I am all about making life a bit more simpler, especially with having a two year old.
I’ve been compiling these ideas for a while now, and I wanted to share them with you in hopes that you try one of them and it helps make your day/week/life easier as well! I’ve found these tricks listed below to be very useful in making my day more efficient, which is crucial to me. I've also noticed that my to-do lists get checked off faster, and my stress level doesn't rise so high on the daily, so BONUS!
Also, for some reason, the term “Life Hacks” just rubs me the wrong way, so today I present you with my Life Tips instead:
B E A U T Y
Apply coconut oil to your skin and the ends of your hair BEFORE getting in the shower
I like to think that I made this tip up, but I’m sure other people have thought of it well before I did! One day, I just decided to see what it would be like to put coconut oil on the dry ends of my hair and on my skin before I got into shower. After doing my usual shower routine, I got out and dried off my skin and it was so amazingly soft! It’s almost like an in-shower moisturizer. I love doing this when my skin and hair need a little bit of extra love.
Use coconut oil as a makeup remover
I heard about this tip on YouTube about a year ago, and laughed at the idea of using coconut oil as a makeup remover. Why would I lather oil all over my face to get my makeup off?! I've battled oily skin for most of my life, so the idea of adding more oil to my skin just sounded nuts. But, I had to try it- just once- so see if it actually worked, and whaddaya know? It totally does! I like to wear 2-3 layers of mascara most days, as well as liquid eyeliner, and the coconut oil takes both of these off, plus the rest of my full face of makeup, with ease. My face is so soft afterwards, that I don’t even use a moisturizer. I usually just roll on some diluted Frankincense oil, give myself a wink in the mirror, and call it good.
Buying (name brand) shampoo, conditioner & body wash at Marshall’s
I have a hard time buying anything at full price, which is why I am a loyal Marshall’s girl. I can try something that I’ve had my eye on at a “normal priced store” (Target, Walgreens, etc) for a fraction of the price. I’ve had really good luck with finding natural and organic shampoos & conditioners there. A few months back, however, I purchased an under eye cream at Marshall’s because I really like this particular name brand. Come to find out, the cream that I purchased doesn’t really work for me (it seems to give me more bags under my eyes, which is definitely the opposite of what it’s supposed to do!). I’m really glad I didn’t shell out the money to buy it full price at another store.
H O U S E & H O M E
Make your bed daily
I’ve only recently started doing this as a habit (as in, I’ve been doing this semi-consistently for about a month now, haha). I have noticed a difference in how much relief and peace I feel afterwards, and especially at the end of the day, when I’m able to crawl into my nicely made bed. It’s such a pain to have to try to make sense out of the pile of blankets on your bed that have been sitting there all day when you’re so tired and over everything. We have a King sized bed, and it takes just about 5-10 minutes to make that big ol’ thing. Just think about how quickly it will take to make your bed if it’s smaller than mine.
Keep your room tidy for more peace of mind
I am the worst when it comes to absentmindedly creating piles of stuff all around the house. I guess always done this, and it’s a habit that needs to be kicked. Needless to say, when I’ve been intentional about picking up my bedroom/bathroom/kitchen/house in general, I’ve realized that I feel much more peace with being at home. When I was working, I used to hate being at home because it was a chaotic mess. All I could think about was the to-do list of all of my chores that needed to be done. Now that I've been more intentional (there's that word again!) with making sure my room's picked up before bed, I can let myself relax and ejoy being in my home again.
After the dryer is finished, lay out your clothes on a flat surface for easier folding later on
I may lose some of you with this tip, but just stay with me here! I promise it's a good one. First of all, yes, I’m aware that this tip takes extra time to complete and yes, I’m aware that we are all busy. so just hear me out: I saw my mom doing this for the longest time and would just roll my eyes at the thought of doing it myself. Then, one day, when I was so tired of turning all of the tiny baby clothes right-side in (is that a thing?), I tried mom's way. It took just a few more minutes to do it this way, but it's worth it to me in the long run because I'm no longer aggravated when trying to fumble with all of the clothes as they lay in a huge, mountainous pile on my bedroom floor.
S H O P P I N G
* Go to after-holiday, or after-seasonal, sales to score big on home decor
Last week, my mom and I visited a local department store, and I found myself wandering through the aisles of the home decor section. They still had some Christmas items on major marked down clearance, and I found the cutest set of hanging Mason jars for 65% off! And the best part? They’re interchangeable between seasons! They came with some fake pine branches and cranberries for Winter, but I decided to just keep a little light in them for some simple decor.
Make a Master Grocery List
This didn't happen overnight, it took me a few months to completely figure everything out and compile. When I first started making our master grocery shopping list, which coincided with my Once A Month Grocery Shopping outing, it literally took me TWO WHOLE WEEKS to figure out everything that we needed for the meals we were going to eat. I was second guessing what in the world I was even getting myself into. But, once I figured out what my family eats every single month, and the meals that we all like, things started to become a lot easier. I typed all of these items out on a document on my computer, and filled in the rest of our non-staple grocery items that we would need in between our monthly staples. I find that doing this project on the computer is easier for me, as I can easily copy & paste, change, and delete items as needed.
* Shopping for groceries online is your new BFF
I cannot sing the praises of Fred Meyer’s ClickList enough! If you follow my personal Instagram page (@stacyhoffs) and have watched my Instagram Stories, you know how much I love this amazing feature that they’ve recently started offering. For those unfamiliar with ClickList, you order your groceries online at the store’s website, pick your the day and pickup time that is most convenient for you, then pay online. On the day of grocery pickup (which cold be anywhere from that same day, or a few days ahead), you arrive during your scheduled pickup time, park in the designated ClickList parking space, call the number on the sign, and the employee comes out and loads all of your groceries in your car for you! It is the absolute best thing to happen to me in the last two months. I am the world's biggest fan of ClickList.
* Pre-buy cards at the Dollar Store (my Dollar Tree has them 2/$1 - holla!) for birthdays, anniversaries, etc, so you always have them on hand
Okay, I’m going to be honest on this one, I haven’t done this one yet, but I am so excited about collecting cards for all of my people at the same time so I don’t have to worry about it FOR THE ENTIRE REST OF THE YEAR. I’ll place little sticky notes on the envelopes with the important date on it and who it’s for, so I don’t even have to think about anything else. This is just my opinion, but I don’t think there is a bigger waste of money than paying close to $5 for a card that is just going to be thrown away the day after looking at it. I'm really excited to trek down to my Dollar Tree and pick all of the different cards out now!