Have You Been Using These Everyday Products All Wrong?

Best Place to Purchase: Wholesale store, Amazon 
Average Product Price: $10 for 12-pack*

Tic Tacs help you keep your breath fresh no matter where you are. However, it’s often hard to just tap out one or two Tic Tacs at a time. The key to not spilling all of these mints is in the container. Turn the pack upside down horizontally, so that the lid, when you open it, is facing up.

Tic Tacs @Mad Russian Scientist / YouTube.com

You’ll notice that there is a Tic Tac-shaped indentation in the lid. By emptying out the Tic Tacs that way, you can get one at a time. If you’re a big breath mint fan, you can buy a twelve-pack for just $10 on Amazon.

Best Place to Purchase: Nike, Adidas, Foot Locker
Average Product Price: $115-$120*

One of the most annoying things that every runner has experienced is heel slippage. If you’re running and your heel consistently slips out of your shoe, try a lace lock. Road Runner Sports identified a lace lock as double-tying your laces through the top two lace holes on either side of the running shoe.

Extra Holes on Running Shoes @Illumiseen / Youtube.com

This pulls your foot back, stopping slippage and the potentially disastrous fall that can result. It also works if you need a little more toe room. If you find that this problem is common for you, you might also need to be resized at stores like Foot Locker to make sure you’re buying the correctly-sized shoe.

Best Place to Purchase: Walmart (50-pack), bulk stores 
Average Product Price: $13-$25*

Food Beast and Reader’s Digest broke the news to everyone that we’ve been using Chinese food containers incorrectly this whole time. Chinese takeout containers actually unfold into a self-serving plate. And, if you don’t finish all your food at once, the box refolds for storage.

Chinese Takeout Containers @Hacks DIY / Pinterest.com via @Kelly Davis / Pinterest.com

That will save you time, as you won’t be washing any extra dishes. If you want to buy Chinese takeout containers for your home, you can. They’re available at Walmart, usually in packs of fifty for a little under $14.

Best Place to Purchase: Budget/dollar stores, Amazon 
Average Product Price: $3-$5*

You might be wondering how you could possibly be using a tape measure wrong. There’s more to it, as it turns out, than just unrolling it and looking at the numbers. If you look at your tape measure closely you’ll notice that there are black diamonds on the tape measure. Those are actually stud finders.

Measuring Tape Diamonds @DragonflyzDesig / Twitter.com

For those of us who aren’t very handy, a stud finder is used to locate framing studs behind the walls. The black diamonds on the tape mark the middle point between two studs, if you start your tape measuring at one stud. The cheapest places to buy tape measures, generally, include online retails like Amazon, as well as most dollar stores. 

Best Place to Purchase: Local grocery stores, wholesale (if you’re a big ketchup fan)
Average Product Price: $2.88-$5.98*

Heinz ketchup is delicious, but sometimes, it just absolutely refuses to come out of the bottle. Most people just smack the bottom of the bottle as hard as possible and hope for the best. However, there is a hack for getting stubborn ketchup out that you might have missed.

Heinz Ketchup Bottle @LMP 360 Media / Pinterest.com

The best place to smack the bottle is not, in fact, the bottom. Instead, hit the Heinz bottle right on the “57” sticker, near the top. Give the sticker several solid taps with a knife or other utensil, and the ketchup will come right out far more conveniently.  

Best Place to Purchase: Costco, Sam’s Club
Average Product Price: $8.49/40 (Costco)*

As any parent knows, kids are total professionals at making messes. Juice boxes, though they might seem mess-proof, aren’t always that convenient. Turns out one way to minimize the mess is to unfold the flaps at the bottom of the juice box. That gives kids a little ledge on the box that they can hold while drinking.

Juice Boxes @michaelwtravels / Pinterest.com

If your kids drink a lot of juice, another life hack is to buy in bulk. At stores like Costco and Sam’s Club,you can get a 40-pack of juice boxes for under ten dollars. The quantity and price may vary based on new sales or products offered. 

Best Place to Purchase: Walmart, Target 
Average Product Price: $9-$10/2-pack (Walmart)*

One little detail on a box of Reynolds wrap has long gone ignored despite being hidden in plain sight. Reynolds wrap, as sold in stores like Target, Walmart and local grocery stores, is one of the most popular tinfoil brands out there.

Aluminum Foil Boxes @lynp1 / Pinterest.com

If you look at the side of the box, there is a little tab. This tab can be folded inward. It is large enough for you to slip a finger through the hole and hold the tinfoil in place. In turn, it’s easier to unroll a sheet and tear it without unspooling more foil than you meant to. 

