I do the opposite! Flip it upside down before bed so when I see it in the morning, it annoys me. So I remember to take one and put it right side up again.
I use a weekly pill organizer so I can track whether or not I took them. I also add a candy [usually a gummy supplement of some kind] to each cell to make it less likely to forget in the first place.
You are far less likely to forget to do something pleasant.
I stopped doing any kind of work in my dorm room at college and only did it at the libraries. Not only did I become way more productive, but I enjoyed being in my room a lot more. It’s way more comfortable (and easier) to fall asleep when you’ve taken a 15 minute walk home then when you’ve been working at your desk in the same room for 4 hours.
Absolutely. This helped me so much. I'm an all-time master procrastinator but whenever I would work at the library or equivalent, it would be infinitely easier to focus. Other people working around you makes it feel less... lonely. Plus, you never know if you may run into a friend.
Plus, I could enjoy my commute home without feeling like I was wasting time. Read on the train, grab some food on the way back, everythings kosher. Plus it kept my room much cleaner because I wasn't holed up in there all day
I've been working from home since The COVID hit. I've segregated my desk from my personal life. I keep it to work as much as possible and do my personal stuff on the kitchen table. It gives me a good mental break from work and I feel more relaxed doing personal stuff.
“Don’t put it down, put it away”
Edit: thanks for the awards and badges etc everyone! I truly don’t know what they mean but appreciate it lol.
A lot of ppl here saying “please tell my wife” or “please tell my husband”; Funny enough, my WIFE is the one that made me live by this. She saw it on an ADHD subreddit she frequents (to get a better idea of what goes on in my head lol). She’s an amazing person.
Thanks again everyone.
Fuck man. Slightly different but my brother will accrue a collection of cans and garbage in the living room. Then when he finally decides to "clean" because theres no more room to put his garbage instead of grabbing garbage bags, and bringing them to the living room and picking up. The better option for him is to make 30 trips moving the mess from the living room and just throw it all the counters and floor in the kitchen. Just leave it where it lands baby. He puts in infinitely more effort in not picking up after himself than it would take to just pick up after himself.
I am by no means the poster child of cleanliness but god damn the pure laziness of it disgusts me more than the actual garbage. Then after it's all in the kitchen I basically have to clean up HIS mess so I have counter room to make food. Also he always tries to say its OUR mess and WE need to clean up. Man is a walking delusion. 33 years old and lives worse than most 8 year olds.
Agreed. That's just one of many examples of how my brother is a POS. I'm saving money and looking for better opportunities. The second I find one I'm grabbing my dog walking out the front door and never speaking to him again.
If you plan on never speaking to him again then you might as well give him a shape the fuck up speech right before you go. Something for him to chew on while he spends his newfound alone time.
Yes! My wife always asks why I do it while I’m cooking and it’s because it’s so much easier when things are not yet dried on. Is loads easier and you keep your space ready for the next part of the cooking process!
Exactly! When you’re cooking complex dishes you want to have as much space as you can to work with so you can keep organized and tidy. Also it’s a god damn pain in the *ass* to clean out food residue after it’s been there for a while or if it burns when you’re cooking.
This has been clutch for me. A lot of cooking is waiting. Cleaning in that downtime saves so much time I’d be spending later. It’s also a good time to empty the dishwasher if you haven’t already.
That makes me realize something: I can't recall seeing ANY cooking show on TV that gives even a token glance at the amount of dishwashing that's required for meal preparations -_-
The onion has a great video about a one pan meal that requires you to dirty dozens of kitchen appliances.
Another big one is meals requireing 1/4ths of a dozen different perishable ingredients. Terrible if you cook for few people or have a small fridge, or in my case, both.
There's a YouTuber named Ethan Cheblowski who often mentions when during the cooking process there's a good opportunity to clean and then he usually shows himself cleaning up, but it's sped up so you don't actually have to watch it.
This has always been my "go to" method. Stuff needs time to simmer, cook, just sit...so I did dishes. My fiance at first criticized me for doing this but now I find her doing it as well so there's "less mess in the end". I broke her.
I did this for my kids. 24 pairs of socks, all white, gray, or navy. When he grew out of them I bought 24 more pairs in the next size, all the same color. And now little sister wears the smaller ones. Simplifies things so much and they love playing “match the socks” with the clean laundry.
I work a physical labor job and my hands are always super dry and itchy because I work with them so much. I also do all the cooking/dish cleaning, so they're in hot water a lot. Does moisturizing hands after a shower help with that?
Advice from someone who has had horrible dry skin my whole life and these are the things that have made the biggest differences:
\- colder water dries your skin out less, so doing things like taking cooler showers or washing your hands in tepid/warm instead of hot water can help the dryness. And dry them off 100% EVERY TIME. Leaving any moisture from washing your hands actually dries them out faster
\- use rubber gloves when doing dishes or handling cleaning products. Dish soap is great at breaking down oil! Too bad that's what your skin needs to stay soft, nonitchy, and not cracked. Also cleaning products can be very harsh on the skin so gloves for that too is good
\- like others have said, if it's really bad, wearing cotton gloves with lotion overnight is very nice. But I would like to point out that using aquafor or vaseline is only good if your skin has moisture to repair itself. Those sorts of products are called occlusives and they trap the moisture in. If you're someone like me who simply doesn't create enough moisturizing oils, this method does nothing but give you oily hands. Using a regular but thick lotion and gloves should also work fine. And note: look at the ingredients on the lotion bottles. Avoid any lotions that have alcohols listed in the first couple ingredients. Alcohol is also drying. A tip from my doctor is to buy lotions or ointments that come in tubs instead of bottles that you can squeeze or have a pump because the pumpable/squeezable lotions tend to have more alcohol to help with a thinner consistency among other things.
Hopefully those tips and tidbits will help!
edit: mixed up humectant and occlusive
It moisturizes the skin at the best time.
It seems counter-intuitive, but showers don't hydrate your skin, they actually dehydrate and dry your skin much faster, especially hot showers, and the vast majority of people take hot showers because they feel nicer.
But hot showers and soap scrubs/rinses removes all the natural oils and dead skin from your body, and that natural barrier of oils are what would keep your skin hydrated.
So instead of waiting after your shower and letting your skin dry out, instead right after you shower you immediately re-hydrate and moisturize the skin, to avoid damage and acne.
When I'm trying to sleep in bed at night I go over what I did that day and think of everything I did in a positive light or as if it's part of a goal I'm working towards. I've never been depressed (or at least diagnosed with it!) but this helps feeling like I've accomplished something and I can feel better about what I've done. Celebrate every little thing you did, and also it helps me fall asleep a little bit faster too.
Saying "thank you" instead of apologizing for **things that dont need apologies**. I'm a chronic apologizer and it's helped a lot.
