Redditor secondhandsisters wanted to make a list of the things we may have or need that covers dual purposes.
"What are some lesser-known secondary uses for an everyday product?"
Vodka. Did you know it also disinfects?
God's gift.
Down the Drain....
cockroach GIFGiphy"Bleach to keep away cockroaches. I used to get big a** cockroaches in the summer that came up my drain. My exterminator told me to pour 1 cup of bleach down my drain each week. You have to pour it down the drain in the room you see them. I started 18 months ago and haven't seen a cockroach since."
moochello
Pour it In...
"Use salt as an abrasive and absorber when cleaning. I spray my stove top with a general household cleaner then sprinkle salt liberally over the top. It gets grease out easily."
"For liquid stains like wine, I pour salt over the stain to soak up excess liquid then come through with hydrogen peroxide. Finally I get absorbent towels and dab clean it."
fopeo
Down Below
"Scuba diver here. Instead of using those expensive defogger gels and sprays on your mask, smear a bunch of dish soap in it, rinse once or twice, and your mask will never fog during the dive."
"You can also use this method to keep your windshield from fogging. Smear a bunch of dish soap on a towel, then rub it all over the inside of your windshield. Take another damp towel and rub the soap off until your wind shield is clear. I did this 3 weeks ago and have not had to defog a single time since."
layerzeroissue
The Mist
"Shaving foam reduces\stops misting on bathroom mirrors and car windows."
wirral_guy
"You can also use it to write creepy text like 'I died here' or 'I'm watching you' on mirrors of other people's bathrooms. When done right it will be pretty much invisible normally but the text will show up when someone is taking a bath/shower and the mirror fogs up."
ben_g0
Blot
friends GIF by Stan.Giphy"Toilet seat covers are the same as blotting paper for oily skin."
wurstbrot_royal
Oil is really quite amazing. It covers a lot.
I hate Redisue
Whats Up Nod GIF by WWEGiphy"Any cooking oil is a great way to remove the residue from stickers. I don't know if this is recommended but if you get scratches on wood furniture I've always taken a matching washable marker, colored over the scratch, and then wiped it with a damp cloth (to effectively stain the wood back to match)."
Underratted
Nuts
"Rub a walnut nut on wood scratches."
"Also just go buy a small bottle of goo-gone. It is that oil, but smells great and does a better job than cooking oil. It's like a buck for a couple ounces, and that bottle has lasted me years."
"Edit: used 'Walnut nut' To differentiate it from using a whole walnut... So someone isn't rubbing a dry walnut shell on their wood. ;)"
Nords
"I have a set of 4 furniture wood pens. The trick to make it look natural is to wipe it after. I wondered for weeks why they weren’t doing the trick until someone told me that."
LilNightingale
Lessons
Vaseline Hml407 GIF by truTV’s Hack My LifeGiphy"Vagisil for chafing. It's antibacterial, lubricating, and an anesthetic. I learned that in the army."
Churonna
Stop the Bleed
"Corn starch is a good blood coagulant if you need to stop bleeding."
drdoom
"I saved my pet Tarantula with corn starch like this before. Her abdomen split after falling on tile, and the cornstarch stopped her from bleeding out. Several months later and she's doing great after that almost fatal fall."
WaCinTon
Grind and Press
"If you have a French press for coffee, you can also froth milk in it after. Pour in hot milk and raise and lower the plunger until the volume of the milk has about doubled."
"Not my channel, but plugging for James Hoffman. If you like coffee, and want to explore the utter depths of the world of coffee, coffee gear, coffee science in a super chill and informative way, check him out!"
ThatIndianBoi
Soothe
chihuahua petting GIF by YasislasGiphy"Clean mascara wands are used in animal shelters to soothe the animals by brushing, and to remove fly eggs and larva from fur."
Drink-my-koolaid
I have been under using everything I own. I swear.
"What subject is that?"
GiphyA way of inserting knowledge into my brain. Goodbye school. Trickypr
In the movie THX1138 little kids are playing with IVs running into their arms. A middle aged guy stops one and asks "What subject is that?" when the kid answers the guy says "Really? It's so small. When I was your age that subject was THIS BIG and we had to lay down to get it!".
