Thursday 24 January 2013

Life Hacks:Part 1





"Life Hacks": The term life hack refers to any productivity trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method to increase productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life.

If there are ways to make life simplified and less time consuming, then I'm all for it. Here a few Life Hacks that I consider useful and interesting to use in everyday situations.




You Snooze, You Loose


To wake yourself up and stay awake you need to stimulate your mind and get those cogs in motion.

  • Getting straight out of bed and do 10 jumping jacks
  • Play a game either on your computer or mobile phone like an arcade or action game (Angry Birds or Diamond Dash come to mind)
  • Turn on your radio and wake up with the morning show



"I'm late, I'm late, For a very important date"...


This is one that I should practice more often =D

  • Make a playlist on your phone or computer that is just as long as you need to get ready. You can track how well you're doing with time by the song you are listening to. I find 4 songs or less are sufficient for a shower, longer than that and you're a fish. =p
  • Make a habit to be at school, work or an appointment 10 minute before the actual time you have to be there. Practice doing this and you'll hardly be late.
  • If you live close to school or work, you are more likely to be late, true story. So allow yourself a deadline of half an hour, before the time you are suppose to be there, to be ready.
  • If you live near a bus stop or train station and it's the route you will be taking, find out the time intervals between each one so you won't miss your ride. You can check the times for buses on mobile : http://m.countdown.tfl.gov.uk/




Cooking Help




Not too great in the kitchen? Here are some tips and tricks

  • How to tell if an egg is fresh? Immerse the egg in water. If it floats it's fresh. If it sinks, best to throw it away.
  • Is it cooked or not? 
  1. For eggs - Spin it around. If it spins fast it is cooked. Uncooked eggs don't spin well due to the yolks weight moving around inside.
  2. For roast chicken - Poke a knife into the thickest part of the thigh, if the juices run clear the bird is done.
  • Onion tears:
  1. Try chewing gum while chopping them
  2. Put them in the freezer 15 minutes before you need them
  3. Try not to cut the bottom end of the onion till last
  4. Cut the ends of the onion then wash in running water before slicing
  • Put a wooden spoon across a pot to prevent it from over-boiling



Drinks anyone?






  • Make frozen cubes of the drinks you want iced, like coffee and juices to avoid having watery beverages
  • Fill a water bottle half way and freeze it on it's side. When you need it, fill with water and you'll have a refreshing cold bottle
  • Warm beer? Wrap a wet kitchen paper towel around the bottle and leave in the freezer for 15 minutes OR in a bucket of beers fill it half way with ice, a good measure of salt and top up with water. It should be ice cold in no time

Watch out for my part two of Life Hacks



Till next time =)










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