Small ways to improve life without the need for sustained willpower

November 3, 2024 1:35 PM

A collection of one-off actions that improve your life continuously — however marginally.
posted by chavenet (47 comments total)

I love how this takes "it's the little things" to the limit.

The seconds you choose to use now, to lubricate your keyholes, will allow you to save seconds when you choose to do something more important than lubricating your keyholes — and that's to say nothing of the seconds you use just sitting around not lubricating anything at all.
posted by EvaDestruction at 1:52 PM on November 3 [12 favorites]

One staple costs around $0.000436
One staple weighs 0.02936g
... they add up, though.
posted by MtDewd at 2:24 PM on November 3 [3 favorites]

But I just turned off my in-app ratings, so that was worthwhile.
posted by MtDewd at 2:26 PM on November 3 [8 favorites]

this site is a like D.A.R.E. warning fable aimed at 40-something UX designers
posted by lalochezia at 2:48 PM on November 3 [12 favorites]

"Delete forgotten accounts" - if you've forgotten them, how are going to know to delete them?
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:54 PM on November 3 [15 favorites]

When moving into a new place and I've unpacked enough stuff to make it livable, I go around with a bottle of three-in-one oil and lubricate the door hinges. Its an easy thing to do, it stops the doors from squeaking, and its satisfying to feel how much easier it is to swing the doors open and closed. And once they're oiled it takes a few years before it needs to be done again, which is what makes it worth doing.

For keyholes, I didn't feel like buying and then having to store graphite lubricant. I took a pencil to my key and used it a few times and it worked well enough that I was no longer worried about accidentally breaking my key. Would mention to friends and family if they complain about their locks.
posted by ockmockbock at 2:57 PM on November 3 [12 favorites]

Before debobbling for the first time this very morning I didn't have high hopes for it as a weight saving technique. So I was amazed to find that my not particularly bobbly pyjama bottoms were carrying around 0.8 grams of bobble.

For context this saves more weight that cutting rounded corners into a document, not stapling it, and replacing your sim card with an eSim combined — per garment!

I can't quite tell if the author is serious or if I'm being trolled.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 3:09 PM on November 3 [13 favorites]

This has to be parody. Tell me this is parody.
posted by bigendian at 3:13 PM on November 3 [14 favorites]

The posts on this site may be great advice, or may be garbage, some of them might be attempts at humour — some may even be attempts to sell you things you don't need.
posted by yqxnflld at 3:23 PM on November 3 [3 favorites]

I instantly did the dimming thing on my phone. Thanks chavenet!
posted by Vatnesine at 3:34 PM on November 3 [3 favorites]

When I move into a new place , I call a locksmith and get all the locks rekeyed to one key. ONE KEY. That's lighter than three keys even with holes in em.

Yes it costs money. I've never regretted doing it.
posted by bonehead at 4:18 PM on November 3 [15 favorites]

Definitely not parody. My life is an assembly of these things. When it recommended ordering and aligning your keys I thought, well that's just common sense. Isn't it?
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 5:15 PM on November 3 [6 favorites]

I'm a big fan of the premise, and have independently come to many similar conclusions. E.g. keeping a spoon/scoop in every container that uses one is golden. Here on AskMe I regularly see people talk about having one pair of scissors per floor (or even per likely room), same vibe.
The weight shaving stuff is I think more about just enjoying the process, but sometimes you get synergistic results, like the drilling holes in keys vs key hats bit. Which I would do but I need to rig up my vise and get an appropriate bit (both of which are one-off tasks that improve my life).
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:16 PM on November 3 [5 favorites]

Ahhh, felt feet... We have IKEA dining chairs with tiny little plastic feet at the end of spindly metal legs, and felt never stays on. Has anyone figured out a good solution for this?
posted by ropeladder at 5:20 PM on November 3 [3 favorites]

I've lived a few places where every lock is the same. It's helpful when one lock is sticking or someone uses the deadbolt when they shouldn't have, although, to be fair, not the most secure (although there are ways to make homes more secure than just keys).