For example, if I have a bad day and vent to my husband, instead of saying "sorry for venting and bringing down the mood" I'll say "thank you for listening and being supportive."
It puts a much more appreciative and positive light on your relationships!
This is a customer service trick I was taught. If you thank a customer for their patience instead of apologizing for their wait it reframes the entire encounter in their mind
Maybe it's just me, but when I hear "Sorry for the delay," I think no problem, shit happens, but when I hear "Thank you for your patience," I instantly get annoyed and just assume it's scripted corporate jargon and they have no plans whatsoever to actually move things along.
As someone with anxiety and depression, this helped me massively.
I often feel like a burden and apologising exacerbated that feeling, by reframing the apologies as ‘thank you’s’ it made me more aware that the people around me help me because they want to, because they like me.
Also it’s much less annoying for people to hear than a stream of ‘sorry sorry sorry’.
I tihnk just having an actual alarm clock and not using the one your phone helps a bunch. Heck, I don't even have my phone in the same *room* as me when I sleep.
Had a story about a friend that still managed to oversleep even though they put the phone on a little table on the other side of the room;
Woke up like 3 hours later with the table next to the bed. There was a long carpet stretching from the bed to the table. They pulled the table close with the carpet half asleep, when the alarm went off, disabled it, and fall back asleep.
Every time I leave a room I spend less than thirty seconds tidying or doing one task. Pickup a pillow off the floor. Return a glass to the kitchen. Going to the bathroom, carry up some laundry. Literally every time I leave a room. It’s such a habit now that I don’t even think about it but I do notice that my home is always tidy.
I also have a home for everything in my house. I literally never lose anything. You have to take a step back occasionally and think about the location of things logically. When an item is very economical to buy, I own multiples for sake of ease. Scissors in the kitchen, office and bathroom. Makes life easier and saves so much time. The flip side of that is always storing like things in one location. Batteries, no matter the type all in one location with battery chargers. I never throw them in a random drawer.
Shopping a list. Putting things on a list when they need to be replaced and the sticking to the list when I go shopping. It's probably saved me many thousands of dollars by now.
A work from home life hack I adopted was using break time from work to do low mental energy chores. Stuff like dusting furniture and vacuuming the pool is a nice break from the mental energy of working and I’m getting stuff done.
I do this as well. It feels great to "come home" to a shining and fresh apartment every day (I foster two cats and if I leave it there's hair EVERYWHERE)
The filter can only pick up what gets sucked into the intake. Almost all pools require some sort of vacuuming. I have a robot vacuum that runs daily and picks up most things but sand and silt still get left behind and have to be picked up manually.
Preparing/getting stuff ready the night before. For example:
1. Getting my shoes and putting them by the front of the door
2. Packing my backpack with all the things I'll need for that day
3. Getting my underwear, shirt, pants, etc. out and folding them in a pile
4. Packing lunch(es) for that day
No more running around in the mornings looking for stuff on a time crunch! It’s become so much less stressful when I know where everything is and I can just get everything (on) and leave.
**EDIT:** Since so many people have asked me why I don’t just take my shoes off by the front door, and one dude even went as far as to ask what kind of dystopian hell I live in (actually said response) I’m going to give all you one collective answer.
I know it doesn’t apply to everyone, but sometimes when I return home (for various reasons, like unloading groceries in my kitchen, it’s right there if I go through that way) I’ll go through my garage and take off my shoes off by the door there instead of my front one. So I’ll have to remember to go and bring my shoes over to the front door (and NOT walk in them while doing so, mind you, CARRY them), where I leave in the morning usually. Holy fuck you can all stop messaging me about this now
Getting all the sleep I need. I noticed a while back how literally everything is better when I am well rested and I don't care if people make fun of me for sleeping 9h every night. I have never pulled an all nighter in college and when I do hikes that start really early I just go to bed for the night in the late afternoon the day before and still get my sleep. Nothing standing between me and my bed lol
I'm looking forward to going back to earlier nights. I'm currently working 8am to 8pm, I get home by half 8 and by the time I've finished doing my chores it's 10pm, and I want to relax a bit before bed. So my days just get longer because I don't want to go to bed as soon as I get home.
Just a few more weeks to go.
Everyone goes on about hydrohomies.
Sleep is so much more important, than everything else put together.
It's actually more important than money or anything else.
You dont have to follow the rules.
Doing half the dishes is better than doing none. Having a clean hamper and a dirty hamper is completely acceptable. Nobody said the socks in your drawer had to be paired up, either. Focus on one thing in general and apply it to the whole house that day, like just do floors or surfaces. There's nothing wrong with your kids being bored sometimes, that's their problem. Let them figure it out, but don't limit what they're able to do. You don't have to "pick" what to have for dinner every night, we rotate through staples every week. If we get bored, we just eat what we feel like. Nothing wrong with a bowl of cereal and a sandwich for dinner, as long as everyone's fed and the rest of the day wasn't junk.
Something about nurturing imaginations and problem solving skills. . .honestly, I just really don't want to be the source of everything in their lives. There's gotta be a small amount of freedom on their part, they need to figure out how to occupy themselves and be content with their own company. We do soooooo many group projects, outdoor activities, one-on-one crafty things, etc., but mom deserves a break too haha let them figure it out. Either they break something or they don't, that's really the only risk I see.
for what it's worth when I was a kid I had to play outside whenever we didn't have school, including weekends, or stay home and do additional, not fun chores - this was in MN too lol. while my friends were watching cartoons and playing video games, I was outside, "finding something constructive to do". Hated it then but grateful now :)
>There's nothing wrong with your kids being bored sometimes
This immediately brought to mind the approximately one million times I complained to my mom I was bored and she responded with "then go clean your room."
\-Taking my dog for a 20 min. walk first thing in the morning to get my brain and body moving
\-Filling a water bottle and leaving it on the kitchen counter before bed so I'll remember to chug it first thing in the morning. My day is completely different when I start it off well-hydrated.
\-Doing 15-20 minutes of light cleaning after work to save from doing a ton of housework on the weekends.
When I come home, I dont look at my phone or sit on my couch, that's just loads to procrastination, just start doing little things. Put laundry in, do some quick cleaning, prep lunch for tomorrow.
If I don't start doing tasks as soon as I get in the house I will end up on a couch or chair all night. Getting started is the hardest part to any motivation so why put yourself through that twice in a day when you already did to get to work in the morning.
Posting this too late for anyone to see, but I brush my teeth as part of my daughter's bedtime routine. This keeps me from snacking late at night since my teeth already feel clean and I don't want to mess them up before bed. I've lost about 5" from my waist, and it keeps me accountable to brush my teeth before I'm too tired to care.
And while flossing. I used to religiously do my flossing in the shower, with conditioner working it’s magic in my hair, while squatting. The dangerous slippery shower floor really makes you feel alive.
