What's one small thing you've done to make your life easier?
For example, I 3d printed a box over my outlet to protect my cables from my bed pushing against it. In addition, my cables never fall to the floor so they’re much easier to grab.
Big feel you on this one. There was a while I would hate-listen to NPR on my drive and realized how badly that was making me shit my ass. One day, I was listening to ‘Lovely Day’ by Bill Withers with the windows down and an older lady started dancing while I was at a stoplight and blew me a kiss. Terry Gross not giving me nothing that compares to that…
I started doing things immediately when I see that they need to be done to look out for Future Me. It sucked at first, but it’s a habit now. I haven’t been putting things off as much as I used to. Future Me always appreciates it.
Future Me has more experience and wisdom than Present Me. There’s no reason I should do anything when such a better-suited candidate will inevitably emerge.
Deleting my social media accounts, migrating from yahoo/google mail, using a password manager, using an ad blocker, frequent backups, all kinds of scripting automations for work, Plex, home automation, learning to fix stuff around the house by myself (some plumbing, some electrical, whatever is safe and easier - it’s hard to come by a good, available specialist these days).
I mean a lot of the suggestions are do some work ahead of time to make everyday easier which is what I see now. maybe not the backups but that is more about reducing major grief in your life so ill allow it (but not op but love making pop culture references).
I leave a roll of trash bags in the bottom of the trash bin, so it’s where I need it when I need it - instead of taking up place elsewhere or getting lost. I do this for all trash bins. In the kitchen, at the toilets, at work, in the garage etc.
Also, with all the different sorting these days, I’ve decided not to sort the plastic, paper, glass etc. at the source, but just use one big container for all the clean stuff. When it’s full, I’ll take it out and sort it at the actual trashcan outside which is the place where it actually needs sorting. There’s no need to keep 5 or more different trash containers under the kitchen sink to be emptied separately.
I like my freezer not to be full of garbage, plus it doesn’t freeze instantly, so could leak on my food in there. No thanks. Or do you have a dedicated garbage freezer?
I always had an in between pile for the same reason. Clothes that weren’t freshly washed but weren’t dirty enough to wash. I like your idea of hooks. I might try it out.
Buy two of things. If you have trouble washing something, like bed sheets, buy a second set. You can change them first, then you have some more time to wash and dry and fold the other set. Otherwise, if you only have one, then you have to wash and dry and remake your bed in a shorter time window.
I discovered this strat on accident! Blew out my favorite jeans irreperably, and my replacement pair was actually two replacement pairs. My limiting factor on how long between laundry loads is how much lunch is on my jeans and now I have a backup pair so I do laundry half as much on average.
I keep getting burned finding boots that I like and by the time they wear out they’re discontinued. For the first time I finally did the thing where I bought a pair, confirmed I like them, and immediately got a second pair. It was a hefty up front cost but now I’m genuinely looking forward to the same blue crushed velvet docs for the next 4-6 years
I don't buy personal electronics, phone cases, or other items in black if I have the option. Not quite as rigorously I've stopped buying black or dark clothing where possible. Decades of buying everything in black or darker shades as the default and at some point I realized it's pretty damn bland and makes everything harder to find if lost.
I’ve done the same with a lot of “easy to lose” things; I’ll go for white or other bright colors so it’s easier to spot and harder to misplace or forget. I lost my water bottle the other day because it was nighttime and the bottle is black.
I travel with a work toolbox, among my stuff are drill bits and taps. I used to keep them all loose in a small container, and whenever I had to both drill a hole and tap it, I had to find the tap and then fish around for the correct but. Now I tie them together with elastic bands, so whenever I pick up a tap it has the correct bit attached.
I carry a Leatherman Squirt PS4 in my pocket every day. It’s tiny and doesn’t add bulk to my pocket but is super handy and I use it all the time. Has spring loaded pliers and tiny scissors, a small straight blade and file, and both a flat Phillips head and broader flat screwdriver.
I bought a $3 mini hook knife for my keychain off Aliexpress. I was tired of getting my pocket knife or Leatherman confiscated or stolen “for security reasons” at ever increasing (and surprising, like libraries, bars) venues. The majority of my needs was to cut open boxes and plastic packaging anyway. It’s the size of half a stick of gum, pops open with a button, and only the inside of the hook is sharp, making it pretty safe for wet hands. The handle is part carabiner clip. Not sure how long they last, since they get confiscated, but at $3 each, I don’t care. Keep it on my keys. The clip makes it easy to take off my keys if I need to leave it behind, but if I end up getting it stolen, meh.
It cuts through cardboard really well, and also opens that hard plastic packaging, burlap sacks, plastic strapping, and that weird material large dry dog food comes in.
I have never been to a bar with any kind of security search beyond checking my ID. If it is a ticketed event, sometimes there’s a cursory patdown. In those cases you have time while waiting in line to put your knife somewhere they won’t pat down, or go hide it in a bush.
I bought a $3 mini hook knife… The majority of my needs was to cut open boxes and plastic packaging anyway.
That’s a good tip! I have a Gerber Dime on my keychain, and I’ve found that the “retail package opener” is the tool I use by far most often. Luckily, mine hasn’t been confiscated yet.
Where I grew up there was a program where you’d sign up for a waiting list. Then when the county police encountered a deer that’d been injured but not badly mangled by a car, they’d put it out of its misery and send it to a local butcher. You’d pay $50 to the butcher and end up with a huge amount of packaged venison.
We kept a freezer in the basement just for that. It would fill the freezer.
Set calendar alerts for routine tasks that need to be done less frequently than once a week.
Things like washing the vacuum cleaner filters, descaling the kettle, replacing the water filter (I’m in a hard-water area), servicing various appliances, cleaning all the things that need cleaning but don’t need cleaning every week. All small things. It removes a lot of cognitive effort and makes sure those things actually get done.
This is a big one. I try to tell my ADHD teen he needs to do this because he is constantly forgetting to do things (feed his cat, pickup around his room, go out to the school bus in the morning). He’s very oppositional to change and doesn’t think it’ll help, even though he’s either on his phone or PC all day long.
Glow in the dark tape on the front and back of my phone and on the tips of the chargers to make them easier to find in the dark.
For the same reason my phone case is the brightest colored one I could find.
I had to get some clear heat shrink tubing to put over the charging cable ends to hold the tape in place otherwise it unravels after a few days use.
Sure they make lit USB cables but not in 20ft+
I’d really have preferred to have a bright solid glow in the dark phone case but for whatever reason barring I have one 3d printed (which will then not have the same protection of a normal cheap rubberized case) there isn’t anything like that available.
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