Last Updated: 2023-10-31
I haven’t found lists of “life hacks” to be super helpful in general — I think because their practicality and surprisingness are often context/person dependent. But there are a few that I’ve personally gotten a lot of mileage out of, and I’m putting this list together in hopes of maybe saving the next person some time. I’ve tried to organize them by category. To distinguish these from other lists I write, these are generally not about a tool, per se, but are about non-obvious uses/choices of items to solve minor but regularly ocurring problems.
Food
- Most chip bags can be kept airtight without a bag clip with some careful folding. Roll the flattened top down. fold the sides in a small amount horizontally, and then invert the folds. It also makes a nice handle.
- To make chips easier to reach and serve, open the top, then gently roll/invert the chip bag from the bottom. If you’ve done it correctly, it should create a free-standing bowl with chips available at the very top. Push the bottom further in as necessary.
- Square cocktail napkins can be laid in a classier helix by gently turning your knuckles on the top of the stack.
Clothing
Unfortunately, this category is probably most relevant to men. I mean no disrespect to anyone who doesn’t wear men’s clothing, I just doubt that I’ll have helpful tips for you in this category.
- Bowties are more practical than ties. Not that neckwear or collars are particularly practical to begin with, but bowties require less work to keep clean and stay tidy.
- There’s more than one way to tie a necktie. My personal favorite knots are the “trinity” and the “half-windsor”. When I was younger (and bowties weren’t a personal brand), I would regularly mix it up in order to stay noticeable in rooms full of much older professionals.
- When pushing sleeves up, rather than repeatedly rolling the cuff, fold/invert the sleeve all the way from your wrist to the middle of your upper arm, then fold from the edge (now just below your elbow) to the same spot on your upper arm. This generally produces crisply shaped cuffs at the right position above your elbow, and it’s much easier to do and undo as the situation requires (moving from an overheated lecture hall to a wintry exterior, for example).
- Auto-archive / filter emails with the word “unsubscribe”.
- Automatically label and de-inbox newsletters and other recurring messages that don’t generally require responses.
Personal Management
- For some people, a lack of ideas (stemming from a lack of creativity or lack of ambition) is a problem. For me, the problem is always having more opportunities than time. I’ve had many people say things like “execution is more important than the idea”, but the phrase that reminds me that prioritization is the simplest optimization is, “Speed comes from focus.”
Underrated Purchases
- The Tub Shroom is a small, inexpensive object that sits in the drain of a bathtub and discreetly catches hair (for long-haired individuals, this is a common source of clogged shower drains). I haven’t found any comparable option that’s as easy to clean as their rubber version.