Grip a Stripped Screwhead, and More

5 Tricks to Improve Your Life*

1 Grip a Stripped Screwhead

Let he who has not incompetently stripped a screw cast the first stone. Next time this happens to you, slip a rubber band over the tip of the screwdriver before tightening or loosening. The band is thin enough to fill in the screw groove (even a Phillips-head) and textured enough for the screwdriver to grasp. This works on screwheads that are already stripped and will also prevent the stripping of new screws if your screwdriver isn’t a perfect fit.

2 Save Fingernails from Key Ring Torture

Sliding a thick car key or fob onto your key chain is the modern-day equivalent of bamboo shoots under the fingernails. A staple remover can save you the agony. Its teeth delicately slide between the rings and hold them open while you painlessly attach or remove keys and membership cards.

3 Soften Hard-as-abrick Ice Cream

For all the dairy queens and kings who’ve tried to scoop rock-hard ice cream straight from the freezer, there’s no need to bend another spoon. Run a sharp knife under hot water and use it to carve a tic-tac-toe board across the top layer of the ice cream. This increases the ice cream’s exposed surface area and expedites the thawing process. If you still need help, run your scooper under hot water too.

4 The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Enter a different birthday each time you sign up with a company online. This way, instead of being flooded with celebratory discounts that you can’t take advantage of all at once on your real birthday, you’ll get regular discounts throughout the year. It’s totally harmless for you and the company, and it could even help protect your identity if its database is hacked.

5 Freshen Up Your Window Screens

Door and window screens are magnets for spiderwebs, dust, and icky debris, but they’re devilishly tricky to take down to clean. One solution: Use a lint roller. Just a few swipes across the surface of the screen will cut down on that grime and fuzz.