What’s your “I can’t believe other people don’t do this” hack?

I wouldn't consider it a "hack", but I'm always baffled by the number of people who don't use any kind of content blocker on the web, then complain about full-page ads, pop-ups, and autoplay videos. It's like going to a cheap motel with a lady of the night without bringing condoms.
- More like going to a cheap motel and not expecting bedbugs.
  
  Bed bugs do not discriminate. You can get them in the nicest hotels. Always check.
- I work on peoples' PCs at work (regular people and not business IT), and one thing that I do for every PC I work on is add uBlock Origin Lite to Chrome and uBlock Origin on other browsers no matter what. As 8 or 9 times out of 10 the shit that caused someone to bring in their PC for cleaning are actually full-screen scam messages and scummy ads on sites or from emails. The only times I ever randomly get someone that is upset about the blockers being installed are from either the pickup person not showing them how to use them. Or I get a random person that actually uses those "news" start pages like MSN, Yahoo, AOL, etc. not understanding that the blank slides in the main slideshow are not actual articles and are ads.
- i used to just use like browser extensions and stuff and now have a pi hole setup for my home network, and its game changing. Even mobile apps are now ad free. Its awesome.
  
  Pi Hole couldn't block YouTube ads last time I tried it, which is one of the main things I want to have adblock for. So I went back to ublock origin.
- That content blocker's name
  -- Ublock Origin
- Mine is that, except they DON'T complain. Like when someone is showing me a YouTube video on their device and an ad shows up 30 seconds in... I lunge for the mute button while I scan the room for a blanket, clipboard, or other item to shield us, yelling "AVERT YOUR EYES!!" but next to all of my commotion, they're just nodding along placidly like "Oh Coinbase, interesting."
  Like... Aren't you affronted that some company paid another company to make it less convenient to do the thing you're trying to do?! Does the gaudy, pushy tone change to too-loud propaganda designed to coax you away from your money not gall you?!
  "Idk sometimes the ads are interesting. Free month sounds good."
  Jesus christ he's too far gone.
  
  Some of the ad revenue goes to pay the people that made the content tho.

Working in IT.
Tell the truth.
We will get lied to straight to our face and when proven they are lying they double down and get annoyed.
We don't care that you spilt coffee on your keyboard, we just need to know it happened so we can get you a new one.
- I think medical doctors have this same problem with lying and embarrassed patients.
  
  Honestly, I was naked after the shower and just fell on it!
  
  "Everyone lies" - House, MD
  
  House:"everybody lies"
- if I suspect something was spilled, I always let them know that we have accidental damage coverage and things like spills are covered and that makes the truth come out a bit smoother.
  
  And then you tell them you lied.

Wash their hands after using the bathroom.
- Use a bidet in the bathroom.
  
  do both, please
  
  Still wash. The flush practically aerosols waste particles into the air if you didn't put the lid down first; bidet or no.
- 😭
- Also actually cleaning yo buttox. So many men don't and it's disgusting
  
  Huh, how do you know this? Not that I envy you though.
  
  Honestly, this feels like a meme. I have been eating man ass for years and I am yet to find someone with an unwashed butthole. Considering how often I see this claim, one would think it would be a more common problem.
  Not saying it can't happen but, Do you have any first hand experience to support the "So many men don't" part?

Continuing study after school. Whether its science, political theory, or anything, a lot of people stop reading or studying anything after college / school.
Doing something creative as an outlet (music, art, knitting, anything). A lot of people are just consumption machines nowadays, mostly consuming things other people have made, rather than creating something.
Physical exercise.
Having explicit long-term goals and working towards them.
- Having time for all that would be nice.
  
  None of those things needs a big time requirement. You could work out for 5 minute a day if you want, study for 5 minutes, and do something creative for 5 minutes.
  Most people don't prioritize vitally important things like self study.
  
  Yeah this screams privilege lol
- As someone with both ASD and ADHD, I'm practically allergic to not learning. Blows my mind that most people aren't the same in some regard.
  
  Same. I don't own any subscriptions except for YouTube premium. There is an endless amount of educational content on there and it's the only content I really watch.
  
  What do these diagnoses have to do with learning? In my experience, these conditions can manifest in many different ways for people.
- When working two jobs in third world country. Time is luxury to sleep and rest the body and mind. There is no time for the rest of it.

Vote early. Almost every single area in the US has early voting at least 2 weeks before elections. People complain about long lines and lack of ballots on election day. You know what you get if you stumble into a polling place before that? A couple of bored poll workers in an otherwise empty building. You get your ballot, fill it out, and leave within 5 minutes. I seriously don't understand why this isn't used more.
- There's been a misinformation campaign for years that early/mail votes "don't count" or get thrown away, so people wait until "real" election day to make sure things are "handled properly"...
  
  There's also been a Republican campaign for years to actually try and make those votes not count.
- People like to procrastinate
  
  Or they don't know it exists... my state just started this year and I had no idea until this comment caused me to check.
- I always found it weird that voting in the US takes so long
  The longest I had to wait in queue was 5 minutes. Normally I just walk in, vote, had out
- In Ohio you have to vote early at the county election board and last I checked it was only open regular business hours. For me that means 30 minute drive in, pay for parking, 30 minute drive home. Waiting until election day I can walk to my piling place in 10 minutes, wait in line for 30-45,then walk home in 10 minutes. For a lot of places it's not as easy as voting on election day.

