
Ask HN: What are your time-saving non-tech life hacks? - pards
What are your time-saving non-tech life hacks?<p>I&#x27;m looking for things you do in your day-to-day life that save you significant amounts of time.<p>I shave my hair, and I do it myself.<p>I don&#x27;t have to comb it. I don&#x27;t have to spend time and money going to the barbershop. I don&#x27;t have to expend mental energy thinking and worrying about whether my hair is messed up (rain, sports, winter hats).<p>I&#x27;ve been doing that for more than 15 years and the payback has been huge. It&#x27;s very liberating.
======
core-questions
> I've been doing that for more than 15 years and the payback has been huge.

What about the opportunity cost from not looking as good as you might with a
nice haircut? ;-)

Just bugging you. Wish I had a nice round skull that looked good with that
style.

As far as life-hacks go, I generally seek to run my domestic operations like
an OS scheduler - start background things first (get that kettle boiling, get
that washing machine running, etc) and then proceed to interactive chores that
need direct attention while other things are happening in the background. Keep
as many things busy as possible. Buy a Roomba.

~~~
lurker_primo
> As far as life-hacks go, I generally seek to run my domestic operations like
> an OS scheduler - start background things first (get that kettle boiling,
> get that washing machine running, etc) and then proceed to interactive
> chores that need direct attention while other things are happening in the
> background.

I too try to do this as much as possible. But I find that this is only
possible with tasks that follow a specific pattern every time. If I try to
change even a single thing in the background task, I have to interrupt
interactive chores because I will have forgotten something else. To remedy
this, I always take 5 min to mentally list each step before starting.

People recommend listening to podcasts/audiobooks in the background while
working. I would recommend against that. Eliminate background distractions -
reddit, podcasts, anything. If I browse reddit while I wait for something to
complete, I waste a lot of time by finishing the article/thread before taking
action on finished items. This makes a lot of difference when time is limited,
especially in the morning when I'll be running to catch the bus on time. If I
listen to podcasts, I miss some information in the podcasts, and I miss some
things on the tasks I'm working on.

------
matt_the_bass
I built a canned food rack. It hangs on the wall and acts as a fifo. When
canned good I like are on sale, I buy a ton and never worry that there is an
old can at the back of the self.

~~~
pards
That's awesome. I'd love to see a picture of it.

------
pards
In the dishwasher, I group the cutlery to make it fast to unload. This front-
loads the time slightly and reduces the unloading significantly.

