A pensioner from Manchester named Suzanne Dale almost ended up burning down her house when she used a common food hack that many of us probably use every day. The culprit: she turned her toaster on its side in order to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

A few minutes after she placed the bread and cheese in the toaster, it started to smoke and set fire. Fortunately Suzanne hadn’t left the room to do something else as many of us do when making toast, and was able to quickly unplug the toaster and take it outside. It took 20 minutes even then for the fire to go out, which really makes you think about the damage it could have caused had it been left unattended.

Suzanne had the following to say about the incident:

Featured Image VIA

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I just thought ‘oh I’ll try that’. I don’t know why, I have griddles and everything to make cheese on toast.

I thought it might be a faster way of making cheese on toast.

There has since been 2,000 shares and so many comments. It is probably a good thing, if I was stupid enough to do it someone else will be.

Lots of people said ‘I was going to try this I thought it was a good idea.’

Luckily I live in a house and have a garden, but if it was anyone living in a flat or somebody who was less agile who couldn’t get out as quick, they were real flames, it could be dangerous.

I don’t want anybody to be doing that in a flat or anyone who could not get out quick.

I didn’t want to throw water on it, there was so much smoke going off. Hopefully it will save somebody doing it.

Well yeah here’s hoping – basically just don’t do it all. Make your cheese toastie in a frying pan like a normal person.

In case you’re wondering why the toaster ended up on fire, it was because toasters quite simply aren’t designed to be placed on their sides. This can cause the work surface below them to heat up, or bits of toast stuck in the bottom to catch on fire. So yeah again, don’t do it.

If you want to check out some life hacks that actually work though, click here.