Time-Tested Asian Household Solutions for Everyday Challenges

While we all will return to dust someday, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t clean up around the house occasionally, even if it is someone you knew. After all, dust might be bringing dust bunnies into your house, and they don’t pay the rent. For cleaning those high-up fans, just take an old pillowcase and wrap it around the fans, and then just slowly pull it off to get rid of the dust. 

We will need to take this cheat with us on our next shopping excursion. Trying on so many different clothes during our trips to the mall and other clothing stores can become repetitive and exhausting. Instead of being forced to try on every pair of jeans, simply wrap the pant’s waist around your neck, and if the two ends meet, you just found the perfect waist fit. 

Marie Kondo is a woman famous for organizing people’s houses. She even had her own Netflix series. She and you both know how messy and disorganized your fridge is and you are just now remembering that forgotten orange in the back of your fridge. In order to impress her and your family and to avoid forgetting about your other oranges, buy some labeled bins and bags for your refrigerator. 

Cutting onions is torturous. Not from the burden of cooking or even the soreness from cutting for too long, but from the tears that the onion’s fumes bring to our eyes. Honestly, these tears make onion cutting slightly hazardous. Perhaps you wear fancy eyewear to avoid these toxic gases, but that is not going to work when trying to impress your partner with your magnificent cooking abilities. Instead, try this trick. 

Buring our pots and pans because we got distracted during the course of cooking dinner is not abnormal and has happened to everyone at least once. Whether it is because there was an epic scene on your recent binge-watching show or because a child decided to give themselves a haircut, we’ve all been there. In the past, we spent hours scrubbing away at the pan’s burned bottom, but no longer. Just add vinegar and boil. 

We have all had the zippers on our jackets, coats, and accessories get stuck. Often times it is aggravating and results in some embarrassment as we attempt to take off our zip-ups which usually ends up with some accidental hair removal. However, have you ever just applied some soap to your zipper? Probably not, but this simple secret might just convince you to start carrying a bar of soap with you. 

Getting our to be skin clear and healthy is oftentimes sold to us as a time-intensive and expensive project. However, does it really need to be? Not with this skincare trick. Instead of drying off your skin after your shower with your towel, just let your face air dry. This will let your face avoid collecting the dirt and dust in your towel and just collect all the moisture you need. 

The greatest home invaders are those tiny little ants that seem to come out of nowhere and infest our households and our kitchens. Maybe you left out a sugary beverage, or the weather is working against us; either way, they are coming, and we need to defend our homes. Try this Singapore defense technique of dried Sichuan peppers and win the day for all of us against those darn ants. 

The rice is returning with another superhero power-up. We all know how annoying it is to have dry hands, and there appears to be another use involving rice to solve this dilemma. Take the water that you rinsed your rice with and use that to moisturize your hands and even your hair if you choose to go that far. Another way to avoid spending all of our cash on moisturizers. 

If you have watched American television or movies, then you have probably seen someone at some point put a piece of raw red meat on their face to ease a wound or take down the swelling. However, this is usually a really bad idea in the real world. Unlike American television, the Koreans have it right by using a hard-boiled egg on a bruise to ease both and handle blood clots. 

Everyone knows that one person whose shoes are often a biohazard scene. Perhaps this person is you or maybe just a loved one. Either way, this household remedy was made for those individuals and is perfect for curing those stinky shoes. Take dry tea bags and place them inside those biohazardous materials, and the tea bag will absorb the smell right out of them. No longer must we suffer the smell.  

Guests are coming over, so we need to start the cleaning process because we know all house guests will judge our personal character based on the smudginess of our windows. However, the name-brand products are always leaving smears anyway, right? If you want to save your personal reputation and avoid being judged on the dirty windows all over your house, then check out this easy cheat for getting them to shine.

Hangovers suck, and that is honestly an understatement. Either we were young and had twelve too many shots, or we are just getting older, and that extra glass of wine hit extra hard in the morning. Often times that feeling of the hangover hits us right when we open our eyes in the morning after a night of fun. This easy trick will help you start getting over it right away. 

