Brace yourself. I have a confession to make.
I don't need another life hack.
Yep. There...I've said it. Call me crazy, but some of these life hacks I've seen have created more trouble than they're worth.
I don't need to know how to fold a fitted sheet into a perfect little square and I've tried. I don't need to learn how to turn a pool noodle into a storage solution. And unless someone can show me how to walk into Walmart for three things and actually leave with three things, I'm not interested.
What I need is for life to stop throwing side quests at me.
You know what I mean. You wake up in the morning with a perfectly reasonable plan. Maybe you'll get some work done, clean the kitchen, run an errand and have dinner on the table at a respectable hour.
Nice plan, ha. Life says, "Oh, that's adorable, hon." I think there's even a bless your heart in there somewhere.
Suddenly the dishwasher is making a noise it has never made before. The dog needs something that requires detective skills Sherlock Holmes wishes he had. You can't find your keys. Your phone is at 11 percent. The package you were expecting and needed yesterday has apparently decided to take a scenic tour of three states, and somewhere along the way, you discover that you are out of the one thing you absolutely needed...other than patience.
Congratulations.
Your original plan has left the building. Let's be real. That plan jumped out the window like the house was on fire.
Apparently, Everything Needs a Hack
Spend five minutes online and you'll find approximately 14 million life hacks.
There are hacks for cleaning, organizing, cooking, and storing things. Hacks for getting your children to eat vegetables. Do you want your refrigerator look like it's ready to be featured in a magazine spread? No worries because there's a hack for that. And apparently there are people out there who have figured out how to fold a fitted sheet. That's a skill that only the laundry fairy can bestow, and one I wasn't graced with.
Don't get me wrong. Some of these hacks are genuinely useful. While others involve purchasing six things you don't own so you can make the seventh thing you already own slightly more convenient.
That's not a life hack. That's a shopping trip that will evolve into a storage problem which ends up in another shopping excursion to buy storage bins all of which eventually finds its way to either a donation box or the trash can.
What I really want are the boring hacks. The ones that save time, money, frustration and the occasional urge to place the back of my hand on my forehead, gracefully swoon onto my recliner, and dramatically announce, "I AM DONE WITH THIS DAY."
So here are a few.
Hack #1: Give Everything a Home
This sounds ridiculously simple because it is. I've been using this trick for decades, so I know it works.
You see, the problem isn't always that we're disorganized. Sometimes our stuff simply has no idea where it belongs. Keys end up on the counter or on whatever surface you were next to when you emptied your pockets. The good scissors that you use for crafting migrate to the kitchen because the cheap ones are no where to be found. Mail establishes a permanent residence on the dining table. And that one screwdriver? Nobody knows. It was here yesterday.
Pick a home for the things you use constantly. For example, my hubby was notorious for coming home from work and emptying his pockets...keys, wallet, change...and taking off his watch. The problem was he'd be removing them as he moved through the house and left his stuff wherever like a bad trail of crumbs. Inevitably, he'd be searching all over the house the next morning looking for everything. What did I do? Simple. I bought a dish that I placed on the table in our foyer and trained him to unload his worldly goods into their "home" when he came home. It took a few reminders before it became his habit, but it worked like a charm.
I taught my kids to give their things a home, too. After hearing me tell them, "give it a home so you'll always know where to find it," they made it a habit they use to this day.
I encourage you to give this a try. Things you use regularly are much easier to put away when "away" has an actual address. If you live with other people, make sure they know the address, too. Otherwise you'll spend the rest of your life answering questions like: "Have you seen my keys?", "Where are the scissors?", "Did you move my—?".
Hack #2: Stop Buying Storage for Stuff You Don't Need
This one hurts a little. Sometimes the answer to a clutter problem isn't another basket. It's less stuff.
We have somehow convinced ourselves that if we buy a sufficiently attractive container, our clutter will become organized. Uh, nope. Now we have clutter inside a cute basket.
Before buying another organizer, drawer divider, or plastic bin, take ten minutes and ask: Do I actually need this stuff? If the answer is no, get rid of it. If the answer is yes, then figure out where it belongs.
Your house doesn't need more containers. Your house may simply need fewer things.
Hack #3: Do the Tiny Thing Before It Becomes the Big Thing
You know that little task you've been ignoring because it will only take five minutes? Do it. Seriously. Five minutes now can save you thirty minutes of aggravation later.
