Everyone loves a good life hack. Between meetings, appointments, and events, it seems like the more things we need to get done, the less time we have to do them. The last thing you need when getting ready is to iron out wrinkles or fix a broken zipper. Luckily, we’ve thought of some of the most efficient and effective style hacks to keep you looking stylish and arriving on time.
Bid farewell to wrinkles and fast
Anyone who wears button-up shirts or suits every day knows how much of a pain it is to take a shirt out of the closet and find it full of wrinkles. The last thing you want to do when you’re getting ready is iron. A quick and easy way to fix this is to put your shirt in the dryer, along with a few ice cubes, for 10 minutes. While the dryer is going the ice cubes will melt, creating steam, and the wrinkles will disappear. It’s science and style combined.
Give unworn pants a new life
Chances are you have some pants in your closet that just sit there. You don’t wear them but you don’t get rid of them either. A great way to bring those unworn pants back to life is to turn them into shorts. Try them on and mark the desired length, grab a pair of fabric scissors and snip away. If you don’t want the raw edges showing, cuff the legs once or twice.
Test a shirt’s tuck-in capabilities
If you’ve ever purchased a button-up shirt from a store and taken it home, only to find it doesn’t stay tucked in, you’ll be happy to know we have a style hack for that too. The solution for this is the sit-down test: while you’re at the store, sit down once you’ve tucked the shirt in to test how it will feel when you’re sitting in a meeting or at your workspace. If it pulls out, it’s too short and you should go for a different size.
Clean suede shoes with stale bread
Most men know and understand the hassles of owning a pair of suede shoes. If you’ve been neglecting your pair because they’ve gotten dirty and they no longer look professional, try the old stale bread crust trick. Let bread crust become hard and dry or use a stale piece of bread you have lying around the kitchen, and rub the edges of the crust onto the areas that need a little TLC. It sounds a crazy, but try if for yourself and you’ll see that it works.
Refresh an older pair of boots
There comes a time when every guy has to decide to keep or chuck his well-worn boots. A great hack to give them a little extra life would be to grab a pair of colored shoelaces—think red or blue—and replace the frayed, dirty ones. This is quite possibly the easiest shoe makeover and one that will add a pop of color to any pair of boots. Try pairing blue laces with patterned socks and dark denim.
Forgo the changing room
Another handy trick to have up your sleeve is one that will save you the hassle of going to the changing room to try on a new pair of pants. Instead, you can take your forearm (elbow to fist) and place it in the waist of the pants—if it fits without being too loose or too tight, chances are it will be the right fit for when you put them on at home. (Make sure you choose the right length, though.)
So long to red wine stains
Most people think that spilling red wine on white clothing is basically a death sentence, but there’s one trick that will make sure you won’t cry over spilt wine ever again. Soak the stain with a bit of white wine, use a clean cloth to dab (don’t rub!) until the stain is out, toss the stained item in the wash and voilà! The stain will have disappeared completely. Pat yourself on the back and reward yourself with another glass of wine.
