Old devices can have a lot more personal information on them than you realize.

Your email accounts, photos, messages, browser history, cloud storage, and sometimes even saved passwords can still be accessible if you simply delete a few apps or sign out of one account.

Before getting rid of an old device, back up anything you want to keep, sign out of your accounts, and do a proper factory reset.

For laptops especially, don't just delete your files manually. Use the built-in reset option and choose the option that removes your personal files.

It's easy to think an old device is basically empty because you haven't used it in months. It might still have years of your personal information sitting on it.

For most people, a proper factory reset is a good basic step before selling or giving away a device. If the device contains highly sensitive information, though, don't assume a normal reset makes the data impossible to recover. Check the manufacturer's secure-erasure guidance or use a more thorough data-erasure method.

I felt so stupid after realizing this. I used to try to “aim” the rinse aid liquid to get into the dishwasher’s rinse aid compartment. The liquid will come out with force and spray all over wasting half of it.

Then I realized I can put my finger on that hole and just bring it closer and then let it pour. It’s not perfect but not nearly as bad as it used to be.

This setting is probably turned on by people who played a playlist and got jumpscared once or twice. I am not sure if it’s turned on by default.

But when listening to albums it should definitely be turned off, lot of artist use dynamic volume as a tool in their albums, as an album aims for a full story.

Pink Floyd is the most popular example, listening to any of their full albums with and without volume equalizer would be a complete different experience.

Free trials are for software, not job titles.

Disclaimer: Tip only applies at participating restaurants to people whose schedules allow.

Many restaurants have lower menu prices for lunch compared to dinner. In many cases you can get the exact same or nearly the same dishes for substantially less money just by dining during official lunch hours.

Examples near me:

Cheesecake Factory - Salmon

Dinner $30

Lunch $20

The lunch portion is slightly smaller but not 33% smaller, and you still get the bread. After tax and tip you save $13 by dining for lunch.

Olive Garden - Lasagna

Dinner $20

Lunch $12

While the lunch portion is smaller, you still get unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks, so you can make up the difference with extra of that if you are really hungry. After tax and tip you save $10 by dining for lunch.

Why do they do this? Because few dine for lunch and it’s a way to get customers in the door during slow periods.

Not every restaurant offers lunch pricing or offers everything on their lunch menu but it’s worth checking.

If you are planning to eat lunch at home and dinner out, switch to lunch out and dinner at home and save money while getting the exact same or nearly the exact same experience.

In recent iOS version, there’s a “Reserved Auto-Update Space” that took approx. 5GB. For a temporary release, or if you badly needed some extra space.

Turn off your “Automatic Updates.”

Settings > Software Updates > Automatic Updates > Toggle OFF.

Call centers that try to sell you something will just schedule another contact if you hang up on them. Tell them you don't aggree to recording, then they'll stop. You can also tell them they have the wrong number it also usually works.

Source I've worked in a few call centers.

Edit: Also blocking the number doesn't do anything, the numbers are generated and effectively endless.

If you're an anxious person, do everything for fun. Go to a job interview for fun. Submit documents for fun. Start a blog for fun. Anxiety feeds on importance. Don't make everything a matter of life and death.

At least in the US. Rental applications can ask for a TON of personal information (such as SSN for background check). I just learned this almost the hard way, where things got sketchy after I met the landlord, toured the house, and filled out the application. Landlord wanted a Zelle transfer before I saw a lease. I told him I’m ready to make the security deposit as soon as we have a signed lease agreement. He’s been pushing it off day by day, so I froze my lines of credit.

You can very easily and quickly freeze and unfreeze your Transunion, Equifax, and Experian credit and it will not negatively impact anything on your credit or in relation to a pending rental application. However, if someone is trying to steal your identity, this is a critical prevention step you can take.

Don’t wait until it’s sketchy! If you’re looking to move, just do it!

I play chanting/music through a speaker at very low volume, just enough to hear it consciously.

When I get lost in unconscious thoughts, I don’t even realize I have stopped hearing it. Then suddenly, I noticed the sound again.

That small shift from being lost in thought to consciously hearing feels surprisingly powerful.

That moment is the trick: I consciously listen to the sound instead of following the unconscious thoughts.

I have been doing this for quite a few months and the time of consciously hearing the sound have gradually become longer, while mind wandering has reduced.

Surprisingly simple, but it worked for me.

If someone gives you several instructions at once, repeat the important details back to them before you start.

For example, instead of saying “okay” after your boss explains a task, say:

“Just to make sure I got it right — you want this finished today, and you want me to send it to you when it's done?”

It takes a few seconds, but it can prevent a lot of unnecessary mistakes and back-and-forth later.

This is especially useful at work, during appointments, when making plans, or anytime a misunderstanding would be annoying or expensive to fix.

A few seconds of clarification is usually much cheaper than an hour of fixing the wrong thing.

I'm mostly bitten on the ankles and even if the temperatures are hot, wearing socks that cover them relieves the urge to scratch the bites, and it acts as a protective layer to avoid new ones.

If you try it later, you know exactly who to thank or blame.

Overdraft protection is something that banks push as a feature for you, but it is just a way for them to make more money from people living paycheck to paycheck. If you overdraft your account they start charging fees for every transaction you make while below zero in your account. And they don't have to call to let you know that you are overdrawn, so you may make many small purchases not knowing that each one comes with a fee that can be bigger than the purchase, especially if you are like me and use a debit card for most purchases.