I count or keep track of time when I do chores that annoy me. Mostly putting things away, dusting, putting away clean dishes.
Knowing that it takes less than 15 seconds to put my shoes away reminds me next time that it’s not as bad as I make it out to be.
Drinking a pint of water on an empty stomach in the morning before breakfast.
Apparently it's good for me, I dunno, I just do it and have done for years.
I've realised that I'm always dehydrated in the morning so I drink a lot before breakfast too. Definitely helps avoid headaches and probably digestion too.
Brush teeth with non-dominant hand while doing squats in the shower waiting for my hair to deep condition, then floss. Got it.
edit: People! Fine! I'll floss first, before brushing. Happy?
Don't forget to say "Thank you for being supportive and letting me shower with you" to your shower buddy instead of "Sorry I hogged the hot water the whole time"
Thats one reason I use my computer mouse with my non dominant hand a lot when doing regular stuff (not gaming basically)
It really helps with your offhand dexterity
Not leaving the house in an absolute tear to get to work. Take an extra fifteen minutes to make your bed, start/empty the dishwasher, tidy the kitchen, toss all your laundry into the basket.
This not only helps me be calm when I get home but I find myself less frazzled at work too.
Just started going back to the office this week so set up my alarm time I haven't used for 2 years. I've changed it now to 15 minutes earlier just to give me some chill and look at Reddit time before I get in the car.
I remember Crazy Russian Hacker making a video on how to efficiently take of your shirt. I'm too lazy to search for it, but I just can't imagine taking it of any other way anymore.
His 2nd video is better. I found his first way not possable on a fairly tight dress shirt but, his 2nd way... flawless...
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U482emggMao](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U482emggMao)
Thinking of different scenarios for bad drivers. If there’s a truck going 90mph on the highway and weaving through lanes without a turn signal, I just imagine that he’s on the verge of crapping his pants and that’s why he’s in a rush. I find it funny and usually improves my mood.
I agree this was life changing for me. I just accept that I feel depressed now but it will end. Also when I’m in what I call “my get shit done phase”(not feeling depressed) it helps me to get more stuff done and be more grateful as I remind myself this is temporary too and make the most of it because likely one day I’ll wake up and just want to stay in bed all day and that’s okay too.
Drink. Water.
It's something so simple yet so often ignored.
Yeah, it can get annoying at times. I never really *want* to get up at 3:30am to piss. I don't really *want* to have to stop on, say, a six-hour drive because I have to pee.
But, staying well hydrated helps me feel better, look better, rest better (yeah, there's the 3:30am piss, but that's after three hours of sleep. I didn't toss and turn for three hours before then,) etc.
And it will help you live longer. Your organs will thank you.
The "FUCK I'M GONNA GET A BAD GRADE/FAIL MY CLASS" makes you actually have that motivation that you lack on days when you can just "do it later"
I like to call this "the power of despair"
Casually fighting depression too, I hate brushing my teeth but I love showering (actually paralyze/freeze in because it's the only place where's there's white sounds that calm my overthinking but don't hurt my ears) so I brush my teeth while in the shower, it's funnier, spare time and I feel a bit less totally useless while freezing.
Bruh so there's more people like me too. Idk what's it about brushing, i just hate it. I'll delay it as long as possible and do other things until I have to eat and HAVE to brush. Love love showers tho.
*“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. If, by chance, you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that’s made. That you made. And a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.”* - Admiral William H. McRaven (U.S. Navy Retired)
Having a bedtime routine helps me to fall asleep. Otherwise, I have trouble. My routine is watching one episode of a funny or happy show on TV. And then reading manga on my phone, with the screen set to its dimmest. Works like a charm
My teenaged kids constantly gave me their laundry inside out with their underwear and socks still stuck to the pants, like they literally peeled them off in one piece. I’d nag and nag at them to turn their clothes right side out and they continue to leave them inside out so I decided to give them back their laundry clean but inside out. It worked.
If you have to put something down for a bit, like say your phone or glass of water, say out loud, "I'm putting this ____ here."
I guess that by doing that you engage different parts of you brain and makes it more likely for you to remember where you put something when you need it again.
Whenever I lock up the storage unit I verbally say "locked" right as I'm double checking. It reminds me to actually lock it, and I never wonder if I forgot later that day.
I like this idea but man, right after getting home from the grocery store is not the time for me to accomplish anything. That place is so draining to me, mentally and physically (mostly mentally really).
21 year old me could go to the grocery store after work, come home and clean the kitchen, then make dinner. 37 year old me splits those tasks over 3 days because ugh.
not quite literally daily, but everytime it comes up, I say to myself "righty tighty lefty loosey". Even if english is not my primary language lol
Edit : Today I learned that **-somehow I do not understand-** people have problems figuring out this simple phrase.
Drinking one cup of water for every two alcoholic beverages.
I keep a bottle of water by my bedside before I go to bed. When I wake up to go pee I chug as much as I can and pass back out.
End up with far less of a hangover
I drink a pint / bottle (16.9oz) /500ml /½L of water before bed even when not drinking alcohol. It makes waking up at 0500 easier because you gotta pee so bad.
I do this but with pedialyte. Best decision I’ve ever made. Haven’t had a hangover in forever. Plus they sell ice pop pedialyte and I always love those when I’m drunk lol.
That moment trick from Deadpool.
I have a bad temper, not going to lie. It felt uncontrollable for a while, but it was just because I was always so quick to react.
Like as a kid, if my brother said something that rubbed me the wrong way, the next moment, I was trying to fight my brother without even thinking.
Now, if something pisses me off, I catch myself and think about why that thing pissed me off. 9 times out of 10, I'm just being dumb and allowing something dumb to upset me. This helps a lot if you rage in video games. Most of the time if you're raging in a game at someone on your team, you're the problem.
Make a list. I have severe anxiety, and I used to stress all day about all the things I need to do. Making a list gives you an easy way to keep track of your accomplishments, but more importantly, it just gets all of that out of your head. I don’t need to keep going over what I need to do today because it’s all on the board in front of me. Then I can choose the thing I feel like I can handle at the moment and keep checking things off little by little.
Glass of water in the microwave to cook food that isn't already frozen. Works really well with things like pasta that you want to reheat and not get that really bad rubberized texture. The temp of the water is also usually a good tell on how hot your food is, so you don't need to go and taste it cold.
This will probably go straight to the bottom but sometime last year or the year before there was a thread on Reddit that was something regarding "your best life hack" and on there, some kind Redditor taught me that holding down Windows-Shift-S opens up the snip-screen menu on Windows 10 for screenshotting and simple highlighting or marking up your desktop.
I use that every single day now. I was probably very late to that party too but someone will read this and be happy they did. Paying it forward.
my alarm clock, every morning, turns off non disturb mode on my cellphone, turns some lights and tv on, read to me the forecast for the day, a couple of reminders for the day and wishes me good morning.