When someone asks a thing like this on Lemmy, look up the same thread on Reddit (guaranteed to find it was recently also posted there) and copy-pasta some of the top posts. Guaranteed worthless internet up arrows.
- I mean... you're not wrong. Just thought that it would be a great question to ask here. Also, with fewer users on Lemmy, there tend to be more genuine answers than on Reddit.
- Please keep doing this because I'm never going back😎
- The real hack is always in the comments or something
  
  I just said to someone that Lemmy comment sections have a little bit of that Reddit 2014 vibe and here you are with the Reddit 2014 meme.
- I encourage this only because I never again want to touch that god forsaken site

Using password managers. All of my friends and family refuse to use them but always complain about getting locked out of accounts due to forgetting login details. I leave them too it now.
- Honestly, get them to use the built in password manager in their browser. It's a huge step up from reusing passwords which they're almost certainly doing, so it's a case of not letting perfect be the enemy of improvement
  
  Thanks ill try this :)
- That's why you use the same username and password everywhere! Duh!
  
  Oh yeah, i didnt even think to do that. Thats a great tip ;)
- Problem for me is that I always get asked to fix it for them. :(
  Use Bitwarden motherfuckers
  
  Same here, iv linked them bitwarden and offered to set it up
- Use a pen and paper, no one breaks into your house for your password.
  I don't even write the whole thing down, just enough that I know what the rest is, the missing part is context to me.
  
  What do you do when you need your password while out of the house? Because if you bring your notebook, then you've INSANELY decreased your security (forgotten, bag where it's in forgotten, left lying around open, looking at it while people can check over your shoulder, it gets wet/damaged, etc.)

The only one i can think of is people not saving their old toothbrushes. A small brush comes in real handy for a lot of situations
- Gotta get that deep clean in the shower ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
- I'm really bad about actually swapping my toothbrushes when I should so they end up completely spent by the time I replace them and are unusable for anything else
  
  Yeah I used to be like that, just not something I'd think of. Now I just automatically swap it out when I finish a tube of toothpaste.

Mask. N95 or better. My wife and I never stopped, and she never gets sick despite being immunocompromised. I work in a place where illness is common due to the environment and I’ve been sick once in the last year, meanwhile all of my coworkers come in sick like twice a month. Apparently they’d rather be sick and miserable all the time than wear a mildly uncomfortable thing on their face.
- Do ypu have kids? No masks, also barely ever got sick. With kids I'm sick 5 or 6 times a year. Could be the same for your coworkers.
  
  My sweet friend with two childs is CONSTANTLY sick. My partner and I mostly WFH and have no kids and have gotten sick twice since 2020.
  
  I do not have kids, and I don’t know about all of my coworkers, but I know the overwhelming majority of them do not have kids either.
  
  My oldest just started Pre-K so we're now having a fresh plague circle the house for the second time this month. Hopefully within a year or so we'll have developed enough immunity to enough children's plagues to not get sick as frequently
- Yes yes yes! I work facing the public and I interact with people from all over the world. Me wearing a mask just feels like a basic courtesy. I could potentially spread diseases around like mad.
  I'm glad it's more accepted now, but I have had a lot of people "looking out for my safety" to put it mildly. That's what they say they're doing. Really, they're just confronting me and demand answers to personal questions as they "educate" me.
- Agreed. We have kept wearing masks in specific places (public transit, crowded events, airplanes) and it really does make a difference. I never get sick from airplane trips any more, which used to be a fairly regular occurrence.
  I will say, I was never able to figure out how to stop a properly fitted mask from giving me a terrible headache after 8 hours of use so I'm glad I work from home and don't need to make the choice of mask vs comfort at work.
- Ok, but i have a question.
  You want us to wear it all the time? Beacause i also use a mask when i use the metro or any other means of travel in which i share a communal space.
  But being a social animal as we all r, wearing a mask all the time is a fast way to get ostracized.
  
  I would like everyone to wear them until the pandemic is over, at least. After that we can reassess the situation, and preferably during flu season. To me it seems cruel to not mask for that seeing as it would greatly reduce the number of preventable flu deaths.
  I think if all, or more realistically enough, of us were masking, that would eliminate the social stigma surrounding it. Personally, I don’t receive much pushback about my mask aside from the occasional staring anyways. What’s far more ostracizing to her, I, and several other people I know, is the fact that all of the social gatherings and hobbies we used to participate in are no longer accessible to us because not a single one is taking any acceptable precautions. In fact, I can think of exactly two social events I wanted to participate in this year that still “required” masks, and neither actually enforced the rule. This is sadly not a new problem for disabled people either. Many, if not most, are alienated from society and forced away from any participation in social activities due to a blatant disregard towards making those activities actually accessible to them. I cannot stress enough how painful this is for those people on the receiving end of this ableism. So, frankly, I have little sympathy for those who fear ostracism from choosing to wear a mask. If they really care about people being ostracized, they should do what they can to make their social circles safe for everyone, not just those without disabilities.
- My only dislike about the mask is that it sucks for people with glasses... If it wasn't for that I would be using it all the time.
  I liked to be allergy-less in my work lol.
- I like having a face for expressions
- While wearing a mask is never a bad idea, it is absolutely not necessary to not get sick. I am also immunocompromised and I have stopped wearing a mask. I wash my hands very often and never eat handheld food without washing first. Zero issues since getting covid back when I was wearing a mask religiously.
  