Best Place to Purchase: Any store that has carts
Average Product Price: $0 to use*

Once your plastic grocery bag is filled from a store like Target or Walmart, it seems like they become ten times heavier and twenty times more uncomfortable to carry. Not to worry: people have finally figured out what the loops on grocery shopping carts (the one near the child seat) are for.

Shopping Cart Loops @ThisIsCanadah / Facebook.com

They’re for carrying your grocery bags. You can hang the bags from the loops after you’ve checked out. This works well for shoppers with a lot of bags and delicate items. You don’t have to worry about the heavier bags squashing delicate eggs or bread—just hang them on the shopping cart loops on the way out to the car. 

Best Place to Purchase: Fast food places ($0 with purchase)
Average Product Price: $1-$3/drink* 

This one has made the rounds before on social media, as people realize there is more to your soft drink lid than getting to press the little buttons on the top after the cashier hands you your drink. Reader’s Digest noted that you can use soft drink lids as a coaster.

Soft Drink Lids @u/3t_clemente / Reddit.com

Just flip the lid over and you have a new use for the lid. If there isn’t a coaster nearby, you can avoid getting water on the table. This will work with pretty much any lid, whether it is from McDonald’s, Burger King, or Wendy’s. 

Best Place to Purchase: Costco/Sam’s Club
Average Product Price: $9.97/45-count*

Applesauce can be a yummy, healthy snack when you’re on the go. But we’ve all been in a situation where we have forgotten a utensil. The applesauce lid is made of tinfoil, which means that it is malleable and durable. In a pinch, you can mold a spoon out of the tinfoil, using the plastic container as a bowl for the applesauce.

Self-Serve Applesauce @u/IRunOverThings / Reddit.com

The tinfoil is sturdy enough to hold the applesauce, and you can smooth down the sharp edges. That way, you don’t miss out on your snack. If you’re a big applesauce fan, considering buying in bulk or from budget stores like Walmart to save money. 

Best Place to Purchase: Pizza Hut, Domino’s (cheapest delivery)
Average Product Price: $0 (comes with pizza)*

Have you ever gone to grab a slice of pizza and accidentally pulled apart the slices next to it? As much as we love our gooey, cheesy pizza, it can be a little hard to separate the slices – especially for those of us who order pizzas with extra cheese.

Pizza Box Saver @OsgoodGirl / Pinterest.com @ZRK REVIEWS / YouTube.com

The pizza box saver (the little white plastic circle in every Domino’s Pizza box) can help with that. Use the saver to hold down the slice of pizza next to the one that you want. It’s far more hygienic as well, as you don’t have to use your hands to touch the other slices. 

Best Place to Purchase: Local grocery stores, Walmart, Costco
Average Product Price: $2.48*

Cords are hard to distinguish. They look almost identical, and it can be a nightmare trying to sort out which is which. What you can do to make life easier is reuse bread tags. The plastic bread tags can fit around a computer cable. Write the name of the device to which the cord belongs on the tag and slip it on the cable.

Bread Tags @GreenEcoServices / Pinterest.com

Don’t bother buying plastic or paper labels when you can just use what’s in your house. If you buy in bulk at places like Sam’s Club or Costco, you’ll have bread tags galore for labeling. 

Best Place to Purchase: Etsy, Walmart, Target  
Average Product Price: $1-$10*

Whether for school or for your own adventuring, you’ve probably spent a pretty penny investing in the perfect backpack. And if so, you might have noticed a little tab in the center of the bag. Typically it’s a diamond-shaped leather patch with two slots in the center.

Backpack Patches @Wochit News / YouTube.com

The patch is called a “pig snout” or a “lash tab.” You can fasten equipment to it by weaving a string through the patch to tie your gear to the bag. Etsy and other local sellers often have creative (yet functional) backpack patches from which to choose.

Best Place to Purchase: Kohl’s, Target 
Average Product Price: $10-$50 (for the dress shirt)*

This one dates back to the Gant Company, which was one of the major dress shirt producers. Ivy League customers were particularly fond of the preppy shirts’ style, and the Gant Company added a new feature to its dress shirts: locker loops. These are the little loops of fabric on the back of men’s dress shirts.

Dress Shirt Loops @Stefania Mancini / Pinterest.com @Elaine Hamilton / Quora.com

The loop was named the “locker loop” because men could hang their shirts up by it, preventing the button-downs from getting wrinkled—a hack that is still true today. However, you can buy comparatively less pricey shirts from stores like Kohl’s and Target.