Life Hacks

[TeeDee]

Life Hacks

Specific changes you've made that you've trialed , implemented and found to be so beneficial ( even if minor ) that you've kept them in your life. Could be simple - could be complex.

So what specific Life Hacks have you made and have found to be beneficial


Example -:-
Using a notepad to make a list of ' To Do things / Ideas ' and recording them once you've actually thought of them - rather than try to remember.
Putting your running kit all out the night before be the next morning.
Software or progs / apps you've found useful

etc etc

 

[Pattree]

Maybe along the lines that you are thinking - maybe not.

Changed my sleep pattern in retirement, now 2am to 10am. Half my waking life is outside business hours, phone calls etc.

Doing nearly everything literal, graphic, communicative or business on my phone. One tool that is my external brain.

Chain my car keys to my wallet via 600mm of curb chain that runs through a QR shackle clipped to a belt loop. I have never lost my keys nor mislaid my wallet in the last 25 years.

Double or quadruple everything that I use frequently including specs, pencils, notebooks, tape measures etc. etc.
I have reached a mental state whereby I frequently misplaced things. I no longer even start to look for them, I just pick up one of the others. Realising that the original has not vaporised but shall turn up, probably as I reach for its replacement, reduces stress. I’m living in the world as it is, rather than as I somehow think it ought to be or thought it was.

 

[Woody girl]

I keep a kids blackboard on the radiator next to my bed. I wake up, look at it, and know what is happening that day. As days go by, I wipe off,and add as needed. No paper waste. No lost notebook. One off purchase that will last years, whereas a notebook needs replacement every so often.

 

[John Fenna]

Get up at 3.30 am, bed at 9 - half my waking life is when others are asleep so I get few unwanted distractions.
I avoid most electronic devices (no "Smart" phone, no subscription TV/streaming etc) no "Farcebook" presence) so have masses of time for Life.
Regular daily exercise to hold the body together (3.5+ hours physio exercise, min 4 mile walk and as much ebike cycling as I can fit in at present ...Moots excepted ...)
Multiple spare glasses ( mainly pound shop reading glasses) around the house so that I never lose a pair ...although some migrate from where they are meant to live...
A note book and pen in every jacket ... and I have lots of jackets
It all adds up to easy living in retirement!

 

[Chris]

- No social media or time wasting apps on my phone. Only use those on the PC, if possible via web browser. Phones and apps are specifically designed to be addictive. Break the cycle and you suddenly find more productive time

- If it’s raining, close your eyes and imagine what you’d want to appreciate and enjoy about the rain if you were told this was the last time you’d ever get to experience it. Suddenly, rain is something to enjoy and appreciate.

- If you find yourself drinking too much beer/alcohol, remember the satisfaction you get from that very first cold sip on a hot day, or after a stressful day. Then remember that you got that satisfaction before it’s physically possible for the alcohol to have got into your system. So you don’t need alcohol to feel that sensation. Have a glass of ice water or a cold non-alcoholic beer instead and then decide if you still want a normal one (I still drink beer, just much less than I used to)

- Two is one, one is none. Always have a backup for an essential piece of kit.

- If you’re having a rough day/rough patch and finding it hard to get motivated to do exercise some time, do not commit to doing exercise. Commit to just putting your exercise clothing/trainers on. Managed that? Commit to going to wherever you will do your exercise. Managed that? Commit to doing 5 minutes of exercise, or doing one set, or whatever the smallest chunk is. You can stop any time you want and go home if you want. Go from there.

- If you use gmail, find out who is selling your email address to advertisers by signing up to things with youremail+(name of thing)@gmail.com. For example if my email address is chris@gmail.com and I signed up to the Bald Man Society with chris+baldmansociety@gmail.com then gmail ignores everything after the + and just forwards it on to me. So if I start getting emails about how to enhance my performance in bed (be better at sleeping??) and I see that the spam email was sent to chris+baldmansociety@gmail.com then I know that it was Bald Man Society who sold my email address on

- Any password you save on a website is easily visible to anyone else who can access your computer. Whilst the password might appear as ******, it is very simple to reveal what those ****** actually are just by slightly manipulating the code through your browser developer tools. Better off using a password manager.

- Always assume that if a company or unknown person can do you over for their own gain, they will. Never think “ahhh it’ll be fine” if you could do something more to secure your position, for example I always film myself packing and labelling anything high value. I always pay for special delivery if it’s important or high value. I always ask for any agreement from a company in writing.

- Always pay for higher value items (over £100) using a credit card so that you are protected by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. Even if you only pay 1p of it via credit card, you are protected under Section 75 for the full value of the purchase.