Anyone with dogs or children in the house knows that their furniture will ultimately be filled with scratches from normal wear and tear. However, instead of calling in your carpenter and spending good money on covering those small scratches on your furniture, you can try this next time your in-laws are coming over for dinner. Take some walnuts and rub them all over those visible scratch marks, and the oil from them will make them less visible. 

Rice is proving itself time and time again that its uses are never-ending. We have all had those neck or lower back pains that just need a bit of heat to take away the edge. Usually, this requires some special lotion or even some medication. Instead, just take some rice and fill up a sock. Throw it in the microwave and apply to the pained areas. You’re basically a doctor. 

When painting a room, there are certain rules to follow. The most important rule is to not close the door while you paint so that you can avoid the fumes from entering your brain. Unfortunately, this means that there is no euphoric rush, and you will be smelling paint throughout the house all day. That was until today! Just place some onions in the room you’re painting, and they’ll absorb the smell. 

Do you know the insatiable craving one can get for some apple sauce or a jar of tomato sauce for that pasta that’s boiling? But then, just as you’re all excited to eat the deliciousness, you struggle to open the lid of the jar. Those darn things can be put on so tightly. But we have a little trick for you that will make things easier: wrap a rubber band around the lid to open it. 

Every time we have to fly somewhere, we have that one family on board who has a newborn. The second we see them, we know that we are in for a bad flight. So next time you board the plane be sure to pack a water bottle and teach the parents this trick. Take some of the water and swish it around in your mouth next to the baby’s ear. 

Yes, we are sure that you are extremely attractive. However, we were actually talking about overheating. Whether or not you are ridiculously attractive, we all have suffered from the inability to cool down. Instead of suffering there and sweating in silence, let’s do something about it. Take a frozen or cool bottle of water and tie it to the back of your fan. Now you will no longer need to suffer. 

Some summer days, it seems like no matter how much sunscreen we slather on, we end up sunburnt. We’ve all been there: you’re sure today is the day you finally spent the entire day at the beach without looking like a ripe tomato. But then you get home and realize that’s far from reality. To avoid feeling that horribly annoying burn, just take some watermelon rinds and run them over the burned area before showering. 

Breaking glass in your kitchen or household is horrifying because now the floor is lava, and one must step gingerly to avoid getting a shard painfully inside the sole of one’s foot. However, instead of spending the time to ensure that every single little piece is picked up and that no one cuts their fingers in the clean-up, just take some flour and water and make a putty. 

Everyone has woken up once or twice and seen that their face is a bit puffy. Perhaps you are a bit stuffy from that cold from last week, or it was from screaming into your pillow all night because Daryl from work asked out Patrica, and everyone knows that they aren’t meant to be. Either way, try making a tea from the corn silk you peeled off of your corn from last night. 

This trick doesn’t work for a salty attitude, but it does work for over-salted food that’s still in the making. This is for the cooks out there who know the travesty of discovering that you’ve over-salted the soup or stew. Instead of being forced to start all over and waste all that food, just add potatoes, and it will suck up all that extra saltiness and save you from crying in the kitchen. 

We all have suffered from the not-fun kind of biting. Usually, it is done by those nasty bugs that buzz around and leave their marks in the form of nasty, itchy red spots throughout our bodies. The most common culprit is those wretched mosquitoes, but there is no need to buy expensive cream to treat their bites. Just chop up a cucumber and place it on the bite mark for relief. 

Ice trays seem to have fallen a bit out of fashion. Unless it is for jello shots, however, this trick might just be the reason to purchase some cool ice trays for the chef of the household. Chop up some herbs that you might need in the coming recipes and just throw them in an ice tray with a bit of water, and boom! You now have some herbs to go. 

Every time we order Chinese food for dinner, they give out chopsticks that usually go straight from the takeout bag and into the drawer. We have experimented enough to understand that oftentimes the fork just works better for us. If you do the same, we’ve got news for you: instead of letting them collect in your kitchen drawer until your next spring cleaning, you can actually use them to check out your oil temperature for the next fried food meal. 

The beauty industry is everywhere, and they are trying to stop us from telling you this secret. Everyone knows the sour phase our milk gets to when it is past its expiration date. Well, we can bet that you didn’t know there was a use for it. Take it out of the carton and use it to clean your body and phase. Its natural enzymes are great for your skin. 

