"Wait ... that's what that's for!?" - us, about 17 times reading this thread.
One Reddit user asked:
What common product has a feature you're not sure everyone is aware of?
and honestly, we know we normally do a whole big long intro, but we're all over here so annoyed at all the stuff we didn't know that we're gonna go try things out. We're pretty sure we have quite a few of these things laying around here somewhere...
Microsoft Whaaaaaaaaat
shocked kimmy schmidt GIF by Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
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When you are writing in Microsoft word or Outlook and accidentally leave caps lock on, select the text and press Shift F3. It will change the text between upper and lower case, and there's a third option to make the first letter of each word upper case too.
Always seems to blow peoples minds when I tell them.
- graeuk
The other one along with this I love to tell people about is windows key + period which opens an Emoji keyboard on your pc.
- Chimie45
The Windows
With many car key remotes, you can make all the windows go down at once by pushing the "unlock" button 3 times.I learned this the hard way, sat on my keys, all my windows and sunroof opened.. in the middle of a snowstorm
- stixyBW
On our car remote it's press and hold unlock to lower all windows. Great, until I sat on the key in the house whilst it was raining outside. It still smells a bit musty months later.
- xylose
During the summer it routinely hits 100F during the summer. My car is parked in direct sunlight from the time I get to work until the time I leave.
I can literally bake cookies in my car in the summer. Being able to let the windows down from a distance like that would be a god send.
Move That Cursor
If you hold down the space bar on your iPhone (and some androids) it allows you to move the cursor anywhere in the text.
Woah. You have saved a lot of my time in future. Thanks
Most of the time the cursor defaults to the beginning or end of the word I tapped. Using the space bar is wayyyy faster for very quickly place the cursor EXACTLY where I want.
Also, a key component to this trick is that you can re-tap the space bar (while doing the cursor movement) to switch to highlight mode. Highlighting shit on iOS is hard AF to get it precisely where you want. This solves that.
- 1saltyMF
Switch It Up
Most ceiling fans have a switch to reverse direction of the blades.
Set to clockwise at low speed in winter for an updraft that redistributes warmed air at the ceiling downward, and then switch to counter-clockwise at higher speed in summer to create a cooling downdraft.
If you're gonna use that switch, before you turn the fan back on, make sure you dust the blades! You will get a nice snowfall of dust on your head and in your eyes otherwise.
The Most Magical Mute
You can mute many microwaves.
Holy shot I need to figure this one out. I always set it for more time than I need so I can open it before it runs out of time, otherwise,
BEEEEEEEEP......
BEEEEEEEEP......
BEEEEEEEEP......
BEEEEEEEEP......
BEEEEEEEEP......
And there's nothing you can do until the 5 excruciatingly long beeps.
I would absolutely buy the first microwave that gives the user control over beeping volume, or has an abbreviated beep mode. It's fascinating how manufacturers put so much attention on aesthetics, but in terms of acoustics they have no issues with making their products ugly as f*ck.
Staple Shenanigans
office space stapler GIF by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
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Staplers have a spring loaded base plate that can be popped up and rotated, which will make the staples splay outward as opposed to inward.
The rub is that nobody wants that so as a practical joke I flip them for everyone's stapler and watch as then go f*cking batsh*t crazy.
- kdubstep
I noticed that at work one day and looked up why that is.
A staple that points outward is far easier to remove. So if only want to staple some documents temporarily, that's what that setting is for.
Basically bend it in the middle and the staple comes right out, no fancy stop remover necessary.
Stop Stretching
Oven doors come off. just open till the first stop and pull straight up. i don't know how many people i've seen stretching to clean the back.
And stove tops lift up and can be locked like a car hood!
So you get everything under/around the coils
I remember when I did that in college and my roommates were absolutely floored that it did that. I'm just like... I've always known this and your kitchen at home must be NASTY.
That Overlap Is There For A Reason
Baby onesies have the overlap at the shoulders so you can pull it down the kids and off if they have a diaper blow out.
So much better than trying to get a sh*t-covered onesie over their head. I'm so annoyed that I found out about this after I was done with the baby stage.
Man, this tip would have been nice when my kids were babies and regularly getting those up-to-the-neck poop explosions when they were in their jumper seats.
When You're Not Carrying Quarters
Most gas station coin operated air compressors have a button on the back. Press this button three times and the pump starts automatically.
Parking ProblemsÂ
Find parking function on Google Maps.
When you park in a stadium or airport parking lot or a city you unfamiliar with: Open Google Maps, hit bullseye (location) then the blue dot. Pinpoints location and gives option to add notes to remind yourself of things like garage level etc.
Not Sure, But It Works
The metal part inside the handles of meat scissors (that gap left inside when they are closed which often has metal or a round cut out with ridges) is extremely useful for opening stuck lids on soda bottles and such.
I'm not sure it's supposed to be a bottle opener, but it works really well as one.
A Tab And Seagull Necks
You know those plastic rings for six-packs? They have a little tab that if you pull on it, they're much easier to tear. I've been using that for ages. It's really useful if you're worried your trash is gonna end up around a seagull's neck.
All This Paint Wisdom
painter GIF
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I am trained in house paint (the things I know, wow)
ALWAYS when buying paint, ask for the MSDS sheet... (material safety data sheet)... think of it like this. You buy a bottle of Tylenol and the short instructions are on the box. But, if you ask the pharmacy they can print you the long version that tells you all the crap you didn't know, you needed to know... well same with a can of paint.
The MSDS will tell you how to prep your surface, that type of hair brush you need or roller, how many coats at what thickness the paint and primer should be, for the paint to live up to its warranty.
