Life Hacks #4

Time again to share some of the little things that seem to make life easier.  If you missed any of the first three posts, click here.

- Ebates
If you do online shopping, this is a must in my opinion.  All you have to do is create an account, log in before you do your online purchasing, and you get cash back.  When I first heard this, I was sure there was a catch.  But...there's not.  It's just cash back for the shopping you're doing anyway.  This year, I've earned $100 so far.

There are a ton of stores included--you just search for whatever store you're wanting to shop and to see if it has cash back offered.  Amounts range from 1% to 10% cash back.  On Cyber Monday, it was double cash back everywhere.  And, if you sign up using my referral link here, you get $10 cash back as soon as your make your first purchase.  So even if you just sign up, buy one thing, and never use it again, you'll get a $10 check in the mail.

- Tiny salad dressing bottle
I try and take my lunch almost every day.  One of my favorite things is a good fresh salad, but I always struggle with taking that to work because...what do I do about dressing?  I don't want to put it on in the morning and the lettuce get all soggy.  I also can't make myself eat it without dressing.  Well the other day, the answer was found in a random grocery store aisle.  This mini squeeze bottle is perfect for dressing.  I just fill it up, close the lid, and put it in my salad bowl until lunch time.

-iBooks

I know, I know.  I've probably said to everyone I know how I am not into electronic books and just prefer to have the good ol' hard copy on my shelf.  And that was true, until I bought my first iBook and downloaded it on my phone.  Now, if I'm waiting at the tire shop, I can read even if I didn't remember to bring my book.  When I'm up feeding LL in the middle of the night, I can read a few pages right there on my phone.  Plus, I can save some money not buying hard copy books and, given that my first iBook was all about tidying up and reducing clutter, not adding physical books to my shelf is appealing to me as well.

What life hacks do you have to share?

Life Hacks #3

I am back with a few more life hacks today. Be sure to share any of your hacks--little tricks to make life easier--below!

Homemade stain remover.  So turns out babies are messy and stain everything!  After reading about a simple homemade stain remover on Pinterest I had to try it.  I am happy to report great results! It even took stains out of clothes that had already been washed before!  You mix 2 parts hydrogen peroxide, 1 part baking soda, and 1 part Dawn dish soap.  Mix well.  Apply to stain and scrub.  Let sit for one hour. (Letting it sit is important!) Wash clothes as usual.

  

I mixed mine 1/2C peroxide and 1/4C Dawn and baking soda. I keep it in a plastic container and use a tooth brush to apply and scrub.  Cheap, easy, works great!

Homemade animal fly spray.  I learned this recipe years ago from my friend Sarah. We first used it on pigs and I now use it for our dogs.  You just need a plastic spray bottle.  Fill 1/2 water, 1/2 vinegar and squirt in some Dawn dish soap. (Dawn should be sponsoring this post!) Again, cheap, easy, works well and no chemicals.

Re-using gift bags & tissue paper. I am a gift bag recycler. I have a big plastic storage tub full of gift bags and tissue paper. It seems silly to just throw them away!  I had always done this and had a small stash but I really hit the jackpot with the bags from wedding and baby showers.  I seriously may never have to buy wrapping again!  It is amazing the  money you save.

Free undies. If you are a fan of Victoria's Secret, you know their underwear is expensive. There are two things to know here. First, at their semi-annual sales, they have bins of undies on sale for a fraction of the price if you take the time to sort through the unorganized mess.  Second, if you have their credit card (free, no fees) they mail you a coupon about once a month for a free pair of undies.  Now, you only get whatever style is featured, but free is free and if you use every coupon you can really add to your wardrobe!

Life Hacks #2

I got a big positive response to my first Life Hacks post, so I figured why not keep this little list going.  Here are a few more...

- Never pay full price at Hob Lob.  Now, the real life hack would be trying to make yourself never enter Hob Lob because let's be real, if you go in there, you are going to spend money no matter what.  But...you should NEVER pay full price for anything.  First off, there is always a 40% off one regular priced item coupon.  That's available in the Hob Lob flier in the mail (or they usually have them in the store) or you can pull it up on your iPhone.  So if you need to buy something that is not on sale, use your 40% off coupon.  But second, if you can afford to wait, the full price item you are looking at will be on sale within 2 weeks.  My Cousin Whitney is the one who informed me about this when she was wedding planning.  She watched and the sales in that store basically rotate ever three weeks.  So, if she found something she wanted and it was not on sale, she'd just check back the next two weeks and it would be 50% off.