Getting flowers from a loved one, friend, or even family member brings us so much joy. However, this joy is rather fleeting as the flowers so often are beautiful but short-lived, just like your last nap. Perhaps you have wondered how to get your roses to be eternally beautiful and how to make your naps seem like they last longer? Unfortunately, there is nothing this can do about your naps. 

Honey is super sticky and kind of a bother to measure out. Even for something as simple as sweetening your tea, it can be a hassle to detangle the sticky substance from the spoon. Sort of reminds us of that one ex. Unlike that ex, there is a simple solution available to our honey situation. Just coat the spoon in some oil, and the honey will slide right off. 

An often casualty of spending any time in the kitchen while cooking dinner for yourself and your loved ones is receiving burns. Either from splattered oil, forgetting your oven mitts, or even grabbing a pan the wrong way. Fortunately, many say you can solve that problem when it arises with something that is most likely right there in your pantry, soy sauce. This magical sauce is not only a necessity for recipes. 

Are you going to be wearing scratched-up and beaten shoes when you dress to impress at the office? Of course not! So it is time to buff them up and make them all nice and shiny to catch everyone’s eye. But polishing your shoes sounds like a pain in the butt, doesn’t it? Don’t worry – this hack doesn’t even require shoe polish. Simply buff them with some pantyhose. 

We often get cuts throughout the day. Either we get those dreaded paper cuts when organizing or painful scratches just from cleaning up around the house. Usually, you need to buy some fancy cream or ointment to ensure that the tiny cut doesn’t cause any future problems. However, we just learned that there’s no need to spend money on that stuff. Instead, listen to Korean grandmothers and just use soybean paste. 

Wearing suits helps us get into the right mindset for the professional environment we work within, especially if we don’t often dress up to such a level. However, how do we get to boss-level status with our suit game? Well, you ensure that your shirt’s collar is nice and ironed out. While it is a difficult spot to get ironed just right, all you need to do is get a hair straightener. 

Rice is coming to the rescue in this handy dandy household arts and crafts trick. These projects often involve a heavy amount of glue, but what happens when you run out? You could run out to the store, or you can just use what is in your kitchen to solve this dilemma. Grab some rice, cook it so it’ll be sticky, mash it up, and now you have some homemade glue. 

Eucalyptus is one of those fancy long words that no one really seems to know how to spell, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t also a wonder fix-all. This ancient plant with many medicinal properties can be used to treat many ailments. From curing your headaches caused by your significant others all the way to getting rid of that stuffy nose.

Rice seems to be the world’s first universal tool. We can use it to save our smartphones when they come into contact with water, it can fill our bellies, and it can be used to save our salt, as depicted here. Anyone who lives in a humid climate knows how your salt can become as clingy as our exes, but little did we know that adding some salt would fix that. 

The wooden spoon is often a kitchen utensil that brings back flashbacks of angry grandparents threatening their spouses, children, and grandchildren about making messes in the kitchen or when one is not sneaky enough when it comes to the cookie jar. However, it can also be used to save your pot of rice or noodles from boiling over. Just lay it right on top, and now you’re safe from making a mess. 

The avocado craze seems to be still very active. It goes great on toast, in salads, or just by itself. However, there is the terrible oxidation process that leaves those prized vegetables and the underappreciated apples with those nasty brown spots. Now, that just won’t do for our avocado toasts or our fruit salad. Rather than worrying about it, just do sprinkle some lime or lemon juice and some salt. 

Everyone goes through stages where certain clothes fit our bodies, and certain other clothes do not fit exactly like they did last season. Nonetheless, no matter what, we never want to accidentally shrink our clothes in the dryer because we are likely never going to be squeezing into that new size. Fortunately, instead of throwing out or giving it away, you can just submerge it into some hair conditioner and water. 

Traveling for business can be a dangerous journey for your clothes. Oftentimes we arrive at our destination and pull out the amazing clothing article to find that it got wrinkled during the journey. Rather than going out to find a better option, just jump in an extra hot shower and leave the clothes hanging in the bathroom. The steam from the shower will de-wrinkle your clothes, and you’ll look amazing.