- 1 dog poo bag is never enough dog poo bags if you are only carrying 1 in total (note: if you have a dog)

- Cool a drink down quickly by wrapping it in a wet piece of kitchen roll, then put it in the freezer for 5 minutes

- Salt meat either for less than 20 minutes prior to cooking, or more than 40 minutes

- A firearm is always loaded

- A falling knife has no handle

- Turn off push notifications on all non-essential phone apps. You choose when you interact with your phone, do not let your phone or other people choose when you interact with it. If it’s urgent they can call. You can read messages whenever you decide to, not when your phone tells you to

- There is no such thing as ‘fighting fair’

- Always CLEARLY mark externally where your first aid kit is and make sure it’s quick to access and highly visible (including in low light/at night). Somebody else might need to use it on you, and it being immediately visible to somebody who didn’t pack your bag/pockets could save your life

- Don’t allow yourself to be unpleasant or unkind to yourself, you wouldn’t allow yourself to act that way towards others.

 

[Silverclaws2]

A bag or a box for everything and everything in it's bag or box when not in use , to have bags and boxes within bags and boxes to create systems in a bid to organise what has in the past been chaos. Systems calms my mind to find both space, peace and the ability to find stuff when I have need of stuff instead of getting seriously peeved when I can't to end up hating myself for losing stuff.

 

[William_Montgomery]

Don't underestimate young kids or treat them like fools - (unless you're showing them a magic trick, in which case they are very easy to fool and will readily accept that you are indeed magic).

 

[Pattree]

……….. whether or not they know how you did it!

 

[Paul_B]

I have set locations for key things I need in my day to day life. house keys, car keys, wallet, phone (although there are actually about two set places so if not in one it will be in the other), etc. It is my life survival technique and it really helps. I started to do it as a kid without realising what I was doing, namely creating a habit. Once it is a habit you do it without needing to think and you very rarely forget to do it, In fact it takes an active thought now to not do this. Converse of this is family members have not done this because they do not need to do this. So they are the ones who lose thair keys or forget which coat pocket the car keys are in so they take the spare set and then forget which coat pocket that one was left in, but it is not in a coat pocket but her handbag.

Or people leave keys in doors, inside or out. It annoys me when my partner or son cannot find their keys so they use mine to open the front door and then leave it in the door. I cannot then find it. So lost keys are one of the things that makes me go from my normal calm self to somewhere close to the height of thermonuclear war in heat in split second!! To be fair I have ADHD and this hack is my survival skill.

BTW the development of a habit is interesting. It is not a quick thing and takes typically about 6 months to fully embed. That is 6 months of consciously doing it. So you can see thee effort I took and perhaps understand why I get angry over something as unimportant as keys not stored in the correct place. If you want to live with me, like somehow my partner still does, then you have to do the key thing.

Other hacks include writing down on paper what you need to remember. This is kind of a similar thing to note taking or to do lists but it can be anything. Writing something down is considered kinaesthetic AIUI in that the act of writing stimulates the remembering more than just reading it or typing it onto a computer document. It is the actual feel of writing I think that does it. I am that analogue person in many ways.

The other life hack is to have routines for certain repeated things. So getting out to work each morning is helped to be more efficient by doing it the same way every day. Especially good if waking up fully is hard for you as the first few actions are done when half asleep as an automaton. I also use it when packing my rucksack for an overnighter or backpaciing trip. Everything goes into the sack in the same order and location. It all helps IMHO.

 

[Artois]

I stopped drinking alcohol a few weeks ago, its not the first time, but I had forgotten how good life is without booze, I'm sleeping better, waking up with a clear head, everything seems better somehow and I'm saving around £100 a week.
I recommend it.

 

[Megatramp]

I stopped drinking alcohol a few weeks ago, its not the first time, but I had forgotten how good life is without booze, I'm sleeping better, waking up with a clear head, everything seems better somehow and I'm saving around £100 a week.
I recommend it.

You'll have to change your name to Kaliber.

 

[Chris]

I stopped drinking alcohol a few weeks ago, its not the first time, but I had forgotten how good life is without booze, I'm sleeping better, waking up with a clear head, everything seems better somehow and I'm saving around £100 a week.
I recommend it.

Wearing a fitness tracker watch is an eye opener when it comes to the impact it has on sleep. Even one drink can make a difference to sleep quality (detrimentally).

 

[Paul_B]

A tracker is good for monitoring health more generally. My RHR overnight goes up a few beats a few days before my cold or bug hits.

So a regular check on the weekly trend graph shows a jump so I know to hit the vit c and other things like taking it easy. Since doing that my colds and other similar bugs have been milder in their impact. That early warning allows for you to take care of yourself before it hits. It really is a big affect IME.