  We’d rather not take risks. Plus, we’d like to not accidentally contribute to the spread of disease ourselves if we can help it.
- Getting sick occasionally is good for your immune system if you do not have a condition like your wife.
  
  Key word being occasionally, and also not with a disease that causes serious health complications, cognitive decline, and that itself damages your immune system.
  COVID linked to 65% of new onset cognitive impairment, dementia
  Mounting research shows that COVID-19 leaves its mark on the brain, including significant drops in IQ scores
  Every COVID Infection Increases Your Risk of Long COVID, Study Warns
  SARS-CoV-2 infection weakens immune-cell response to vaccination
  Yes, Everyone Really Is Sick a Lot More Often After Covid
  Cognitive performance of post-covid patients in mild, moderate, and severe clinical situations
  Incidence of diabetes after SARS-CoV-2 infection in England and the implications of COVID-19 vaccination: a retrospective cohort study of 16 million people
  
  Being outside is good for your immune system. Being near other people is unnecessary.
  
  The level of sick for which this is true is below the threshold of what we normally call "getting sick". You're always fighting off something. That's what's good for you. Not the getting overwhelmed and having to stay in bed amount.
  
  Covid is a retrovirus. It destroys your immune system.

So I play guitar. I had a problem where I would sometimes drop my pick. Then, one day, I had an idea. I took some copper wire and attached it to a pick through a small hole I burned into it with a needle. I wrapped the wire around my finger. Now I physically cannot drop my pick.
- You just made these things obsolete.
  
  I thought that's so you can throw picks at the audience
  
  I've got one of these. They're great for if you accidentally drop your pick.
  They are not, however, a goddamn pick souvenir dispenser! No, you can't have a free pick you skeezy little jerk! Get off my stage!
- I bought a pack of thumb picks out of curiosity and I actually really like them. I don’t use them every time I play but they’re nice to have.
- By Vectron, you're right!
  
  By vectron's creaky ankle that's a great video!
  
  Seen it before... watched it again anyway. Praise Vectron!
- I used to do this with a piece of thread
- "I laugh in the face of ground faults!"

When you come home after a night of heavy boozing, just chug an entire liter of water before you go to bed. It prevents the worst part of the hangover, headaches, which are just from dehydration.
- This used to work for me but these days the only way it works is if I pace myself with a big glass of water in between each alcoholic drink. The "chug a liter before bed" only somewhat helps now, but barely.
  
  This also should be the norm. It doesn't even reduce your drunkness, just makes it more enjoyable and less unconfortable
- My trick is to eat an asian pear before drinking. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23587660/
  
  Damn that's pretty cool. Wonder how their ethical committee responded. Does it affect the drunkenness?
- Some good kebab helps too, probably due to the fat and salt, but water over kebab, if you have to choose.
  
  kebab will always be my top choice, unless shawarma is also an option
- Yeah, I find having something to eat helps too.
  
  Could be a double edged sword, just make sure you don’t miscalculate and end up with “twice the taste no calories”.
- When I was younger and drank more I did this, and it sure helps with hard liquor.
  When you're drunk that big glass of water can be hard to get down, but do it anyway.

Email management. Like at all. Set up filters and use the archive. There is a key to do that. And holy fuck 2432 unread emails? You should be ashamed of yourself
- I am ashamed.
  
  🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
- Used to work in a public library. Majority of the job was walking people through "forgot password" which was never a simple affair, and getting to see what a Hotmail/Yahoo/AOL inbox looks like with like 90,000 unread because they gave their email to every store and web form they ever encountered.
  Near drove me to madness.
- I had 6000 ish, recently went through and started unsubscribing and deleting. Got it down to 1200
- Problem I have is I got my lastname@gmail.com as my email address. Many times when people with my same last name they'll type firstname
  <space>
  lastname@gmail.com for their email address. And guess who gets signed up?
  At first I unsubscribed, replied back to emails that were meant for someone else, etc. But the number of things to unsubscribe from unmanageable and it gets to be too much of a chore.
  
  Holy cow, we have the same problem. I only got firstnamelastname@gmail.com so I only get folks with permutations of my first and last name, but to this day I still get my Nigerian counterpart's bank statements. I've got my UK counterpart's PayPal payments for artwork they did. I've had my Australian counterpart's job recruiters reaching out to me for months. It's kind of embarrassing when I tell them they have the wrong email...

Using shift + scroll wheel to horizontally scroll in a UI. Whenever I see my project manager going all the way to the bottom of the application and dragging the scrollbars to move horizontally it just kills me a bit inside haha.
- Horizontal scrolling with shift + scroll wheel is so slow compared to dragging the bar though.
  
