10 time-saving gems that will take your routine to the next level

Feeling like there aren’t enough hours in the day? If it makes you feel any better, you’re not alone in the battle against the clock! We’ve got a secret stash of time-saving gems that’ll make you feel like you got your hands on Hermione Granger’s Time-Turner.

1. Make a bunch of perfectly shaped meatballs in seconds with this manual kitchen tool. You don’t need to get your hands dirty or make any mess. Put the meat mixture inside the container and press down. Enjoy the result!

Pros:

  • This product is a huge time-saver. You can make up to 5 meatballs at once.
  • The device is easy to use and clean.
  • The bowl is made of clear plastic so you can see what’s inside while cooking — handy.

2. Don’t waste time looking for your keys, use this magnetic key holder instead. This fluffy white cloud is pretty versatile: you can also use it in the kitchen, living room, bedroom, and even bathroom. It is easy to install and holds well on a wooden, ceramic, plastic, or metal texture. The surface has to be flat and smooth for the product to have better bearing capacity.

Pros:

  • The product is versatile.
  • It fits nicely into any interior.
  • Does its job quite well and keeps keys securely in place.

Cons:

  • You need to make sure you properly stick the device to the surface to prevent it from falling off.

Promising review:

  • Love the easy installation. Clean the wall, peel off the sticker, and place it where you like. The magnet is strong and holds my heavy car key. Recommend! — Jamie P.

Buy this item on AMAZON here

3. Get your glasses squeaky clean in the blink of an eye with this efficient lens-cleaning cloth. The power of Japanese microfiber is real! The product represents itself as ultra-fine, super-dense, and completely lint-free cloth. Its texture is extremely soft yet very durable.

Pros:

  • Works like a charm.
  • The packaging is handy.

Cons:

  • Gets dirty quicker than one may have hoped.

Promising review:

  • They came neatly packed in a sealed box. Each cloth is in its own slipcover. I was able to easily refold the cloth and put it back in the cover for future protection. It seemed to easily clean my lenses without a cleaning solution. — MS

Buy this item on AMAZON here

4. Prepare a batch of eggs for a big company or a big breakfast just for you using this stainless steel poached egg cooker. The pan will cook perfect eggs every time. The stainless steel device is sturdy and heavy. It goes well with all stove types (including induction).

Pros:

  • This product will save you a lot of time. It is perfect for a big family.
  • The device is sturdy and efficient.

Cons:

  • You’re going to need a mitt for the metal handles (to remove the egg trays safely).

Promising review:

  • I was hesitant to order this but figured I’d give it a shot. And you want to talk about perfect, commercial, beautiful eggs?? You’ll find it with this product. Easy to use, easy to clean.
    And I ask myself, «How did I live without this tool in my kitchen!?» You want those perfect eggs? Get this! — Amy

5. Use this strainer lid to drain unwanted liquid from a can—fast and mess-free. This item is efficient, flexible, and durable. The product has a bit of stretch, so it can fit slightly wider cans.

Pros:

  • The product is adjustable.
  • It is also portable; It’s small, light, and easy to carry. You can take these lids on a camping trip.

Cons:

  • The lids might not be suitable for a particular can size. Don’t forget to check the size beforehand.

Promising reviews:

  • I like the idea of not having to get a big colander out when draining cans. — Ruthy
  • I picked these because of the size. They are perfect. — Karen Walton

6. Here is the fastest way to make dessert for a big company. This silicone popsicle mold is non-stick, hygienic, and easy to use. The popsicles slide out super easily. To top that off, you can fill the product with fruit juice, purée, yogurt, jello, berries, fruits, or jam. Yum!

Pros:

  • Super easy to use and clean.
  • The product is also a great space-saver.
  • Comes with a funnel and a cleaning brush.
  • Versatile

Cons:

  • A little on the small side.

Promising reviews:

  • I liked that it was very easy to use. You can remove the popsicle very fast and have good-looking popsicles. — Marsela Ballabani
  • It’s convenient that it comes with a funnel and cleaning brush! Great buy! — Quality!

7. Speed up your cooking process with these 2 pairs of kitchen scissors and a pair of 5-ply herb scissors. And you don’t need to look for a cutting board. They are suitable for cutting different food items: herbs, veggies, meat, dough, and more.

Pros:

  • The devices come with protective covers and a cleaning brush.
  • They are sharp and work well.
  • The kitchen scissors have additional features: built-in nutcrackers, bottle openers, or fish scalers.

Cons:

  • The devices do not come apart for easy cleaning.

