Hey there! I’m John Green, and welcome to my fun corner on YouTube, Mental Floss. Today, I’m testing out some life hacks to see if they really work. Let’s dive in!
First up, I’m wearing a bathrobe backward, which the Internet claims is a great substitute for a Snuggie. It works pretty well, and the belt makes me feel like a Jedi or Princess Leia. So, this one’s a pass!
Got deodorant marks on your black t-shirt? The Internet suggests using a dryer sheet to remove them. It kind of works, but honestly, a washing machine is your best bet.
Next, I tried turning a Coke bottle into a sound amplifier. It didn’t work very well, but technically, it did amplify sound a little bit. So, a marginal pass.
Let’s move on to some food hacks! Eating Cheetos with chopsticks keeps your fingers clean and looks cool. This hack definitely works!
To seal a bag of chips, you can use a pants hanger as a chip clip. It works, but be careful of the sharp edges.
If you want to core a head of lettuce, slamming it on a cutting board isn’t the best idea. I tried it and ended up hurting myself. Fail!
If you have a cup of applesauce but no spoon, you can make one from the foil lid. Twist it into a spoon shape, and it works! Pass!
To store leftover chocolate chips, use a water bottle top to reseal the bag. It works, but I prefer using a pants hanger.
To keep cake frosting from sticking to plastic wrap, use uncooked spaghetti as a barrier. I tried it, but it was a disaster. Just finish the cake instead!
Need to open a bottle of beer? An eyelash curler can do the trick. Surprisingly, this hack works!
Vodka is supposed to remove stickers from pots, but it didn’t work for me. Fail!
Fast food ketchup holders can hold more ketchup than you think. This hack is a game-changer!
Using a drink lid as a coaster doesn’t work. It’s not the right shape. Fail!
If you don’t have a watering can, poking holes in a water bottle isn’t a great substitute. Just get a watering can. Fail!
Transferring a drawing from wax paper to a candle using a hairdryer didn’t work for me. Fail!
Mixing salt, flour, water, and food coloring to make paint resulted in a Play-Doh-like substance. Fail, but it tasted okay!
Using a staple remover to open a key ring works, but it doesn’t help remove the key. Fail!
Removing grape seeds with a paper clip is tricky but possible. Surprisingly, this hack works!
Opening a jar with a cut-open tennis ball works, but it’s not necessary for easy-to-open jars. Pass!
Storing a bagel in an old CD spindle is a clever idea. Pass!
To avoid plain bread bites in a sandwich, cut circular cheese pieces in half and arrange them to cover the bread. It works! Pass!
Using kitchen scissors to cut pizza is a simple and effective hack. Pass!
Even out measurements with a masking tape contraption instead of a knife. Pass!
To avoid buttery hands, cut a hole in the side of a popcorn bag and pour it out. This hack works! Pass!
Freezing an envelope to open and reseal it didn’t work well for me. Fail!
Opening both sides of a 12-pack of soda to quickly store it in the fridge is a smart idea. Pass!
Sifting Cheerios to remove crumbs is a great way to enjoy pure cereal. Pass!
Using a pants hanger to hold a cookbook while cooking is a handy trick. Pass!
Thanks for joining me on this life hack adventure! Remember, not everything you see on the Internet works, but some hacks can be surprisingly useful. And as always, don’t forget to be awesome!
Choose one of the life hacks mentioned in the article and test it out at home. Document your process with photos or videos, and write a short report on whether the hack worked for you. Share your findings with the class.
Think of a common problem you face in your daily life and brainstorm a new life hack to solve it. Create a step-by-step guide with illustrations or diagrams to explain your hack. Present your idea to the class.
Form two groups and choose a life hack from the article. One group will argue in favor of the hack’s effectiveness, while the other will argue against it. Use evidence from the article and your own experiences to support your arguments.
Select a life hack from the article that didn’t work well. Think of ways to improve it or make it more effective. Create a prototype or demonstration of your improved hack and explain your modifications to the class.
Organize a “Life Hack Fair” where you and your classmates set up stations to demonstrate different life hacks from the article. Invite other classes to visit and learn about the hacks. Prepare a short explanation and demonstration for each hack.
**Sanitized Transcript:**
Hi, I’m John Green. Welcome to my salon. This is Mental Floss on YouTube. And I am wearing a bathrobe backwards because I’ve been told by the Internet that this is an excellent substitute for a Snuggie. Survey says…PASS. Plus, it’s got this belt, which makes me feel a little bit like a Jedi, or at least Princess Leia. And that’s the first “life hack” of many that I’m going to test for you today.
This is a black t-shirt covered in deodorant. Clearly, it is not my size. The Internet tells me that I can remove this deodorant with a dryer sheet. Yeah, I mean, you know, marginal pass? I’ll tell you what will work: a laundry machine.