 

[Silverclaws2]

A tracker is good for monitoring health more generally. My RHR overnight goes up a few beats a few days before my cold or bug hits.

So a regular check on the weekly trend graph shows a jump so I know to hit the vit c and other things like taking it easy. Since doing that my colds and other similar bugs have been milder in their impact. That early warning allows for you to take care of yourself before it hits. It really is a big affect IME.

Yeah I'll add to that , the fitness tracker has definitely improved my own health, to consider it a very well worth investment. Where because am also on a diet my fitness tracker software integrates with the cronometer nutrition tracker to give me a better idea of where improvements can be made. Though the sleep monitor has thus far informed me I might have sleep apnoea.

 

[Pattree]

This maybe for those of us members who have had above the average number of birthdays.

Some years ago we dug out all the stuff that was “kept for best” and started using it. If it didn’t suit us we got rid of it - this included a Poole Pottery tea set for 12. It has stayed in the cupboard since we were married - 55 years ago now, 40 years before we got rid of it.

We use all the remaining “best” stuff daily and enjoy it.

At a bushcraft level - dig out all those shelf queens and use them. Why keep them for Best when Best might not come. I’m happy with the thought that I’m living a best life daily!
If they are art rather than useful then what are they doing in that drawer?

As my wife just pointed out - she might have used the Poole stuff at my funeral of course!

 

[Megatramp]

This maybe for those of us members who have had above the average number of birthdays.

Some years ago we dug out all the stuff that was “kept for best” and started using it. If it didn’t suit us we got rid of it - this included a Poole Pottery tea set for 12. It has stayed in the cupboard since we were married - 55 years ago now, 40 years before we got rid of it.

We use all the remaining “best” stuff daily and enjoy it.

At a bushcraft level - dig out all those shelf queens and use them. Why keep them for Best when Best might not come. I’m happy with the thought that I’m living a best life daily!
If they are art rather than useful then what are they doing in that drawer?

As my wife just pointed out - she might have used the Poole stuff at my funeral of course!

Too right, but I have many levels of "users" so I don't trash the good stuff.

 

[dwardo]

Doing something difficult or uncomfortable on a regular basis, what ever it may be.

I train three or four times a week and have done for the past decade. I am luck enough to train regularly with fighters I will never beat. I regularly think to my self I really don't have it in me today but I do it any way.

I have recently started to do public speaking in the form of presentations which I absolutely detest but again I do it anyway. Things like these I believe are the cold cure to anxiety which is a hard pill to swallow but the alternative is worse.

Philosophy pick your poison but examine all the greats and go from there.

Oh and daily vitamins, minerals and fluids. Eat light and watch you weight as the modern world is designed the food game against you.

 

[Sooty22]

Coyote fur hood trim.
I took up sewing in the past few months, and started making parkas, smocks and overtrousers in Ventile, among other things. Living in Scotland, but life took me to the Czech Republic for a few months, and I experienced cold like never before... So, I bought a coyote pelt, and make fur trims for everyone's smocks/parkas, and crickey what a difference it makes! It stops snow blowing in your eyes in a blizzard, it keeps your cheeks much warmer, your neck toasty if you have the hood down.
I made them all removeable with buttons, so they can be taken off for washing the coats without wrecking the fur.

Which I guess takes us to my next life hack... Try your hand at using a sewing machine. Pick up an old mechanical Janome or similar for sweeties on ebay and have a go making some stuff. You'll soon be making bags, harnesses, pouches, all sorts of things, and then you are on to the Ventile smock you always wanted but could never afford or the clothes you had in your mind but could never find, or maybe that elusive jacket with the right sleeve length for you, and so on.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I have set locations for key things I need in my day to day life. house keys, car keys,

Yeah, we have a key box.
A while ago I left a set of keys to the garage back door and the shed on the kitchen worktop. I needed to go and change into old clothes before doing some work around the garden. I thought that it would be better to put them there rather than in my pocket, forget and then not find them in the pocket of my old trousers.

Came back to the kitchen, no keys. Oh, maybe I had put them in my pocket. Back up to the bedroom to check the pockets; no keys.

Maybe they'd fallen while I was getting changed, no keys on the floor where it's got changed nor under the bed.

I traced my steps looking around all the time; no keys.

I looked in the key box; no keys.

I asked SWMBO if she'd seen them.
"Yes, I found them lying around so I put them away."
"Where?"
" In the key box, of course!"
I checked the box again, took out the other keys, but still couldn't find the ones I wanted.
"They've decided to be invisible to my eyes, can you come and take a look, please?"
SWMBO couldn't find them, either.

There's a second box, next to the key box, full of pens, pencils, scissors and a block of post-it notes... And that day there was also a set of keys to the garage back door and the shed.

Oh, how we laughed.