Hacks To Get You Through Your 30s
You thought your 20s were hard? Welcome to your 30s: where everything you did in your 20s just aches a little more and the responsibilities continue to pile up. Don't fret, though, we're here to show you ways to make your life a little easier each day.
Never Get Freezer-Burned Ice Cream Again
Listen, with all the hard work you're putting in, you deserve a treat. The last thing you want to do is to open your new tub of ice cream and see all those little over-frozen white bits.
Next time you're at the store, press on the top of the container. If it's solid, then it has been properly stored, but if it depresses then, it was likely thawed and refrozen.
Pizza Toppers Are For More Than Just Pizza
After a long day of work and chores, you'll need to relax before bed. You know what's better than ordering pizza for dinner? Watching your favorite show while you indulge.
Cut a leg off of a delivery pizza topper and you've just made yourself a smartphone stand, so you can eat your pizza and watch your show in bed.
Pack Clothes With Less Hassle
When you're stressed out by the logistics of moving, the last thing you need is one more box to pack, carry, and unpack.
Instead, you can use this method to easily transport all the clothes that you normally have hanging, and then easily hang them back up.
Enjoy The Finer Things In Life
You don't need much to be able to get fancy right at home. Craving restaurant-style queso and chips? All you need is a candle warmer underneath a Tostititos jar and you'll have gooey cheese at the perfect temperature to dip some chips in.
Take Movie Night To The Next Level
What's the point of using another dish and then not having enough hands to hold both the bowl and the beer? Plus, this method allows you to travel anywhere in the house without putting the popcorn down!
The More Versatile, The Better
When you don't want to buy a smaller pan for just one recipe, just use some aluminum foil to divide the pan you already own. At 30, you want things to be as versatile and useful as possible—there's no point in cluttering the kitchen.
Make Sure The Tupperware Actually Comes Out Clean
Tired of finding that your Tupperware has turned upside-down in the dishwasher and before it had a chance to get clean? Try this trick. Just put a metal dish rack over the Tupperware to keep it from flipping over.
Reassembly Can Be A Whole Lot Easier
You can thank this Reddit user for this wonderful hack, especially when moving and taking furniture apart to build it back up. Using a spare piece of cardboard to hold and label screws from disassembled furniture is truly a game-changer.
You No Longer Need Bottle Openers
"About two minutes after realizing there was no bottle opener in my hotel room, I discovered this gem and it works like a charm."
Hotel stays just got even more relaxing! Now you have one less thing to worry about packing when you go on vacation.
Nine Different Sandwiches In One
This dad made his kid what he calls a "PBJ 2.0." When you close the sandwich, you get nine different flavor combinations! It's especially useful if your kid can never make a decision about what they want to eat.
Have A Drink By The Pool
Being in your 30s doesn't mean you should be deprived of all the fun! If you're taking the toddler to the pool, you still deserve to have a drink in the sun.
This guy's local pool doesn't allow alcohol, so he brought "water" in a plastic cup and drank it through a straw.
Save Your Money On The Christmas Tree
If you're low on cash or if space is a bit tight and you don't have room for a tree, you can still show your Christmas spirit by hanging garlands and lights on your wall in the shape of a tree.
Get Creative When Appliances Break
During your 30s, you never feel like there are enough hours in the day to get everything done. Fixing a broken toaster is usually pretty far down the list.
If your toaster's not working, try heating up your bread this way instead!
"She Will Thank You Later"
Drinking a little too much on a night out knows no age limit, though, hopefully, it's happening less often now than it did in your 20s. One minute you're fine, and the next minute you're passed out. Let the girlfriend know you're a keeper by attaching a bucket to her neck when you carry her home in case she gets sick!
One Less Battle With Your Toddler
While your kids are still pretty young, you can learn a few ways to trick them for their own benefit without losing their trust or enduring a temper tantrum. In their defense, medicine tastes bad even as an adult, so let them live in blissful ignorance.
No Spiders Here
If your child is an arachnophobe and gets a little paranoid about it, you can try rebranding your favorite room spray as an anti-spider spray and hope that using it helps put their mind at ease. The worst-case scenario is that you wind up with nice-smelling spiders.
No More Getting Grease On Your Controllers
Video games are a great escape from the world at any age. Why think about the 100 things your boss needs from you when you can just focus on saving the world for a few hours?
That doesn't give you a lot of time to snack, though. With this hack, you can do both and still keep your controllers clean.
Meal Prep Made Easy
Each of those bins contains all of the necessary ingredients for a meal. All you need to do is pull out the bin and get cooking. This is the kind of organization and preparation every 30-year-old should strive for. It'll save you from losing food in the fridge and forgetting about it until it smells funky.