  Which is what middle mouse button scrolling is for... horizontally or vertically, and fast, too.
- Because some mice have a secondary scroll wheel, or the scroll wheel can tilt to scroll sideways
  
  I had a Logitech MX Ergo mouse that allegedly had horizontal scrolling. The wheel could tilt left and right which clicked like a button, and the screen would scroll very very slightly to the side. Worst trackball I've ever had.
  Just before they stopped making PCs, I saw an IBM computer with a mouse that had one of their Thinkpad clits instead of a scroll wheel. So a proper XY input. I think a blackberry ball would work too.
  
  the scroll wheel can tilt to scroll sideways
  I use these for switching tabs in browsers/IDEs by remapping them to Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab using Input Remapper

i don't use my fingertips on public. door knobs, rails, etc. i use knuckles or fist or elbow or whatever. my finger tips are not for public use. started during covid, never got covid. barely ever get sick.
- Until out of habit you rub your eye with your knuckle. Doh!
- Mine is wear a medical grade mask in public spaces.
  It does multiple things.
  First it protects you from air borne pathogens like viruses and especially COVID.
  Second, if you are confronted or people get mad at you for wearing one, it immediately let's you know what kind of people are around. If they're the type that will get mad at you for wearing a mask, it's definitely a place to leave and avoid in the future. A mask is a great way to weed people out in public.
  My wife has lifelong lung problems now and we can't risk any infections. So wearing a mask is necessary for me ... and at this point in my life, it's normal now and I find that it's normal for most people. 90% of the people that see me in a mask notice but immediately understand and don't make an issue of it. It's 10% of the loudest idiots that make it a problem and a mask is a great way to unmask them (pun intended)
- I use my knuckles for pretty much any object that is public. If I must pull a door handle I use my pinkie (or my foot if no one's looking).
  
  sometimes i'll use the bottom of my shirt as a glove until i can use my foot to swoop.
  
  foot
  /jk
  
  Coworker extends hand
  Nope, knuckle sandwich to the face!
  It's good for your health, buddy!
- Long sleeve shirts ftw!
- Palms ftw

Cancel subscriptions when you sign up, fuck auto renewals and save some money if there's a gap before the next time you need or use the service, and gives you a chance to consider if it's worth the money or ethical concerns when manually renewing subs.
- Years ago, a family member (who was on my mobile phone family account) was getting charged monthly for some mobile game. I would point it out every month, and they were like "Yeah...I need to cancel that..."
  It took over a year for them to get around to canceling it.
- My credit card offers virtual credit card numbers AND the ability to auto-lock the virtual numbers so you can set a date and after that the number will not accept new charges.
  I make sure to use a virtual card number for everything subscription based, then I immediately set the auto-lock feature to expire in a few days (give the initial charge time to clear but still plenty of time before the subscription would otherwise renew).
  Some subscription services make it super tough to cancel. This method fixes that issue for the most part. Some subscription services terminate immediately once you cancel the subscription, even if you still have "time left" otherwise. This way you don't really have to formally unsubscribe. It's easy peasy pumpkin breezy as the common folk like to say.

Using an ad blocker
- the internet is insufferable without it, and many people (including some IT people) seem to not even mind it. it blows my mind.
  
  Even with an ad blocker it's insufferable though. Every time a page ask me to sign up for their stupid newsletter I want to punch a hole in my screen.
  
  I don't use an ad blocker. I do mind ads but I also want to adhere to the social contact: I subject myself to ads for the free content.
- Apparently it's up to 1/3 of people using some form of adblocking now!

Fact checking.
So many people just believe anything they see or hear if it agrees with their worldview.
- I don't believe you

Middle clicking links to open in a new tab
Using chip clips when you can tuck one side of the bag in and roll the other down.
- You can also hold Control and left click to do the same. Then just Control+Tab to cycle through your tabs.
  
  Or ALT+NumberRow to select a tab

Keeping an insulated water bottle around to drink from. How do people go to sleep knowing they either have to get up to take a drink or settle for some lukewarm side table water from a glass or plastic bottle??? Not to mention the waste I see with people using disposable water bottles (which have the time and place of course, but at home ain’t it.)
- To add: drink water throughout the day in general. Especially where tap water is safe to drink. You're going to pass up the opportunity to improve your health and daily wellbeing, easily and for free? WHY?
  Random side note. I actually prefer room temperature water. Sensitive teeth. And i try to keep my backpack as light, so it's a one layer water bottle for me.
  
  If I’m doing any kind of physical activity it has to be room temp or my stomach complains. But otherwise I like it a bit cold. And I agree on the weight thing, if I’m camping or otherwise away from convenience, I want a single walled, lighter container.
- I use a half gallon insulated metal water bottle/jug and it's incredible. I love it so much, and I couldn't go back to even a normal sized one. I drink easily a half gallon a day now. I'm about to upgrade to a 1 gallon, because the lid on my half gallon is difficult to open, and the 1 gallon has a much better lid. I know it seems ridiculous, but it made a carry bag for it with a strap to wear almost like a messenger bag. I can carry all my shit and get hydrated at the same time. So fantastic.
  Also, buzio is the brand on Amazon (I know. God, I know, but we don't have a lot of options where I live. If anyone knows a better one, I'd love to hear it). They're great. Everyone in my family has one in different sizes
  
  My family does Iron Flask but any insulated bottle will do. I also started on a small 20oz and upgraded to 40 and it’s still not enough haha.
- Best side effect of the insulated bottles is not having to use a coaster because they don't sweat.
- I never drink in the night. Why is that even a thing? Are you some sort of frog that needs to be kept wet?
  
