I recently turned to the BuzzFeed Community to ask what hack makes their lives easier on the day-to-day. Anything to work smarter, not harder, am I right? Here are some of their very useful responses.
1. "Put your phone or alarm clock out of arm's reach at night. As someone who has trouble waking up, I learned the hard way that I will just turn off the alarm and head back to sleep or just black out complete phone calls. Now I have to get up to turn off the alarms or to answer the phone — and it's really helped!"
2. "While cleaning my room, I find it easier to pick up everything that doesn't have a specific place and put it on my bed. Then I clean and put away everything that has a place. Everything that's on my bed gets sorted into 'homes' and then I make my bed. I find it way more effective and efficient than cleaning up the whole thing at once or working within sections."
3. "Walking in green spaces is good for your mental health but who has time to go to the park all the time? I check out areas on my commute or during errands that are nice and will make it a point to walk in them whenever I get a chance, even if it's just for five minutes. For example, there's a nice pond by my grocery store so I go around it once or twice before I begin my shopping. If you want an extra kick, listen to a relaxing playlist or nature sounds on your phone as you move about. This has literally changed my life since the pandemic. Comparable to an expensive meditation, yoga, or fitness class for $0."
—Anonymous
4. "The 'coffee nap.' If you're feeling particularly tired, have a cup of coffee then immediately lay down for a 15–30 minute nap. The caffeine will be kicking in just as you're waking up, so you'll be refreshed and energetic instead of just a caffeinated zombie. I do this over lunch sometimes and it's been a game changer!"
5. "Using the seat heater on the passenger side to keep takeout food warm on the drive home."
—Anonymous
6. "I reset for the day before I go to bed. This is a hack that works whether or not you have kids. We have two girls, aged four and one. After they go to bed and before we go to bed, we 'reset' for the next day. Pick up the living room, start the dishwasher, clean the counters, and lay clothes out for the next day. You don’t have to deep clean your house, just pick it up and make it more manageable for the next day. If you’re too tired or lazy to do that? Simple. Just reset the room you spend the most time in."
7. "I always get up at least an hour before anyone else so I can have 'me time.' Always take time to just relax and mentally prepare yourself for the day. It has cut down on so much stress."
—Anonymous
8. "If you live alone or with just your significant other (I wouldn't do that otherwise), store leftovers in the dish you ate the meal in. Leftover spaghetti? Put it in your 'dirty' bowl, cover it with cling wrap, and store it in the fridge. It's ready to go for tomorrow's work-from-home lunch. It saves time and dishes."
9. "I connect something that I am afraid of forgetting with something I always do. For example, I might be falling asleep in bed when I realize I forgot to put something in my work bag. Because I don't want to get out of bed to put the item in my bag right then and there, I connect it to my normal morning routine. I visualize myself getting my morning coffee and then putting the item in my bag right after I am done pouring it into the cup."
—Julie, 50
10. "Double-check your local grocery stores for additional deals in a loyalty membership. We have Safeway where I live which has a corresponding app that shows me all the coupons I can 'load' onto my card that will automatically go through if I buy the right items. It learns my habits and consistently gives me deals on items I buy. Points I can use towards free items and discounts on gas. They have $5 Friday deals. I just log in once a week to see what's new, and what's on sale in the ads and load my coupons, while making my grocery list. I find it therapeutic, a bit time-consuming, but also de-stressing knowing about what I'll be paying, and any freebies or discounts on gas I'll get. I got 50 cents off per gallon the other day when I needed a full fill-up — saved $8."
11. "Order more sauce than you need at fast food restaurants so you can use the condiments on your homemade meals. I can make better onion rings than CookOut, but that sauce they have is just heavenly. I think it has something to do with the perfectly sized plastic cups it is in."
—Zander, 25
12. "Squish the toilet paper roll before you hang it up. It will make it roll much more slowly, preventing people (especially young children) from rolling out a large amount."
