Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Other subjects
Original poster

Life "hacks" - ways you secretly stay ahead of the pack?

285 replies

tarquinandjocasta · 30/09/2014 16:16

By this I don't mean those crap Take a Break tips that are going round the internet - use a trouser hanger to hold your recipe book. More like things that you do, that give you a bit of an "edge" no matter how trivial.

I am having a crisis of confidence day - feeling a bit like I'm not good enough.

I'm just wondering if others have secret ways of feeling better about trivial stuff that doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things.

Obviously MN itself is a bit of a secret and a great way of finding stuff out/researching without "letting on" to people in RL….

If I am feeling lazy, I buy plain fairy cakes and ice them myself fancily filling with lemon curd and piling on the buttercream and pass them off - people think I am quite the domestic goddess. Grin
I warm shop bought biscuits in the oven too.

There must be other things that you don't 'fess up to in RL?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Tanacot · 04/10/2014 22:10

nodnod to CrotchMaven. Such a good tip. I always try to put keywords in the subject line. And if pos, the date it needs to be done by.

I emailed my brother the other week and absent mindedly did it to him, like: [ACTION REQUIRED] by 08-09-14. Blush

Another good one is Scanbot. I take pictures of all my paperwork/mail and autoupload it to Evernote. And then I burn most of it! (I have a wood burner, don't worry, I'm not standing there holding burning paper in my hands and a manic gleam in my eye much)

Scanbot is good cause 1) it's on the phone, and 2) you don't have to line anything up to get a good copy - it tells you to hold still and takes the scan itself when it has a good image.

Biscoff · 04/10/2014 22:16

Amazing tips!

Chandon · 05/10/2014 08:38

Yes, subject lines in e-mails! I use them, other people just won't

Barbarians

Chandon · 05/10/2014 08:41

My best life hack is to put all my clocks (kitchen, car, phone) 5 mins forward.

Have not been late for 2 yrs!

Marcelinewhyareyousomean · 05/10/2014 11:19

Tightlining makes you look wide awake. I use a liquid liner and apply it underneath my upper lashes.

The cognitive bias gives me food for thought. Don't believe the hype if others, especially if they are higher in grade. Ambition doesn't necessarily reflect ability.

I did a leadership and management course recently. It gave me loads of confidence that that I'm effective and efficient. (John Adair and leadership continuum)

Turquoiseblue · 05/10/2014 11:42

Unroll has saved me email.

This tread is fantastic Smile

jen44473 · 05/10/2014 11:50

Don't do any of the things you should do and when the deadline passes and no one has died, breathe a sigh of relief and never worry about doing them again ..
As for buying pre made buns and icing them beautifully yourself for a school cake sale.. Why not go the whole hog and buy a box completely ready for the event?!

pluCaChange · 05/10/2014 13:13

Is Scanbot only for iphone?

Guitargirl · 05/10/2014 14:14

Unroll me has pissed me off no end. You can only unsubscribe from up to 5 senders, if you want to unsubscribe from more then you have to share on Facebook, Twitter or agree to them sendings mails to 5 people from your contacts list. I am not Facebook, Twitter or particularly want to spam 5 of my friends. Now I have to figure out how to unsubscribe from unroll me Hmm.

TheSpottedZebra · 05/10/2014 14:39

Guitar I agree that it's annoying.
I don't use fb or twitter either, but I do have an account for each, linked to an email address that I set up for that and that alone that I never check. I have no friends, no followers on those accounts and I never look at them, but do use it for things like this.

PacificDogwood · 05/10/2014 14:48

Guitar, they sent me a 'sign up' email which had the 'unsubscribe' button at the bottom.

sashh · 05/10/2014 15:04

I have trouble remembering nieces and nephew's birthdays. So instead I send a parcel to the house with a present for each child as an unbirthday present.

It is a total surprise to them, they get a present every year and I can buy when I have cash.

Tanacot · 05/10/2014 15:27

pluscachange, I think it's probably iOS only. Android phones have autoupload, OCR and scan built in to Google Drive

Tanacot · 05/10/2014 15:32

Oh, I'm sorry about that, Guitar. I had forgotten that, I spose, or they've changed it perhaps. Or else I will have just used a burner Twitter or disposable emails, probably! I use them all the time for this kind of signup:

Guerrillamail Disposable Temporary E-Mail Address

Guitargirl · 05/10/2014 15:39

I have deleted my unroll account but it says that those details I have already entered will be 'saved'. It's my own fault for not reading all fine print before entering my details.

MrsHathaway · 05/10/2014 16:13

If you have a rotating meal plan, have more than seven days on it and preferably not a multiple of seven. It avoids the "Monday? Must be chilli" feeling that people hate about plans.

You can have a menu planner for clothes too, which is where the not- seven rule is more important, otherwise people you see once a week will think you only own one outfit...

Smile. It gives the illusion of composure. It can also trick your brain into feeling happier. I am regularly "not waving, but drowning" but have a reputation as a supermum because the mask drops only very infrequently and only under major stress.

Good enough is good enough in most areas of life. It is the pursuit of perfection that most quickly causes misery.

Cerisier · 05/10/2014 16:20

I have done unroll me and now I'm worried they've scanned my whole inbox. Are they a legit site? And they weren't much use as I could only unsubscribe to 5 things. I wish I'd read to the end of the thread and seen that.

dementedma · 05/10/2014 16:30

Use the 4D system for emails to stop your inbox getting clogged up;
Delete
Delegate
Deal with now
Diary for later.

Do it straight away and it really helps with the clutter.

GarlicOctopus · 05/10/2014 17:06

Cerisier, that's why I didn't sign up after clicking the link.

chicaguapa · 05/10/2014 17:12

Unroll me has pissed me off no end. You can only unsubscribe from up to 5 senders, if you want to unsubscribe from more then you have to share on Facebook, Twitter or agree to them sendings mails to 5 people from your contacts list.

I just closed that pop up and carried on unsubscribing. It worked!

Suzannewithaplan · 05/10/2014 17:19

far as I can see you have to give unroll me the password to your e-mail account?

dont think I fancy that, I just have a separate e-mail account for all online purchases

MykleeneArse · 05/10/2014 17:24

Unroll.me ? So some of you are just entering your email account password, on a random site, that you had heard nothing about until today? Just because it has some corporate logos of large companies on the homepage?
It would take a little more than that to get my password out of me.

Cerisier · 05/10/2014 18:56

I can't believe I did it. I'm not usually so daft. I'm in a cold sweat about it.

Coumarin · 05/10/2014 19:15

I feel stupid too. Sad Can we undo our daftness? I'm off to change my password...

chicaguapa · 05/10/2014 19:16

Seemed legit to me. There's a review on PCadviser and this in the FAQs

"Does Unroll.me store my login information?

Unroll.me takes its users privacy and security extremely seriously. We prefer not to have access to your login information. Whenever possible Unroll.me uses authentication services, such as Gmail's OAuth, to access its users data. However if authentication is not available in another form, Unroll.me takes exceptional care to protect the user login information it does have access to. In short, if you have a Gmail or Outlook.com account, we never have access to your login info. If you have a Yahoo, AOL, or iCloud account, we do. We're hoping these services release a public version of OAuth soon."