- Have a card stash.  I'm a card sender.  And honestly a pretty good one.  I rarely miss a birthday or anniversary.  I try to always send baby cards and engagement cards.  And then sometimes have it together enough to send just because cards.  It's much easier to do this if you have a stash of cards rather than trying to hit up Target or Hallmark or wherever every time you need one.  I have a basket (OSU orange, of course) where I store all my cards.  I keep them organized by topic.  I just use little sticky notes to keep them separated.  It works like a charm and helps me keep up with events and have cards ready to roll quickly!

 

- Meal plan for the week.  This trick not only helps keep you from having to go to the grocery store multiple times a week (who the heck likes that??) but also helps you buy only what you need and not waste food.  Every Sunday, I sit down and make a meal plan for the week (Usually I do this for Monday - Friday).  I make a menu of what we will eat for each meal and then base my grocery list on what I need for these meals.  I have really found it saves a lot of time and money at the store if I know exactly what I'll be cooking and buy only that food.

- Remedy for forgotten name.  I'm hesitant to share this one because I've probably used it on someone reading this blog.  But, whatever.  Are y'all as bad about names as I am?  I'm a super visual person, so if I've seen your name written down, I will probably remember.  If I see your face, I can usually remember things about you (where you are from, how we met, what you were wearing the last time I saw you), but your name?  It's iffy if it will come to me.

One little trick I learned when you can't recall a name you should know is as follows.  Say you are chatting with the Unknown person and another person walks up.  You introduce the two and say, "Oh gosh, remind me of your name again?"  And when they tell you their first name, you say, "Oh, no, of course I know your first name, it's your last name I can't recall." (Even though you had no clue what their first name is.)  Then they'll tell you and bam, you're in.  Just make sure you remember it this time.  For example:

Say Alex, Bob and I are talking and I can't remember Bob's name.  Here's how this would work:

Tiffany:  "Alex, this is, oh gosh, your name is escaping me."
Bob:  "It's Bob."
Me:  "Oh no, of course I know your first name, it's your last name I can't recall."
Bob:  "Oh, Bob Jones."
Me:  "Jones, of course.  Bob Jones."

I'm always up for new life hacks....please share your favorites!

Life Hacks #1

Ever since I learned about the concept of "life hacks" (thank you Pinterest), I've loved reading about other people's tricks!  FYI--life hacks are basically tips or tricks that people use to make life easier.  I thought I'd start keeping a list of my own life hacks to share periodically.  Here's the first go.

-  Thank you note labels.  If you are sending invitations to an event (wedding, baby shower, birthday party), make two sets of address labels.  Use one for the invitations, and then you've got the second set to use for thank you notes.  I'm a firm believer in hand written thank you notes (and you should be too!!) but having the labels all ready to go and not having to look up each address can really make the process much faster.  I did this for my baby shower and found it to be amazingly helpful.

- Shutterfly free gifts.  I'm cheap, so I'm always looking for stuff for free.  Enter Shutterfly.  If you've created an account, you will get their little advertisement emails.

About once a month or so, you'll get one offering you your choice of a free gift.  There are usually three or for options....one card, a magnet, a 8x10 photo, address labels, etc.  I always choose the address labels, which give me 24 free labels, I just pay the $2.98 shipping.  Because the offers come once a month or so, I  usually can re-stock before I run out from the last order.

Similarly, about three times a year or so, you'll get an offer for a free photo book.  If you're like me, you don't have time to scrapbook, but want to create memory books.  And....those books can get expensive!  I've created three free books in the last year, one of our engagement story and photos, one of our wedding, and one from our honeymoon.  The free version is usually the hard back 8x8 and I keep them on my coffee table.  I plan to continue this every time I get a free photo book offer code!

- Crock pot liners.  Confession:  We don't have a dishwasher.  I know, I know.  We're living in the dark ages.  So anything I can do to cut back on dishes---especially ones that are hard to get clean---you best believe I do!  One of those creations is a crock pot liner.  It's just a plastic bag you put in the crock pot before you put in your ingredients.  When you are done, you just pull the liner out, toss it, and then the pan is super easy to wash (heck, you might not really even need to wash it at all!)

-  Address box.  You may remember from this prior post my little address box creation.  I can't tell you how handy this is, especially when someone moves and changes their address!

What are some of your favorite life hacks?