If you get creative enough with your knowledge of how things work, you can manipulate many ordinary items to work in your favor in a life-and-death situation. You’ll likely encounter a tricky situation at least once in your life, so here are some household items that could save your life someday so that you can always be ready for anything.
Tuna Can
When you’re down and out in the wilderness or somewhere that doesn’t have heat and electricity, you might have to work with what you’ve got. If you can acquire a can of tuna, then you can effectively create a lantern that will stay lit for no less than two hours. All you’ll need are a match or lighter, a can of tuna packed in oil, and paper. Poke a hole in the middle of the can and twist up your paper as tightly as you can. You’ll use the paper as the wick. Insert the paper into the hole and let it sit until it absorbs the oil. Then, light it when you’re ready, and you’ve got a lamp for the night. Plus, the tuna will be perfectly safe to eat afterward, so there’s your dinner, too.
Plastic Bottle
If you cut out the bottom end of an empty plastic bottle, you can successfully make it into a simple still to collect consumable water in the wild. Fold the piece of plastic inward, and then place the bottle over something damp. Through evaporation, it will eventually get hot enough that moisture collects, and you’ll have potable water—not a lot, but enough to survive on.
Hair Pin
You might find an abandoned building in which you need to camp out for the night. If you know how lock picks work, maybe due to having your own lock pick set at home or from watching too many crime dramas, then you can figure out how hair pin picks work, too. By straightening one hair pin and using another in its original form—using the former as a hook and the latter as a clamp—you can create a tool to pick a lock. When you’re maneuvering the tool through the inside of the lock, you’ll need both components to get through the different levels of mechanisms inside the lock. But with a little practice, you can master it with ease.
It’s good to be prepared, and with this list of household items that could save your life someday, you have a basic knowledge of some of the things of which you’re capable if you’re ever in a bind.