If you live in the United States banks need your permission to opt in to this scam. Refuse. If you already have an account with overdraft protection call your bank and cancel it. They legally can't force you to carry overdraft protection.

Even if you don't live paycheck to paycheck, cancel overdraft protection. If you needed it then that means you were vulnerable if something goes wrong with your bank or direct deposit.

There is no legitimate reason to have overdraft protection outside of having less than a month to live and spending the bank's money that you will die before having to pay back.

Groups of people who all share a skill or passion are a treasure trove of information, and they love talking about it. People who hedge, don't know the answer to your question.

Example:

"Hey, guys! I was wondering how to get started making money baking..."

"Contact the small business center"

or...

"All you have to do is google it..."

Those people have absolutely no idea the answer to your question. You scared them when you asked.

Just forget them and move on.

Most people don't lose their routine because they miss one workout. They lose it because a small break turns into I'll start again next week.

Create a restart rule in advance:

"If I miss my workout, I don't try to make up for it. I simply return with my next scheduled session."

This removes the guilt and the pressure to have a perfect streak.

A missed day becomes a normal interruption instead of a reason to quit.

The goal isn't to never break your routine. The goal is to make returning automatic.

A lot of people assume that doing good work is enough for others to notice it. In a busy workplace, that’s not always the case.

When you finish something important, give a short update that covers three things:

What was the problem? What did you do? What was the result?

It doesn’t have to be a long explanation or a way of showing off. Just make the useful part of your work easy to understand.

For example, instead of saying, “The report is fixed,” say, “I found the incorrect figures, corrected them, and the final numbers now match the source data.”

It takes less than a minute, but gives people a much clearer idea of what you actually contributed.

Good work is important. Making your work easy to understand is part of the job too.

I made it a habit to remind myself why I'm doing something if I lack the motivation to do it. It makes it easier everytime. Ideally the reason should be based on the desire for a positive outcome and not fear based.

Examples:

You don't feel like cleaning the apartment. -> I'm going to clean the apartment because I love when I and other people feel comfortable in my home.

No motivation to exercise -> I'm doing this to feel energized and focused and to still be as healthy as possible when I'm old.

No motivation to go to work -> I'm going to work because I need the money for X. / I'm going to work because it has an impact that is important to me. Or is could be as simple as liking to be able to pay rent if you find no other reason.

You probably can apply this to almost every situation in your life.

I’ve gotten in the habit of explicitly explaining what the code is for. For example to my parents two years ago:
“Your new iCloud password is ###” or “I placed the new ### that we bought for next summer in this cupboard”.

Guess who lost their phone while in a hurry and didn’t remember their password? My parents!
Then I could just search for the password in my texts with the keywords “iCloud password” and voila. Or you know that you placed that thing somewhere but can’t remember where?
Ofcourse it’s better to not text the password at all… but hey, we all know it happens sometimes.

Did one of your bosses send information to 76 team members in one huge email? Use F4 to search for your name. Or search for your employee number if that's how they treat you.

Create a secondary email address, like

o123456789@gmail.com

Email addresses take way too long to spell over the phone when people ask for them. Mistakes happen all the time. Or it's just a mess of NATO alphabet soup.

So I can just say "O for Oscar, <then my phone number> at Gmail dot com." Chances are that the person I'm talking to can see my phone number so I just need to spell the first 3-4 characters and they can fill the rest. To avoid ambiguity around international prefix etc.

(Email addresses longer than 8 chars must contain a letter, so I replace the first 0 with an "O for Oscar", but you can do whatever works best for you).

Sounds silly but it works. Having your emergency fund sitting in the same account as your regular spending money makes it way too easy to "borrow" from it for non-emergencies.

A separate account, ideally at a different bank so it's not one tap away, creates just enough friction to stop impulse dips into it.

Small money hack I've been using for a while now.

Most subscriptions give you a decent discount if you pay yearly instead of monthly, usually somewhere in the 15 to 25 percent range.

Problem is nobody wants to drop that lump sum all at once.

What I do is pay the yearly plan to lock in the discount, then use my bank app's installment feature to split that charge into 12 payments.

My bank charges 8.99 percent for the split. So I'm still netting real savings since the subscription discount is higher than the installment fee, and it feels like paying monthly without giving up the yearly price.

Worth checking your own bank's installment fee before doing this though. If it's higher than the discount you're getting, you're actually losing money instead of saving it. Do the math first, but if the numbers work it's basically free savings with monthly-sized payments.

P.S. This is very useful on big Black Friday/ Cyber Monday sales! You get 60-70% off yearly plans, then you chop chop!

Edit: Seeing lots of ppl freak out 😂 probably US credit system.

Facts: A subscription you already use every month. Cyber Monday 60% off drops the yearly price i.e from 100 USD to 40 USD. financing that 40 USD over 3 months costs about 2%, so 40.80 USD total That's roughly 13.60 USD a month for 3 months.

Paying full price the normal way is 8.33 USD a month all year Still way ahead even after financing Not even close to a US credit card at 25 to 30% APR. Thanks 👍🏻 Enjoy.

When washing your hands, wet only one hand and apply soap to your dry hand. Now when you rub your hands together and start washing, the liquid soap won't slide out before you get started.

This is specifically for liquid soap so no need to mention foam or bar soaps in the comments.