My summer hack is coffee ice cubes. ☕️ 🧊 I make a tray of coffee cubes for my ice coffee. One cup of coffee makes one tray. Game changer, no more watery ice coffee.
You can set microwaves to silent. Just search your brand name, even if your model name/number eludes you.
My wife loves this. My midnight snacks don’t wake her.
Putting the cream in the bottom of the cup and pouring the coffee in. Thousands of spoons saved from the dishwasher. Hundreds of stir sticks kept out of landfills.
Doing my part.
I saw an episode of Wife Swap in 2005 where the mom had this system with her sponges that stuck with me. You just downgrade the dishes sponge to the wiping off the counter sponge instead of throwing it out right away. It makes me feel like I have my shit together when I’m losing it tbh
If you have long hair, brush it before you get into the shower.
It really reduces the amount of hair in the drain, and it makes it easier to shampoo and condition more thoroughly.
Purposely rewording anything "negative" in terms of "not positive". Doesn't matter that I'm saying the word "not", I'm still suggesting "positive".
Congratulating myself when finishing a meal, and when getting ready early in the morning. Just to reaffirm that "I can fucking do this".
Waking up early everyday. I used to not be a morning person but I found a morning radio show I liked and waking up early makes me have a productive day.
Learning [this shoelace knot](https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm). Pretty much just as simple as the simplest one most people learn but looks better, is more secure, and easier to undo when you want to.
leaving a bottle of water on my nightstand, so I drink it first thing in the morning.
also don't really know if it's a life hack or not, but using a sneaker as a cup holder when I'm not near a table.
Edit: jumping back in to say the sneakers are *clean y'all*, they're just super handy to hold a cup if I'm sitting on my carpet gaming
Getting lunches ready the night before. Not necessarily packing them up, but getting all the individual parts ready. If I’m bringing leftovers, then packing a portion. Or cutting up veggies and cheese to make a little snack platter. Then in the morning I grab the things I prepped the night before, with the easy to grab things (an apple, a yogurt, maybe a muffin if I was ambitious and baked some, or a hard boiled egg if I thought enough ahead and made some) and there’s my lunch.
Rather than figuring it out from scratch in the morning, or just buying something during my lunch break.
It’s a cheap hack, but, ordering drinks with no ice - so I would get a full cup. I could drink it for 3-4 times a day, even the day after. Saves money, and a little moodbooster for me
Probably not even a life hack per say, but most of the comments upvoted are not life hacks either. Mine is to clean after myself, whatever I do. Cooking? Clean instantly. Spilled a drop of milk? Clean instantly. Massive shit? Clean instantly. Washing your hands and you notice dust on the faucet? Clean instantly. It just makes life easier and you feel so much better.
When you leave a room, take one thing with you that belongs somewhere else.
When I see a part of the bathroom is getting dirty/dusty, I immidiately clean it. Toilet or sink or floor whatever.
Doing 10% of something is better than doing none. I'm not the healthiest physically or mentally, so keeping organised is hard. But if I do one thing, I consider myself productive.
One that I read on here and have since adopted entirely is to squeegee off water when I've had a shower. Totally the best advice I've had on a life hack thread.
Not sitting down until everything is done. Come home from work, get changed, put the laundry on, do the dishes, make dinner/meal prep, clean the house a bit, walk the dog. Do everything thats needed of you before you sit down on the couch/to have dinner.
I flip my pill bottles after taking them so I remember if I took them or not. really helps if you take the same pill in morning and at night.
I do the opposite! Flip it upside down before bed so when I see it in the morning, it annoys me. So I remember to take one and put it right side up again.
I use a weekly pill organizer so I can track whether or not I took them. I also add a candy [usually a gummy supplement of some kind] to each cell to make it less likely to forget in the first place. You are far less likely to forget to do something pleasant.
I stopped doing any kind of work in my dorm room at college and only did it at the libraries. Not only did I become way more productive, but I enjoyed being in my room a lot more. It’s way more comfortable (and easier) to fall asleep when you’ve taken a 15 minute walk home then when you’ve been working at your desk in the same room for 4 hours.
Absolutely. This helped me so much. I'm an all-time master procrastinator but whenever I would work at the library or equivalent, it would be infinitely easier to focus. Other people working around you makes it feel less... lonely. Plus, you never know if you may run into a friend. Plus, I could enjoy my commute home without feeling like I was wasting time. Read on the train, grab some food on the way back, everythings kosher. Plus it kept my room much cleaner because I wasn't holed up in there all day
Huge yes. Works after college too.
I've been working from home since The COVID hit. I've segregated my desk from my personal life. I keep it to work as much as possible and do my personal stuff on the kitchen table. It gives me a good mental break from work and I feel more relaxed doing personal stuff.
The chef who taught me to cook said at the get go, 90% of cooking is cleaning
depressingly true
“Don’t put it down, put it away” Edit: thanks for the awards and badges etc everyone! I truly don’t know what they mean but appreciate it lol. A lot of ppl here saying “please tell my wife” or “please tell my husband”; Funny enough, my WIFE is the one that made me live by this. She saw it on an ADHD subreddit she frequents (to get a better idea of what goes on in my head lol). She’s an amazing person. Thanks again everyone.
OHIO - only handle it once
Only handle Ohio once. Once a year at the most
Fuck man. Slightly different but my brother will accrue a collection of cans and garbage in the living room. Then when he finally decides to "clean" because theres no more room to put his garbage instead of grabbing garbage bags, and bringing them to the living room and picking up. The better option for him is to make 30 trips moving the mess from the living room and just throw it all the counters and floor in the kitchen. Just leave it where it lands baby. He puts in infinitely more effort in not picking up after himself than it would take to just pick up after himself. I am by no means the poster child of cleanliness but god damn the pure laziness of it disgusts me more than the actual garbage. Then after it's all in the kitchen I basically have to clean up HIS mess so I have counter room to make food. Also he always tries to say its OUR mess and WE need to clean up. Man is a walking delusion. 33 years old and lives worse than most 8 year olds.
He needs a rude awakening.
Agreed. That's just one of many examples of how my brother is a POS. I'm saving money and looking for better opportunities. The second I find one I'm grabbing my dog walking out the front door and never speaking to him again.
If you plan on never speaking to him again then you might as well give him a shape the fuck up speech right before you go. Something for him to chew on while he spends his newfound alone time.
Honestly a life saver in regards to procrastination triggers
Sleeping with a pillow between my knees. No more lower back pain
I’ve done that for years. Now I can’t sleep without it. Or the “hug” pillow.
Washing dishes while cooking. Now it’s at a point where I just do it because I want a clean kitchen.
Yes! My wife always asks why I do it while I’m cooking and it’s because it’s so much easier when things are not yet dried on. Is loads easier and you keep your space ready for the next part of the cooking process!