It's been years since I watched the show so obviously the dialogue isn't close to exact hopefully you get the gist. It was a great "I had to walk uphill, in the snow, barefoot, both ways" moment in the show. huckDexterWard
Shower Diet.
A churro you can eat in the shower. hfroxE
very churro is a shower churro if you want it bad enough. 1iopen
Flipped.
An umbrella that doesn't flip cause of wind. jimtothetim
Search wind proof umbrella you can find several brands. :) 👍🏼 Flamingo492
Choices of Zzzzz....
GiphyA "select a sleep" device, where you can dial in whether to dream, how long you'll be out, and hit "Z" to fall asleep instantly. eclectic-radish
Science doesn't even understand why we need sleep entirely so that's a bit away. rattpackfan301
Clickers.
A clicker pen that makes a different animal noise each time you click it. BlezlTheRainbow
This would last about two weeks before every teachers desk was full and the schools ban them. Sullivan17
Teleporting.
Teleporting. I wake up everyday waiting for it. These damn train cartels preventing it from happening. TempStepDad
When teleportation becomes a thing, who's to argue that it's just killing current you then perfectly reproducing a new you without the memories of your original's death? rattpackfan301
Hovering....
Hover boards. Back to the Future is a bunch of bull! comrade_batman
It's possible, but not profitable. rattpackfan301
Not profitable? When it rains and there's gigantic puddles everywhere I'd rather a hover board then wet socks. 0AzRen0
Cured.
A cure for the common cold! manseydoll
Its tough because the common cold is more of a symptom more than anything else. There are over 200 different viruses that cause the Common Cold, its why you keep getting colds and why kids get so many. Too many to build up immunity to everything and too many to cure. If they cured 1 they'd still have 200+ to go. little_fatty
All the Feels.
A phone that can not only let you see and hear things, but also touch and smell. _HastaLaPasta_
Back when the internet was first getting big, there was a device that plugged into a PC that supposedly replicated smells. It had some stupid name like smell o vision or some shit. It did not sell well. bernyzilla
Remote Patrol.
GiphyA button on a TV that makes the remote beep. dead_wolf_walkin
My tv doesn't even have buttons anymore. God forbid I lose the remote while the tv is on. Reddit
Stoned.
A pill that dissolves kidney stones. intelligent_cement
I think I heard something about a procedure using ultrasounds to try to break them up. ArcWolf713
Lithotripsy. When I had it done to break up the golf ball sized stone blocking my ureter, they put me under for it and put a stent in to help the pieces pass more easily.
It was still like peeing shards of glass for a few days.
Plus, as an added bonus, they don't knock you out to remove the stent, they just put a small tube, grab it, and pull.
All in all, I'd rather have a pill that dissolves them. KhaoticMess
Lasered.
Better printers. Kn1ght0fN169
Advice I got from r/askengineers.
"Get a brother laser printer and never look back."
I bought one. Haven't looked back. It's wonderful. lulzdemort
Glass temps...
Every window in your car has a heating element so you don't have to stand in the freezing cold scraping all the windows . And likewise they wont steam up in cold weather with 3 or more people in the car. inked29inked29
it needs to remain indirect. My old chebby gains heat within seconds even at 20 below. I have cracked windshields in ice storms just starting the truck. I leave it on floor settings to go easier on that frail stuff called double laminated safety glass. bgd73
boy control.
GiphyLegit birth control for men. Varvatos_Vex
There was one in the works but it made the test subjects depressed/suicidal. One person even supposedly committed suicide. The sick part was the stay at home mom talk shows were like "men are such wimps" :( Ensec
Shiny Heads.
A legitimate cure for balding. What's the hold up? There have got to be bald scientists dedicating their lives to this. anon3220
It's a very profitable industry, and heck yes there are. The future is cloning hair follicles, but we still need to figure out the ethics with stem cells. rattpackfan301
Dental Works.
A method to regrow teeth. discostud1515
They're working on it. Recently read something about regenerating enamel. While ago read something about soaking teeny spongy things in an Alzheimer's medication and they pack it in a cavity or something and it regrows dentin. I'm too tired to find you the sauce but it's out there. Bolognabaybe
Freeze Blast.
A microwave, but for making stuff cold. EggsAndBeerKegs
Most professional kitchens have blast chillers which are pretty similar. Or there's always an anti griddle. prongslover77
Whose got the Power?!
