Lately, while doing those mundane sorts of tasks like folding laundry or some such, I've been on Netflix. It has collected together a whole series of TED Talks and I've become addicted. They're all about lifehacks and who isn't all about those? Ways to make life simpler, easier, more joyful. They expose such curious and simple things. But you don't have to be on a TED Talks to know some great secrets to life. So thought I'd turn to some of my fellow bloggers with another round of Q+A and ask them- what is a great lifehack you'd like to share?
Read on to find out what they said, and share some of your own best secrets in the comments. Can't wait to see what you share. In the meantime, here's some advice from four lovely ladies:
Being a busy mommy to two little guys always has me searching for ways to simplify life and make it a tad healthier in the process. This past summer I came across my favorite life hack yet which is making ice cream from one healthy ingredient. Any guesses? Yes, bananas! My three year old has been blessed with the same sweet tooth as his mama, so naturally this was one hack that not only saved time for me when it came to serving up a delicious after dinner treat but was actually something that I would not feel guilty eating or giving to my kiddo 10 minutes after hoovering it down.
The method for making this "ice cream" is as follows:
Freeze your ripened bananas (I cut mine up and put them into a plastic freezer bag to always keep on hand)
Toss them into a food processor and after a minute or two they will begin to get creamy - just like ice cream.
There you have it. Your ice cream is made. If you want to get super creative with this concoction - you can add anything from peanut butter, to honey, to chocolate chips, to other kinds of fruit. I promise you two things - it's 100% fool proof and positively yummy
I'm super excited to share one of the most incredible life hacks that changed the way I shop for shoes today! Some of my
favorite
fall shoes are lace-ups. I am a huge fan of combat boots, which I will admit to having a few too many pairs of. They're perfect for the rainy Seattle Fall, where they're toe-covering and waterproof (super important!) but don't have the weight of most rain boots. So, enough rambling about why I love combat boots. I'm a bit of a clumsy person and I used to trip over shoelaces all the time whenever they would come undone. To be honest, I wouldn't even notice when they came undone, which is a huge reason why I would face-plant on the sidewalks randomly during morning strolls. Super embarrassing! This TED Talk on tying shoelaces so that they don't come undone changed my life! Hope you guys find it as useful as I did! :)
If you're like me you're not particularly a morning person. Worse than that, before I've ingested the right amount of caffeine I am a mumbling, grumbling zombie like version of myself, someone not to be trifled with. Mornings are my nemesis in that I'm always running late, become easily irritable and it sets the tone for the rest of the day. This is the case mostly when I'm going to school and have to catch the bus by a very specific time. Years at post secondary institutions has mostly taught me some tricks about how to make it through the morning smoothly:
-make your lunch before you go to bed. Or at least as much of it as you can make.-print off any notes needed the evening before, have everything organized and ready to go (preferable by the door)-plan outfits out in advance. This one is my top one because it would take me forever to get dressed in the morning in my state of zombitude. It's also nice because If you can plan your outfits a week at a time you can make sure everything's clean!!
A trick that I use whenever I cut any sort of bread or rolled dessert is to use floss to cut the item, instead of a knife. This way there are no crumbs and it is cut completely straight! I learned this from my mom, who is an excellent baker, many years ago.
Whenever my candle wick is too short to light with a lighter, and I have no matches handy, I use a stick of spaghetti to light the wick with. It's so thin, it's perfect!
Go take a trip to the dollar store frequently. You will so be surprised with what you find. In the past, maybe people saw dollar stores as some sort of place you'd almost be "embarrassed" to go to, but I honestly buy all of my craft supplies, home cleaners, candles, basic spices, and hair goods from here.
Use a planner and write "to-do" lists daily. This will keep your daily tasks organized, and just your life in general. Making "to-do" lists for each day, the number one is the most important (and so on), helps keep your tasks in order of what you need to complete the most. Also, use a highlighter in your planner for "what has to be done" in that day, or week.
Love these lifehacks - especially the one about tying shoes :)
Reply DeleteI love watching TED Talks too, they are so motivational! Great post, love!
Reply DeleteXo, Hannah
sweetsweetnoir.net
Some of these are abso genius! Especially the banana ice cream one (hello??!! genius much!) and the one about cutting the bread with floss. Okay seriously gonna go try that out right now!
Reply DeleteI need to try the cutting things by floss. Glad you enjoyed the tips :)
DeleteTed talks are amazing!! I always try to encourage people to watch them over endless Netflix shows... not that there's anything wrong w/ a good show, but wow, so much to learn from Ted Talks. So funny there's the one on tying laces. I also like to freeze bananas that are almost bad and chop them up before too. another "life hack" is to wash grapes and freeze them before they go bag as well. we were always ending up w/ big bags that we couldn't eat in time and they are sooo deliciously sweet frozen. also, jenna's tips, morning state = me to a T : ).
Reply DeleteCuddly Cacti
Mitla Moda
I love the grapes tip- grapes are ummy bu so hard to eat all you get in a bunch with only two people in the house.
DeleteI'm loving the Ted Talks. I really like that Netflix organized a bunch by topic too. That's the one thing that I dislike about Ted Talks, is sometimes it is seems hard to find things by topic even though they are categorized.