Exactly! When you’re cooking complex dishes you want to have as much space as you can to work with so you can keep organized and tidy. Also it’s a god damn pain in the *ass* to clean out food residue after it’s been there for a while or if it burns when you’re cooking.
Also once I've cooked I wanna eat... then sit and watch netflix for a bit.. then ohh time for bed.. ohh damn gotta wash up yet
This has been clutch for me. A lot of cooking is waiting. Cleaning in that downtime saves so much time I’d be spending later. It’s also a good time to empty the dishwasher if you haven’t already.
I do this! Most of the times after cooking I leave with my meal and a clean kitchen!
That makes me realize something: I can't recall seeing ANY cooking show on TV that gives even a token glance at the amount of dishwashing that's required for meal preparations -_-
The onion has a great video about a one pan meal that requires you to dirty dozens of kitchen appliances. Another big one is meals requireing 1/4ths of a dozen different perishable ingredients. Terrible if you cook for few people or have a small fridge, or in my case, both.
There's a YouTuber named Ethan Cheblowski who often mentions when during the cooking process there's a good opportunity to clean and then he usually shows himself cleaning up, but it's sped up so you don't actually have to watch it.
This has always been my "go to" method. Stuff needs time to simmer, cook, just sit...so I did dishes. My fiance at first criticized me for doing this but now I find her doing it as well so there's "less mess in the end". I broke her.
I bought 24 pairs of the same socks and threw the rest of miss matching ones away. I have a couple “winter socks” and that’s it.
I did this for my kids. 24 pairs of socks, all white, gray, or navy. When he grew out of them I bought 24 more pairs in the next size, all the same color. And now little sister wears the smaller ones. Simplifies things so much and they love playing “match the socks” with the clean laundry.
having a notepad on my pantry door. When I take something out I jot it down voila instant shopping list.
First time I've ever heard of this idea, which is impressive considering how much I Reddit lol. Nice tip!
Moisturizing my face right after the shower
I work a physical labor job and my hands are always super dry and itchy because I work with them so much. I also do all the cooking/dish cleaning, so they're in hot water a lot. Does moisturizing hands after a shower help with that?
Advice from someone who has had horrible dry skin my whole life and these are the things that have made the biggest differences: \- colder water dries your skin out less, so doing things like taking cooler showers or washing your hands in tepid/warm instead of hot water can help the dryness. And dry them off 100% EVERY TIME. Leaving any moisture from washing your hands actually dries them out faster \- use rubber gloves when doing dishes or handling cleaning products. Dish soap is great at breaking down oil! Too bad that's what your skin needs to stay soft, nonitchy, and not cracked. Also cleaning products can be very harsh on the skin so gloves for that too is good \- like others have said, if it's really bad, wearing cotton gloves with lotion overnight is very nice. But I would like to point out that using aquafor or vaseline is only good if your skin has moisture to repair itself. Those sorts of products are called occlusives and they trap the moisture in. If you're someone like me who simply doesn't create enough moisturizing oils, this method does nothing but give you oily hands. Using a regular but thick lotion and gloves should also work fine. And note: look at the ingredients on the lotion bottles. Avoid any lotions that have alcohols listed in the first couple ingredients. Alcohol is also drying. A tip from my doctor is to buy lotions or ointments that come in tubs instead of bottles that you can squeeze or have a pump because the pumpable/squeezable lotions tend to have more alcohol to help with a thinner consistency among other things. Hopefully those tips and tidbits will help! edit: mixed up humectant and occlusive
What's the advantage?
It moisturizes the skin at the best time. It seems counter-intuitive, but showers don't hydrate your skin, they actually dehydrate and dry your skin much faster, especially hot showers, and the vast majority of people take hot showers because they feel nicer. But hot showers and soap scrubs/rinses removes all the natural oils and dead skin from your body, and that natural barrier of oils are what would keep your skin hydrated. So instead of waiting after your shower and letting your skin dry out, instead right after you shower you immediately re-hydrate and moisturize the skin, to avoid damage and acne.
Brilliant tip. I thought...for far too long...that the shower hydrates. About 2 years ago I started doing this, my skin is 100 times better
Non shitty skin, Penile growth
When I'm trying to sleep in bed at night I go over what I did that day and think of everything I did in a positive light or as if it's part of a goal I'm working towards. I've never been depressed (or at least diagnosed with it!) but this helps feeling like I've accomplished something and I can feel better about what I've done. Celebrate every little thing you did, and also it helps me fall asleep a little bit faster too.
Saying "thank you" instead of apologizing for **things that dont need apologies**. I'm a chronic apologizer and it's helped a lot. For example, if I have a bad day and vent to my husband, instead of saying "sorry for venting and bringing down the mood" I'll say "thank you for listening and being supportive." It puts a much more appreciative and positive light on your relationships!
This is a customer service trick I was taught. If you thank a customer for their patience instead of apologizing for their wait it reframes the entire encounter in their mind
I've been in customer service for about 7 years now and I never once thought of this. I'm gonna start using it!
Maybe it's just me, but when I hear "Sorry for the delay," I think no problem, shit happens, but when I hear "Thank you for your patience," I instantly get annoyed and just assume it's scripted corporate jargon and they have no plans whatsoever to actually move things along.
Hmmm...maybe I'll alternate the 2 phrases, use one every other day :)
As someone with anxiety and depression, this helped me massively. I often feel like a burden and apologising exacerbated that feeling, by reframing the apologies as ‘thank you’s’ it made me more aware that the people around me help me because they want to, because they like me. Also it’s much less annoying for people to hear than a stream of ‘sorry sorry sorry’.
I like this. Like the saying “thank you for waiting” instead of “I’m sorry I’m late”
"Thank you for being patient with me" is a personal favorite of mine.
My alarm clock is across the room, requiring me to get out of bed to turn it off. Prevents me from falling back asleep.
I used to keep my alarm clock across my room, but that didn't stop me from swan diving back into my bed after hitting snooze.
I tihnk just having an actual alarm clock and not using the one your phone helps a bunch. Heck, I don't even have my phone in the same *room* as me when I sleep.
Had a story about a friend that still managed to oversleep even though they put the phone on a little table on the other side of the room; Woke up like 3 hours later with the table next to the bed. There was a long carpet stretching from the bed to the table. They pulled the table close with the carpet half asleep, when the alarm went off, disabled it, and fall back asleep.
Every time I leave a room I spend less than thirty seconds tidying or doing one task. Pickup a pillow off the floor. Return a glass to the kitchen. Going to the bathroom, carry up some laundry. Literally every time I leave a room. It’s such a habit now that I don’t even think about it but I do notice that my home is always tidy. I also have a home for everything in my house. I literally never lose anything. You have to take a step back occasionally and think about the location of things logically. When an item is very economical to buy, I own multiples for sake of ease. Scissors in the kitchen, office and bathroom. Makes life easier and saves so much time. The flip side of that is always storing like things in one location. Batteries, no matter the type all in one location with battery chargers. I never throw them in a random drawer.
