Jenny’s first day back in the residence halls was an epic fail. The alarm went off at the right time, but Jenny was on vacation time, so she slept right through the Bruno Mars ringtone she had set for the rest of the semester — something fun, not harsh, with a touch of dance party for the morning routine. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to rip her from her dreams of the Florida coast where she had spent spring break.
Jenny wasn’t irresponsible. She didn’t set out to have a lazy day, so when she realized she’d missed her first class, she decided to clean the bathroom in her suite, which looked as if it was a screen shot from a crime scene video. Hair, grime, fingerprints, and soap scum. Gross! Jenny reached for the scrub bucket and realized it didn’t fit under the sink. In her haste to fill to the bucket, the stream of water hit the side of the bucket hard and sprayed Jenny full force in her still sleepy face, drenching her new Florida Gators pajamas.
By the time she was able to turn off the tap, a significant amount of water had spilled on the floor. Not having a mop or seeing enough towels handy to sop up the mess, Jenny ran out of her room to get something to clean it up from the floor residence assistant. When she returned, she realized, after emitting a moan, that she had locked herself out.
As if Jenny hadn’t had enough excitement that morning, after she finally got back into her suite and cleaned up the bathroom, she remembered that she had an appointment scheduled that morning with a colleague of her aunt’s for a career-related informational interview. She knew at this point she couldn’t make the appointment, but there was still time to cancel. The only problem was she couldn’t find the contact’s business card!
Sigh. Get this girl some life hacks. Quick! LifeHack.org has hundreds of tidbits and juicy nuggets to give you a quick fix or an ingenious workaround when you need it. If Jenny had placed her cell phone in a large drinking glass before bedtime, then when her alarm went off, the Bruno Mars tune would have been amplified like she had a front row seat at a live show. If she had known that you can easily use an everyday dustpan as a funnel, her big bucket and small sink wouldn’t have been a problem at all. A rubber band could have quickly been used to rig her door from locking, and if she had been in the habit of taking a photo with her smartphone of important business cards and documents, the contact information she needed would have been at her fingertips anywhere, anytime.
The idea of a “life hack” has been in existence for a while, having first emerged from the tech world as a reference to time savers that IT professionals used in their work. The term was first used publicly at a conference a decade ago and now refers to any useful tip designed to simplify, solve, or make more efficient life’s inconveniences and conundrums.
Life Hacks has a way to cool your everyday flare ups. Get some life support at LifeHack.org.