Got three random hacks for you today to save time, annoyance, and forgetfulness ;)
Anyone else do these??
#1. The Trash Bag Hack
You know how every time you have to change the kitchen trash bag it’s super annoying cuz you have to go digging under your sink for the box of them, and then a couple of days later you have to do it all over again?
Well, at first I thought I hacked it pretty well by just pulling out 6 or 7 bags at a time and throwing those at the bottom each time saving me a little grief, but even still I got annoyed so last month I put THE ENTIRE ROLL of bags at the bottom of the can, lol… I’m not gonna have to do it again now for at least a couple more months! BOOM!
#2. The Water Bottle / Mowing Hack
I thought of this over the weekend and it was a game changer :) Instead of keeping my water in the garage or somewhere else outside to trek to whenever I’m thirsty, I decided to just plop it right there ON TOP of the mower that way it’s only inches from my mouth instead of yards! Not only did it save me time and annoyance having to back track to it every time I needed to hydrate, but I actually drank MORE water since it was right there in front of me as a reminder! Triple win!
(THOUGH WARNING: This worked perfectly with my *electric* mower (see top pic), but when I switched to my gas one when the battery drained it did not prove as successful, haha… (see below pic). It not only burned a whole in the bottom draining out the water, but it was piping hot when I tried downing the remaining molecules!! Do NOT try at home, lol… (Though in my defense I put it far away from the engine, but it must have moved in transit and got way too close to the hot parts, womp womp…)
#3. The “Throwing it on The Floor” Hack
I stole this idea from my friend Travis Pizel, and it came in handy the other night when I was out of body wash in the shower…
It was the third time I meant to replace it when I was all done, but as usually happens I get caught up in my daydreams and completely forget once I’m out. So this time *I threw the empty bottle out of the shower*, and when I got out I saw it laying there on the floor there – and voila! It prompted* me to replace it right then and there!
Travis calls this the “Reminder Pillow” , and uses it all the time before drifting off to sleep:
For some reason it ALWAYS seems like I remember something that has to be done just as I climb into bed and get comfy. So, I reach down, grab one of the bazillion extra pillows scattered around our bed and chuck it across the room. Vonnie will ask, “What are you doing?” My response: “Reminder pillow.” The next morning when I get up, I’ll stumble across the pillow in the doorway and think to myself, “Hey, why is there a pillow laying….. ooooooh yeah, right” and I instantly remember what it was I had forgotten to do the night before. :)”
A quick easy hack that can be used anywhere!
And that’s all I got for you today! Hope you can use one or two of these :) If you got any silly little tricks of your own, please do share them in the comments!
Yours in better human’ing,
*James Clear calls this whole idea of throwing stuff “triggers”… Where an object triggers your brain to do or think something and says it’s imperative when working on goals. Here’s a bunch of other triggers you can incorporate into your life as well, especially that last one ;)
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I keep a notepad and pen next to the bed instead of the reminder pillow. I find it helps with the ‘list of things to do’, because the part of the brain that is working on the list doesn’t want to wake up enough to write it and then I can fall asleep!
I’ve seen cleaning crews do the garbage bag roll hack at some places I’ve worked. It came in helpful one day I had something a little smelly for lunch and took the garbage bag to the main cafeteria well tied. It helped another coworker with a sudden upset stomach have an easier clean up.
Thanks for the tips! HAPPY Wednesday!
Happy Wednesday! Thanks for reading! :)
I totally toss the empty bottle out of the shower otherwise I’ll never remember to get a new bottle of whatever it is I’m out of. Another thing I do has to do with squeegee-ing the shower walls. We have slightly hard water so if we don’t it’s yucky. Instead of swiping from top to bottom with the squeegee, which kills my back, I squeegee around the edges and circle in so I’m only having to bend down the one time. And then it goes super fast because I can do a whole wall on one big spiral stroke.
Haha nice!! That’s smart!
Ah ha! When I first moved in with my now-husband, I was perplexed when I would wake up to find unusual things in front of the foyer door. I quickly learned this was his way of visually reminding himself of something. Anything we need more of – he leaves the empty on the breakfast bar until it goes on one of our lists; but for odd things (things that I use a task app for on my phone), like “replace lock on boat trailer” or “schedule barber appointment” he will take a random item, a chair or a book or cleaning bottle and put it right in his path for the next morning. I’ve learned to leave these little memory tokens alone so that his plan for the next day works.
Memory Tokens!! I like that!! You should totally swap them out one day for something TOTALLY RANDOM and see if he notices, lolol… Like a teddy bear or bag of gummies or something 🤣🤣
I think my fave thing about this post is you still cut your own grass. For a long time now i’ve always thought that the day i pay someone to do my yardwork will be the day that i know i’ve finally ‘made it’. Seems like a true luxury imo!
Haha for sure :)
I actually enjoy doing it most days (it’s like a date with nature!) but there are times I wish I had it in me to pay someone to do it… Hard to justify it now ironically though as I have all the time in the world since “making it”!
Save money by filling your own water bottles. If you have bad water where you live, get a giant jug of water instead of using those dreaded plastic water bottles.
yup yup, good idea… you can easily swap out the water bottle mowing one for a re-usable one! which we typically do, but not this time when my hack got the better of me ;)
My hack that I have used in the past is to keep a large tumbler of water in my car when doing errands in town – and every time I get to a red light, I drink water until the light changes. So I figure its a win either way – I am either staying hydrated with red lights or getting to the next destination quickly with green lights!
OK – You win for hack of the day hahah… brilliant.
Another for the shower…. I hate cleaning it. If I am elsewhere and think how I should go clean the shower, I will just distract myself with a less annoying chore. Oh, look at that, too busy to clean the shower…
No, that IS NOT my hack. I do actually clean the shower.
I have no excuse when I’m actually washing up at the end of the day, so I keep a magic eraser in there and spend one minute at the end of each shower wiping down a section, rotating to another section each shower.
If I have showered every day – and I usually do – I know that every surface has been wiped down within the last week and the soap scum has not had an opportunity to build up.
Ahhh soo good!! and SO much easier to do too like that… Chunking for the win!!
Terry Crews?!
The Man. The Legend.
Too funny J! I keep my trash bags right next to the dishwasher soap under the sink so it’s easy to roll out but I feel your pain when it gets too crowded.
Easy hack for the water bottle issue, use a canteen or steel one! It’s insulated the water will stay cold under the sun and you won’t get plastic in your mouth. I sometimes clip mine to my pants or slide it into the wallet pocket if I’m doing something.
Laughed out loud when I read your shower gel reminder, I started doing that earlier this year when I thought “But what about if I forget to replace it and I run out tomorrow during the shower!”
Good idea with the canteen! haven’t seen one of those since i was a boy scout like 30 years ago, haha… I bet I could find one at Goodwill though :)
I definitely use triggers. Including one that combines two of your hacks. Getting new trash bags out doesn’t bother me, but I will procrastinate forever on taking the trash out of the bin, putting on my shoes (and coat depending on weather), and leaving my house to go put it in the alley. It finally dawned on me to simply take the trash out and leave it by the door (trash taken care of, boom!) and then just take it with me the next time I have a real reason to leave the house. It’s been so much better and easier!
BOOM! Easy! If only you can solve all of life’s issues like that :)
Great tips. I normally put 1-2 bags at the bottom of the trash bin, which I thought was a hack. Mind blow on dropping in the entire roll.
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That’s great! The simplest things sometimes make big difference. Definetely useful!