Today I have two tiny tips (don’t you just love the way that rolls off the tongue?)  related to opening and closing jars (or bottles or bins – anything with a screw-top, really).  They’re things I tend to take for granted.  I forget not everyone knows about them!

Tip #1: Keep a rubber band in the kitchen.

I used to have one of those rubber jar lid gripper doohickies.  It probably came from a booth at the State Fair or something and had some logo on it.  But we used it so much it finally fell apart and wasn’t useful anymore.  After trying unsuccessfully to find a new one, I finally realized that all we needed was the rubber grip – not necessarily the shape.  This means a rubber band will work.
Anything with a lid wide enough to hold the rubber band can be opened this way.

It even works on bottle caps; you just have to wrap it around a couple extra times to take up the slack.

Tip #2: Screw the lid backward.

You know the feeling.  Someone (maybe even you) got the jar lid on crooked.  Somehow it closed, but now it’s so jammed you can’t get it open again.  Certain lids just lend themselves to this because they don’t like to screw on smoothly.  But there’s a little trick than can help.  Screw the lid backward first.  This will help it settle on straight.  (Usually you can feel when you’ve turned it backward far enough that it’s settled into place.)  Then, without lifting it, reverse directions and screw the lid on.  It works for me almost every time!