The whole "cut your toothbrush in half" and "depill your clothes" and "round the corners of your documents" to save weight is ... that's just some next-level weidness, but you do you, I guess.
posted by edencosmic at 5:22 PM on November 3 [4 favorites]

I did not know I could easily download all of the Wikipedia Mathematics articles, so thanks for this!
posted by wittgenstein at 5:22 PM on November 3 [4 favorites]

The oddity of the weight savings thing is worth it for the phone brightness trick alone.
posted by Jon_Evil at 5:33 PM on November 3 [1 favorite]

Ahhh, felt feet... We have IKEA dining chairs with tiny little plastic feet at the end of spindly metal legs, and felt never stays on. Has anyone figured out a good solution for this?

Chair socks!
posted by saturday_morning at 6:04 PM on November 3 [11 favorites]

Lubricate your keyholes
Access denied
posted by Phanx at 6:46 PM on November 3 [5 favorites]

i purchase readinig glasses at dollar tree a half dozen or so at a time, enough so that even i can't manage to lose all of them
posted by lescour at 7:02 PM on November 3 [7 favorites]

If you want better ad blocking on Android, (a). switch to Firefox so you can use uBlock origin and (b) install DNS66 (yes through the sketchy-sounding but legit f-droid store).

Install hooks near your door to hang your mask when you get in. Adds maybe 10 grams to the weight of your house, but we'll worth it.

Carry band-aids in your wallet. Even if you aren't a parent, you never know when you'll need one.
posted by novalis_dt at 7:08 PM on November 3 [10 favorites]

Reads very much like A.I.
posted by brachiopod at 7:45 PM on November 3 [5 favorites]

You can hot glue the felt feet onto the plastic legs.
A big blob of high-temp.
posted by Acari at 7:55 PM on November 3 [5 favorites]

Adds maybe 10 grams to the weight of your house

😄
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:13 PM on November 3 [4 favorites]

Cut rounded corners into your travel documents and medicine blister packs [to save weight in your luggage]: The average piece of paper when modified to have rounded corners with a 5mm radius saves ~0.02g — doing so to 50 sheets of paper saves 1g — that's measurable!

Are you 'avin' a laugh? Is she 'avin' a laugh?
posted by splitpeasoup at 8:31 PM on November 3 [1 favorite]

What are your favourite Viz top tips? (reddit)

Save money on expensive binoculars by simply standing closer to the thing you want to look at.

posted by flabdablet at 8:50 PM on November 3 [12 favorites]

Just throw away all the stupid manuals. Every manual I've ever needed has been online in a pdf. Not worth wasting house or mental space.
posted by BlueHorse at 9:21 PM on November 3 [2 favorites]

The in-app review thing was already turned off for me but I swear I get those all the time. Do apps have work-arounds? Maybe by asking "Do you like me?" or whatever rather than asking for a review directly?
posted by mullacc at 11:32 PM on November 3 [1 favorite]

vibratory magnet of working: I can't quite tell if the author is serious or if I'm being trolled.

It didn't lurch into Lovecraftian horror or political satire or Dada-ist gibberish, thus looking more official and saving 150g!

Thanks to Chavenet for posting -- I like the timers for moving/stretching and I'll get on with making "QR codes for guests to join WiFi."
posted by k3ninho at 11:49 PM on November 3 [1 favorite]

I put washi tape on keys to distinguish them. Not as effective in low light but easier than drilling holes.
posted by tofu_crouton at 2:35 AM on November 4 [1 favorite]

Ahhh, felt feet... We have IKEA dining chairs with tiny little plastic feet at the end of spindly metal legs, and felt never stays on. Has anyone figured out a good solution for this?



