30 Life Hacks That Totally Backfired
‘I knocked my toothbrush off the shelf and peed on it’
![30 Life Hacks That Totally Backfired](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/6/5/1135665_320x180.jpg)
New tips and tricks crop up every day, each of them claiming to make our lives easier. Obviously, it’s impossible for all of them to work, and the following Redditors have the scars to prove it. One of them tried a hack to combat tiredness, which involved holding their breath to increase their heart rate, which supposedly staves off sleep. While he neglected to provide more details, he said that “driving down the highway at 2 a.m. isn’t a good time for that to backfire.” We’ll take his word for it.
Other Redditors revealed the life hacks they’ve attempted that resulted in catastrophe, and in more than one instance, it seems like a better idea to just scratch your bug bites.
![jynxbaba87 E 11y ago mug cake backfired badlyyyy! it looked and tasted completely different plus the microwave split my mug in half.. 6 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/9/3/1135693.jpg)
![11y ago Today, I tried using the lid as a spoon for pudding and cut my lip. 8 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/9/5/1135695.jpg)
![1 11y ago apple cider vinegar to get rid of fruit flies. more came + 14 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/9/4/1135694.jpg)
![Annihilating_Tomato 11y ago As soon as gas prices went up I thought I could turn my 6 cylinder car into a 4 cylinder just by disconnecting 2 of the spark plugs. Engine started smoking and my car never ran the same again. 11 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/9/2/1135692.jpg)
![Motha_Effin_Kitty_Yo 11y ago saw a post about a guy splitting an apple in two by removing the core, placing his thumb in the top, pushing down, and the apple split perfectly in two. My apple did not break, my thumb did. + 30 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/9/0/1135690.jpg)
![Fonts 11y ago one time i couldn't light my candle because the wick was too far beneath the surface, so I just chopped the candle into pieces and put it in a waffle iron to simulate the melting-smelling thing candles do. My buddy, who was picking up dead flies so we could dip them in wax and make a little fly seascape, hit his head on the table which was holding said waffle-iron. The wax spilled on his face and arm, and he also got hit in the face with the waffle iron. It was awesome 34 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/9/1135689.jpg)
![Hugh_Jampton 11y ago Took a beard trimmer to my head on Christmas Eve after reading about how you can cut your own hair with them (you can but you need to set the length for a number 2 or 3 unless you want the Vin Diesel look). It ran out of power halfway through. So on Xmas day, waiting for it to charge up I was half patchily bald and everyone of the extended family thought I had lost my mind. 24 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/9/1/1135691.jpg)
![Reginald-J 0 11y ago Tried baking eggs instead of hard-boiling them. They turned out runny and gross. + 15 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/8/1135688.jpg)
![11y ago Wooden spoons don't stop pans of water from boiling over, had to clean my mums stove a day after she cleaned it, took bloody ages and I knew she was going to get mad and tried to clean it before I let it cool down and burned the duck out of my hand. + 14 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/7/1135687.jpg)
![Toasterfire 11y ago Tried the put the toaster on its side method for making toasted sandwiches. Immediately, black smoke. I'd only just got my toaster privlages back, too... + 35 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/6/1135686.jpg)
![Berry2Droid 11y ago Brush your teeth in the shower! you all said. I knocked my toothbrush off the shelf and peed on it. This happened two days ago. + 37 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/3/1135683.jpg)
![tstrmr 11y ago . Edited 11y ago Read an article about the benefits of tongue brushing. Ended up puking in the sink. 36 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/2/1135682.jpg)
![11y ago Tried making chocolate ice cream cups using water balloons. Turns out, the chocolate can't be hot when you do this. Water balloons exploded, chocolate all over everything and everyone. We were still scraping chocolate off of stuff weeks later. 75 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/5/1135685.jpg)
![ShiinaM 11y ago Had a great idea to put a tub of chocolate spread in the microwave so it would be pre-melted for some toast (nom nom) but what happened was the foil still on the edge of the tub's rim caught fire, melted the plastic tub and burnt out the microwave, I came back to the kitchen with a burning microwave and almost a housefire. + 104 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/1/1135681.jpg)
