50 Habits And Hacks That People Find So Useful They Would Say They’re Game-Changing

Cut my restaurant visits after the prices nearly doubled, breakfast became more expensive than lunch, and expected tips jumped to 20% on the much higher prices. Now I eat better and cheaper, I don’t get served food that I’m allergic to, and when my glass is empty I don’t have to wait to get it refilled. A win all around.

I just posted about this on another thread about something else, but it's top of my mind so - replacing my phone/screen time with reading in its place. I feel a lot happier with less scrolling, and I've been talking to a lot more people about reading since I'm reading a lot more books with the new time I've found haha.

Drinking a full glass of water first thing every morning. It’s ridiculously simple and costs next to nothing, but it wakes me up better than coffee sometimes, helps my skin, and just makes me feel less sluggish all day.

Use a mesh laundry bag for undies and socks, they don't get lost and I don't have a random thong clinging onto my pants.

Not buy weeks worth of food (common in the US) but stop at the store on my way home from work.. buy what I need for the day or food prep for max 3 days.. also only buy what’s on sale and on my list

My pantry is not as cluttered .. I eat what I buy and virtually no food waste.. my fridge is clean.

Simply waking up earlier and giving myself time before leaving for work.

Staying in the clothing department, I fold clothes KonMari-style and stack them horizontally instead of on top of each other. Now I can actually see all my t-shirts when picking one.

Cooking from scratch. I like to cook anyway and it’s SOOOO much cheaper. I batch cook on the weekends and then coast through the week. Got a cheap bread machine from amazon a couple of years ago and use it to make dough for single serve pizza crusts. Pre Covid I couldn’t feed myself for a week on $20 easy. Now it’s more like $40 but I moved too and groceries are more expensive here.

Picking up trash while walking around.. it makes feel i am contributing something to my community and nature.

Journaling. I always stumble across a realization that I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't going through to process of talking it through with myself through writing.

Before you run the dishwasher, run the hot water in the sink until it is hot THEN turn the dishwasher on! That way the first rinse it does is with super hot water- My dishes get so much cleaner with this hack even though I use cheap powder dishwasher detergent!

Before I go buy an expensive appliance, I go to Facebook and ask my friends an family if anyone has one of what I need (think things like mixer, table, sewing machine). We live in a society of over consumption so most people know someone that has something extra. You can get stuff at discounted prices or even free. And you can also borrow so the storage doesn’t become a problem. A lot of big libraries have rooms of stuff you can check out as well!

Toilet paper by the case. I also buy consumables items if on sale even if we don’t need them.

My rational is the toilet paper is cheaper by the case and I never run out. And buying stuff on sale even if I have enough I figure I’m eventually going to have to buy it, might as well save now vs spending more later.

The habit of not smoking and drinking alcohol. I quit those years ago. When I quit smoking I quit drinking.

Almost always, lemon + salt + sunshine will remove small stains from clothes.

Picking up your bath mat / other cloth items that end up on the floor using your toes. Cause strengthening your foot muscles in this manner is exactly what you’re told to do to help fix plantar fasciitis.. and plantar fasciitis sucks so best to avoid it in the first place.

When I buy meat in bulk, I divide it all up and divvy it into portions before freezing.

When I buy ground beef, I make it all into burger patties. I separate each patty with 2 pieces of cut parchment paper, flash freeze, stack them in freezer bags and freeze.

It makes it really easy to just pull out however many I need for the meal. If I need a certain weight, I just weigh out however many patties that is and break up the patties as they cook. They don't even have to be thawed to cook. I just start the cast iron out hot then lower the temp to allow the inside to cook before raising the temp to flip and cook the other side.

Instead of buying pork chops I buy a pork loin and cut it into chops at home and do them like I do the ground beef. Again, they don't have to be thawed to fry.

Going to bed early to wake up feeling rested.

Keeping my phone out of the bedroom at night and using a real alarm clock.

Not planning out meals more than 2 days in advanced. I've seen so many tricks and hacks that meal prep will save you money, time & make your life better. However every time I've tried I end up wasting food and being mad at everything. I do not like leftovers, and I do not (usually) like eating the same thing repeatedly. I used to plan everything out for the week on Sundays and I always ended up wasting food bc I'd make what I planned on Weds regardless of whether we actually ate what I planned on Tuesday or not.

Now I only plan things out 1-2 days in advanced, or essentially the next meal. Sometimes things come up and a box of mac and cheese is more convenient, or perhaps you realize on Monday that you actually hate the meatloaf you meal prepped and now you have 4 more servings left. I pick out our next meal and **only** plan for that. After it's cooked, I move onto our next planned meal.

I rarely throw away food anymore, and I've gotten real good at taking one days leftovers and reimagining it to something else. I've also learned to love cooking, so this doesn't seem like a daily chore, but something I *get* to do.

This will def be lifestyle/personal preference dependant, but for me enjoying cooking and planning my life out less has saved me so much, both in terms of money & sanity.