A Short List of Life Hacks to Save Time and Money

By Shaina Eldredge on February 26, 2017

One of my favorite things to look at on Pinterest or on Snapchat is “life hacks.” If for some reason you aren’t sure what life hacks are, life hacks are simple ways to make your life easier … almost like a cheat code for real life.

I’ve found some life hacks on the internet that I use all the time, and I have come up with some of my own that work for me. Here is my list of several life hacks I use, or that I find really interesting and want to try.

Cardboard Boxes and Canvases

I live on campus at my college, and this year my room only came with one desk that had no drawers, a side table with no shelves, and my bed that was lifted high off the ground. I have lots of books and folders and papers — this was not going to be enough space.

So what I did was take one of the bigger boxes and placed it vertically next to my bed, and covered it with a paisley designed blanket that I don’t use. Not only do I now have a nightstand, but I put a smaller box in the big box to create a shelf for my magazines and my bathroom caddy, and it’s all out of sight thanks to the blanket.

I also used a small box with a wooden canvas on top of it to make more shelves on my desk to hold decorations and office supplies. Finally, I covered another big box with my Snuggie to make a new and cute laundry basket.

Airplane Mode

Putting your phone in airplane mode while charging will let the phone charge faster. Also, if you play games while your phone is in airplane mode, you won’t get as many, or any, ads while playing the game.

Coffee

Coffee has several other uses besides giving you a good morning boost. Use coffee grounds to clean up vomit easily: the grounds dry up the mess pretty quickly so you can sweep away the mess you would have otherwise had to hose down. Coffee can also be used to break down hair follicles if mixed with baking soda (2 tablespoons, 1 teaspoon, respectively), and applied to any area with unwanted hair for a week. Goodbye shaving!

Also, an entire bottle of wine can fit in a Starbucks Trenta cup.

Crayons

If a CD or DVD is skipping because of scratches, color the readable side with a crayon, then wipe the disc with a cloth rag. The wax will fill in the scratches and trick the movie player into thinking that the disc is scratch-free. Some places say a banana will do the same trick, but I have personally always just used a crayon since that has usually been more accessible for me.

Crayons, being made of wax, will also burn and act like a candle, and it can last for up to 30 minutes.

pexels.com

Of course, there are plenty more life hacks in the world that will save you time and money. This is just a short list of hacks that I have used, or want to try.

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