Share your life hacks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I am taking my kids to lunch at mcd or chickfila (with play areas), I go through the drive thru first. This eliminates me having to threaten their lives when I have to order at the counter.

You are a genius. This is truly brilliant.

Agreed. I am quite impressed. This is a life changing share, so thank you.

I really can't believe you didn't think of this yourself. How about: pay bills on time; don't have children until you have a good job and money in the bank; never loan money or go into business with family or friends?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I am taking my kids to lunch at mcd or chickfila (with play areas), I go through the drive thru first. This eliminates me having to threaten their lives when I have to order at the counter.

You are a genius. This is truly brilliant.

Agreed. I am quite impressed. This is a life changing share, so thank you.

I really can't believe you didn't think of this yourself. How about: pay bills on time; don't have children until you have a good job and money in the bank; never loan money or go into business with family or friends?

+1000

[Anonymous]

Sheets in matching pillowcase (thanks DCUM!)
Each kid has one type of sock in multiples (10-12 pairs)
Bag for donations for in laundry room. As soon as clothes are too small, they get washed and then tossed into the donation bag.
Schedule pickups for donations ahead of time to set deadlines for decluttering (i.e., must fill 3 boxes for donation).
Keep small bags in car for clean up.
Keep wipes, snacks, and water bottles in trunk of car.
Keep measurements of items on phone for items that need to be purchased (e.g., area rugs).
Buy timeless unisex toys when found at good price and keep in storage for birthday presents and rainy days.
If you have a hole in your sink counter for a soap dispenser, buy one of those adapters that screw onto a Costco-size container of dish detergent that you leave under the sink.
Snack section in pantry and in fridge for kids to help themselves.
Mini vac in kitchen.
Landing strip for keys in entry.
Recycle bin for junk mail in entry.
Shared gmail calendar and "invitations" to spouse for kids appointments, games, parties, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I fold the bed sheet, fitted sheet, and extra pillow case and put them inside the 2nd pillow case to keep the set together. Saves me time looking for a matched set.

OMG that is so smart!! thank you!

Love this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so the only life hack is cleaning your glasses? sad

Ha! You beat me to it!

Not only that but she was doing it wrong anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On vacation, I sleep in workout clothes. When one kid wakes up, I can quickly get him/her out of the room before he/she wakes up the rest of the family.

Put kids plates/cups/bowls in a low cabinet -- they can get themselves food and drinks, help set the table and help unload the dishwasher when they are as young as 3.

Keep a collapsible storage bin from ikea in the hallway outside the kids' rooms for all the unmatched socks that come out of the dryer. When it gets full or we run out of socks, we have a matching party where we dump them all out and the kids search for matches. Sometimes I offer to pay them a nickel a match. Good for math skills too. I don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago, as the number of unmatched socks just drives me totally bonkers and I never knew where to put them until the other sock showed up.

Different solution to the sock problem:

Buy each kid their own color socks (for me, the older boy has gray, the younger has navy). Multi-packs that don't have different colored stripes can be hard to find, but most places sell individual pair and when they are on sale, I buy a dozen. Easy to sort sized and match... When one gets lost or holey it doesn't matter as there are 23 more that are exactly the same...

I do this for adult socks. My DH and I essentially wear the same size men's socks, so it's easier to buy plain men's black socks or white workout socks.

[Anonymous]

- Use the complementary wipes at the grocery store to wipe off the cart handles and clean my phone.

- I hate doing "boring" tasks like brushing my teeth so I break it up into stages of about 30 seconds: 1. Brush with toothpaste A, 2. Brush with toothpaste B, 3. Brush with toothpaste A, 4. Gargle with mouthwash, 5. Pour mouthwash onto toothbrush, 6. Brush with mouthwash. In the past I've had a toothpaste C or mouthwash B.

- I floss in bed (am single and no kids) while watching netflix because, again, I hate boring, everyday tasks.

- I know my sizes for the very few stores I shop at and buy in bulk a few times a year. My wardrobe won't win any awards but at least I'm dressed.

- I have 3 pairs of socks that definitely match for occasions when I need to wear matching socks. Otherwise my socks never match, though they are all the same size. Today one sock is pink and the other is blue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's my new tip -- maybe not a life hack, but it made me happy. Noticed a couple weeks ago the dishwasher was not getting things quite as clean, so they needed more of a pre-wash. After being annoyed for a couple weeks, I watched a short YouTube video on how to disassemble and clean the filter trap at the bottom of the dishwasher. Took about 30 minutes, and there was some nasty stuff down there, but now my dishwasher cleans like new again. Huge improvement. Kind of disgusting to think I'd never cleaned it in 10 years.