  I really enjoy a swig of fresh chill water in the middle of the night. I wouldn’t mind being a frog, seems like I would have much less to worry about.
- settle for some lukewarm side table water
  Lmao

I saw a similar thread on Reddit about 12 years ago and one of the suggestions near the bottom that didn't have any comments on it is something I've incorporated into my daily life and it has made a huge difference: Adjust your car mirrors so you have no blind spots.
Most people have their side mirrors adjusted where they can see a portion of their own car in the mirror. This leaves you with large blind spots. To adjust them where you have no blind spots, sit in the driver's seat and lean your head over to the left as far as you can (basically putting your head on the window), then adjust the driver's side mirror to where you can just barely see your car in it. Then lean your head over to the passenger side about the same amount and adjust that mirror.
When adjusted properly if you can see a car in your rearview mirror, you shouldn't be able to see that car in your side mirrors, but as soon as a car is no longer visible in the rearview mirror it should be visible in one of your side mirrors. Then when it is no longer visible in your side mirror it should be in your peripheral vision.
It takes some getting used to, but once dialed in and you're used to it then it makes changing lanes a breeze. It also helps at night if someone behind you has bright lights because you'll only see them in one mirror instead of all 3.
- This 100%. I only figured this out 15 years after having started driving.
  To add to this I tilt my rear view mirror (the one connected to the windshield) a little bit upwards to force me to sit a bit straighter and taller when I look at it. You slouch less so for long car trips your back ends up feeling a bit better.
- I just tried this and it's genius! I haven't ever given side mirror adjustment any thought.
- I learned this on cracked.com! I don't remember how long ago it was, but I wonder if they had a similar source.
- I’m not sure if I saw it in the same place, but I saw the same recommendation long ago and have stuck with it ever since.
  I don’t rely on it for changing lanes though. It absolutely helps situational awareness, but I always turn and look.
  
  Why do you always turn and look, if the method eliminates blind spots? Worried about vampire cars?
- Wish that the mirror designs you see on trucks for towing was standard, having that second parabolic mirror with a standard mirror is amazing and I've had that as my setup forever now on a small car, can see everything in those.
  Something like this setup also takes getting used to but seriously worth it.
- Honestly I didn't find this online but I've always done it this way. I'm happy to learn others think the same.

Buying another box, bag, etc. of soap, toilet paper, tooth paste and whatever long lasting product before it runs out. It doesn't expire (fast), therefore I always have a second, full bag as a buffer, and as soon as I have to open the second one, I put it on the shopping list so there is always a buffer bag and I don't get annoyed if I still forget to buy one or it's out of stock.
It's been years since I had to use some weird substitute for toilet paper.
- It’s the old prepper adage: two is one, one is none.
  
  But three is two, and two is one, with one is none, then I need to buy four more. But wait there’s more; because five is four!
  
  Interesting, I know this one with beer.
- KANBAN your life. Love it
- Can't get my partner to do this. They are too worried about "saving money/we don't need it (now)". For heavens sake, I'm not saying buy a spare house; just pick up an extra tube of toothpaste!
  
  You might actually save money buying in bulk plus you won't need to make 2x the number of trips to the store which burns gas and your time.
  
  You can tell them you're not wasting any of it because eventually it will be used, none of it will get spoiled and people tend to actually need that bog roll within a week or two. Also, it's a ONE time "double" buy, because from then on you buy everything once just the same; you just make sure you don't end up spending even MORE when you run out of the 24 roll TP bag and have to quickly buy a less eco 6-pack.
  
  Spare tube of toothpaste? In this economy?
  
  It's only going to go up in price so you're kind of saving money by buying more unperishables.
  
  I would leave her

Use https://fallingfruit.org/ to get free, fresh food. Maybe once a week ill hit up the fruit trees and get a huge amount of free citrus, mangoes, almonds, loquats and fresh herbs (lemongrass, rosemary and lavendar mostly). There is also a ridiculous amount of olive trees on public land in my city, if I had the time and inclination to brine them properly I could probably make 20kg a week during the fruiting season. But I could never use or even give away that much olive.
I havent paid for limes, lemons, oranges or mandarins in years and I consume at least a couple kilos a week.
- In my climate, mmm, crabapples. I guess do find a raspberry plant I think I can pick from, occasionally.
- Near me it only shows dumpsters of supermarkets. Great initiative though
- The iPhone app doesn’t appear to work

In the US, if you're a first time homebuyer you can buy a home with zero cash in hand. You can roll closing costs into the mortgage and have no down-payment. You'll pay more out of pocket for a few years but in many areas it's still cheaper than rent - and rent just keeps going up while a mortgage stays the same. Many states also have free programs where you can take a class and they'll give you a grant towards buying a home.
Credit unions tend to have the best rates. Get into a credit union even if it's just a secondary account that you toss $5 into each paycheck.
Also, there are programs through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for first time homebuyers that prioritizes them over investors. This is the easiest way to get into homeownership but the houses are usually fixer uppers.
- People don't do this because it's not a good idea for almost everyone. If you don't put money down, your monthly payment will be astronomical, and THEN you will have to pay PMI on top of that (which isn't applied to the mortgage OR interest) until you hit 20% paid. That money is thrown away and depending on where you live, it can be close to a rent payment on its own, without the actual mortgage payment. If you can afford a massive mortgage with PMI, you can afford to save a down payment. The only time I would do what you suggest is if my income was way more than rent and I was in a rush to move into a house.
  Fannie and Freddie are legit, use them!
  