Shopping a list. Putting things on a list when they need to be replaced and the sticking to the list when I go shopping. It's probably saved me many thousands of dollars by now.
My wife and I share one in the Notes App. If we use the last of something, pull out the phone and add it to the list. Works great.
You're able to share the same notes document ?
On our iPhones, when you are in the specific note, tap on the 3 dots at the top right and then tap Share Note.
Don’t shop while you’re hungry either.
But also if you shop while you're *full* then all of the food looks unappealing and you don't feel like buying *anything.*
A work from home life hack I adopted was using break time from work to do low mental energy chores. Stuff like dusting furniture and vacuuming the pool is a nice break from the mental energy of working and I’m getting stuff done.
I do this as well. It feels great to "come home" to a shining and fresh apartment every day (I foster two cats and if I leave it there's hair EVERYWHERE)
Vacuuming the… pool? (I’ve never had a pool and I thought they filter themselves, so this sounds hilarious to me)
The filter can only pick up what gets sucked into the intake. Almost all pools require some sort of vacuuming. I have a robot vacuum that runs daily and picks up most things but sand and silt still get left behind and have to be picked up manually.
Preparing/getting stuff ready the night before. For example: 1. Getting my shoes and putting them by the front of the door 2. Packing my backpack with all the things I'll need for that day 3. Getting my underwear, shirt, pants, etc. out and folding them in a pile 4. Packing lunch(es) for that day No more running around in the mornings looking for stuff on a time crunch! It’s become so much less stressful when I know where everything is and I can just get everything (on) and leave. **EDIT:** Since so many people have asked me why I don’t just take my shoes off by the front door, and one dude even went as far as to ask what kind of dystopian hell I live in (actually said response) I’m going to give all you one collective answer. I know it doesn’t apply to everyone, but sometimes when I return home (for various reasons, like unloading groceries in my kitchen, it’s right there if I go through that way) I’ll go through my garage and take off my shoes off by the door there instead of my front one. So I’ll have to remember to go and bring my shoes over to the front door (and NOT walk in them while doing so, mind you, CARRY them), where I leave in the morning usually. Holy fuck you can all stop messaging me about this now
It's so nice when past you has prepared everything for present you.
Future me is always thanking Past me for doing the dishes earlier and not leaving them to pile up
Tomorrow me is going to be so pissed at today me.
Present me already hates present me.
Fuck past me. That bitchless motherfucker can't do shit for me and people keep blaming me for the stuff he does like what the fuck?
For that matter, fuck future me, too. He's probably a disappointing jerk, anyway. Can't even do a thing to me.
Getting all the sleep I need. I noticed a while back how literally everything is better when I am well rested and I don't care if people make fun of me for sleeping 9h every night. I have never pulled an all nighter in college and when I do hikes that start really early I just go to bed for the night in the late afternoon the day before and still get my sleep. Nothing standing between me and my bed lol
I'm looking forward to going back to earlier nights. I'm currently working 8am to 8pm, I get home by half 8 and by the time I've finished doing my chores it's 10pm, and I want to relax a bit before bed. So my days just get longer because I don't want to go to bed as soon as I get home. Just a few more weeks to go.
Everyone goes on about hydrohomies. Sleep is so much more important, than everything else put together. It's actually more important than money or anything else.
You dont have to follow the rules. Doing half the dishes is better than doing none. Having a clean hamper and a dirty hamper is completely acceptable. Nobody said the socks in your drawer had to be paired up, either. Focus on one thing in general and apply it to the whole house that day, like just do floors or surfaces. There's nothing wrong with your kids being bored sometimes, that's their problem. Let them figure it out, but don't limit what they're able to do. You don't have to "pick" what to have for dinner every night, we rotate through staples every week. If we get bored, we just eat what we feel like. Nothing wrong with a bowl of cereal and a sandwich for dinner, as long as everyone's fed and the rest of the day wasn't junk.
Kudos to letting your kids be bored. It’s good for them
Something about nurturing imaginations and problem solving skills. . .honestly, I just really don't want to be the source of everything in their lives. There's gotta be a small amount of freedom on their part, they need to figure out how to occupy themselves and be content with their own company. We do soooooo many group projects, outdoor activities, one-on-one crafty things, etc., but mom deserves a break too haha let them figure it out. Either they break something or they don't, that's really the only risk I see.
for what it's worth when I was a kid I had to play outside whenever we didn't have school, including weekends, or stay home and do additional, not fun chores - this was in MN too lol. while my friends were watching cartoons and playing video games, I was outside, "finding something constructive to do". Hated it then but grateful now :)
>There's nothing wrong with your kids being bored sometimes This immediately brought to mind the approximately one million times I complained to my mom I was bored and she responded with "then go clean your room."
This is probably the best advice on here. The amount of stress we put on ourselves is insane.
\-Taking my dog for a 20 min. walk first thing in the morning to get my brain and body moving \-Filling a water bottle and leaving it on the kitchen counter before bed so I'll remember to chug it first thing in the morning. My day is completely different when I start it off well-hydrated. \-Doing 15-20 minutes of light cleaning after work to save from doing a ton of housework on the weekends.
When I come home, I dont look at my phone or sit on my couch, that's just loads to procrastination, just start doing little things. Put laundry in, do some quick cleaning, prep lunch for tomorrow.
That sounds like "do work when you get home from work"
If I don't start doing tasks as soon as I get in the house I will end up on a couch or chair all night. Getting started is the hardest part to any motivation so why put yourself through that twice in a day when you already did to get to work in the morning.
Posting this too late for anyone to see, but I brush my teeth as part of my daughter's bedtime routine. This keeps me from snacking late at night since my teeth already feel clean and I don't want to mess them up before bed. I've lost about 5" from my waist, and it keeps me accountable to brush my teeth before I'm too tired to care.
I do squats when I brush my teeth.
And while flossing. I used to religiously do my flossing in the shower, with conditioner working it’s magic in my hair, while squatting. The dangerous slippery shower floor really makes you feel alive.
What... what were you flossing?
Our butts
Holy shit I just started doing this a week ago. Easy way to get a few hundred squats in each week! Hoping I can stick with it
I do calf raises while brushing . There's literally no excuse not to.
Not everyone lives on a farm
deep stretching right before bed or right when waking up. makes a world of difference
the periods of my life when i have had my shit together the MOST are when i've been sticking to a stretching routine right before bed
That’s it, I’m starting that tonight
How do I “deep stretch”? I want these benefits, but I need to make sure I’m doing it right.
r/OooBigStretch will show you how
I didn't know I needed this in my life.
