I was thinking about some of those random handy things I'd picked up from people.
Here's a few...

Avoid cross-threading things: turn whatever it is in the 'loosten' direction until it goes 'thunk', then tighten (father)
For general storage, old hard-plastic instant coffee jar lids fit NZ preserving jars (mother)
Sharpen most blades on a really acute angle (chef boss)
Don't wash bread tins, and dry baking tins in the still-warm oven (nana)
House music is an instrument of the devil (a wise friend )

What small, but really useful things have you learned, and who taught you?

If you intentionally miss match your socks people go crazy. I mean, it seems to blow a lot of minds. Minds that really need some blowing, frankly.

" Two hundred years from now you won't even remember you had a headache ! " - Mary M. 100 years old

Best hard boiled egg recipe - Put eggs in pot with cold water , bring to rolling boil - boil 1 minute only. Take off heat , cover pot, let sit 20 minutes. Run cool water over eggs. " Kitchen Science "

" Take it easy on your Mother " - Grampie

"Spoiling your grandchildren is the best revenge for the headaches your kids gave you."

"There is more than one way to skin a cat...
...you don't have to suck it's brains out of its asshole."
(that was CPO Murray's way of telling you that you're doing it the hard way.)

John Polk wrote:"There is more than one way to skin a cat...
...you don't have to suck it's brains out of its asshole."
(that was CPO Murray's way of telling you that you're doing it the hard way.)

That's an awesomely disgusting mental picture!

More: pears are usually heaps better if picked a bit green and left in a cool, dark place to ripen (my mum again)
Another ripening one: as long as tomatoes have begun to change colour, they will ripen off the plant, in the dark. They'll only taste ok though! (unnamed smart tomato people)

Advice I gave my daughter as she was learning to drive,

" Assume the world is full of idiots, you'll have fewer surprises and things will make better sense"

Has worked good so far......

A "Plumbers Freind" - the toilet bowl plunger - is not designed to propel things down the drain . It is designed to pull them back out . So , gently push down on it until you have a good suction and then pull up hard . Works better with less effort .

Just about any leak, short of a complete break, in just about any kind of pipe or hose can be repaired temporarily...or not so temporarily, with just one thing....bicycle inner tube cut into ribbons. Catch the free end under the first turn and wrap away as tightly as you can, in overlapping courses. If you do this with the water, etc. on, you can tell when you've done enough when the dripping stops. If the problem is out in the blazing sun, give the patch a covering of duct tape or such like....sunlight is the enemy of rubber and your fix won't last long uncovered. I have even patched gas and steam lines with this technique, as well as soaker hoses......

When you set out to learn something that you're interested in, the benefits will be much greater than learning the specific thing you were trying to learn.
John S
PDX OR