Put the clean dishes away instead of leaving them in the dish drainer or dish washer. Deal with the mail before it becomes a paper mountain. Wipe up the spill before it becomes a sticky science project. Put the item back where it belongs instead of telling yourself you'll do it later.
Note to self. "Later" is an extremely busy person. Later has approximately 4,000 things on its calendar. Don't give Later another job.
Hack #4: Make a List Before You Leave the House
This one is especially important if you're heading to a store in particular the grocery store. Because apparently stores are magical places where perfectly rational adults walk in for toothpaste and emerge carrying a candle, a throw pillow, three snacks, a seasonal decoration and something they can't explain.
Make the list. Check the list. Take the list with you. And here's the important part: Actually use the list. The list isn't a suggestion. It's a contract. If it's not on the list, you need a very good reason to bring it home. "Because it was on sale" is not a reason. Neither is "I might need it someday." Someday has enough stuff.
Hack #5: Create a "When I Have Five Minutes" List
This may be my favorite one.
We often think we need a giant block of uninterrupted time to accomplish anything. We don't. We really don't.
Make a list of things that can be done in five or ten minutes. Think of things like clean the bathroom sink, wipe off the kitchen countertop, delete old emails, empty the dishwasher. Put away the shoes that have somehow formed a small community by the door.
When you have a few minutes, pick something from the list. No giant project. No dramatic commitment. Just one little victory.
Voila! You've accomplished something instead of spending those ten minutes watching videos of strangers organizing their refrigerators.
Hack #6: Keep the Things You Use Together
If you always use the same things together, store them together. It just makes sense.
What things should be kept together? How about everything you use to make your coffee or tea? It's more efficient to have all of it kept in the same general space. That's why coffee bars for the home are a big thing. Baking and cooking supplies are great cupboard companions. Cleaning supplies make sense storing together. You may even like to keep specific things in a caddy so it's easier to get them where you need to use them. There are many other things like gift-wrapping supplies, paper products, car cleaning and maintenance supplies, and things for pets to name a few.
The things you need for a particular task shouldn't require a scavenger hunt. This isn't an episode of Survivor. You shouldn't have to cross the house three times to find tape, scissors and a gift bag.
Group things according to how you actually use them—not according to some picture-perfect organizational system you saw online. Your house needs to work for you not Pinterest.
Hack #7: Put Things Back While You're Already There
This sounds like a cleaning tip, but it's really a sanity tip.
If you're already walking into the kitchen, take the glass with you. Going upstairs? Take the thing that belongs upstairs. Walking past the laundry room? Take the towel that's been sitting in the hallway.
You're already making the trip. Let the trip earn its keep.
It's amazing how much clutter disappears when you're willing to carry one thing from Point A to Point B instead of creating a collection of Point A objects.
And Here's the Biggest Life Hack of All...
You don't have to do everything today.
I know. Revolutionary, right?
There's a strange pressure to believe that if something needs doing, it needs doing right now. It doesn't.
Some things matter. Some things are urgent. Some things are important. And some things are just sitting there looking at you because apparently they have nothing better to do. Learn the difference.
The laundry can wait an hour. The junk drawer isn't going anywhere. That closet you've been meaning to organize for six months will probably survive until Saturday. And sometimes dinner can be something incredibly simple, a delivered pizza, or a meal at your favorite restaurant.
You don't win a prize for exhausting yourself.
Maybe We Don't Need More Life Hacks
Maybe we need fewer things demanding our attention. Maybe we need to stop making everything harder than it has to be. Maybe we need to stop buying gadgets to solve problems that could be solved by putting something where it belongs. Maybe we need to quit trying to make our homes look like nobody actually lives in them. And maybe—just maybe—we need to give ourselves permission to say: "That's enough for today." Because life is going to keep sending those side quests.
The dishwasher will make a weird noise. Someone will lose their keys. The dog will need something. The package will be late. You'll discover you're out of coffee when you absolutely, positively need coffee. That's life. We can't eliminate the chaos, but we can make the chaos a little easier to manage.
And honestly? I'll take that over a fitted-sheet folding tutorial any day.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find the scissors.
I know I just had them.
Probably in the kitchen.
June Cleaver wouldn't have this problem.
Don't ask.
Coffee on. Chaos managed. ☕
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