Little Life Hacks That Actually Stick

We trade perfection for practical systems that make everyday life easier, calmer, and less cluttered. We share simple hacks for memory, home organization, routines, and healthy aging that remove friction and protect your peace.
• stopping reliance on memory by capturing tasks immediately with notes, lists, or voice assistants 
• using the one-touch rule to prevent piles and finish the job with mail, dishes, laundry, and packages 
• resetting one room at night to make mornings calmer and running the dishwasher daily 
• building an outfit uniform to cut decision fatigue and get dressed faster 
• prioritizing protein first to support energy, strength, and smarter snacking 
• making key items visible so you actually remember them 
• following the two-minute rule to prevent small tasks becoming big problems 
• using templates and reusable lists to stop starting from zero 
• asking for help early and clearly to avoid resentment and lower anxiety 
• upgrading one small thing and setting up your home for who you really are 
If this episode made you laugh, nod, or look suspiciously at that pile on your kitchen counter, share it with a friend.

Transcript

Welcome And The Summer Mood

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Ah, we're back. Welcome back to Inside Marcy's Mind, the place where we talk about real life getting older, getting wiser, getting irritated, and occasionally getting our act together. But only when absolutely necessary. All right. Last week we talked about slowing down and noticing how everything seems to be in such a hurry. This week I thought, fine, if life's going to be keep being ridiculous, let's make it a little easier. So today we're going to talk about some life hacks. I love a hack. I love a good hack. I'm a hack girl. I love a hack for how to get my garlic out of its little paper wrapper. I love a hack on how to wrap a gift. I like a hack on anything. I like a hack on how to fold a fitted sheet into a swan, organize your pantry, buy emotional color palette. I don't care what it is. I love a hack. But today I'm going to talk about some real life hacks for regular people: people with real laundry, adult kids, aging bodies, too many passwords, a refrigerator full of condiments, and one drawer in the house that contains batteries, birthday candles, a piece of gum, some candy from Christmas three years ago, and a key that nobody can identify. Today's episode is Little Life Hacks for people who are tired of making everything harder than it needs to be. All right. It's summer here in Chicago. It has begun. Today is beautiful. It's going to be warm the next few days. We got some rain coming. There'll be some humidity, some thunderstorms. It is summer and I am here for it. When you live through winters like you do in the Midwest and springs that are cold, nothing hits like a first summer day. And today really feels like that first summer day. Um life is good. No doctor's appointments. Cancer at bay. We're doing good. We're doing good here, people. Planning some summer trips. Not too many because I love it here in the summer. So that's what's happening with me. Hope life is good for you.

Stop Trusting Your Memory

SPEAKER_00 2:10

So here's the first life hack. And honestly, it can be the most important one of all. Stop trusting your memory. I don't mean in that tragic way. I mean in uh you walked into the room and forgot why kind of way. We are all carrying too much information. Doctor's appointments, passwords, grocery lists, children, grandchildren's birthdays, children's birthdays, um, animals' names, which streaming service, which show. Honest to God, that's a whole nother story. Whether we took the chicken out of the freezer, your brain is not a junk door. Stop using it like one. So here's the hack. When something pops into your mind, put it somewhere immediately, not later. Not all remember it. No, you won't. Use your phone notes app, use your little notebook, use a whiteboard, use a sticky note, use Alexa or Siri. I don't care if you write it on your arm when you're in, like when you were in middle school, but get it out of your head. And I do use both of those robots, the last two that I, you know, the one that starts with an A and the one that starts with an S, because they're both here, they're both listening. And if I say their names again, I said them really fast on purpose before, they'll wake up. But let me tell you, I'm in the house and I tell A, you know, the one from Amazon, A, I tell her she has every one of my shopping lists. She has CVS, um, Walmart, grocery store, Trader Joe's, all these. I tell her exactly what list to put what on. It's out of my head. If I look in the refrigerator, Craig says, Can you make sure you get some raviolis from Costco? I tell her exactly, and I have a list made up for each one of them. She puts it on that list. Let me tell you, I use my robots as much as possible, and I suggest you do too. So get it out of your head. I swear the minute I started writing things down, instead of pretending or telling my robots to write it down, um, I when I started doing this, I was young and I had a perfect memory, and life still got easier. So wherever you are in life, stop it. Stop trying to remember. You are your brain, it is not a junk drawer. Get it out. Get it somewhere, figure out your system, but do it.