  In what reality is PMI close to a rent payment? It doesn't seem like you know what you're talking about.
  I think you're dramatically overestimating how much it will add to a mortgage to use this strategy. For example, let's look at a $250,000 home - the average for my area.
  If you put 20% down, your payment will be $1242/mo plus Property Taxes. Certainly cheaper than rent, but most folks don't have $50,000 sitting around.
  So let's say you put $0 down and roll $9000 closing costs into your mortgage. Your monthly payment will be $1,843 of which only $214 is PMI. Still cheaper than the average rent in my area.
  Even if you're buying a $1mil home with this strategy, the PMI would only be $850/mo. Where are you getting that PMI would be close to a mortgage payment?? You seem to be regurgitating bad faith advice that keeps people scared of homeownership when the reality is that it's an excellent move for many folks.
- What search terms should I use to find such a class?
  
  FHA loans
  
  Reach out to your bank. If they have nothing, call your local credit unions.
- Can you recommend anything for learning more about this? We've been trying to go through the USDA because we cannot afford a down payment, but they require the house to be in basically perfect condition, meaning there's nothing we can afford.
  
  I went thru USDA for my first home and they had similar constraints. Talk with your bank's mortgage lender. It's possible that an FHA loan would do you better.
- FYI if you get a FHA loan, you can't remove the PMI at all without refinancing. This was implemented after the crash in '07/'08. You can still get a conventional loan without doing the full 20%. I put around 10% down and just dropped PMI after about 4 years, though I likely could have removed it earlier if I'd paid for a new appraisal due to the increased property value.

Home cooking. It is super easy and about 100x healthier. Don't know how? Get the America's Test Kitchen Best Skillet Recipes book. Lots of super easy things in there. Once you get in the habit you really only have to do it 3-4 times a week, and there are lots of frozen meals.
- What would someone do if they didn't cook their own meals? Hire a butler? Just get takeaway for their entire lives?
  That would be mental. Everyone, except the truly weird - or in special situations, home cooks the majority of the time, right? O.o
  
  Eat microwave food. Or "remove foil and put in oven" food. I wouldn't call that home cooking.
  
  I got tired of cooking and eat our a lot more nowadays, yes.

using an ad blocker. personally, i use ad blockers for years and when i work on a friends laptop im shocked how much ads there are actually. i cant count on a hand how mucn i told my father he should use ad blocker browser and extenstion. and he wont do it. recently, i changed the DNS server on a router level to nextdns, where it blocks ads and trackers. he told me its amazing how smoother the experience is now
password managers. as an IT specialist i have about 300 login details for many services, personal, work and clients. every login has its own password and eventually email too. and i know sooooo many people who forgot their passwords (they have about 3 very similar ones but ok) and try them all until they find out they had to creat a new for that specific service. and they are so unaware about the dangers (for example fishing, SE, ...) with this method.

Having hand sanitizer in your everyday bag. I’ve been doing it way before the pandemic and it’s a quick and easy way to disinfect while you’re out and about and not near a restroom to wash your hands.
Want to get free food a couple of times a month? Just go on eventbrite and meetup and look up free events in your area. If you are in a relatively large city, chances are there are a ton of free events every week where you can just show up and get free food in exchange for a little socializing.
- Socializing for free food sounds too expensive for me.
  
  Well technically you can avoid the socialization part (eat-and-run). As long as you can get to the food without having to talk to someone first, you should be good.
  
  I could give away food if that would reduce my socializing

For me it's reminders. I use slack for work, and whenever anything comes up that I need to take care of (personal or work related) I'll tell slack "/remind me about
<thing>
tomorrow/next week".
I've been doing this for years. I have it on my phone and computer so it's easy to view and add new reminders whenever I need. I didn't think slack is crucial to use but I find it to be the most convenient, even more so then dedicated reminder apps
- I use Notion+Notion Calendar for this and I delegate to it a lot of stuff: bureaucracy, booking the barber, changing the bedsheets, all my work, birthdays, etc etc. How can people trust their brain with more than two or three items is unfathomable to me. I mean, when I was younger I could keep in mind a dozens upcoming appointments and go through them every few hours to make sure I wouldn't miss anything, but as soon as your routine is disturbed by work stuff, it's impossible.
  
  That sounds like exactly the app I've been looking for.
  
  I've heard notion calendar is the best calendar software out there. If it also supports reminders really well (and I'm already a notion user), then maybe this is worth checking out.
- My ADHD would not allow me to function without reminders.

A user on Lemmy a while back (can't recall their name) had said that when they get fast food fries, they don't salt the fries, they salt the ketchup.
I will confirm that this is a fantastic idea because it makes every fry taste equally salted, and gives the salt a way to actually adhere to the fries instead of just ending up in the bottom of the container or on your table.
My own recommendation where I can't believe more people don't do it is buying no name/store brand stuff when getting groceries and supplies. I'm pretty sure a lot of people don't do this because marketing has pushed them into thinking these are "inferior" or are not as good, but 7 times out of 10 the no name/store brand stuff is equal in quality or better while also being something like 20-40 percent cheaper. Just because something is different than the name brand stuff does not make it worse, just different. Like you DONT need a more expensive type of aluminum foil for example, the cheapest aluminum foil is identical in quality.
- Malt-o-meal cereals are better than most others and you can get a giant bag that lasts forever. Also Costco's store brand Kirkland is consistently rated at the top for quality. I remember one article in particular where Kirkland's olive oil was the only one not cut with soybean or other vegetable oils.
  
  Yea Costco has great stuff, the kirkland liquor prices and quality are hard to beat too.
- To your first point, I do this with the Costco gravy, add one salt and two pepper packets into the gravy makes it way better.
  To your second point, many times the no name brand or store brand is actually packed by the same company with the same product but you aren't paying for the brand name marketing so it is cheaper.
  