If you're looking for something a bit more subtle than chair socks, these things are the only things I've ever found to actually stay on the bottoms of my Saarinen chairs. The smallest size may fit your chairs.
posted by newpotato at 3:45 AM on November 4 [2 favorites]

This person has strong Anal Retentive Chef vibes.
posted by zardoz at 4:03 AM on November 4 [2 favorites]

We just got a bunch of SoapStandles and they make a huge difference—each bar of soap in the house has its own built-in soapdish, plus the soap itself stays fresh and non-goopy. I love the things, they’re perfect for the fancy bulk soap bars that we favor—and I can’t see having to replace them, ever, which is pretty amazing.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:14 AM on November 4 [1 favorite]

> I put washi tape on keys to distinguish them. Not as effective in low light but easier than drilling holes.

Similarly, I use nail polish on my keys. If you don't have nail polish, some stores will have them open as samplers. I did this to my umbrella handles while on vacation in Japan, which helped distinguish them from every other identical clear umbrella.
posted by Pitachu at 4:46 AM on November 4 [5 favorites]

Adds maybe 10 grams to the weight of your house

You will have to rounds the corners on a whole ream of paper to make up for that.
posted by bonehead at 5:35 AM on November 4 [3 favorites]

My wife has a little tool for punching out corners into a radius. She uses it for labels she affixes to tincture bottles and baggies. Not for weight reduction, but the sharp corners never seem to stick well enough.
posted by coldhotel at 5:53 AM on November 4 [2 favorites]

Can you recycle trimmed paper corners?
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:16 AM on November 4 [2 favorites]

While some of these are silly - and I am not an ultralight backpacker, I recognize some of the 'silly' ones might serve purposes in that kind of realm - they speak to my soul. Put a spoon in every container that needs a spoon indeed, in fact put a teaspoon/tablespoon/1/4C measure in them for even better efficiency.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:19 AM on November 4 [4 favorites]

The Yale lock on my front door has become very reluctant to surrender the key again once the door has opened, which is an odd sort of failure mode, but definitely not ideal. So I've had a canister of lock lubricant sitting in the hall for several weeks waiting for me to get round to pretending I can't see all the dire warnings on the label (Do not touch! Do not inhale! May create an explosive mixture in air! DO NOT TAUNT HAPPY FUN LUBRICANT).

Anyway, so now that's done, and I can go back to using the Yale lock instead of the deadlock, and worrying about locking myself out instead of worrying about leaving the house unlocked. Thanks, I think.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 8:38 AM on November 4 [2 favorites]

I do chronological toiletries! Rounding corners of medication is nice if the cutoff corners are sharp.
posted by ellieBOA at 9:47 AM on November 4 [2 favorites]

Getting an automatic discount offer by threatening to cancel digital subscriptions is worth the price of admission alone
posted by gottabefunky at 9:47 AM on November 4 [3 favorites]

The posts on this site may be great advice, or may be garbage, some of them might be attempts at humour — some may even be attempts to sell you things you don't need.


This website contains multitudes.
posted by slogger at 11:43 AM on November 4 [2 favorites]

I've been orienting my keys so the teeth all face the same way for decades and I have noticeably fewer holes in my front right pockets since I started doing it.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:50 PM on November 5 [1 favorite]

The plastic bits on the bottom of chairs are often nailed in(if it's less than the whole chair diameter) You can remove them with pliers, and maybe a flat screw driver. Then the felts stay on MUCH longer and look nicer.

Alternately, on our carpet ottoman, I pulled them, and put much larger Teflon slides, makes it much easier to slide about.
posted by radio other at 7:45 PM on November 6

Collect those little metal bottle tops, and nail them upside down to the floor
posted by flabdablet at 3:27 AM on November 7 [1 favorite]

Can you recycle trimmed paper corners?
My recycling program says nothing smaller than a business card. Here, however, I can compost them.
posted by tofu_crouton at 9:58 AM on November 7 [1 favorite]

Bookmarks into 3 levels of folders? That seems like a huge waste of time without any benefit. Tags + search - works for email and for bookmarks.
posted by soelo at 10:44 AM on November 7