One-Touch Rule For Clutter

SPEAKER_00 4:26

The one touch hack. This is a good one, people. This one is painfully simple, which means we will all resist it. And you all think that I'm an idiot. But I have this rule: the one touch rule. When you pick up something, deal with it once. You bring in the mail, don't put it on the counter, don't move it to the table, then move it to the chair, then shove it in a drawer because company is coming. Touch it once. And what that means is trash goes in trash. Bills go in the bill spot, important papers go in a folder. Junk mail goes directly into recycling. And you know what's really beautiful about living in a high-rise? Our mail rooms, where all our little mailboxes are, comes with a recycle bin. Beautiful little recycle bucket right there. Huckity, huckity, huckity, huck right into that. And I take up very little upstairs. I mean, Viking has it out for me. They want to kill me with their catalogs. Okay. So trash goes in trash, bills go in the bill spot. We got that. Same with laundry, same with dishes, same with packages. One touch rule. If you bring a package, open it and deal with it. Take the packaging to the recycle. Finish the job. Finish the job. Let's be honest. Some of us have been moving the same pile from room to room since 2019. That pile has seen things. That those bags in the backseat of your car still haven't made it to the goodwill, have they? Brenda. Nope, they haven't. They're still sitting in the back of your car. Drop them off, people. So the hack is don't relocate clutter. Finish the job. Okay, that's the hack. Finish the job. Craig drives me up the frickin' wall. He empties the trash and then doesn't put a new bag in. I I don't know what that's about. I have to harass him to put the new bag in. I don't know what that means. But finish the damn job, people. You don't have to finish it perfectly just enough. But you do need to put the new bag in the trash can.

Reset One Room Each Night

SPEAKER_00 6:35

The reset the room hack. Every night, pick one room and just reset it. Not the whole doggone house. Now, Craig and I live in very small quarters now, which here is a hack. Downsize if you can. I love that. Not the whole house. We're not trying to become Martha Stewart before bedtime. Pick a room. For me, the best room to reset is usually my kitchen. My kitchen, because you can see it from everywhere. And I make sure our kitchen always looks great. Just enough so that when I wake up, it doesn't immediately insult me. I can make my coffee. I can sit down in the living room and not worry about it. Do the cups, toss the napkins. Do not, I cannot. And you should not ever go to sink with dishes in the sink. Put them in the dishwasher, run your dishwasher. Run your dishwasher every day, no matter how many dishes are in it. It takes less water and energy to run your dishwasher than to do it by hand. I'm not lying to you. Look it up. Okay. Put the chew somewhere that is not the middle of the floor, like a booby trap, because when it's dark, it's going to be a booby trap. This is not cleaning, this is kindness to your future self. Because there's nothing worse than waking up, walking into the kitchen, and immediately thinking, well, apparently raccoons lived here last night. Now I have to say, Alec was my frickin' raccoon. When he lived at home, oh my God, I would leave my kitchen spotless. That kid would burn eggs in a pan every night. Drove me nuts. I am grateful not to have that anymore. A 10-minute reset changes the whole tone of the next morning, I'm telling you now.

Outfit Uniforms And Protein First

SPEAKER_00 8:13

All right, the uniform hack. This is really important. Let's talk about getting dressed. Now, this is gonna hit different for different people. I am in a phase where I realize I have so many beautiful clothes, I need to wear them. So I am forcing myself to, when I go to my AA meetings on Fridays, change and look in something nice. Today I went to the gym and workout clothes, worked out, did a second workout in the pool, but I had a cute pair of shorts and a beautiful blouse to put on for the way home. I'm trying to use my clothes. If you're not in that position, it's important, and it's important for everybody to have a uniform hack. Let's talk about getting dressed. One of the best life hacks is having a few go-to outfits, and I totally agree with this. Not because we don't love clothes. You know I love clothes, but decision fatigue is real. You do not need to reinvent yourself every Tuesday. Have a few formulas, black pants, cute top earrings, jeans, blazer, sneakers, leggings, long shirt, good lipstick, comfy dress, sandals done. Have it ready to go. That's it. When you find a competent combination that works, repeat it. You are not a magazine spread, you are a person with errands. And let me say this clearly: wearing the same outfit formula is not boring. No, I just said use that as a formula. Jeans, blazers, sneakers. Change the blazer, change the jeans, change the sneakers. Keep this the idea. If you're a leggings girl, go for the leggings, different long shirts, always a different lipstick. Figure it out, people. Create a combination that works for you and stick with it. It just makes your life easier. All right. Now this one: the protein first hack. Here is a little life hack I hate because it works protein first. All right. Now, if you listen this week to my aging name for sissies, I talk about protein. I'm trying to get 150 grams of protein a day. It's hard. So protein first, especially as we get older, we can't live on coffee, crackers, and vibes anymore. Apparently, the body wants some nutrients and it is very demanding. So one simple hack is before you figure out the whole meal, figure out the protein. Morning, Greek yogurt, eggs, cottage cheese, afternoon, tuna, chicken, protein shake, beans, lentils. I'm a huge beans and lentils girl. Um, whatever turkey, whatever works for you. But think about the protein. Start there and work from there. Because when you get enough protein, you snack less, you feel stronger, and you don't hit that 3 p.m. wall where suddenly you're standing in the kitchen eating shredded cheese out of a bag. You know you've done it. We all have. So focus on your protein. I'm sorry that I am that person, but I am.

