filled with rice to absorb the moisture or putting them briefly in a preheated but turned off oven to dry out.

The options are to remove laces and insoles and wash in a laundry machine without spin cycle then dry in the sun, place socks filled with rice in the shoes, wear shoes in the shower to wash and rinse them and then dry using a fan, have 2 pairs of shoes and alternate between them, drying the other pair in the sun each time, put them in a plastic bag and leave in the freezer over night or warm an oven for a minute then switch it off and place shoes inside and always change socks regularly.

Remove shoe laces and insoles then wash a laundry machine without the spin cycle and leave in the sun to dry for a few days.

Fill socks with rice and put in the shoes.

Wear in the shower to wash and rinse and then use a fan to dry them.

Always have 2 pairs of shoes and wear them on alternate days, leaving the pair not worn out in the sun each time.

Warm the oven up for a minute then switch off and place the shoes inside on a tray, or put in a regular dryer or leave out in the sun. Change socks regularly.

To kill the bacteria causing the smell, put the shoes in a plastic bag and leave in a freezer overnight.


Fold then tear down the perforated line.

You could try running a blade (knife, scissors, etc) along the spiral binding to make the break more consistent.

This will leave the paper withing the small binding portion largely intact.

The problem as I see it, is that the paper tears in different directions.

Sometimes an individual ring of the binding will tear through the paper leaving the paper on the full sheet.

Other times it tears between two of the binding openings leaving the paper inside of the spiral.

Since cutting to the edge of the paper from each individual binding would be tedious and still likely require trimming the final sheet, cutting in the other direction will be quicker and easier.

So you'd cut through all the binding holes leaving a strip within the binding

(easily removed in one piece from an end of the binding).

The rest of the sheet will need trimming to appear neat, but the result is that there are no small loose pieces to appear messy or linger among the pages/binding of the spiral.

I just cut the pages off of the spiral binding with scissors, maybe 10 pages at a time.

The scissor-cut edge of the page may be a little jagged, but for me it never matters.

A similar approach would be to use a utility knife, and just cut through a lot of pages at once.

You'll need to draw the utility knife's razor blade along the same cut several times to make it through all the pages.

Many spiral notebooks (like the one I use every day) have Perforations all down the side along the spine.

However that would still leave you with a 1cm(ish) line of paper remaining down the spiral.

However if you do not want that or your notepad doesn't have the Perforations, you can use a small blade and run it across the holes where the spiral goes through.

That would allow you to remove almost all of the page in one go, and then simply pull the paper which is inside the spiral out.

That shouldn't make much mess at all since if you cut down every hole, the entire side in the spiral should pull out in one go.

Use a letter opener such as this to cut down the length of the page at the perforation.

Question: Is there an easier way to remove pages from a spiral notebook, without all the mess?

Removing pages from a spiral notebook

The easiest way to remove pages from a spiral notebook without a mess is to run a blade, such as knife, pair of scissors or letter-opener, along the spiral binding.

Use a knife or scissors to cut along the binding (individual sheets or up to 10 at a time) and then remove the strip inside the binding.

Cut through the paper with a knife or scissors along the binding and then remove the strip inside the binding.


If it's tobacco smoke from long-term use, it's not easy to eliminate.

The stench adheres to every surface, particularly painted walls and carpeted floor.

You might need to try all of these: Change furnace filters, and, if possible, clean the furnace ducts (if forced-hot-air heating is used).

Wash all walls, ceilings, counter-tops and hard (wood, vinyl, tile) flooring with detergent that is safe for the wall and floor surfaces .

Wash carpeting with a commercial carpet cleaner (often called "steam" cleaners, though no steam is actually generated).

These can be rented from hardware stores, tool rentals and even some supermarkets.

If the house was furnished, clean furniture with a mild cleaner such as Murphy's Oil Soap .

If the smell persists, you may need to repaint and/or recarpet.

You might check with an attorney (solicitor) for legal advice...

part or all of the cost might be borne by the seller or agent.

Few things worked...

Hope it would work for you as well.

I am a non-smoker, but I still couldn't catch it.

I suppose the owner has sprayed some room freshener when I visited them...

I moved into a room that was used by a smoker...

I didn't feel the smoke when I initially did the inspection..

but as I started to stay - I felt the smoke..

I think you have a similar issue.. on speaking to my mother and sister

they suggest me following tips.

Keep all your door and windows open, so that air can flow through..

this will reduce the smoke smell.

When door and windows are closed - like night time - Get vinegar in a big bowl and keep in the middle of the room - whole night, as the smell of vinegar will remove the smoke.

Rub parts of the mirror / closet - and the other parts with baking soda solution ( baking soda dissolved in water).

Spray the solution on carpet and tiles and wooden parts- and floors where you feel - the smoke might have settled-

this will remove the smoke.

Get some diffuser and essential oils - Eucalyptus in your room and use it in your house..

this will remove the smell and may keep you calm.

Hope this helps.

You should try an air purifier, particularly one with an ionizer.

I've found that this typically helps a lot.

As previously suggested, charcoal works great at trapping smells and absorbing smoke.

You can buy charcoal filters and attach or tape them to a fan or to your A/C vent.

This will help reduce the smell and trap the smoke into the filter.

You could try placing a few bowls of regular, white vinegar around.

Although this is typically used to get rid of paint smell, it may work on smoke as well.

Some other things you may try are crushed charcoal, strong air fresheners, or baking soda.

Baking soda is often used to absorb refrigerator smells and hence may be a bit more versatile.

Charcoal may be a pretty good avenue to try as well.

