The fact that life hacks exist proves two things: 1. that we’re doing just about everything wrong, and 2. that there are a bunch of people out there living in the future. Thanks to the Internet (and namely Reddit), however, all the geniuses living in 3020 have a way to share all their surprisingly useful knowledge about hacking the world around them with the rest of us luddites.
As you might assume, the name “life hack” comes from the hacker world—think computer nerds and programming geeks. It’s related to creating digital shortcuts that allow IT professionals to get shit done faster in life. Pulled from the computer screen to the real world, these hacks are smarter ways of making everyday activities and work more efficient. And the best part? They usually rely on things you have lying around the house.
Certain life hacks seem too obvious to be true, and others seem impossible to pull off, but, trust us, all of these life hacks will solve a problem you probably deal with daily but never realized was secretly ruining your week.
From finding ways rubberbands can get rid of just about every inconvenience known to man to figuring out how make things colder very, very quickly, life hacks prove that, with a little creativity, everyday products can become invaluable—or at least, they can make someone’s day just a little bit easier.
There are lifehacks for just about every personality type, from people looking for quick fixes to step up their style, to those who need solutions because they live in tiny apartments, to twentysomethings who don’t have everything figured out yet. We’ve sifted through the most useful life hacks floating around the Internet to bring you The 50 Best Life Hacks of All Time. You can thank us for saving you a few hours every day.