This is a Coke bottle with a hole cut in it, very common, you know. And then I’m gonna stick this in here. The Internet tells me it’s gonna be an amazing amplifier. Of all the things in human history that have successfully amplified sound, this Coke bottle amplified it the least. But technically “pass.”
But why am I even bothering with iPhones and plastic bottles? We all know that life hacks are all about the FOOD, so let’s get to some of those. Apparently, the best way to eat Cheetos is with chopsticks because then you don’t get orange stuff all over your hands. Also, you look really cool. Meredith, thank you for getting me these chopsticks that anyone can use. You know what? Pass.
Now I can’t finish eating these until after I’ve hosted this video, so I’m going to seal the bag with a pants hanger that I’m going to use as a chip clip. Aaaaaaoooh! Pass, although there are very sharp edges. If you’re looking for a healthier snack, I’m going to try to core this head of lettuce by slamming it on this cutting board. One, two – ow, aaoooh, mmph, fail and I hurt myself.
Now if you ever find yourself with a cup of applesauce and no spoon, it is supposedly very simple to take the foil from the top and mold it into a mini spoon. Do some twisties. Twisty twisty twisty. Turn this into a spoon. Yup, there we go, nice little spoon. And then… Oh! Pass!
Okay, I also have a bag of chocolate chips…because my grocery list is very strange. Would you believe that some people don’t actually pour this whole thing into their cookie batter? Lucky for them, you can just grab one of these water bottle tops you always have sitting around and reseal the bag! You unscrew the top here. Aaaugh. Pass, although all things being equal, I prefer the pants hanger.
Next, we have a hack for people who do not eat an entire cake in one sitting. Mark, I thought that you said these came from the Internet. If you don’t want your frosting to stick to the plastic wrap, just use some uncooked spaghetti. Stick it in the cake and then you cling wrap over it. I’m so bad at cling wrap. Dang it. Oh, this is a disaster. Just… aw, Fail! Just finish the cake.
Man, all these food life hacks are making me thirsty. I’m going to open this bottle of beer with an eyelash curler. Oh… yeah! Ahhhh, pass.
All right, let’s end the over 21 portion of the program. Meredith has clearly been cooking with this sticker still on the pot. I’ve been told that vodka can remove that sticker. All right, get it nice and vodka-y. And then remove the sticker. No, it’s a fail.
Here’s a life hack that actually changed my life. You know those ketchup holders from fast food restaurants? Whaaat? They hold so much more ketchup than you know about! We’re going to do an extremely scientific survey. One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four one thousand, five one thousand. It goes on and on and it’s much better!
While I was out getting those ketchup packets, I also picked up a drink with a plastic lid so I can test if the lid will really serve as a coaster. No, it doesn’t. It is not the right shape at all. Fail. I mean, not that it matters. As a person who frequently drinks from fast food cups, I can tell you that we as a population are not terribly worried about our coffee tables.
And now I’m going to water the plants, which is not something that I usually do, but whatever, it’s a life hack. If you don’t have a watering can, I’ve been told that you can just poke holes in a bottle of water and – get a watering can. Fail.
Okay, craft time. Meredith drew this on a piece of wax paper and I should be able to transfer that image onto this plain white candle to turn it into a Mental Floss work of art if I apply heat via this hairdryer. Okay. I’m going to spin this around. This is the moment of truth. Dang it! That is so disappointing! Fail.
All right, more crafts! I’m going to combine a cup of salt, a cup of flour, a cup of water, and this food coloring to make my own paint! Cup of salt, cup of flour, cup of water, woah woah there. Slow down, cowboy. And a full thing of green food coloring. All right, this is the consistency of Play-Doh, not paint, so I’m going to go ahead and give it a fail. But I’m also going to try and eat it. Not bad. Little salty.
Meredith, will you do some research and find out if this is how they made Nickelodeon slime? How do you open a key ring without breaking a nail? Apparently by prying it open with a staple remover. It works in the sense that it does pry open the key ring but not in the sense that it helps you get the key out. So fail.
And while you’re using office supplies to do things completely unrelated to office work, try getting rid of grape seeds with a paper clip. I mean, I’m just going to predict fail. This is like performing surgery with the world’s least-sharp knife. I mean, I can technically remove the grape seeds. Actually, you know what? This is not bad. Pass.
If you don’t want to waste a paperclip, there’s another option. I have the Cheeto-chopstick from earlier and also the Coke-with-the-hole-in-it, the world’s worst amplifier. And now, I’m going to remove grape seeds like this. Fail.