Promising review:

  • Very nice scissors. Each pair has a sheath to protect you or others from getting hurt and the scissors from getting damaged. I am very pleased with this set. — Bob M

8. You don’t wanna waste another minute when you are seriously hungry. Cut your tasty pizza the fastest with this no-effort pizza cutter. It fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and lets you fully control the cutting process. The large cutting wheel makes it extremely easy and fast.

Pros:

  • The product is high-quality and sharp; now you can slice and dice your food rather efficiently.
  • It comes with a protective blade guard and is easy and safe to store.
  • Disassembles in seconds to be washed.

Cons:

  • The cleaning is tricky because keeping the blade still might not be easy.

Promising review:

  • I bought this as a replacement for a really cheap one. I loved the idea of not needing a handle, and the blade cover was a plus. I liked how big this one was, so I bought it. I was pleasantly surprised with the ease of cleaning. You can completely take it apart and wash every part of it. It took me a minute to figure out how to take it apart, but once you get it, it’s easy. — Annika R

9. You’ll not have to waste your time looking for stuff if you have it neatly arranged with this under-sink organizer. This item maximizes under-sink space nicely. The item is easy to set up. It also has an adjustable height for the top shelf, which can be very handy.

Pros:

  • The product will save a ton of space in your kitchen.
  • The construction is pretty spacey.

Cons:

  • A little pricey.

Promising review:

  • I was skeptical at first. Especially when I was putting this together, I didn’t think it was going to be large enough. But to my surprise, it was! It was easy to put together, too! — Meg

10. This «meatball master» will be handy for cooking a fast dinner and storing meals in the freezer for later. You can use it for making meatballs, cookies, sushi, and more. The design allows you to remove the portions effortlessly (even when frozen). After using it, you can throw it in the dishwasher with no fuss.

Pros:

  • The product is versatile.
  • You can prepare a lot in a short amount of time; for instance, you can make 32 meatballs at once.
  • Easy to use and clean.

Cons:

  • The size of the meatballs could be too small for some people’s taste.
  • The results may vary if you overfill the product.

Promising review:

  • Where has this been—all of my cookie-baking life?? It is so much easier to use than a scoop. I bought 3 of them.
    I made a double batch of cookie dough, and I am pleased that you got 96 cookies. You do not get that many using a scoop. I like that all the cookies are baked evenly and are all the same size. I soak the containers to get them clean. — Chris Boor

We hope that these products will find their way to your heart. They can make your routine considerably simpler, so you can spend your spare time on something truly important.

Bright Side gets commissions for purchases made through the links in this post. Reviews could have been edited for length and clarity.

Preview photo credit Amazon

I Received a Panicked Video Message from My Mom — I Was Stunned to Learn What Dad Had Done to Her.

While Annie is having a lazy Saturday, sitting around and scrolling through social media, a video message from her mom pops up. As she hits play, Annie discovers that one of her father’s pranks has left her mother scared and alone. Annie rushes over to her parents’ house, ready to teach her father a lesson.

I didn’t think my dad would ever take one of his dumb jokes this far, but here we are, having lived through it. My phone lit up earlier today with a video message from my mom that made my heart stop for a second.

I wasn’t prepared for what I saw, and now, hours later, I’m still trying to process the whole thing.

Let me back up a second and give you some context on how everything went down. My dad is what you’d call “old school.” He has this grumpy exterior, like he came straight out of the 1970s and never quite adapted to life in the present.

He’s not a bad guy, but he can be ridiculously difficult to get along with. He doesn’t do heart-to-hearts or deep conversations. Instead, he sheds part of his grumpiness off when he’s at home and leans into his pranking nature. They are harmless, annoying little pranks that he thinks are hilarious but leave my mom rolling her eyes and sighing.

Most of the time, Dad does really stupid stuff like hiding Mom’s glasses when she’s looking for them or misplacing her keys right when she’s about to leave. These pranks have always been annoying, but nothing too wild.

Except today.

Today, Dad decided to really outdo himself.

I was in my little apartment about 20 minutes from my parents’ house. I was minding my own business, sipping on a soft drink and scrolling through TikTok, when my phone pinged with a message from my mother.

A video message.

The thumbnail was black, and all I could hear was her voice, which was muffled and kind of shaky. Like she was afraid of something.

That’s when I got a bit panicked. Mom wasn’t the type to send video messages. To be honest, I didn’t think she knew how to do it. Immediately, I knew that something was off.

I tapped play, and there she was. The camera was all shaky, and she was crouched in a corner, whispering like she was about to be caught by someone or something.

“Annie,” she breathed into the phone. “Sweetheart, your dad… he locked me in the basement. Can you come help me? He thinks this is funny. All because he wanted to eat in peace. I think there are rats or mice in the basement, Annie. Come quickly.”

What. The. Hell.