  There's a big cake mix manufacturing plant near where I grew up, and I knew a lot of people who worked there. They all confirmed that the only difference between the name brand cake mix and the store brand they made was the box they put it into at the end of the process.

When eating fries, salt the ketchup. All the salt usually just falls off the fries. Game changer
- The real pro tip is to not eat fries with ketchup. Eat them with satay-sauce instead
  
  Nederlander?
  
  satay-sauce
  I've been on the internet since 1996 or so, and this is the first mention (in English) of Satay. Amazing.
  Satay with some mayo is nice as well.
  
  I like using Sriracha, or peri-peri sauce from Nando's or Trader Joe's.
  
  that sounds actually excellent. I got a sack of potatoes and a deep fryer, would a pre made bottled sauce be worthy or should I just look up a recipe and do it the real way?
  
  Or curry sauce or mayonnaise.
- I'm totally going to try this.

Wash dishes while you cook. It was a game-changer for me.

For those that enjoy eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches, use a hot dog bun for the bread. I know, it genius.
- It’s a pbj with banana in it
- My wife recently told me she likes to grab a tortilla, lather it in peanut butter than place a whole banana inside and roll it up. All I can think is that is genius and I have to try it the next time we have the trifecta of extra tortillas, bananas that need eating and a hungry me
  
  My Mom would make me those as a kid. Good ole banana burritos.
  
  Corn or flour (and I hope to god she's heating them up first)? Growing up as a Caucasian child, my parents never cooked the tortillas on taco night and I didn't know you were supposed to until meeting my Hispanic wife. Eating a cold tortilla now is like blasphemy.
- Drizzle honey on top as well for an even better treat.
- I did this at work recently when my coworker brought me a pack of leftover hotdog buns. Texted my husband that I was having a veggie hotdog, but the fact that I didn't think to do it until 42 is somewhat embarrassing.
- For those who enjoy peanut butter and banana sandwiches, take it to the next level with Sriracha sauce.

Not smoke.

This one is sort of very specific and niche, but as a caregiver of someone with an ostomy, you can take a roll of this disposable plastic produce bags from the grocery store. Terrible for use as a produce bag because they're plastic and disposable and whatnot, but for bag empties when you need to use something disposable no matter what? They're invaluable.
Also doggy poop bags. Great for that. Just grab one of the small almost empty rolls, and tell the cashier "I'mma take these" and no one gives a shit
- Spit in your toilet paper I am not kidding, it will significantly improve your life.
  
  Hmmm, sure....
  
  Hell yeah! I do this everyday when I'm away from my bidet at home.
  
  I'm... Gonna need further elaboration
- Huh, I've always just bought small trashbags, never crossed my mind to just grab the whole roll of those produce bags. Still might not, feels wrong to just take them. :)
- My mom uses them for dog poop too
- Not sure I could get used to using transparent bags for dog poop.

Swipe left and right on your phone's spacebar to move the cursor.
- That's gboard and also thumbkey on Android. The stock keyboard (e.g. on lineage) does nothing.
  Holding the spacebar switches languages, despite the fact that there is annoyingly a language button right next to the spacebar.
  Stock android keyboard is genuinely terrible.
  The best stock layout I've seen is on PmOS which puts dot to the left of Q, and comma to the right of L, thus saving that extra diagonal space.
- Holy shit. I had no idea.
  
  Spread the good word. Everyone I tell is blown away and comes back to me later to thank me.
  It's just really handy for correcting autocorrect typos.
- That's not universal, though - this is how I switch keyboards to Cyrillic.
  
  Mine does the language switch as well, but I can get cursor control if I tap and hold space before moving left or right.

Next time you're eating the chips at a Mexican Restaurant, get a side of lemons/limes.
Apply citrus to chips and sprinkle desired salt amount.
The salt will stay on the zesty chips throughout the salsa dipping process.

I feel like most intelligent people are now on the bidet bandwagon, but it still blows my mind how many people I know that still resist using one (even when readily available). Quit being fuckin disgusting!
Some of these same people wonder why their sex life is mediocre at best. Maybe it's your hygiene. Just sayin.
- Wow, I’ve never seen someone try to link bidet use to intelligence before. It’s almost impressive.
  
  Nor I to a better sex life
  
  You clearly haven't met a Southern European. We divide the world in civilized ass washers and uncivilized smelly barbarians
- During my first trip to Japan I was reluctant to use it.
  My manager was traveling with me and he bought one to take home and he already had one from a previous trip and he kept talking about how life changing it was
  I finally decided to use the bidet on my last day of the trip and it was a life changer. I had to go back to Japan a month later and I got a nice Toshiba that unfortunately died early this year but now you can find bidets easily on Amazon or Costco
- wow. shitty attitude is shitty lol
  
  You'd understand if you had one
- This is high level trolling, very impressive sir

Someone just suggested to me that I should be putting my chocolate bars in the freezer first. I've never heard of this, but apparently it's a thing that I've been missing out on for a while.
So I guess I'm the one who can't believe that I don't do it.
- I'm someone who puts all sweets in the freezer/fridge, and just realize that some become borderline inedible with this.
  9th
- why?
  I only do this with the fridge in the summer to not let the chocolate melt. but why the freezer?
  
  They say it just tastes better. idk. I'm going to try it soon.
- Why have regular chocolate when you can have hard chocolate with no flavor?

