11 Easy Hacks For Opening Stubborn Jar Lids

3 cookie hacks for better holiday baking, how to silence calls from unknown numbers, and more. November 30, 2021 [View Online]( Good morning! When a stuck jar threatens to derail your meal prep—or worse, wound your self-esteem—the hacks in Today’s Good Thing can help. I’ve rounded up 11 jar-opening hacks that make it easy to remove those stubborn lids, even when brute strength isn’t your strong suit. Also in today’s newsletter, I’ve also got 3 baking hacks that are sure to come in handy in the days and weeks to come. Your Christmas cookies are certain to be the talk of the town (or at least the talk of the household!) Jillee DAYS UNTIL: 🎄 Christmas: 25 🎊 New Year's Day: 32 TODAY'S GOOD THING 11 Easy Hacks For Opening Stubborn Jar Lids [Photos of various hacks for opening jar lids.]( If you find yourself trying to open a jar lid that just won't budge, these 11 handy hacks can help. Given my inclination toward all things DIY and homemade, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I don’t especially enjoy needing to ask for help with things. For instance, it drives me crazy when I can't manage to get the lid off a jar and have to drop what I’m doing to go find Dave or one of the boys to open it for me. (Of course, there’s nothing wrong with needing help, no matter what the situation is! It's more the disruption of having to ask for help when I’m in the middle of something that bothers me, and less that it wounds my pride.) But luckily for me and my impatient nature, removing stuck-on jar lids isn’t something you can only achieve through brute strength. There are plenty of ways to “work smarter, not harder” in order to open stubborn lids—in fact, I managed to find 11 such methods that work like a charm. If 11 sounds like a lot, I’m including this many because I’ve found that a method that works great for one jar doesn’t always work as well on another. For that reason, I think it’s helpful to have a few different options up your sleeve if one is giving you trouble. Check out my list of 11 hacks for opening jar lids at the link below. [11 Easy Hacks For Opening Stubborn Jar Lids ➜]( Related • [13 Of The Most Useful Tips To Know If You’re Over 50]( • [7 MORE Useful Things That Will Make Life Easier For Older Adults]( ⚡️QUICK TIPS⚡️ • More and more women are realizing that removing unwanted hair is just one of several benefits to shaving your face. [Read more ➜]( • There’s no “right” way to clean, but using this strategy can save you a considerable amount of time and effort. [Read more ➜]( • Whether it’s a big party or a small family dinner, these 21 Christmas party games will make it a night to remember. [Read more ➜]( TECH TIP TUESDAY Silence Incoming Calls From Unknown Numbers [Photos of phone calls and blocking phone numbers.]( If you don’t normally answer calls from unknown numbers, there’s an easy way to silence them entirely. The majority of the calls I get are from unknown numbers, and I’m sure it’s the same for you! I usually let them ring, figuring that if it’s about something important, they’ll leave a message and I can call back later. But I recently learned that the Silence Unknown Callers feature can quietly send those calls to voicemail automatically! To turn on Silence Unknown Callers, go to Settings > Phone, then scroll down, tap Silence Unknown Callers, then tap the toggle switch to turn it on. Once activated, this feature will silence any calls from unknown numbers, send them to your voicemail, and they'll appear in your recent calls list. Calls from people in your contacts will still come through as usual, and so will calls from people that Siri Suggestions determines you may know based on numbers that appear in your emails or texts. Before you turn on Silence Unknown Callers, take time to save any important phone numbers to your contacts, including businesses that may try to contact you. (Once you turn on Silence Unknown Callers, those calls will still go to voicemail, but you may end up playing "phone tag" with someone you need to talk to.) For Android Users: While Android doesn’t have an exact equivalent to Silence Unknown Callers, you can block calls from unknown numbers. To do so, tap the phone icon, then tap the three dots at the top right corner of the screen. Tap Settings, Blocked Numbers, then enable “Block Calls From Unidentified Callers” with the toggle switch. COOKING 3 Cookie Hacks For Better Holiday Baking [A photo of various Christmas cookies.]( Use these 3 cookie hacks to bake holiday cookies that Santa himself would be proud of. 1. Chill Before Baking. Don’t let your cookie craving convince you to skip the step that says to chill or rest the dough in your fridge. Making sure your dough is [properly chilled before baking]( will produce cookies with better texture, flavor, and shape (especially if you’re making stamped or cutout cookies). 