It’s 2018, and it’s safe to say our “survival hacks” these days are pretty technologically advanced.
After all, we can do basically anything on our smartphones, and our GPS can easily navigate us to practically anywhere in the world. We have the world at our fingertips.
However, there’s a downside to all of this: and that’s that we don’t acknowledge the incredible ways people survived years before technology came into existence.
Sure, this may seem irrelevant now, but the “old school” way of doing things has proven to be exceedingly effective time and time again. And, since most of us today are attached to our devices, these tricks will come in handy when we find we can no longer use technology to survive.
That’s why it’s important we learn all of these…
15 Time-Tested Survival Hacks You’d Be Crazy Not To Use
1 – The Efficient Way To “Water Your Chickens”
This is one of the best survival hacks to use if you’ve got chickens running around. In order to keep them hydrated without going out to the coop every day, you can fill a bottle with water and tie it to a plank. Then, keeping the lid on, rotate the bottle so its mouth is facing toward the ground.
Next, fill a large bowl of water to the brim, and place it underneath the bottle so that the mouth is immersed in it. Slowly, as the chickens drink the water, the amount of water in the bowl will decrease. The bottle will then automatically pour more in until the water covers the mouth of the bottle once more.
2 – Get The Dirt Out
If you get dirt in your eyes, it’s often not the best idea to then rub them with your dirty hands. After all, this can easily spread infection and disease. Instead, pour some castor oil into an eye dropper and pour a few drops into your eye. The dirt will wash out, leaving the eye calm and infection-free.
3 – Find The Gas Leak
If you think a pipe is leaking (but aren’t sure), simply rub it with a mixture of soap and water. If you see bubbles forming on the pipe, you’ll know there’s a leak.
4 – Store The Eggs Without The Fridge
You’ll want to use fresh eggs your chickens have laid for this hack. The trick is to never put them in the fridge in the first place. Instead, fill a box with salt, and submerge the eggs under the salt (the eggs should not come into contact with the air). Then store the box in a cool, dry place to preserve them.
5 – Treat A Sprain
If you sprain your arm, raise it above your head and wrap the arm in a cold cloth. Then gently rub oil onto the sprain as it heals.
6 – Purify Water
Here’s a cool “old school” trick. If you need to purify water, you can simply pour a tablespoon of powdered alum into it, and then wait a few hours. One tablespoon will purify up to 20 gallons of water.
7 – Create A Windproof Match
Need to light a match in the wind? Not a problem. Take your knife and start at the tip of the match, cutting downward so that shards start to curl around the match (but don’t fall off). Do this in three different sections of the match. Then light it – you’ll be amazed at how it stays lit, even in the wind.
Here’s a video to show you how it’s done:
8 – Stop The Flies
If you’re sick of flies hanging around your garbage, simply pour a bit of borax powder onto the trash bags once a day. This will help stop the flies from breeding.
9 – Use Your Analog Watch For Directions
If you’ve got an analog watch, hold it in your hand, and aim the hour hand so it’s pointing at the sun. Then pick up a blade of grass and lay it crosswise between the hour hand and the number 12. The end of the piece of grass will point South.
10 – Ease Mucus Buildup
You likely won’t have access to medications when SHTF, so this will be your next best bet. Take a pinch of salt and breathe it in through your nostrils. Then gargle some water, being careful not to swallow. Repeat this process once a day, and your mucus should clear up.
11 – Find The Lost Trail
Imagine that you’ve been searching for your lost family member (or dog), and you’ve somehow lost the trail. To find it, go back to the last footprint of theirs you found. Then slowly walk in a circle around it, at various distances. Sooner or later, you’ll be able to find the trail and get back on track.
12 – Clean Out Your Bottles
Dirt, debris, and stains can settle at the end of a bottle and can be tough to clean out. However, things get much easier when you scoop some sand into the bottle, and then swish it around with water. Rinse it out, and let it dry. You’ll find the mess at the bottom of the bottle is now gone.
13 – Filter Water
Here’s a cool trick. If you want to filter your water, you can cut a hole at the bottom of a zinc bucket, and push a small pipe into the hole. Then fill the bucket with the following materials (in order): big rocks, little rocks, coarse sand, fine sand. Then pour dirty water into the top of the bucket – you’ll find the water that comes out through the pipe runs clear.
14 – Easily Cut Down Trees
Cutting down trees just got a lot easier. Begin chopping until you’ve reached the middle of the tree. Then walk to the other side, and start chopping a few inches higher than your initial cut. Finally, wrap some rope around the trunk and pull it down. This not only makes chopping easier, but it also gives you more control over where the tree lands.
15 – Get The Splinter Out
Splinters are just plain annoying, and digging them out can be painful (and a huge waste of time). Luckily, there’s a pain-free way to get them out.
Take a bottle and fill it with steaming hot water (leave a couple inches of room at the top). Then turn the bottle over and press it firmly against the splinter. The steam will slowly loosen up the splinter, and the suction will extract it.
