“I Can’t Believe Other People Don’t Do This”: 43 People Share Their Best Life Hacks

If you're depressed and struggling with getting a grip on life in general. Start small like clean out a drawer or clear a small area and then the next day do something else and eventually you'll notice that you're able to manage the bigger tasks because the small ones are already done.

Invest in multiple phone chargers. I have one by my bed, in the living room, my home office, and my car. **None of them are ever to be moved**. The lone exception is the fifth charger that I keep in my travel bag, along with a power bank.

Haven't seen my battery go below 20% in years.

Keep a running note of gift ideas for your loved ones, year round. When holidays, birthdays, etc. roll around, it's a lifesaver.

Keep another note of TV shows, movies, books, music, games, whatever else you want to get to when you have time, and where to find them (if applicable). The next time you have spare time and can't think of what to watch/read/do, go to your list.

Put days that matter to your loved ones in your calendar. Not just birthdays and stuff like that-- anniversaries of loved one's passings. Sober birthdays. Milestones. Make a point of reaching out on those days.

Prepare for your morning the night before. Whether it is for your usual morning routine, or a one-off event, lay out everything you will need before retiring to bed so you barely need to think in the morning.
Not only is it more relaxing your mind will have the time to think of other small details you may have forgotten.

I always put my keys in the exact same pocket or spot at home. I haven’t lost keys in years. My past self used to be a clown. My current self is a responsible adult.

Pay attention to price per gram at the supermarket.

Use Firefox with ad block. like how do you all stand YouTube with all the ads.

Skip the “placebo” week of birth control and start a new pack. It’s perfectly safe and I haven’t had a period in three years.

If I'm invited to a Christmas party where I have gifts for some friends, I wrap 2 boxes of chocolates and attach a blank name tag so that if I receive a gift from someone unexpectedly, I can quickly scribble their name and it looks like I had a gift for them the whole time. If I don't have to deploy the tactical choc, then I have a nice treat for January.

For my everyday wear, I bought a couple of multi-packs each of identical gray & black socks so I don't have to spend time matching them up. When one gets a hole, I can toss it & still have a mate.

Telling my toddler that tv show characters go on vacation so we can take a break from watching them.

When you buy a thing that has warranty take a picture of the receipt with your phone. Then store the picture in a dedicated warranty folder. Lastly rename the receipt YYYY-MM-DD ITEMNAME where the date is the expiration date of the warranty. Now you have all your warranties easily accessible and you can sort them by date.

Do not make a big deal of anything that accidently spills or breaks in your house. Example: Spilling water at the dinner table. The calm reaction eliminates the usual stress episode. It's a great approach with kids.

Windows + V for clipboard history. I showed a coworker this last week and he looked at me like I invented fire.

When you're threading a bolt, turn it anti-clockwise until you feel it drop into the start of the thread. Then you can tighten it, clockwise. Helps avoid cross-threading.

There is nothing wrong with pre-cut, pre-made, or pre-packaged food. It can make a huge difference in your eating habits.
I was in a pretty bad place for the past year and would survive on one grilled cheese sandwich a day. Pre-boiled rice together with pre-cut vegetables and fruits helped me to get back to healthy nutrition. I need it less these days, but I'm incredibly thankful that they were there for me.

I have a routine. Routines are simple, yet powerful. They take stress, anxiety, and guess work out of your life. Routines are my biggest hack.

Here are other hacks that I use for my weekly cleaning routine (and these all make me wonder why doesn’t everyone use them):

- set timers. They keep you efficient, and prevent you from over exerting yourself. Once the timer is done, take a break.

- laundry day is bathroom cleaning day. If you’re already washing everything in there, it’s easy to clean the bathroom while towels, loofahs, and bath mats are in the laundry.

- your don’t need several sets of sheets. Just strip the bed on laundry day, wash the bed clothes, remake the bed. You don’t have to fold fitted sheets if they’re already in use. Keeping a backup set is a good plan, but there’s no point to more than that imo.

- Wash your shower loofahs with your towels. 

- last load of laundry on laundry day is white bar mops (we use these as kitchen towels). Use chlorine bleach in the load with an auto soak and an extra rinse. When you put the load in the dryer, leave the washer open to air dry. Once a week bleaching will ensure you don’t get musty odors or mildew.

- I keep a dish scrub brush in the shower. The kind that you can fill with soap. I fill it with a combo of dish detergent and white vinegar. I also keep a small, plastic cup in the shower, too.  I can dispense cleaner from the brush, scrub my shower, then rinse with the cup. I do it while I deep condition my hair.

— finally, anything worth doing is worth half assing. It’s better to get part of a task done than not getting it done at all. You’ll be in a better mood after, and it’s cleaner than it was before you did that chore in the most mediocre way possible.

I’m disabled, so doing chores has to be broken down into smaller bites so things will get done without me hurting myself (inadvertently), getting too exhausted, or burning out and not doing anything.

To zip it when you have nothing kind to say😍.

Ctrl + Backspace deletes word by word. So friggin efficient.

When planning a trip, create a list in Google Maps and add everything you might want to do (after researching on Reddit, TripAdvisor, Atlas Obscura, etc.)

It’ll allow you to see a bird’s eye visual of what’s near each other so you can group things and have an easier time planning your days.