Fusion power. A clean power source who's base product is literally everywhere, allowing us to replace much (comparatively) more expensive fuel sources?
We should be dumping hundreds of billions of dollars into researching it and finally get rid of fossil fuels. hockeypeg18
If I don't live to see it (58), I'm confident a 20yo will. The science is there, what's needed is the technology and engineering. Not to underestimate that challenge but it's grunt it out work that can be solved with money. tatersdad
Health First.
GiphyThe medical kiosk where you can walk in and get your finger pricked and pee in a cup and maybe even get an X-ray all while chatting with a medical professional. Pay your $50 and leave. 2K_Argo
Okay, we want all of these please! What would you add to this? Let us know in the comments below.
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u/jacklandors92 asked:
Here were some of those answers.
A Shield By Any Other Name
I was thinking about ways to defend yourself from attack. Started out with a shield and thought "what if we go bigger?"
Tower shield?
Let's go bigger.
Shield that protects 180 degrees of your body.
Let's go bigger.
Shield that protects a full 360 degrees.
That's cumbersome.
What if we could fit it to your body?
Armour. That's armour. Nevermind.
Flipbook
If you put pictures along a subway wall at the right distance from each other, and the train is moving at a constant speed, it will look like a movie to passengers in the train. Held on to this "invention" until I saw one of these in the train from Heathrow to central London once, there are probably others elsewhere.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...
A Fan To Nowhere
Got into a drunken conversation with my cousin and we "invented" a toilet that had a built in exhaust fan that would suck your stink air out instead of having a normal fan in the ceiling.
We went on and on about the proper implementation of it for like 20 minutes before thinking to google it.
They exist, and they're expensive. :(
Protected Foot
I decided that leggings would be better if they had socks attached and got really excited about my invention idea for a solid minute until I realized I had just "invented" tights.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...
Nah, i've had this discussion before with my skiier buddies. They should make long johns with built in ski socks.
My buddy said "like tights", and i was like nah, you want it to be the different materials for both, but attached so you don't have to have the uncomfortable in-boot overlap of sock and longjohn cuffs.
Wiretapped
"LiveWire" orange Mountain Dew. My friend and I decided to mix Crush with Mountain Dew once and found it was delicious. Then a few weeks later we saw it at a gas station and thought the CIA was listening to our phone lines (pre cell phones, for our area at least)
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...
Or A Bed With Wheels
After a long day pushing my son around Disney World in his stroller I was day dreaming about how nice it would be for there to be adult sized strollers that we could use to get off our feet when we are tired.
And that's the day I invented the wheel chair.
This Magic Mixture
The color green. I was coloring a picture at home (I think it was a football player), first with yellow, then I accidentally drew with blue over it and the result was turqoise-greenish. Somewhere over the next few days in school, we had to do presentations and we were trying to decide for a color for the header. I was like "How about this?", showed it on my paper and everyone was like "Noo, green is boring... let's go with something else", which was when I realized oooh, yeah, that's green oops.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...
Where The Foods Are
Friends liked to go to bars and hang out a lot. I don't drink, but I do get hungry and most bar food is only okay at best. I wish they served better food for me to eat. I also hate having to yell to hold a conversation, so I wish they turned the music down and it was generally quieter and we could hear each other at a normal volume. So there should be, like, a bar but that serves a wider variety of better food and that has quiet music so you can hear each other talk. Great idea! -- wait, that's just a restaurant, self. You want to hang out in restaurants.
The Cinema
I was watching Black Mirror, and I was thinking how the seasons only have like 3-4 episodes, then I thought "well it's ok since the episodes are long." Then I got thinking "what if they made a season with one episode and the one episode is really long." Then I realized that those are just movies
Times Tables
GiphyWhen we were memorizing the times tables in elementary school, I couldn't get the nines, for whatever reason. So I'm studying this trying to figure out how to remember it, when I stumbled on a pattern. If you're multiplying the number by 9, you could multiply it by 10 instead, and just subtract the original number. I thought I was so brilliant, like I'm going to be some math prodigy or something.
Yeah no, it turns out that's just how all multiplication works. Looking back though, it's pretty dumb that we make kids rote memorize these dumb tables, instead of helping them understand the core idea in the first place.