Because it absorbs and traps smells (it does the same with poisons, when someone is given charcoal as an antidote).

Also, burning a strongly scented candle will likely help, at least for a time.

These two websites are where I got most of my information.

Remove paint smell - VisiHow and Get rid of tobacco smell - WikiHow .

Tobacco smoke smell adheres to everything in a home and

if there is no clear source of the smell then more widespread measures need to be taken.

Baking soda, dried coffee grounds, charcoal are often considered a useful odor absorbent.

You can leave bowls of the different materials around a home where the smell is strongest for a few days to absorb odors over time.

Question: I bought a house 3 weeks ago, and after moving in, I found there's smoke smell in the house, like tobaccos, especially in the bathroom, although I didn't notice that during the home inspection or the final walk through.  I cleaned the vent, the wall, everything I can think of, but the smoke smell still persists. I even called the fire department, but they couldn't find out the source either.  Could someone give me some suggestions on what I should do now?

Smoke smell in my house

There are a number of ways that you may be able to get ride of the smell of smoke. Probably the most important one is to wash all walls, ceilings and counter tops and clean all carpets using a commercial carpet cleaner. Other potential solutions include placing a bowl of vinegar or some charcoal in the room to absorb and trap smells. Finally, you may want to consider getting an air purifier.

The options include changing furnace filters, and, if possible, clean the furnace ducts (if forced-hot-air heating is used), wash all walls, ceilings, counter-tops and hard (wood, vinyl, tile) flooring with detergent that is safe for the wall and floor surfaces, wash carpeting with a commercial carpet cleaner (often called "steam" cleaners, though no steam is actually generated) and clean any furniture with a mild cleaner. If still smelling, repaint or recarpet. You can also leave out a bowl of vinegar and rub fittings with baking soda and water and a cloth. An air purifier with a charcoal filter may help. Check and see if the seller or estate agent has an obligation to pay for the cleaning.

Wash all walls, ceilings, counter-tops and hard (wood, vinyl, tile) flooring with detergent that is safe for the wall and floor surfaces.

Change furnace filters, and, if possible, clean the furnace ducts (if forced-hot-air heating is used), wash all walls, ceilings, counter-tops and hard (wood, vinyl, tile) flooring with detergent that is safe for the wall and floor surfaces, wash carpeting with a commercial carpet cleaner (often called "steam" cleaners, though no steam is actually generated) and clean any furniture with a mild cleaner. If still smelling, repaint or recarpet. Check and see if the seller or estate agent has an obligation to pay for the cleaning.

Place a large bowl of vinegar in the middle of the room overnight and wipe fittings like mirrors with baking soda dissolved in water. Use a diffuser with essential oils.

Use an air purifier with a charcoal filter.


Stretch your legs.

Some of the sore or tired feeling in your feet comes from the muscles in your feet moving to compensate for inflexibility in your legs, specifically your shins and achilles tendon.

Alternate pointing your toes down and pulling your toes up, several times a day.

Besides changing posture as much as possible (fairly obvious and I imagine you want more specific advice), there's a great trick to rest your feet and legs throughout the week:

when you sleep, put your feet up on a pillow .

The rest you get every night will really make a difference during the day.

Check out the shoes other people are wearing in the same situation.

Go for thick-soled, flat shoes.

Running shoes may be the answer.

If you have a strict dress code, get black ones, or use shoe paint to get them black.

Wear thick sport socks, they do short ones.

If it's hot they need to be ventilated.

If it's very hot try Birkenstocks.

Most importantly your shoes have to fit properly, so they are comfortable all day.

It's worth spending a bit more for this.

If you are standing rather than walking make the laces a bit looser.

You can pull them tighter again to go home.

I used to work as a valet.

Wear shoes that support your feet.

Flat soles are terrible for comfort.

You can put an insert into almost any shoe to make it relatively comfortable.

Additionally, lean against a wall or desk if possible.

When standing up straight, the muscles in your feet and legs are constantly making tiny corrections to keep you upright.

If you have something to lean on, most of those tiny corrections don't need to be done.

The following link also gives the suggestion of switching shoes in the middle of the day, so that the pressure gets shifted to different regions of your feet. http://deskhacks.com/best-shoes-for-standing-all-day/

Besides the problems with the muscles, as other users said, you should think about your veins.

If your work connected with the standing on the feet all day, you should use:- compression underwear;- pills to strengthen veins;- gel for feet, special for veins.

Also, don't forget to put your feet above the rest body for a few minutes every day.

It this should help to eliminate swelling.

Question: What are some good methods or techniques to prevent a person's feet from getting sore when standing all day long, such as using a stand up desk at work, or people who have to stand in restaurants or shops all day for their jobs?

How to prevent feet from getting sore after standing all day long

There are a number of methods that might be effective in avoiding sore feet when standing all day long. Stretching your legs and changing posture as much as possible may well help, as will leaning against a wall or desk if possible. Additionally, wearing shoes that support your feet or running shoes with thick sport socks may also alleviate this discomfort.

The options include stretching your legs from time to time or point your toes down and pull your toes up several times a day, changing posture as much as possible and sleep with feet up on a pillow, wearing thick-soled flat shoes like running shoes and thick socks, and if very hot then sandles, wearing supporting shoes with insoles if needed and making sure your footwear fits well.

Stretch your legs from time to time or point your toes down and pull your toes up several times a day.

Change posture as much as possible and sleep with feet up on a pillow.

Wear thick-soled flat shoes like running shoes and thick socks, and if very hot then sandles. Make sure your footwear fits well.

Wear shoes that support your feet, with inserts if necessary, and change shoes in the middle of the day to shift the pressure.