I was so shocked, I nearly dropped my phone onto the floor. Locked in the basement? He locked her in the basement? And it was supposed to be funny?

My dad, in all his “wisdom,” had apparently decided that the best way to enjoy his dinner in peace was to lock my mother in the basement. Just so that she wouldn’t remind him to eat his veggies during a precious football game? He truly didn’t care about his cholesterol.

I called her back immediately, but it went straight to voicemail.

“Pick up, pick up, pick up!” I muttered.

My brain went straight into overdrive. My mom never asked for help unless things were way beyond something she could do for herself. She was a woman who could handle herself. I mean, she’s lived with my father for years, so that had to count for something. But she was also a woman who was deeply afraid of the dark and confined places.

So now, she was locked in the basement and not answering her phone. Dad had really crossed a line with this one.

I texted her, but there was no response.

“Maybe her phone died, Annie,” I told myself. “She must be so afraid… and livid.”

I knew I had to get to her as soon as possible.

I grabbed my keys and bolted out of my apartment. I live about twenty minutes away from my parents, but I swear, I made it in twelve.

The entire drive, I was fuming, and I already knew how this was going to end. My dad thought he was clever, but if there’s one thing I inherited from him, other than his eye color, it’s the ability to come up with a solid revenge plan.

“I can’t believe the nerve of this man,” I said to myself as I turned into our street.

When I got to the house, I didn’t even bother knocking. I had my spare key, so I let myself in. As soon as I stepped inside, I could hear the muffled sound of the TV blaring from the living room.

Classic Dad.

He was probably sitting there, stuffing his face with steak. It was a home routine—Saturdays meant steak for dinner. Little did he know, I was about to teach him a lesson, too.

I headed straight for the basement. Sure enough, the door was locked, but the key hung from the hook next to the door.

I knocked softly, and Mom’s relieved voice came through the wood.

“Honey, is that you?” she whispered.

“Yeah, it’s me, Mom,” I said. “Hang tight, we’re getting you out of there.”

I unlocked the door, and when my mother stepped out, she didn’t even look mad. She just looked tired. But there was a glint in her eye, like she wanted to get revenge on my father, too.

“Dad’s still in the living room,” I said. “He didn’t even hear me come in.”

“Oh? He’s still enjoying his victory, then?”

“Yeah, well, that’s going to be short-lived, Mom,” I said.

There’s one thing about my father: he loves his “throne.” It’s a ridiculous electric recliner that he spent way too much money on a few years ago. He loves it more than any person in the world, which is sad and pathetic, but true.

The chair has heated seats, a massage feature, and even USB ports. He treats it like it’s something sacred in our home.

Naturally, I aimed my revenge at it.

I told my mom the plan, and she laughed nervously. We crept toward the living room where Dad was zoned out, still glued to his game, digging into his dinner.

I quietly unplugged his precious chair from the wall. And the best part? This man didn’t even notice a thing. Then, with my mom watching, I pulled a little tube of super glue that I had taken from the kitchen.

I smeared it over the chair’s buttons, still absolutely perplexed that my father didn’t register that I was in the room, right next to him.

After that, Mom and I went back to the kitchen. We sat on the bar stools in silence as Mom opened a tub of cookies for us to nibble on.

Ten minutes later, the game went to half-time. We could hear Dad shift in his chair and he tried to press the recline button. Nothing happened. He frowned and pressed it again, harder this time.

Still nothing.

“What the heck?” he grumbled, fiddling with the controls. Then, I saw it. The moment when the realization hit him.

He started pulling at the armrests, trying to get up, but his hands were stuck. His face turned from confusion to full-on panic.

“What’s wrong, Frank?” Mom asked, strolling into the living room.

“The darn chair is broken!” he complained.

“Oh, really? Maybe because you overuse it. But wasn’t it fine before you locked me in the basement?” Mom asked.

My father’s eyes widened.

“You didn’t… Wait! How did you get out?” he asked.

“Annie,” Mom said simply.

I stepped out from my spot in the kitchen, where I had been recording their conversation.

“Smile for the camera, Dad,” I said. “This is going in the family group chat!”

“You wouldn’t dare, Annie!” he barked at me, tugging helplessly at his stuck hands.

“Oh, but I would,” I said.
I pressed send, and the replies started rolling in soon. If there was one thing my father hated, it was being seen beyond his usual façade. He didn’t want people to see the real him. And this was him, an ugly person.

“I’m taking Mom home with me for the rest of the weekend,” I said. “You can figure out how to get yourself off your throne.”

Mom went upstairs to pack herself an overnight bag. I didn’t want to leave her with Dad. But I doubt he’ll be locking anyone in the basement anytime soon.

What would you have done?

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