A colleague and I had the opportunity today to discuss lifehacks at a conference session. There was great audience participation and they shared some wonderful ideas! Here are the lifehacks they wrote on index cards for us:
Keep all elements of a small project in a gallon ziplock bag.
Use cheap dryer sheets to dust your books and bookshelves. They can be used over and over and it leaves everything smelling great. Swiffer dusters are great too.
Have a certain place to keep things to take home from work, and to work from home. Put items in front of the door or with your keys.
Sort mail at the trash can so junk mail goes directly there instead of in a pile.
Keep white-out in your top desk drawer laying on it’s side. Every time you open the drawer, the jar rolls and keeps the white-out shaken up.
In email, create a “deal with when time” folder for those things that aren’t critical, but you’re not comfortable deleting. If you don’t go back to it then it wasn’t that important.
Keep family birthdays on PDA with alarm set for 5 days in advance. When the alarm shows up, there’s time to buy a card and mail it in time to reach them.
To sort folders on the computer: name frequently used folders with “AA” at the beginning of the file name so they sort at the top of the file list.
Display files in Explorer/My Computer as details and sort by filename, date, etc.
When library cards are mistakenly put into the wrong slots like a copy card reader or a floppy disk drive, scotch tape can be used to retrieve them. Gently put the tape in and use another card to press it down, and it will pull the card right out.
Post-it computer sticky note program.
Pin socks together when taking them off. Wash, dry and roll-no lost socks! (plus no stress in the morning!)
Great job everyone!
I seek to create order from the chaos of complex information. Join me at the Daily PlanIt to gain insights, inspiration, and information to increase skills for a better life. I unlock the power of teaching reading with phonics in the pursuit of literacy at www.phonicspow.com. In my spare time I explore books and movies, often choosing titles available on both screen and page.
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Many e-mail programs allow a scheduled auto-delete filter for folders. Place a 6 month auto-delete filter on your “deal with when time” folder. If you haven’t dealt with it in half a year, it’s probably too late anyway.