Oh hi, giraffe. Ever come across a tough jar to open and happen to have a cut-open tennis ball on hand? Of course you have. I’m going to try to open this jar with the tennis ball. Meredith, by the way, would like for me to point out that cutting this tennis ball in half was the hardest single thing she has ever done in her life. And she is a saint and a scholar. Was it for nothing, Meredith? Or is it, in fact, a life hack. I mean, that is not a hard jar to open. I guess… pass?
I’m not really the right guy for this life hack though because I’m wearing my guns. Can you store a bagel in an old CD spindle? What? Yes. That is a game-changer. Pass.
While we’re on the topic of carbohydrates: everyone hates that unpleasant bite of straight-up bread that happens when you’re biting into a sandwich. But rather than throw cheese and meat all around the sandwich, I have been told there is a way to fill your entire bread with cheese. You cut two pieces of circular cheese in half and then you go… what? Are you serious? Yessss. It did, it worked, pass! I just upped my grilled cheese game big time.
But if you’re more of a pizza person, and let’s face it, if you love freedom, you are, but you don’t have a pizza cutter, you can always just use your kitchen scissors. I don’t understand why the Internet thinks this is a life hack when I started doing it when I was four, but anyway, pass.
And why use a knife to even out measurements of things like cocoa when you could just use a contraption made out of masking tape? Pass!
I have here a pre-popped bag of popcorn. And as we all know, the worst part of eating microwave popcorn from the bag is when your hand rubs up against the fake butter stuff and you feel the shame when you realize what you were actually eating. The Internet has solved this problem when you just put the bag on its side, cut a hole out of the top. Mmm, delicious popcorn, no weird butter feeling. Pass.
Now we’re going to the kitchen for some life hacks. Before we started shooting, Mark put this envelope in the freezer. And apparently, I can now open it with this letter opener. Okay, kind of. And I can go in and explore the– mm, mm, mmmmm. It’s pretty frozen. The idea is that you can reseal it and no one will ever know that you opened the envelope which is, just, fail.
I don’t know if this is really a life hack, but if you open both sides of a 12-pack of soda, you can just – And then all your soda’s in the fridge already. I guess that’s a solid pass.
If you’re down to the end of your Cheerios here, but you don’t want to get all those little crumb things in it, you can just sift the Cheerios. And you’re left with pure cereal. Pass!
We’ve already seen how useful these pants hangers can be, but did you know that they can also improve your cookbooking? Put the clip right here, hang the hanger up right there, aaaand, I’m cookin’ and I’m lookin’. Pass.
Thanks for watching Mental Floss here on YouTube, which is made with the help of all these nice people. Every week we endeavor to answer one of your mind-blowing questions. This week’s question comes from Liz Campbell. Hi, Liz. I hope you don’t mind if I try to open this blister pack with a can opener while I answer your question. The question is, “Where does it say that Humpty Dumpty is an egg?” This, by the way, is a fail. Everyone knows you can’t open a blister pack ever no matter what.
But back to your question, Liz. It doesn’t say that Humpty Dumpty is an egg. The origin of the nursery rhyme is unclear, but many believe that it began as a riddle with the answer being “an egg.” That’s why Humpty Dumpty is often pictured as an egg. Thanks for watching, don’t trust everything you see on the Internet. But do use your pants hangers to clip your chips. And as we say in my hometown, don’t forget to be awesome.
Life – The existence of an individual human being or animal, often involving experiences and activities. – Learning DIY skills can make everyday life more enjoyable and fulfilling.
Hacks – Simple and clever tips or techniques to solve problems or make tasks easier. – She found some great hacks online to organize her study space efficiently.
Ideas – Thoughts or suggestions about possible courses of action or solutions. – He had some creative ideas for decorating his room using recycled materials.
Tools – Devices or implements used to carry out a particular function, especially in DIY projects. – Having the right tools is essential for building your own birdhouse.
Food – Substances consumed to provide nutritional support for the body, often a focus in DIY cooking projects. – She learned how to make her own healthy snacks as part of her DIY food project.
Tricks – Clever methods or techniques used to achieve a specific result more easily. – One of the tricks to painting a room neatly is to use painter’s tape along the edges.
Storage – The action or method of storing items, often a focus in DIY projects to organize spaces. – He built a DIY storage shelf to keep his books and games organized.
Creative – Involving the use of imagination or original ideas to create something. – Her creative approach to upcycling old clothes resulted in a unique fashion statement.
Methods – Particular procedures or techniques used to accomplish a task or solve a problem. – There are various methods to fix a leaky faucet, and she chose the simplest one.
Fun – Enjoyment, amusement, or lighthearted pleasure, often a goal in DIY projects. – Building a model rocket was a fun DIY project that taught him a lot about physics.
