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A recent AskReddit post is filling up with free “cheat codes” that can make real life easier to navigate—something we could all use right now. As every expense increases and wages stagnate, most average folks, especially in the U.S., are struggling more to get by year after year. When things get hard, we need to come together and help each other. Sharing the tips that have made our own lives easier is fun and free, and can even get you some Reddit karma. Redditor u/Intelligent_Can_2898 got plenty for asking the following question: “What is the ‘cheat code’ you discovered in real life that actually works?” Some of these are financial tips, particularly for getting discounts whenever you can. Others include simple life advice that can, for some reason, be terribly difficult to follow. Did you know that eating, sleeping, and breathing properly makes your life better? Wild, right? Even putting effort into having better bowel movements helps. Additional advice involves your attitude toward life and others. As it turns out, being nice and appearing approachable can improve your social and work life. Sometimes you only have to do it temporarily to get people on your side, though sincerity almost always works better. Also, you can open that jar. You can do it, with a trick or two. We promise. If life’s getting you down, sometimes you just need to change one or two things to get yourself on a better path. The real-world cheats in this thread might just do the trick. 1. Go to bed “Sleep, literally fixes 80% of my problems.” —u/YourPotentialPeach 2. Admit when you’re wrong “If you admit fault for something you’ve done, it blows over way quicker.” —u/ThatsAGottem 3. Stop lying “Committing to only saying the truth. It is hard at first but with time you actually stop getting yourself into situations which would make you have to lie. Life becomes much simpler and easier.” —u/somnambulantDeity “Ask for what you need. Ask for what you want. Ask for directions. Ask for help. Ask the question.” “Most people want to help you.” —u/forcedowntime 5. Treat people the same “Treat everyone equally. Bin men, people on checkouts, the guy that mutters to himself at the bus stop, your doctor… everyone.” —u/Soggy_Detective_4737 6. Request discounts, nicely “Call the company. This one has worked for me for a long time. Cell phone bill too high? Call the company. Going out of town for more than a week? Call the garbage pickup company. Any paid service will usually give you a deal if you call. The trick is be nice. Most calls are from angry folks who want huge discounts.” “If you give a call center rep a good experience and say, in the case of garbage, “we are going to be out of town for these pick up dates. Any way I can cancel or not get charged?” and you are really nice, they will waive the fee.” —u/whiskeytangosix 7. Write it down “I got advice that every time you have a meeting or a discussion that something can arise from, first thing you should do is sit down and write an email to yourself documenting the whole thing. That way, there’s always documentation about what happened in an official record.” “In email, it’s easily searchable and can be sent on a whim to whomever contests what you say.” —u/VulcanHobo 8. Don’t let failure defeat you “Realizing defeat is a temporary thing that ends as soon as the next battle. When you get defeated, take your lesson, learn from it, and then try again. Failure is only possible if you fail to keep going and keep trying.” “And if the defeat is our final one, and we’re finally freed from our selves, we will have known that we were on the right path because we followed our victories despite our mistakes and went forward and prospered.” —u/meathouse1989 9. Visualization “If you want to accomplish something, visualize it in detail first.” “It sounds silly, but it really is one of the biggest keys to success at anything.” —u/BluesFanDeluxe 10. Make people eat “When someone is super cranky unreasonably, give them some food. Whether its your boss, your wife, your baby, your friend, it always works.” —u/sunnykhandelwal5 11. Work hard… at first “Be absolutely phenomenal at work for a month then cruise about for the next two by doing the bare minimum. Rinse & repeat for life.” —u/Ninjaa_Robot 12. Check hotel reviews to get discounts “Travel websites with “Budget Hotel” deals, like Hotwire’s Hot Rate Hotels, don’t have to be random or a ‘surprise’ Cross-reference the number of reviews with the other hotels on the list. If their 3-star deal has 1226 reviews, and you see that there’s a Comfort Inn with the same 1226 reviews, that hotel is currently the ‘Hot Rate.’” —u/bigangryblkman 13. Chill your face out “Just relax your face, not smile, but just activate the happy smiling muscles in your face rather than the grumpy ones. Then people will want to talk to you and just be more relaxed around you, provide you better customer service and so on.” —u/flingebunt 14. Remember: You’re going to die “Remember someday that you will be dead and very little of all this bullsh*t matters.” “Works wonders on stressing out about stupid sh*t, work, embarrassments, minor setbacks. So many little unimportant things drive us crazy, and for what? Find out what really matters to you, and let the rest slide.” —u/DeadMoney313 15. Experiment with deep breathing “When you are anxious or heart is beating really fast, take a really deep breath and right when you can’t breathe in much more take one little breath in. Hold it for a sec then exhale slowly from your mouth. Heard it in an Andrew Huberman podcast and it has helped my anxiety tremendously.” —u/RockoLucas 16. Tap a stuck jar lid “If you cant open a jar, tap hard all around the lid withe the back of a butter knife. It’ll loosen the seal then you can open it.” —u/spreekles 17. Poop better “These go hand in hand. Metamucil (or any fiber supplement really) and a bidet. While pooping isn’t what you’d call glamorous having regular healthy shits and a clean b-hole go a long way to having a good day.” —u/Timmyg14 The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s newsletter here.
