Boston Museum of Science Shares New Hack to Remove Gum From Shoes

We’ve all been there. You’re walking down the street, minding your own business. Then you spit out your gum, the guy behind you steps in it, and for some reason, he’s mad.

Well, good news: thanks to Boston’s Museum of Science, we now know of a hack to get gum off of the bottom of shoes. In a video shared on Facebook, it is revealed that the ultimate gum remover is actually…peanut butter.

As mentioned in the video, chewing gum is hydrophobic, meaning it does not mix with water. Also hydrophobic? Peanut butter, meaning that the gum is even more likely to stick to peanut butter than the bottom of your shoes.

So how does one use peanut butter to remove gum from a shoe? Just like you’d think: by taking a knife and applying some peanut butter to your shoe as you would a piece of bread.

As the video points out, it’s vital to let the peanut butter sit on your shoe for a couple minutes before scraping (I wonder if I could also put peanut butter on my windshield overnight in the winter…).

Gum caught in your hair? All good! Peanut butter can also be used to scrape gum out of your head, no questions asked (though I would likely have questions).

Having said all that, don’t forget to use some soap and water to give your shoes a good scrub after all the gum and peanut butter are gone, so you don’t have every dog in the neighborhood chasing you.

Does Toothpaste Really Clean Your Vehicle's Foggy Headlights? [Life Hack Test]

According to Carhop.com, cloudy headlights are a relatively modern issue. Originally, car manufacturers used glass domes for the front of their headlights until sometime in the 1980s when they switched to "polycarbonate or plastic" I assume because it was cheaper. Unlike glass, plastic is more susceptible to oxidation which is caused by the UV light created naturally by the sun. Dust, debris, and road grime also contribute to clouding up your lights.

They also say toothpaste can be used to clear that cloudiness thanks to the same mild abrasives that also remove plaque and other gunk from your mouth. As someone who has to see it or try it before I believe it, I decided to give it a shot by following their steps and seeing for myself if they were right.