I have been hanging out in this forum for 10 years now and, boy, have I learned a lot form you all.

Practically every piece of my equipment was suggested or vetted by you. Everything from my tent (SMD Europa) and sleeping bag (WM Versalite) to my socks (Smartwool mini outdoor).

Some of my favorite pieces of gear advise have to do with the little things like:

Using McDonalds coffee cups for drinking.
Using a Glad storage bowl as my bowl.
Only needing a spoon (no fork).

or, advise like:
try to find things that have multiple uses or avoid redundancy - like using your bandanna to filter out the big chunks before filtering cruddy water.

I know that there have been many threads on "what is your favorite piece of gear" (which you can mention if you like) - I'm more interested in the one or two things that surprised you because it was such a simple, beautiful idea or something that changed the way you do things...

So, what is your favorite piece of advice?
And already I can see it - so let me save you some time... "don't eat yellow snow"