2. Use Shortcuts To Warm Ingredients Fast. As someone who rarely has the forethought to let things come to room temperature before I’m ready to start baking, I use a number of shortcuts to help speed things up. Learn the best ways to [quickly bring butter, eggs, and milk to room temperature here](. 3. Make Your Life Easier With Versatile Recipes. You don’t have to hunt down several different recipes to make different types of cookies during the holidays. In fact, you can use [this one sugar cookie dough]( to make 5 different types of cookies, saving you time and simplifying your shopping list. JILLEE'S PICK No More Sleepless Nights (Or Groggy Mornings) [Photos of Jillee sleeping.]( While I tend to be more of a night owl by default, I regularly find it difficult to fall asleep at all. And when I’m having a hard time falling asleep, I hesitate to resort to over-the-counter sleep aids. They work fine enough, but I hate how groggy I feel when I wake up the next morning! Luckily, I now have an option that I can turn to instead of sleep aids: [Slumber blend](. It’s a blend of essential oils with relaxing and stress relieving qualities, including lavender and cedarwood. I usually either put it in my diffuser, or if it’s dark and Dave’s already asleep, I’ll just roll it onto the bottoms of my feet. This blend has a really relaxing effect and smells great to boot, and I wake up the next morning feeling well rested instead of groggy and exhausted. I try to recommend it to everyone who tells me they're having trouble sleeping, whether that means falling asleep or staying asleep. [See Slumber blend ➜]( WHAT IN THE WORLD WIDE WEB Put Your Wikipedia Prowess To The Test [An image of a laptop displaying the website for The Wiki Game.]( Anyone familiar with Wikipedia knows how easy it is to fall down that rabbit hole. One minute you’re looking up who won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2018, then suddenly 20 minutes have gone by and you’re reading about feudalism in the Middle Ages. The ease of jumping from topic to topic inspired the so-called “Wikipedia Game,” a DIY game where players try to navigate from one entry to another in as few clicks as possible. My daughter Britta says it was popular among the students in her high school computer classes in the late 2000s, so it's been around for a while! But now you can play against people from around the world via [The Wiki Game]( a browser-based verson of the Wikipedia Game created by software engineer Alex Clemesha. In each round, players are scored according to their speed and number of clicks, and the player with the best score wins. As an example, I played a round where the goal was to start on “Julius Caesar” and end on “Theory of relativity.” While I didn’t manage to get there before time ran out, the winner of the round did it in 64 seconds using 5 clicks (Julius Caesar > Latin > Germany > Albert Einstein > Theory of relativity). It’s fun, challenging, and difficult to stop once you get going! Ready to play a round or two? [Play The Wiki Game in your browser]( or [in the iPhone app](. A FEW MORE THINGS... What To Watch: It’s the most wonderful time of the year for those of us who love Lifetime Christmas movies! There will be a new holiday movie playing on Lifetime every single evening throughout the month of December—[check out the schedule here](. (You can even download and print it out so you don’t forget!) Give Back: It’s #GivingTuesday, which encourages people to give back to their communities and support charitable causes during the holiday shopping season. You can participate by donating to a local charitable organization, volunteering your time for a good cause, or just by being a good neighbor and member of your community! What did you think of today's email? [Not good]( | [Just okay]( | [Loved it!]( 🏠[Visit the By Jillee Shop]( 🤗 [Join OGT Free]( Let's connect! [facebook]( [instagram]( [pinterest]( [youtube]( If you have thoughts, comments, questions or a tip or trick you'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you! My inbox is always open, so just hit "reply" and let me know what's on your mind. See you tomorrow! Sending you bright ideas and simple solutions to help you create a home and life you love. My mailing address is: One Good Thing by Jillee 841 S. Main St. Heber City, UT 84032 If you're not happy please reply to this email to tell me why, or you can [update your preferences]( or break my heart and unsubscribe [here](. View our privacy policy [here](.