Yes! I had this exact same experience about 2 years ago. Amazed - and disgusted - at the stuff I found down in the filter trap. Wished I'd cleaned it years earlier. Now I've got a calendar reminder to do it once per year.

[Anonymous]

I repurposed a Godinger flatware caddy (silver plate, basket weave design) for use in the bathroom. I put all the kids' toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes in there. Easy peasy.

DS has three crates in his room: underwear, tops, bottoms. Getting dressed by himself is no longer a time consuming nag-a-thon. Instead of shorts, he wears swim trunks to camp each day. No changing.

I bought clippers and do his hair myself. It's taken practice, but it took only 15 minutes last night---including clean up. Then, right into the bath afterward. No more hair appointments (huge time suck!!)

I placed a shoeholder over the door of my linen closet (the kind with pockets for each shoe) and use it for everything: band aids, diaper cream, razors, cold meds, q-tips, nail polish bottles,...everything. Easy to find and reach. I put things like bandaids or Neosporin lower, where the kids can reach them. I learned to keep nail polish in top pockets!

Washer/dryer is upstairs in a bedroom, so no hampers anywhere in the house. Clothes come off and go directly into the machine.

[Anonymous]

Keep a chip clip in my travel makeup bag to clip hotel curtains together at night so they don't inevitably fall open and let streams of light in at 6 a.m.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't people's dishwashers have the light that indicates clean? Or can't people smell clean vs dirty dishes when they open it up?? I guess not as this seems to be an issue for a lot of people.

Yes, we have a clean light, but if you open the dishwasher once, the light turns off and doesn't go back on. So if you open the dishwasher to grab one fork, the light goes off. Also with two toddlers running around the house, sometimes we get interrupted in the middle of unloading the dishwasher and don't get back to it. Then the other parent comes along and needs to look to be sure if the dishes are clean. Since my wife is visually impaired, it's not as easy to just "see" if the dishes are dirty. Since we only run the dishwasher 2-3 times per week, we pre-rinse the dishes to get most of the food off so that they don't dry on and it doesn't stink of old food. So for us the jar method that I posted above really helps. It's a quick easy way to determine if the dishes are clean or dirty, so why wouldn't we?

Why can't you just re-throw the lock after you grab a fork out? That's what we do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't people's dishwashers have the light that indicates clean? Or can't people smell clean vs dirty dishes when they open it up?? I guess not as this seems to be an issue for a lot of people.

Yes, we have a clean light, but if you open the dishwasher once, the light turns off and doesn't go back on. So if you open the dishwasher to grab one fork, the light goes off. Also with two toddlers running around the house, sometimes we get interrupted in the middle of unloading the dishwasher and don't get back to it. Then the other parent comes along and needs to look to be sure if the dishes are clean. Since my wife is visually impaired, it's not as easy to just "see" if the dishes are dirty. Since we only run the dishwasher 2-3 times per week, we pre-rinse the dishes to get most of the food off so that they don't dry on and it doesn't stink of old food. So for us the jar method that I posted above really helps. It's a quick easy way to determine if the dishes are clean or dirty, so why wouldn't we?

Why can't you just re-throw the lock after you grab a fork out? That's what we do.

Our Bosch dishwasher doesn't have a lock. It's just open or closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's my new tip -- maybe not a life hack, but it made me happy. Noticed a couple weeks ago the dishwasher was not getting things quite as clean, so they needed more of a pre-wash. After being annoyed for a couple weeks, I watched a short YouTube video on how to disassemble and clean the filter trap at the bottom of the dishwasher. Took about 30 minutes, and there was some nasty stuff down there, but now my dishwasher cleans like new again. Huge improvement. Kind of disgusting to think I'd never cleaned it in 10 years.

wow.... I clean that trap at least once a week....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's my new tip -- maybe not a life hack, but it made me happy. Noticed a couple weeks ago the dishwasher was not getting things quite as clean, so they needed more of a pre-wash. After being annoyed for a couple weeks, I watched a short YouTube video on how to disassemble and clean the filter trap at the bottom of the dishwasher. Took about 30 minutes, and there was some nasty stuff down there, but now my dishwasher cleans like new again. Huge improvement. Kind of disgusting to think I'd never cleaned it in 10 years.

wow.... I clean that trap at least once a week....

I didnt know there was a trap and I have never cleaned it.....guess what im gonna be doing this weekend

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep a chip clip in my travel makeup bag to clip hotel curtains together at night so they don't inevitably fall open and let streams of light in at 6 a.m.

Brilliant!