![piaria . 11y ago . Edited 8y ago Home alone and hungry. Craving a grilled cheese sandwich. Pans are dirty. So I decided to use that old hack 'make grilled cheese in a toaster'. Apparently, the person who created that hack forgot that toasters pop out. TL;DR - hot cheese burn D: 316 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/4/1135684.jpg)
![gn3xu5 . 11y ago Cinnamon as an ant deterrent, does not work, and I have yet to scrub it all away from the garage. 231 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/0/1135680.jpg)
![GearsMaster 11y ago The theory that holding your breath when you're tired will increase your heart rate and help keep you awake...driving down the highway at 2 in the morning isn't the best time for something like that to backfire. 221 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/9/1135679.jpg)
![Thebeescheese 11y ago Some fuck on reddit suggested I put a lime wedge on my forhead to stop a headache. I only had key limes though, so that's probably why it didn't work. Lol + 206 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/7/1135677.jpg)
![Lexam 11y ago Tried to peel an egg by peeling the ends and blowing on it to peel it. Got red faced, did not peel the egg. + 170 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/8/1135678.jpg)
![11y ago As a guy, I heard if you apply pressure to that area between your ass and balls that the rest of the pee would come out when you are taking a piss. I tried it, missed my first time, and my finger went straight up my ass. It works though if you dont miss. + 459 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/6/1135676.jpg)
![Qender 11y ago I took hundreds of packets I had collected over months from taco bell and put them all in a bottle. My cats threw the bottle off the kitchen counter and smashed it during the following night. 365 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/2/1135672.jpg)
![nkdeck07 E 11y ago Putting tea bags on your eyes to reduce puffiness. Used apple cinnamon tea and cinnamon is an irritant. I had a square rash around both of my eyes for 2 hours. + 637 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/6/9/1135669.jpg)
![11y ago I tried to make cookie cups by turning a muffin pan upsidedown. Ended up with shitty lopsided cookies. 413 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/4/1135674.jpg)
![karroottss 11y ago Holding a fire underneath a ping pong ball. Apparently if you do this, the dent in the ping pong ball will come out. DON'T TRY THIS. In 2 seconds, it became a ball of flames. I swear I thought I was going to burn my house down. + 781 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/0/1135670.jpg)
![Rule2 11y ago Putting your tongue on the roof of your mouth to stop an almost sneeze from happening. Tried this last night instead of covering my mouth, because I thought it would work. Snot sneeze right in my girlfriends face. + 1.2K ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/6/8/1135668.jpg)
![smish108 11y ago I had a phone that got some water in it, and all I had was rice pilaf. Little did I know that the inside packet was full of seasoning, ended up getting that in every crevice of my phone, never turned on again. Smelled delicious though. + 1.3K ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/5/1135675.jpg)
![MattDU 11y ago Tried to poke a straw up through a strawberry's center to easily remove the stem. Ended up not only missing the center, but pushing it through and poking myself in the eye. Take notes kids: Poke downwards, not upwards. + 1K ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/1/1135671.jpg)
![BakulaSelleck92 11y ago I once heard that near-boiling water will make a mosquito bite stop itching. It works alright, but it turns your itch into a burn. + 1.2K ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/6/7/1135667.jpg)
![11y ago Edited 11y ago I read somewhere that humans are meant to crouch when taking a dump rather than sitting down on the seat. I had a bowel movement and wanted to try this theory out so there i was perched on top of my toilet, my feet on the seat squatting like a dumb ass; I slipped mid poo and hit my head on the bathtub......Not a good time. EDIT: Reddit taught me how to properly take a dump; might have to check out the squatty potty thanks guys. EDIT2: I got very lucky that the toilet](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/6/6/1135666.jpg)
![theawesomeryon 11y ago tried to put a warm spoon on my gf's bugbite to stop the reaction and stop the itching. spoon was too hot. 2nd degree burn on her foot. got kicked in the face. 5 ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/3/1135673.jpg)