Here at Lifehacker, we are endlessly inundated with tips for how to live a more optimized life—but not all tips are created equal. The best ones are the ones that stick; here are the tips with the greatest longevity, according to Reddit.
You may not be familiar with the subreddit /r/LifeProTips, but it’s where people go to drop helpful hints for how to negotiate matters both urgent and trivial. You could just search for the top-rated or most commented upon posts, but sometimes that rating system correlates to how intensely the Redditor’s suggestion is being mocked. Luckily, on /r/AskReddit, Redditor u/Zach_the_muffin asked, “What ‘Life Pro Tip’ have you learned from Reddit that you still use every time the situation presents itself?”
Here are the most useful and used tips out there (for now).
Food
These hacks are probably memorable for their simplicity, like how u/Almidas cracks a tough nut:
Using pistachios shells to open the really hard to open pistachios.
And how u/Serath62 heats up a dish:
When microwaving food (casserole, pasta, etc), make it in the shape of a ring or a donut, basically have it hollowed out in the middle. It heats up significantly quicker and more evenly.
And this tip from u/oxfouzer that I can’t believe works:
Open a bag of chips and roll the bottom in so it creates its own self-standing bowl. People are always impressed.
Language
A lot of people have learned how to phrase or rephrase things to get what they want or make the conversation go a lot better. For example, u/joemac1505 learned diplomacy:
Instead of saying I know, say you’re right.
When it comes to making an apology, take this advice from u/zazzlekdazzle:
It’s fine to add an explanation after an apology, however do not preface it with “but” because then it just sounds like you are trying to make excuses.
And this advice on what not to say in order to be kind comes from u/ShadowShot05:
Not making fun of people’s laugh. I’ve literally seen the joy leave a person’s face after making a joke about someone’s laugh. Makes me sad thinking about it.
If you can’t get someone to stop talking, take this advice from u/twopacktuesday:
If someone won’t shut up, drop something, they’ll pause when you go to pick it up. Use that opportunity to speak, as you pick up whatever you dropped.
Cleaning
The overall themes of tips about cleaning seem to be “just freaking do it,” and to keep it simple. A little bit adds up, even if you only clean for ten minutes, as u/mystifiedmeg explained:
Setting a timer for 10 minutes every time I walk through the front door to clean/tidy. Stops it building up and goes really quick so doesn’t feel like a chore.
Money
There are lots of psychological tips that help when you’re reluctant to save money or be frugal with it. This one from u/macabremaven makes perfect sense if you need to get over both impulse buying and fear of savings accounts:
My favorite has been if I’m planning on buying something but last minute decide against it, still take the money and put it in savings. Even if it’s $5-$10. I was ready to spend the money anyways so why not save it. This has really helped me build up a small savings in the last year.
This trick from u/-eDgAR- might not always work, as some services do not accept prepaid gift cards, but it’s honestly worth a shot:
If you get a prepaid Visa gift card, save it with like a $1 or $2 and use it to sign up for free trials without having to worry about using your actual credit card.
There are so many emails I’ve sent and later felt regret about. If only I’d had these tips, like this one from u/sweadle:
Set up “undo” on gmail, so you have 30 seconds to unsend an email after hitting sending.
It’s dumb that hitting send is the thing needed for me to realize what I forgot, or that I didn’t want to send it. But I use it ALL the time.
Or from u/million_monkeys, on sending things by accident:
Not filing in the ‘To” field in an email until I am completely done with the email. Saved me a lot of badly written emails, half finished emails, and emails I never sent because I had time to think better of it.
The order in which you do things with email can make or break you; u/lllola pointed out that they always attach necessary attachments before crafting their written missive, so they don’t accidentally, say, send a cover letter with no resume attached.
Romance
There are apparently a lot of ways to indicate interest in someone besides saying so out loud—maybe it’s a Reddit thing? Anyway, here’s how you linger in a moment with someone you like, according to u/variablesuckage (who might be considered the creep in their office):
never being the first one to break a hug with someone you’re interested in
If you wisely refrain from invading someone’s personal space, here’s a hands-off approach to telling if someone likes you, from u/donglosaur :
A long time ago I remember reading a thread about signs that someone is interested in you, the one I remember the most clearly is that they’ll look at you if they see or hear something funny. It helped me resolve exactly one potentially uncomfortable situation in my life, making it by far the most useful advice I have ever gotten from reddit.
And once you seal the deal? this is the correct order for date night, or so says u/Zero_Vi_Britania:
Always go see a movie and then get dinner so you can talk about the movie afterwards. I love it. It makes me way more comfortable on dates.
Miscellaneous
Just dropping this here, from u/repliers_beware:
Can’t believe i went 28 years of my life before finally learning this on Reddit …
If you spread your cheeks as you sit down, you have a lot less wiping to do
Welcome to a brand new world, friends.
