Make Life in NJ or Anywhere Easier with These Life Hacks

Here's an inexpensive way to clean your windshield, and repel rain. 

Buy a bottle of everyday distilled white vinegar.  Don't splurge.  Find the cheapest you can find, and pick up some of those free newspapers you see as you exit ShopRite.

Pour a liberal amount of the vinegar on your windshield, crumble some pages of the newspaper, and use that paper to rub the vinegar into the windshield.  Repeat the process.

You will smell the vinegar for a bit, but the next time it rains, the water will repel off the glass.  This is much less expensive than a bottle of the brand-name rain repellent, and I have found that it repels the rain much longer.

Clean Your Wooden Utensils Without Any Chemicals

This is a cool hack.  Most of us have at least one wooden spoon.  In my home, we have four or five.  They're great for making scrambled eggs or stirring sauce.  We use them because we don't want to scrape our pans.

The only problem is that they aren't dishwasher safe, and they get dirty.

Boil a pot of water, and add about a tablespoon of Dawn.  Put the utensils in the pot and let them sit in the boiling water for 5 minutes or so.  When you take the utensils out, you'll immediately notice the dark stains are gone.

For some stains, it may take a bit longer.

Improve Your Smile When You Take a Picture

I was telling my daughter how I hate my smile.  She offered up an interesting piece of advice.  She said that the secret to improving your smile when you're having your picture taken, is as simple as pressing your tongue up against the rear of the roof of your mouth.

Practice a few times in front of the mirror.  It works.  I have no idea why or where she found that nugget but try it sometime.

Do you have a life hack you'd like to share?  Let me know, and I may feature it in a future story.  Submit your hacks to steve.mckay@townsquaremedia.com.  Put the word HACKS in the subject line.