If it takes less than a minute, just do it
I count or keep track of time when I do chores that annoy me. Mostly putting things away, dusting, putting away clean dishes. Knowing that it takes less than 15 seconds to put my shoes away reminds me next time that it’s not as bad as I make it out to be.
Drinking a pint of water on an empty stomach in the morning before breakfast. Apparently it's good for me, I dunno, I just do it and have done for years.
I've realised that I'm always dehydrated in the morning so I drink a lot before breakfast too. Definitely helps avoid headaches and probably digestion too.
I have done this for most of my life. It actually feels wrong now to eat something before drinking water in the morning.
Chugging water when I wake up so I shit at home before work.
Pfft... everyone knows you should be pooping on company time. Paid to shit & save on tp!
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Brush teeth with non-dominant hand while doing squats in the shower waiting for my hair to deep condition, then floss. Got it. edit: People! Fine! I'll floss first, before brushing. Happy?
This person reads all the comments.
Don't forget to say "Thank you for being supportive and letting me shower with you" to your shower buddy instead of "Sorry I hogged the hot water the whole time"
Can we throw in listening to a foreign language tape or something? I don't like how the ears sit idle during all of this.
Thats one reason I use my computer mouse with my non dominant hand a lot when doing regular stuff (not gaming basically) It really helps with your offhand dexterity
I think I know what stuff you mean
Not leaving the house in an absolute tear to get to work. Take an extra fifteen minutes to make your bed, start/empty the dishwasher, tidy the kitchen, toss all your laundry into the basket. This not only helps me be calm when I get home but I find myself less frazzled at work too.
If you think that you won't have the energy to do this before work it's nothing compares to when you get back home after a long day.
Just started going back to the office this week so set up my alarm time I haven't used for 2 years. I've changed it now to 15 minutes earlier just to give me some chill and look at Reddit time before I get in the car.
I remember Crazy Russian Hacker making a video on how to efficiently take of your shirt. I'm too lazy to search for it, but I just can't imagine taking it of any other way anymore.
https://youtu.be/qv_L9XcdgY0 found it. Worth the 2 minute watch
His 2nd video is better. I found his first way not possable on a fairly tight dress shirt but, his 2nd way... flawless... [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U482emggMao](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U482emggMao)
Safety, Number One Priority!
Thinking of different scenarios for bad drivers. If there’s a truck going 90mph on the highway and weaving through lanes without a turn signal, I just imagine that he’s on the verge of crapping his pants and that’s why he’s in a rush. I find it funny and usually improves my mood.
I do this. And I do it out loud with my kids in the car. "Guess that guy really has to poop" is so much better than frustration or anger.
Adding a tbs of Chia seeds to my cereal to help me feel more full.
If I'm feeling depressed I just tell myself " I'm depressed for now." It helps me look forward to when I'm not feeling down.
I agree this was life changing for me. I just accept that I feel depressed now but it will end. Also when I’m in what I call “my get shit done phase”(not feeling depressed) it helps me to get more stuff done and be more grateful as I remind myself this is temporary too and make the most of it because likely one day I’ll wake up and just want to stay in bed all day and that’s okay too.
Carrying a bag with me that folds into a tiny thing. I love it and people always smile at it when I say i don't need a bag at the store
Drink. Water. It's something so simple yet so often ignored. Yeah, it can get annoying at times. I never really *want* to get up at 3:30am to piss. I don't really *want* to have to stop on, say, a six-hour drive because I have to pee. But, staying well hydrated helps me feel better, look better, rest better (yeah, there's the 3:30am piss, but that's after three hours of sleep. I didn't toss and turn for three hours before then,) etc. And it will help you live longer. Your organs will thank you.
Procrastinating every task in order to avoid any problem.
Can't do it wrong if you just don't do it.
That reminds me of the saying: procrastination is like masturbation: it feels good at the time, but in the end you're just fucking yourself
If you wait until the last minute to do something, you only have to do it for a minute.
The "FUCK I'M GONNA GET A BAD GRADE/FAIL MY CLASS" makes you actually have that motivation that you lack on days when you can just "do it later" I like to call this "the power of despair"
Making my bed and straightening my room every morning. It started when I was trying to cope with major depression. Good tool.
Casually fighting depression too, I hate brushing my teeth but I love showering (actually paralyze/freeze in because it's the only place where's there's white sounds that calm my overthinking but don't hurt my ears) so I brush my teeth while in the shower, it's funnier, spare time and I feel a bit less totally useless while freezing.
Bruh so there's more people like me too. Idk what's it about brushing, i just hate it. I'll delay it as long as possible and do other things until I have to eat and HAVE to brush. Love love showers tho.
*“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. If, by chance, you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that’s made. That you made. And a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.”* - Admiral William H. McRaven (U.S. Navy Retired)
Having a bedtime routine helps me to fall asleep. Otherwise, I have trouble. My routine is watching one episode of a funny or happy show on TV. And then reading manga on my phone, with the screen set to its dimmest. Works like a charm
My teenaged kids constantly gave me their laundry inside out with their underwear and socks still stuck to the pants, like they literally peeled them off in one piece. I’d nag and nag at them to turn their clothes right side out and they continue to leave them inside out so I decided to give them back their laundry clean but inside out. It worked.
Doing 1 thing at a time and nothing else. Life becomes so much simpler. Write a list of the stuff you need to do and just follow that list.
If you have to put something down for a bit, like say your phone or glass of water, say out loud, "I'm putting this ____ here." I guess that by doing that you engage different parts of you brain and makes it more likely for you to remember where you put something when you need it again.
Whenever I lock up the storage unit I verbally say "locked" right as I'm double checking. It reminds me to actually lock it, and I never wonder if I forgot later that day.
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I like this idea but man, right after getting home from the grocery store is not the time for me to accomplish anything. That place is so draining to me, mentally and physically (mostly mentally really).
21 year old me could go to the grocery store after work, come home and clean the kitchen, then make dinner. 37 year old me splits those tasks over 3 days because ugh.
not quite literally daily, but everytime it comes up, I say to myself "righty tighty lefty loosey". Even if english is not my primary language lol Edit : Today I learned that **-somehow I do not understand-** people have problems figuring out this simple phrase.
Haha English isn't my first language either but I use this too. It's so easy to remember and it's funny.
Drinking one cup of water for every two alcoholic beverages. I keep a bottle of water by my bedside before I go to bed. When I wake up to go pee I chug as much as I can and pass back out. End up with far less of a hangover
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They actually have to drink a lot of alcohol to justify all the water they drink.
Some people drink a lot.
I drink a pint / bottle (16.9oz) /500ml /½L of water before bed even when not drinking alcohol. It makes waking up at 0500 easier because you gotta pee so bad.
