Stupid Solutions To Problems That Actually Worked!

Stupid Solutions To Problems That Actually Worked!

July 20, 2023・

12 min read

Over 65% of Americans think they’re above average intelligence and if you can’t see the problem with that, you’re part of the problem. Naturally, for every Nikola Tesla, we need a numbnuts to keep it balanced. But even colossal dumbs can achieve accidental genius. I’ve scoured around for the most moronic mechanics and pea-brained plumbers going. Here are the stupidest solutions to problems that miraculously worked.

Keep Warm, Carry On

Someone much smarter than most of us has found a way to enjoy their pool all around the year. This watery hole uses another of the four elements to keep warm: fire. They’ve put an actual fire floating in their pool. This is some true redneck engineering. It might be effective, but I’m not sure I’d be hopping in that pool anytime soon. At least all that water’s at the ready in case of emergency.

The same can’t really be said for how a Minnesota resident took to keeping warm. During a particularly frosty winter, their landlord decided to turn down the heating, despite outside temperatures plummeting to -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

But our tenacious tenant had the last laugh. They cranked all the burners on their stovetop and set a fan to blow the rising heat around their apartment. The stingy landlord was too busy fussing over the profits to remember they paid the electricity bill.

The Wheels on the Bus

When you were younger, did you ever sing the nursery rhyme “The Wheels on the Bus”? As it happens, the wheels actually do a lot more than go round and round. They can support an entire home!

For now, it’s holding up fine but that bend at the front is concerning. All it takes is for one tire to get knocked out of place before they all go rolling down the hill, and the house is gonna slide down after them.

The bus home in the image below might not be the van-life aesthetic you see plastered over Instagram, but we don’t know what this person’s living situation was before. And this is a darn sight better than letting a hunk of metal rust away in some scrapyard. Providing it’s not cold and full of leaks, it’s a pretty clever and cheap way to give someone a home.

Sink Repairing With Noodles

Apparently, you can fix a sink, or just about anything using instant ramen. And if you're a broke college student, you might already have plenty of packet noodles.

Realistically, the ramen isn’t fixing anything, the gelling agent is. The noodles act like scaffolding holding the gel in place while it sets. It can then be sanded down to fit the shape, painted over, and voila!

But why ramen? It’s cheap and easy to get into whatever shape you need. That, and pouring chicken seasoning into a hole in your sink turns a few heads. However, you should leave this one to the pros; you’ll have a messy home if you plug the holes in your wall with chili beef noodles.

DIY Mechanic

Never take any engineering advice from whoever’s responsible for the repair in the image below. When their wheel came loose from the chassis and they had no legal way to fix it, they turned to that rather horrifying method.

Hopefully, they were just holding it together until they got to the nearest garage. The same can’t be said for the bootleg wing mirror in the image below, though. They’d be better off using that mirror to take a long hard look at themselves.

However, neither of those come close to winning “horrifying car mod of the week.” That reward goes to Florida for this incredible repair work. Duct tape might be able to fix everything, but it can’t fix your bad driving.

Cooking With A Clothing Iron

The world of kitchen gadgets is a minefield. No matter what they try and sell you, you don’t need an avocado spoon, a pickle picker, or a self-twirling spaghetti fork. You’ve already got everything you need to cook up a delicious meal.

So, go to the cupboard, grab your iron, and let’s get cooking! As it happens, that thing your mom got you when you went to college that’s still in the box can do so much more than keeping the creases out of your khakis.

Remember that pizza you ate half of last night? Before chowing down on a cold slice, heat it up on the iron. And for extra melty goodness bonus points, why not give the top a blast with your mom’s blow dryer?

If you thought this was just one of those hotel hacks where you don’t have access to a burner, you are wrong. Somebody else went one step further and set their iron up on their stovetop. If you wanna give it a go though, I’d suggest using a different iron than you use for your clothes as you don’t wanna be remembered for smelling like sausage meat.

Bath Tub From Plastic Container

One genius Reddit user came up with the perfect solution to soak your weary muscles when you don't have a bath at home. They placed a large storage box in their shower and hopped in afterward. And it costs less than a bath too!

When you’ve got 16 gallons of human in there already, you only need 4 gallons of water. And the bubbles protect your modesty. It’s intuitive and economical! If you prefer a nice cooling dip over a hot one, a homeowner has converted a used IBC container into a makeshift pool.

However, IBCs are normally used to store and transport large quantities of liquid chemicals or water, and sometimes those chemicals are hazardous. So, make sure this thing is properly cleaned before trying it out yourself. Otherwise, you’ll hop out looking like you’ve dressed up as a tasty seal and tried to outswim a shark.

DIY Locking Solutions

When a driver’s fuel cap came loose, they didn’t feel like coughing up all that money at a garage to get it fixed. Instead, they used a cheap bathroom lock to secure the flap.

It’s not pretty, but if you trust it to stop people walking in on you with your pants down, you should trust it on your car. And while home locks work on the car, car locks also work in at home. The Reddit user in the footage below created a unique mechanism to keep their gate shut using the fastening for a seat belt.

You know in movies when someone uses a big piece of wood to barricade the door? Surely no one actually does that in real life? Well, someone does. They’ve shoved a spanner through two handles and padlocked the other side. Without the key, no one’s getting in or out of there.

Rye to Bear Arms

Whether you’ve got a big weapon or a small one, be proud of what you’re packing. At the end of the day, if you live in the US, it’s your second amendment right to own a gun. It’s a touchy subject, but some people probably shouldn’t be allowed to own a gun. More specifically, this guy in the image below shouldn’t be.