Snack On The Road
Don't let yourself get cranky—keep snacks handy on the road. You don't have to waste time sitting down somewhere so you can dip your fries and chicken fingers. Just be careful while you drive and try not to splash the sauce on your nice clothes.
Stop Crying When Cutting Onions
Never let the onion win again—you can stop those tears from coming. If you have googles lying around, you'll be able to protect your eyes. Human ingenuity: 1; onions: 0.
One Man's Crib Is Another Man's Treasure
Reddit user robinbiro explains this storage hack: "I couldn't find the right pre-made tie-rack for my new closet, and then a neighbor was throwing out this old baby crib...super easy life hack for behind the closet-door tie storage, really easy & FREE. I cut off the ends with a miter box and used them for the wall-spacers."
Stop Getting All Your Cables Mixed Up
It starts out with just the TV, then the game console, then the fan, then the lamp, and the next thing you know, you're unplugging everything but the one thing you actually need to unplug. Instead of punching the wall or resigning yourself to unplugging everything, avoid this by labeling the wires using old bread clips.
No More Taco Mess
At 30, you don't really want to be spilling taco fillings all over yourself, right? Well, you can avoid the mess while you enjoy your next taco by lining the taco shell with a lettuce leaf before piling on the other ingredients. The lettuce should still hold together, even if your taco shell has shattered.
Two For One
Save time on waiting for two plates to heat up in the microwave by heating them at the same time. If you use the vertical space in your microwave, you pretty much double the space and ensure that you and your partner can enjoy your meal together.
You Can Use Google Sheets As A Translator
Don't ask me why you would need to use Google Sheets instead of an online translator, but this seems like it would be convenient at work if you're in a rush and don't want to waste time switching tabs and starting a new search.
You simply enter the word or phrase you want translated into a cell, then us the formula "=GoogleTranslate(text, source_language, target_language)" in another cell to translate it.
Everything Fits In Ziplocks
You can connect two ziplock bags by flipping one inside-out to make a larger one. This way, you don't have to worry about storing a million different sizes, and you can still keep everything fresh.
Get More Food For Your Money
It might be a little on the sneaky side, but one Reddit user swears by this method: "When I'm Chipotle, I always wait until after the employee puts the first scoop of chicken on my burrito to ask for double chicken so the size of the first one isn't compromised by the knowledge I'm getting a 2nd one..."
A Tip For The Runners
Use a rubber band on the inside of your pockets to secure anything in there when you go for a run. Just make sure you tuck it back inside your shorts so it doesn't keep hitting you as you run.
Ice Ice, Baby
Never get low on ice again with this trick! Remove your ice tray to get unlimited ice all the time. Some people might call this a "huge mistake" or "a mess waiting to happen," but I call it "essential party preparation."
Always Get It Right
Here's how to make hanging things way easier: If you need to use two hooks to hang something, use painter's tape and a level to mark out exactly where the hooks need to go. No more trial and error!
Running Late? You're Covered
While I'm not going to recommend lying, it is nice to have a backup excuse up your sleeve for those little moments where you need an out. Just make sure the weather in the photo matches the weather that day.
Con Someone Else Into Eating The End Piece
Let's be real: no one really likes to eat the end pieces of the bread loaf, but someone's got to do it. If you want to pawn it off on someone else, just flip the piece upside down when making someone else a sandwich.
Make Sure You Get Paid Back
While it's nice to believe that you could maintain an honor system with all the people in your life, in reality, there are some people who will avoid paying you back at all costs. This is an easy way to keep a record and remember to ask for repayment.
Smile, Kitty!
When photographing your pets, clip or hold their treat bag onto the back of your phone to make sure they actually look directly at the camera. You'll get many more cute pictures!
Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
This is as extremely good tactic to use in a lot of settings—personal, romantic, and professional life—to help prevent yourself from saying something in the heat of a moment that you can never take back.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Your thirties are generally a busy period of your life and you don't exactly have a lot of time to commit to your garden, so make life easier for yourself by finding easy ways to avoid watering plants.
The Home Office Hack You Needed, Like, Yesterday
Instead of buying a cheap plastic chair mat to put over the carpet, this person bought a box of laminate flooring planks and put them together. The assembly took less than 10 minutes and feels sturdy; the chair also rolls very smoothly.
Where Has This Been All My Life
Whenever I want to get an extra discount on a website or some other perk, I end up having to submit an email and proceed to receive daily messages from JoAnn's Fabrics.
Maximize Your Shower Space
I swear, there has never been a shower invented with enough shelf space for products, but this is an easy way to make up for the shower design's clear deficits.
Then It Can Be Your "Friend's" Problem
While most of us objectively know that we shouldn't worry about the opinions of random strangers, it can be hard to buy some things in store and face the judgement of the cashier. Use the card as a security blanket.