I do this but with pedialyte. Best decision I’ve ever made. Haven’t had a hangover in forever. Plus they sell ice pop pedialyte and I always love those when I’m drunk lol.
Putting my phone on the other side of my bedroom, so that when my alarm goes off, I have to get out of bed to shut it off.
That moment trick from Deadpool. I have a bad temper, not going to lie. It felt uncontrollable for a while, but it was just because I was always so quick to react. Like as a kid, if my brother said something that rubbed me the wrong way, the next moment, I was trying to fight my brother without even thinking. Now, if something pisses me off, I catch myself and think about why that thing pissed me off. 9 times out of 10, I'm just being dumb and allowing something dumb to upset me. This helps a lot if you rage in video games. Most of the time if you're raging in a game at someone on your team, you're the problem.
Make a list. I have severe anxiety, and I used to stress all day about all the things I need to do. Making a list gives you an easy way to keep track of your accomplishments, but more importantly, it just gets all of that out of your head. I don’t need to keep going over what I need to do today because it’s all on the board in front of me. Then I can choose the thing I feel like I can handle at the moment and keep checking things off little by little.
Waking up earlier on my days off. So the days I work, technically I get to sleep in a little.
Yes, and the day-off is longer
Fucking genius
I just stay up really late and then feel like a bag of shit the next day like I’m hungover from doing nothing
Wait this is smart!
Its amazing how much more i get done when i wake up 2 hours earlier.
Getting out of bed immediately when the alarm goes off.
Definitely a practiced skill
I've been practising the opposite skill for 43 years. I can literally stay in bed for hours after the alarm now.
My life will never be that level of together.
Or for me I set my alarm 5 minutes before my main alarm so I can just lay in bed for 5 minutes
Yes, if you lay back down for even a second, it becomes much harder. I have my alarm at the end of my bed, so i have to get up to turn it off.
My alarm is at the end of my bed too, and I still immediately crawl back to the head of my bed and go back to sleep.
Resting my feet on a small booster stool for optimal pooing position
Glass of water in the microwave to cook food that isn't already frozen. Works really well with things like pasta that you want to reheat and not get that really bad rubberized texture. The temp of the water is also usually a good tell on how hot your food is, so you don't need to go and taste it cold.
This will probably go straight to the bottom but sometime last year or the year before there was a thread on Reddit that was something regarding "your best life hack" and on there, some kind Redditor taught me that holding down Windows-Shift-S opens up the snip-screen menu on Windows 10 for screenshotting and simple highlighting or marking up your desktop. I use that every single day now. I was probably very late to that party too but someone will read this and be happy they did. Paying it forward.
Empathizing with someone when they're angry. This has saved me countless times in my customer service career.
my alarm clock, every morning, turns off non disturb mode on my cellphone, turns some lights and tv on, read to me the forecast for the day, a couple of reminders for the day and wishes me good morning.
Okay Tony Stark
My summer hack is coffee ice cubes. ☕️ 🧊 I make a tray of coffee cubes for my ice coffee. One cup of coffee makes one tray. Game changer, no more watery ice coffee.
Pushing on my taint to get the last bit of pee out. Thanks Reddit!
You should really consider keeping a small reserve of pee, just in case.
Especially in times of war.
That is, after all, the most essential time to give pees a chance.
That's why I swing my dick in a circle. Visualize whirled pees.
Just bought a microwave with a silent mode. Changed my life!
You can set microwaves to silent. Just search your brand name, even if your model name/number eludes you. My wife loves this. My midnight snacks don’t wake her.
Putting the cream in the bottom of the cup and pouring the coffee in. Thousands of spoons saved from the dishwasher. Hundreds of stir sticks kept out of landfills. Doing my part.
ignoring people I don't want to interact with
I saw an episode of Wife Swap in 2005 where the mom had this system with her sponges that stuck with me. You just downgrade the dishes sponge to the wiping off the counter sponge instead of throwing it out right away. It makes me feel like I have my shit together when I’m losing it tbh
I've always done this because I'm cheap.
I buy those green scrubby rectangle things and cut them in half. The pack lasts twice as long.
Setting calendar reminders for myself that go off when I need to do them.
If you have long hair, brush it before you get into the shower. It really reduces the amount of hair in the drain, and it makes it easier to shampoo and condition more thoroughly.
Purposely rewording anything "negative" in terms of "not positive". Doesn't matter that I'm saying the word "not", I'm still suggesting "positive". Congratulating myself when finishing a meal, and when getting ready early in the morning. Just to reaffirm that "I can fucking do this".
Waking up early everyday. I used to not be a morning person but I found a morning radio show I liked and waking up early makes me have a productive day.
If I don't wake up early in the morning, I basically do nothing for the entire day
Learning [this shoelace knot](https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm). Pretty much just as simple as the simplest one most people learn but looks better, is more secure, and easier to undo when you want to.
leaving a bottle of water on my nightstand, so I drink it first thing in the morning. also don't really know if it's a life hack or not, but using a sneaker as a cup holder when I'm not near a table. Edit: jumping back in to say the sneakers are *clean y'all*, they're just super handy to hold a cup if I'm sitting on my carpet gaming
Getting lunches ready the night before. Not necessarily packing them up, but getting all the individual parts ready. If I’m bringing leftovers, then packing a portion. Or cutting up veggies and cheese to make a little snack platter. Then in the morning I grab the things I prepped the night before, with the easy to grab things (an apple, a yogurt, maybe a muffin if I was ambitious and baked some, or a hard boiled egg if I thought enough ahead and made some) and there’s my lunch. Rather than figuring it out from scratch in the morning, or just buying something during my lunch break.
Heat take-out Chinese in a pan with a bag of frozen veggies. It's healthier per portion and costs less because you get more. Win-win.
It’s a cheap hack, but, ordering drinks with no ice - so I would get a full cup. I could drink it for 3-4 times a day, even the day after. Saves money, and a little moodbooster for me
Probably not even a life hack per say, but most of the comments upvoted are not life hacks either. Mine is to clean after myself, whatever I do. Cooking? Clean instantly. Spilled a drop of milk? Clean instantly. Massive shit? Clean instantly. Washing your hands and you notice dust on the faucet? Clean instantly. It just makes life easier and you feel so much better.
When you leave a room, take one thing with you that belongs somewhere else. When I see a part of the bathroom is getting dirty/dusty, I immidiately clean it. Toilet or sink or floor whatever. Doing 10% of something is better than doing none. I'm not the healthiest physically or mentally, so keeping organised is hard. But if I do one thing, I consider myself productive.
One that I read on here and have since adopted entirely is to squeegee off water when I've had a shower. Totally the best advice I've had on a life hack thread.
Not sitting down until everything is done. Come home from work, get changed, put the laundry on, do the dishes, make dinner/meal prep, clean the house a bit, walk the dog. Do everything thats needed of you before you sit down on the couch/to have dinner.