8 Popular 'Life Hacks' That Are More Dangerous Than Helpful

Did You Know

8 Popular 'Life Hacks' That Are More Dangerous Than Helpful

Mountain Pizzeria/Facebook - Jim Bailey/Facebook

Who doesn't love a great "life hack?" Something outside of the box that could end up making your life a hell of a lot easier, why wouldn't you give it a try? Sure, some life hacks are truly that, helpful hacks, but some are just stupid and don't work whatsoever, and others are just plain dangerous.

Let's take a better look at these 8 "life hacks" that you should just stop doing immediately.

1. "Toasting" Grilled Cheese.

If you are trying to toast grilled cheese, wouldn't it no longer be considered grilled? Apart from the obvious, putting your toaster on its side in order to "life hack" something as simple as comfort food is freaking dangerous. Toasters have metal elements in them that toast your bread, they get red hot. Why might I ask, would you decide to put something that is both oily and greasy in contact with those heating elements? Can you say fire hazard?

2. Storing cleaning supplies using a shoe organizer.

Sure, this on the whole seems to be a great idea, but we have been doing perfectly well storing our chemical cleaning supplies in locked cabinets under our sinks, and in our closets for years. Hanging one of these organizers off of a door and filling it with all of your supplies serves to make things easier, but you have also made it easier for your children to get their hands on what could be dangerous chemicals.

3. Freezing your batteries for longer life.

I have been guilty of this myself, sticking a new pack of double-A batteries in the freezer once I get them home in hopes of keeping them stored for a longer period of time. How wrong I was. Battery contacts are made from metal, and metal rusts. Putting them in the freezer can cause rust to build up which can lead to a leak of battery fluid, which is both corrosive and poisonous. And this is all taking place where you store your food.

4. Drilling holes in your garbage can to make removing full bags easier.

True, trying to remove a packed full garbage bag from your kitchen can can be a terrible pain in the a**, and realistically you would be willing to try anything to make the task easier so that you don't find yourself covered in garbage juice. But whose idea was it to drill holes in the bottom of the can to make this easier? Think about that, do you really want garbage juice to have an easier escape hatch onto your kitchen floor? If you don't like the "juice" on your hands, certainly you don't want to step in it and track it around the rest of your house?

You can make this occurrence less likely if you make sure to drill 1-inch above the bottom. Some hack websites make it clear to do so, while others will leave you to your own devices.

5. Peeing on a jellyfish sting.

First, gross. Second, having been born on an island in the Atlantic Ocean I know first hand that this is utter horse doo-doo. Jellyfish stings deposit little nematocysts into your skin, these are capable of delivering more venom into your body when the salt content around them changes. Your pee does not have the same salt content as the ocean, making it more painful for yourself if you choose to pee on a sting. Try using the plentiful ocean water right beside you.    

6. Holding your bagels in old-school CD holders.

On the surface this looks like a great idea. The CD holder is the perfect size for a nice bagel sandwich, and it even has that nice little spindle in the middle to hold the food steady. But it isn't airtight, or even designed for such a purpose you could contaminate your food. CDs are also covered in certain chemicals and oils when you get them, which you are potentially transporting on to your food.

7. Microwaving your pizza with a glass of water.

Apparently if you microwave your leftover pizza with a glass of water in the microwave with it, it will "crisp" up your pizza so you can enjoy that first night crunch. What you have actually done is introduced a new source of moisture to the slice, which is in no way going to crisp it up for you. It will actually make it far more moist and doughy then if you had just done it on its own. If you want crisp leftover pizza, try a toaster-oven or just a regular oven set to broil.

8. Tension rod baby-gates.

Your child's safety is never something that should be "life hacked." Some parents have decided to take it upon themselves to create custom baby gates using tension rods that are supposed to be used for curtains. Here's the problem, those tension rods are not designed to take the weight or pressure that a reasonably sized child can bring to bear on them, which could cause some painful and dangerous accidents. Not only that, "life hacks" are supposed to make your life easier, why not just by the one-piece baby-gate and be done with it?

Share to spread the word that not all "life hacks" are actually as advertised.