13. "I use the stick portion of a Q-tip to remove mascara clumps and to keep the lashes separated. After applying mascara as you normally would, just hold the Q-tip horizontally by the cotton tip, carefully place the stick near the base of your eyelashes from underneath, then gently draw the stick upwards along the lashes, leaving excess mascara on the Q-tip stick. You can even spin or turn the Q-tip to use it again. Bonus tip: a Q-tip and a drop of water are perfect for precision make-up touch-ups or corrections. No need to spend money on make-up correction products or solvents."
—Anonymous
14. "Every spring, as the weather gets warmer, I keep wearing heavy clothing for as long as I can reasonably tolerate it. This kick-starts my resistance to heat so that I don't have to use as much air conditioning to be comfortable (saves money and is more eco-friendly). Similarly, I keep wearing light clothing in autumn to adjust to the cold."
15. "If I make a spontaneous trip to go shopping, I only allow myself to grab a basket and never a cart. Sometimes I only use the rule 'I can only get it if I can carry it.' So if I really want something and I can't carry it because my arms are already full, it makes me decide if anything else is something I actually wanted or need. This helps reduce my spending and helps keep me from getting stuff that's just going to collect dust."
—Anonymous
16. "Building a grocery list based on what you plan on cooking, not buying ingredients that you might use in something. Each week, I start my shopping list by writing out what we are going to have for dinner for the week. I then write on my list the ingredients I need to purchase. When buying what you are actually going to cook, you can control what you buy and how much. This saves me from buying items I 'might use' that sit in the pantry or fridge that go bad. Very rarely do I end up throwing away food and have limited leftovers, unless I want to cook extra."
17. "Fill an insulated thermos with ice water at night to have a deliciously cold sip of water when your alarm goes off in the AM to help you wake up."
—Anonymous
18. "This may cause some debate in the comments, but I just want to share it because it's helped me out tremendously. Like many women married to a man, there is an unfair division of labor in our household. I was really struggling to keep up with it all, while also working full-time, and my resentment toward my husband was growing. His answer was always, 'Just tell me and I'll do it.' This always led to arguments and crying and was a cycle that kept wearing me down. I eventually decided to make a cleaning chart. I simply made a daily, weekly, and monthly task list and put it up in our kitchen."
"I didn't assign tasks to anyone and items just get crossed off when finished. I make sure our daughters are getting into the habit of cleaning up their space, but the greatest improvement is in my husband. His workplace has always had a daily cleaning checklist and he now checks ours daily and checks off items as he finishes them. He gets "reminded" and I feel like we're now part of a team."
19. "Living alone I get overwhelmed with housework so will do it in 20-minute blocks and award myself with something like reading or watching TV in between. It’s amazing how much can be accomplished in 20 minutes."
"I also have a cleaner once a month, the cost is only a few hours extra at work which I’d much rather do."
20. "Online ordering for groceries. My husband and I meal prep and keep a whiteboard where we write down things we need. I order everything at the beginning of the week and pick it up on my way home from work. It completely cut out the headache of going to the store for a big shop and cut down our spending."
21. "I used to get so frustrated when I couldn’t find matching dress socks when I was getting ready for work. It dawned on me that continually buying socks a pair at a time was the problem. So I went online and found a style that seemed like it would go with everything, and ordered in bulk (the equivalent of about 30 pairs). Now no matter where I am in the laundry cycle, or if a few socks get worn out, I still can grab a pair without even thinking about it. Much more relaxed mornings."
22. "Swap childcare with other parents. Saves you on babysitters and gives your kids a playdate. We do it in three ways. One of them is during bedtime and post-bedtime. I'll go watch my friend's kids while my husband stays with our kids. The kids are asleep most of the time, so you can just relax and stay up watching a movie or something. Then swap the next night, one of them watches your kids while y'all go on a date (or run errands or whatever). The basic swap — they bring their kids over, go out, and then reverse the next day or weekend. This works for us because we have a big group of friends that often gets together with our kids. One or two couples will bring their kids and then leave for a couple of hours while their kids stay and play with the other families."