Use those paper toilet seat covers so you don't sit right on someone else's butt cheek grease
- I actually saw those once! Was so confused what they were at first, I was visiting the USA at the time and they had them in some of their public toilets.
  But then they also have a huge - intentional - gap in the doors on those cubicles, so that people outside the cubicle waiting to use it were just watching me poop.
  It was really fucked up, and not just a one off design mistake, this was EVERY public bathroom. Mental.
  
  No one was watching you poop, Americans don't look between the cracks, we know better.

Eat your burget upside down.
- I tried it, but the blood rushes to my head and I eventually pass out before I can eat the whole thing.
  
  With time and pratice you will get it right, I recommend starting by laying on the floor and then turning a bit more when you feel like it.
  
  This gave me a really good chuckle.
- I know a burger place that serves their burgers upside down, blew my mind when I first discovered it.
  
  I can’t see the benefit, what am I missing?

Open a banana from the seed end and not the bunch end. It's much easier.
- I still prefer the bunch end; the seed end has this odd taste
- Wondering why somebody would downvote this.
  
  I also thought it was strange. Sounds like the much easier part?
  
  I do it that way for my kid as she prefers it, and the "normal" way for me, and it is identically easy.
  I cannot understand the claim that it's easier the seed end, it's just not true.
  It's definitely cleaner doing it the normal way from the bunch end as you never get bits of banana on you if it's a particularly squishy one.
  Bunch end wins for me. Just as easy if not easier and no mess.

If you're going to make simple syrup, use a stick blender.
Firstly, it's easier and faster than heating the sugar and water in a pot, which is the most popular method.
Secondly, you don't lose any significant amount of water to evaporation. That's not a big deal if you make 1:1 simple syrup, but if you're going 2:1 (which I prefer), you're already very close to the maximum solubility of sugar in water at room temperature. Losing a few grams of water can make it supersaturated, which leads to sugar crystals falling out of solution over time. Not a big deal, but a little annoying.
If you give it a try, bear in mind that you're going to get a cloudy syrup at first. That's totally normal, and it's not undissolved sugar, it's just air bubbles. They'll float out over time.
- This is amazing advice that I will absolutely use!
  
  Happy to help! It's worked great for me, and a buddy of mine also liked it, so I'm fairly sure it's not a fluke. :P
  Also, my ratios were by weight. That's only relevant because that's what makes me push up against the maximum solubility. If you go volumetric, you have more wiggle room. The second point will be less relevant, but it's still faster and easier than heating it in a pot, IMO.
  Oh, and as a bonus: you don't need to wait for the syrup to cool down.

Neti Pots. I clean our my sinuses every night before bed, and I rarely get sick. Of course it's not a miracle cure, but it's great at preventing a viral infection before it starts.
- Doesn't frequent cleaning of sinuses cause irritation? I believe healthy sinuses should be mostly self cleaning. Of course if you have some long-term condition then it's different
  
  I don't have any irritation, but I'm a big robust guy, so perhaps milage may vary.
  And sure, I would assume that the sinuses are self-cleaning to an extent, but they are also designed to be a filter to keep junk out of our lungs. The way I see it, I'm just cleaning the filter out before I go to bed.

Buying & steeping loose leaf tea instead of bagged garbage. Higher quality, lower price, actually tastes decent with multiple steeps. If I don’t finish the leaves, I fill the teapot with water to have cold brew the next morning. If you get into it, an electric kettle that lets you set the temperature is essential since you can avoid burning leaves much easier & unlocking more delicate leaves that require lower temperatures. Last tip which should be obvious: no milk or sugar & if you think it tastes bad, why do you keep buying black tea instead of something good?
- I dated a girl who was militant about the seed end being the RIGHT end and anyone opening it from the bunch end was wrong. Her reasoning is that in cartoons the banana peel that characters slip on is ALWAYS opened by the seed end.
  
  Never tried banana peel tea, but I would be willing to try it

Having a IRA or 401k.
I'm 40 and the amount of people who kinda know what a IRA is is terrifying. Like, you're gonna die in poverty.
- What if I told you that knowing I’m going to die in poverty isn’t helping me escape poverty?

Store your toothbrush rolled in a piece of sanitary paper. It's so much cleaner than having it laying around, where dust gets on it.
- If you use it twice a day at least, it usually won't get dusty....
  
  yeah but like if it's stored right next to the sink, and somebody washes their hands, the water particles containing the thing that is washed off (be it poop particles or greasy substances) go everywhere, from experience. including on your toothbrush, right?
- i brush my teeth with poop

When eating chicken wing flats, if you pry the bones apart you can slip them out and you're left with a single piece of meat you can eat whole. You don't have leftover bits in the middle of the two bones.
Also, keep nitrile gloves in your glove box or purse and use them when eating messy things like wings and ribs and cake.
- To add to that, use those nitrile gloves when you cook. It's a game changer for food prep, especially when working with raw meat
  
  And for hot peppers.

Knock your knuckles against your car door to zap static electricity on something less sensitive.

Using curbside pickup at Chick-fil-A. The line is a mile long, people. I'm in and out in 45 seconds.

I get HelloFresh boxes and cancel after one week
- To use the discounts?
  It used to be pretty good, being able to get a full week if meals for 20 dollars or so. But now the discounts are spread over multiple boxes and it’s not really worth it anymore
  
  Yeah, it used to be roughly first box free