Did his buddy ask him to bring a toaster and he didn’t know if that meant for shooting or sandwiches? It does the job, but he’s one step from turning that loaf into an ashy bagel. I wouldn’t trust him with making lunch, let alone an open carry license.

How about someone with a gun tucked in their flip-flop? At least if the gun jams or runs out of ammo you’ve got the slipper to slap them silly with. Sometimes it’s easy to see why other countries laugh at America.

Curl Hair With Empty Toilet Rolls

Apparently, those cardboard inserts from your toilet paper make a great replacement for hair rollers! Only, it kind of seems too good to be true. And the tutorials I’ve checked haven’t worked out too well for them.

In order for it to work, the hair needs to be wet, but damp cardboard will just go mushy in your hair. And for the sake of saving yourself about $10 on an actual set of rollers, I’m calling the doo-doo paper tube hairdo poo-poo.

Creative Weather Protection Solutions

After an emergency hail warning was issued, one car owner got caught out without a cover for their vehicle and had to think something up on the fly. Good quality hail covers can easily be a couple of hundred dollars and aren’t the easiest thing to get hold of on short notice, unlike pool noodles. Any hail that falls straight down will bounce right off them!

So, that’s bad weather from above, but if you’re in an area prone to flooding, how do you stop the water from rising until everything you own is submerged? You don’t, you simply raise your possessions up even higher!

Incredibly, a car owner engineered a handy pair of stilts for his prized wagon. Check it out in the image below! There’s no question they’re doing an excellent job of making sure his engine stays dry, the only thing is, how the heck did he get the car up there? According to the Reddit user, "Floor jack, some wooden stacks, and prayers".

Lights, Camera, Action

When a mock-up nightclub in Myanmar ran into some electrical issues, a bold hero stepped in to save the day, or night, and keep the party going. Spending your whole night stationed by the electricals plugging and unplugging the lights sounds neither fun nor safe. However, he looks like he’s having a great time.

As for that white stuff all over his face, don’t be getting any funny ideas. It’s a kind of sunscreen called thanaka particular to Myanmar. Can’t be forgetting to protect your skin while you throw some shapes!

On the topic of lights, how do you stand out from the crowd without spending an extortionate amount on fancy lights in the festive season? If you’re Massachusetts-based DIY extraordinaire Wild Bill, you get creative. On Halloween 2022 he set up a scary surprise in his front yard.

What a fun way to encourage trick-or-treaters. The only problem is, it looks like this guy lives in the middle of nowhere. So, who’s trick or treating in the sticks? If spooky season isn’t your vibe though, check out his Christmas display. I’m calling this one, Rudolph the Redneck Reindeer!

Screen Scheme

Kids nowadays will never know the struggle of playing video games with a friend before the internet. Online gaming wasn’t a thing, so you and your frenemy would have to play off against each other on the same TV, which compressed both your screens into one.

As well as having half the screen real estate, your opponent could always see where you were. And some people were flagrant cheaters. I only wish I was as creative as the two budding gamers below who taped a sheet of cardboard to split the screen so neither of them can spy on the other!

Genius Bunk Bed Cooling Solution

A pair of brilliant buddies found a way to keep things cool at their sleepover parties, even though they only had a small desk fan and were sleeping in separate bunks. By sticking a pair of pants over the fan, they directed the flow of air down each leg to their respective beds!

Tin Foil AA Battery Hack

You've probably got a drawer in your house full of batteries that you don't remember buying. And when something runs out of juice, they’re never the right size. But that’s not a problem anymore because there's a fix. If you need a larger battery, say a AA, and you’ve only got AAAs, you can use tin foil to make the battery longer.

Because tin foil conducts electricity, it allows the current to pass through it which completes the circuit in whatever battery-powered device you need it in. As long as the batteries have power, whatever you’ve put them in should work.

However, you need to be careful putting foil and batteries together. If you connect both ends of the foil together, this happens:

When the circuit’s completed with just the foil and the battery, the foil gets hot enough to start a fire! So, before you go jamming all your electricals with aluminum foil and tiny batteries, make sure you’re not gonna melt your TV remote. No one wants to be that guy who has to get up to change channels.

This Guy Built A Wooden Gym On His Farm

TikTok-er, Will Hartzell, found a creative way to keep his pump on throughout the COVID pandemic. He built an entire gym out of stuff he found lying around his farm. Will’s home gym comes fully equipped with homemade dumbbells, a bench press, and a treadmill. Going to the gym takes a lot of effort, but building your own gym is next-level!

Seat for Sore Eyes

A Reddit user’s brother fashioned himself an unsightly-looking gaming chair from an old dining chair, a cushion, and some tape. That's a good use of resources!

I’m partial to grinding out ranked ladders until 2 AM, but if I sat on this thing for longer than twenty minutes my spine would look like a witch’s finger. But if it keeps you comfy then who am I to stop you? I’d take the chance with that over the abomination in the image below.

Hopefully, these bombs are no longer active. Otherwise parking your caboose for a happy little swing would be a death trap. However, there's a glorious chair that makes the others pale in comparison. Have you ever been out with your pals and fancied a nice, cold, refreshing beverage? Fear not! I present to you the beer potty.

In order for it to work, you do actually need some snow. It's not clear how the toilet itself is doing anything to keep your refreshments more refreshing than the snow would on its own. Also, after 2 beers you'll need some alone time with the toilet fridge and no one’s gonna want to store their drinks in a bowl filled with yellow snow.

If you were amazed at these stupid solutions that actually worked and genius instances of redneck engineering, you might want to read our articles about dumb ideas that actually work. Thanks for reading!