Friday March 29th, 2024
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8 Incredible Life Hacks for Living in Egypt

Living in Egypt isn't easy. Here are eight ways to make your day go smoother.

Staff Writer

Mosquito Trap

Mosquitoes are the worst! Those nagging insects keep you up all night and then bite you which results in you scratching your legs until they bleed. Well, those nightmares are over now because you can build your own mosquito trap using an empty soda bottle.  

Cut the bottle in half, filling the bottle part with 200ml of warm water and 50g brown sugar. After the mix cools down, add 1g of yeast. Invert the bottle top into the bottle and wrap the whole thing in cardboard, or anything making the inside of the bottle a dark space because mosquitoes love dark places.  Once placed in a dark corner mosquitoes will fly inside but won't come out again. Problem solved!

DIY Cold Remedy

It's slowly getting chilly and bacteria is out to take advantage of you. There are some easy DIY cold remedies mothers around the word have accumulated over the years. They will take care of your sniffles and even taste nice. And you won't have to leave the comfort of your house.

The classic cold remedy is stirring some lemon, ginger and hot sauce into some hot water. For a more tasty version you may also substitute the hot sauce for honey which will at the very least taste real good. As you can see, ginger is the way forward, so even if you just peel a ginger and add it to hot water it may take care of your sore throat.

Hide your valuables

Finding yourself in a rather dodgy part of Cairo and you are scared for your valuables? Disguise them so that thieves don't actually know where to look for your phone.

Use an empty shampoo bottle or any other cleaned hygienic containers and fill them with your valuables: money, phone, jewellery and anything small enough to fit in there. Thieves will not think of checking the inside of a shampoo bottle to take all your belongings.

Impromptu speakers

The noise of this city is omnipresent and if you are planning a party you need good speakers. If you actually find yourself setting up an spontaneous dance party, however, you may not have those speakers handy. If you need an extra boost for your phone's volume you can grab an empty bottle or a glass.

The easiest way to get some extra decibel is to put a finished toilet paper roll on top of your phone speaker. Setting your phone into an empty glass will increase volume as well. If you have an empty soda bottle handy, you may cut out a hole that fits your phone and insert it in the bottle. Let the party begin!

A Microwave, your friend and helper!

Oh, a microwave can be a magical little gadget. It heats up yesterday's food and makes popcorn. Whoever has tried heating up pizza, on the other hand, will find that day two doesn't taste like day one at all. But there's a few useful tips to use your microwave in the most efficient way.

To reheat pizza, put a cup of water into the microwave along with your pizza to avoid a gross, solid crust. To reheat pasta or rice, make sure to arrange them in a circle, leaving a hole in the middle to ensure the food is evenly hot. And because all that makes a mess you should also know this hack to clean it afterwards. For that, mix a cup of water and quarter of a cup of vinegar and microwave it for three minutes. Afterwards, you may just wipe the inside clean with a dry cloth.

Instant fresh air

Your room smells and your AC doesn't have much to do these days. You can now use your fan or AC to make your room smell so fresh and so clean.

Take a fresh dryer sheet and put it in front of your fan or AC. This way the fresh smell of the sheet will be blown across your room and smell like it was properly cleaned and washed without you doing anything at all. You may give the room a quick sweep anyways, otherwise the smell won't stick around. And that dust that is virtually everywhere in this city won't go away with this hack either.

Ice cold drinks in an instant

It may be winter but the need for a cold drink remains. With temperatures still exceeding 20 degrees, sometimes you will need a cold drink right away. If you just bought some or left it out of the fridge, however, there is no time to wait for a couple of hours until the fridge turned it ice cold.

You don't have to wait that long. Science is a beautiful thing so that when you wrap your soda or beer bottle in a wet paper towel and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes you will find a perfectly cold drink. Keep an eye on the time because freezing sodas or beers could explode. Don't try to find out how.