Three Life Hacks You’ll be Happy You Tried

There are so many ideas and tips out there about creating efficiency in your everyday life but today we are sharing what we do personally in our own lives to make things a little easier!

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Happy 40th episode!

Thank for listening along with us! In honor of our 40th episode, Bethany came across this article from Popsugar, 40 Things You Have Been Doing Wrong All Your Life, which is really another way to say, “Here are 40 life hacks.”

Although there are definitely a few interesting ones like #31 peeling garlic with two mixing bowls and #36 folding plastic bags into a triangle, overall it was a little disappointing.

So today, we are sharing 3 types of “life hacks,” or tips as Bethany likes to say, that we actually do to make our lives simpler! No clever ideas that are too complicated to implement or you will never actually do.

1. Simplify the Process

We talk about organizing as find solutions to problems and sometimes the solution is make things even simpler than they already are. Here are a few examples:

• Utilize hooks. You can use them in your bathroom instead of a towel rod. You can stick a command hook inside your closet for everyday items like pjs or purse.

• If shoes never get lined up on the shoe rack make a shoe bin instead. Nice shoes can still be lined up but everyday shoes can all be thrown together. Especially with kids, focus on making 1-step solutions.  
• We’ve mentioned a creating a permanent home for donations in your home so many times but we think it is such a great solution it’s worth repeating.
• Simplifying the process could be just doing a small part of a larger job. Maybe you need to do a full house cleaning but there is just no time in the next few days to spend hours on your home. Instead, do a 5 minute pick up with your kids or on your own. You can focus on one room together or spread out to each conquer part of the house.

• I love to think of ways to simplify daily routines. It could be a having a “uniform” in your wardrobe that keeps choosing outfits in the morning super simple. Another way is to simplify your makeup routine for everyday. I love these videos from the makeup blogger, Maskcara. Here is the video I referred to in the podcast and here is another one of my favorite videos where she explains each step, for us beginners.
• One way Bethany simplified was by finding one consist spot for all her passwords. She made a list in the app Wunderlist to list out all her passwords, using clues instead of the real password, of course. I also made a similar table in Drive to record the multiple websites and a clue that reminds me which password I used for each site. 
• If you have ever heard of batch cooking, it usually means spending one whole day on the weekend cooking and assembling meals to put in your freezer for later. I tried this approach a few times and I couldn’t get it work for my family for multiple reasons. However, I can take that same idea and simplify it by batch cooking just one part of the meal like cooking all our meat at once or batching cooking large amounts of veggies or making a crockpot full of beans that can be used in future meals or frozen for later (not the veggies, they don’t taste good after being frozen).

2. Consider the maintenance of an item before you buy it

Have you ever heard the advice, consider an item would live in your home before you buy it. I would also encourage you to think about how much work an item needs to upkeep. For instance:

• Have you ever clean a light fixture that took forever to take apart and then it took forever to put it back together again after you clean it. When we were shopping for light fixture for our reno, I choose lights that would be easy to dust along with being pretty.
• We also chose commercial carpet, which is nice, but can also withstand heavy traffic patterns. Obviously, this is not a solution that will work for everyone but when it is time to make those big choices you can consider how important maintenance will be in the years to come.
• I also chose bar stools that were already distressed and also added reclaimed wood because I knew this area was going to well used.

3. Read the manual

This tip comes courtesy of Gretchen Rubin in her book, Happier at Home, where she shares ways to create a happier home. She suggests reading the manual to figure out how to fix those problems you have been meaning to fix.

• Bethany read the manual to figure out her banking apps. It took a little investment on the front end but made her life a little easier.
• I suggest reading the manual OR watch the YouTube video. I have used YouTube so often to repairs items throughout my home. You really can find almost anything on there!

Did you find a life hack to try? Or do you have a life hack you use you’d like to share with us? Let us know!

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