If you spill house paint on a solid surface... leave it, let it dry a few hours (but don't leave it for days, cause then it will cure), spray Windex on it and grab a knife, peels right up.
Also, if you have peeling paint that you need to remove, instead of spending hours in the sun scrapping paint, get one of those Windex power washers, that hook on a hose... loosens up all the paint so it comes off easy... less work.
Also, exterior paint has a min/max surface temp. Most brands, if the surface temp us below 65 or over 80, paint could fail like peel off, not dry right, pin point, and various other things.
Some paint brands can go higher then or lower then the average. That goes for ALL exterior paint /stain products, the surface temp of the item your painting matters.
So, if its 70 degrees out, pain the area in the sun not the shade, you need the surface temp to not fall below the product specifications. That even goes for safety paint that's on curbs and the lines in a parking lot. If you paint those and they are always peeling up... that's why.
A Safety Feature
Most in-sink garbage disposals have a reset button on them. If the disposal stops working completely (will not turn on at all) try pushing that button.
Mine stopped dead once after it got hung up on a piece of silverware. I figured it would at least make noise if broken and it might have been a safety feature. Felt around on it and there was a little button.
Pencil Lube
You can use a pencil to make zippers open & close more smoothly.
The "lead" in a pencil is actually graphite, which is a lubricant. If you have a pair of jeans or whatever with a pesky zipper that catches or gets stuck, just run a pencil along it a few times. It will work great!
You can also use a pencil on a freshly cut key.
Just Add Water
Your Vitamix or high speed blender will clean itself.
All you have to do is rinse it, fill it up halfway with warm water, add a few squirts of dish soap, and run it, gradually increasing the speed to full power.
Let it run on full power for 60 seconds then rise it out. Works great and makes some amazing soap foam for washing other dishes as well!
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I can't definitively say I've come face to face with the spirits. But I have had some unsettling feelings in the dark. Shadows are just shadows sometimes, but who can be sure.
I hear it...
Nbc Wings GIF by HULUGiphy"I was helping my dad clean my grandma's house after she passed and I went in and was trying to find a song in my phone and before I could I heard a cough plain as day come from down the hallway where her room was. She died of lung and throat cancer it was pretty crazy."
Running Past...
"When I was 5 I remember getting home from my grandpa's birthday party. For context my mom was pregnant with my brother at the time, so my parents had already bought his crib. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a women in a white dress and long black hair standing over my brother's crib. I managed to wake up my dad so he could take me to the bathroom. When I got back it was still there. It was only until morning when it disappeared. Every now and then I see a glance of what I assume is that thing running past the backyard."
The Cat
"My best friend and his wife had moved to a new apartment. I came over to visit a few times, and each time I'd see the motion of a cat in my peripheral vision. Not the image of a cat, but a sense of how a cat moves. Anyway, one day I finally cracked some joke about the ghost cat in the place and his wife was instantly saying "See! See! I told you we had a ghost cat!"
"excuse me"
"I worked graveyard shift in a dementia ward for 4 years and it was anything but quiet. I was working with a nurse one night when we both heard a resident say "excuse me." We looked around and no-one was there. I checked on the resident in question and she was fast asleep in her own room. Many of us also experienced someone whistling in the ward late at night and one nurse even managed to catch a video of it happening. It was unnerving to say the least."
Clueless
Skeleton GIFGiphy"I once saw someone short walk by me in my house. They walked into the laundry room which only has one way in. I walked into it behind them and they where gone. I thought it was my little brother but I went to his room and he was asleep. I still have no clue what that was."
- ImBolio
Now was everyone here positive they were sober? Just asking. Those are certainly spooky moments. I'd like some video footage please. Continue...
Reflections
ghost library GIFGiphy"I was up at 3am when I was maybe 7 or 8. I looked out the window and saw a woman in a white dress run across my yard. I could see through her. She was transparent like the reflections on the window."
"you alright?"
"So, my work place is haunted. I was having a really crap day, and as a cleaner, it's normal that me and my co worker will be the only ones left at night. So I was standing on the second floor, leaning on the banister for the stair case, when I heard this male voice say in my ear "you alright?" Clear as day. I turned around so fast and nobody was there and it scared the hell out of me."
- Rex-the-
Watching Me
"I remember as a young kid I usually use to sit in my bed and watch tv with my room door open while the adjacent guest bedroom next to mine would always have the door shut. I always remember seeing that door fully open and close by itself multiple times a day very slowly and gently. Never really bothered me much now that I think about it… but there were other creepier experiences I had in the same house that made me feel uncomfortable like I was being watched."
Betsy
"I went to the Betsy Ross House as a really little kid in the early 90s. Normal house but I was confused why the tour guide never talked about the woman on the chair crying at the edge of the bed in Betsy Ross's bedroom. So I asked about it. No one else saw the woman at the edge of the bed. I figured it was just a wax museum since there was a wax statue of a man in uniform rolling bullets in the basement."
"Years later, I was looking at haunted Philadelphia tours to go on with a friend and the Betsy Ross House was on it. I was like "woah! I was there!" and looked into it some more. Turns out there is a woman at the end of the bed crying and a uniformed man in the basement that people have reported seeing. There is no way that 8 year old me would have known about either of these things."
hello kitty...
hello kitty lol GIF by Animation Domination High-DefGiphy"I had this hello kitty Balloon In my bed room, it had a string and weight on it. So it was late, I had the lights on just Sitting on my bed. The Balloon turns, faces my door, slowly floats into my hallway and turns and floats into my sister's room. To this day I am scared of balloons."
They are among us and they like Hello Kitty. I'm probably rattling the paranormal cages and they'll come for me next, but I'm ready. I feel like this thread has prepared me.
Boo!
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