Life hacks have always been around, but before the internet they were called tips, tricks, or helpful hints.
There’s a common misconception that people are just now coming up with a lot of these helpful hacks, like this simple method for removing splinters:
"Fill a wide mouthed bottle with hot water nearly to the brim, and press affected part of hand tightly against mouth of bottle. The suction will pull down the flesh, and steam will soon draw out the splinter."
Simple, ain't it? This tip came from a card included with a pack of Gallaher's Cigarettes around the turn of the 20th century, so if you've ever wondered where people posting hacks online came up with the idea it might have been from a hundred year old pack of smokes:
The life hacks presented on these cigarette cards were generally split into two categories- outdoor survival and household hints. The household hints are still pretty helpful, like this recipe for a homemade fire extinguisher:
"Dissolve one pound of salt and half a pound of sal-ammoniac in two quarts of water and bottle the liquor in thin glass bottles holding about a quart each. Should a fire break out, dash one or more of the bottles into the flames, and any serious outbreak will probably be averted."
However, the survival set will probably only come in handy if you're an avid outdoorsperson, or you're trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world:
Redditor Ryno3639 posted a gallery full of these great Cigarette Card Life Hacks From 1900 to 1910 on Imgur, full of many tips which are just as useful today as they were over 100 years ago.