Make It Visible And Do It Now

SPEAKER_00 11:00

The make it visible. You need to remember something, make it visible. I, if I have to take something somewhere, I put it on my island, which is on the way out my front door. Put your pills by the coffee maker, put your walking shoes by the door, put returns in the car, put the library book on your purse, put the thing you need to take with you, literally blocking the door if necessary, because out of sight is out of mind and it's gone forever. So Monday I'll be going out to our storage unit, getting my summer decor decor, a little bit of Fourth of July stuff to put up, that type of thing. I have some things I want to take out there. So right now I have my little fold up wagon. It's in my bedroom. I'm throwing things in as I remember, and I'll run that down to my car. I live a different life, remember. I live at a high rise. We do things differently here. We don't have a garage where we can just walk out. My garage is 36 floors down, and then from there it's on the ninth floor. So I have a plan, but I have a plan and I do that and it works great. And then everything's in my car, and I get to my storage unit, I take that up, I fill back up, bring it back down. It works great for me. And then I get to go out to lunch with my sister-in-law. So that's the bonus of that one. Um make it easy, don't hide it. The two-minute rule: if something takes less than two minutes, do it now. Reply to that text, put the dish in the dishwasher, hang up the coat, throw away that damn receipt, refill the toilet paper, take the laundry out before it becomes a science experiment. Two minutes. This hack is annoying because it's our favorite excuse. I'll do it later. Later is a liar. Later is where small tasks go to become big problems. Two-minute rule, people, if it takes two minutes, do it now.

Templates And Asking For Help

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Oh, the don't start from zero hack. This is a big one. Stop starting from zero every single time. Make templates, have a grocery list you reuse, packing list. I have one. I've talked about that on one of my episodes. Look it up, packing. I think it's even on my website, marcybackusmedia.com. It is. Have a cleaning routine. My oldest child and I just talked about that. They are terrible at that, and their apartment gets disgusting and it's not okay. And so we talked about it. Kyle has one part of the apartment that gets done on that day. Kyle never does everything all at once. We've broken it up into pieces, and it is much more manageable for Kyle. And I will text Kyle every day and say, What are we cleaning today? Kyle likes the help, asks for it, and I'm happy to give it. So have things. Have a standard text response, have a go-to meal list. We make life harder because we keep acting like every task is brand new. Oh, it's dinner tonight. What are we gonna make? Well, have your 10 top meals written down. Pick one of them. Save adventurous eating for eating out. You have packed for a trip before. This isn't rocket science. You've gone to the grocery store before. You have cleaned your house before. Why are we in reinventing the wheel every Thursday? Make a list once, reuse it forever. This is not lazy. This is wisdom and smart. It's wisdom with a clipboard. Good God, people, stop acting like everything's new. It's not. I have a template for how I do these podcasts, how I edit, what I do. I'm not reinventing the wheel every time. And ask for help before you're mad. This one is emotional. This hack is emotional. Ask for help before you become resentful. A lot of us, the thing about the trash bags that Craig doesn't put in, you know what I do is he's out taking, because we have a laundry uh trash chute on the 36th floor. Obviously, we do in these big buildings, and you throw it down the trash chute. So well, Craig's at that, and I'm cleaning up the kitchen because he usually takes it out while I'm working. I take a clean bag out and I just lay it on top. And guess what? It goes in. I I instead of yelling about it or making him do it, I just make sure the bag is available. So here's the hack. Ask early, ask clearly, and do not assume people can read your mind, especially your husband's. I need you to take over dinner on Thursdays. I need help carrying this. I need you to handle that call. I need 20 minutes alone. I need you to stop leaving your socks there before I lose my religion. Ask before you explode because resentment is expensive. It's cost, it costs your peace of mind. All that crap going on on your head, he should know to pick up his socks or he should know to whatever it is that your significant other does that bugs you. They don't know or they'd be doing it. Let them know how much it bothers you. I've done that a little bit more with Craig. I don't just tell him to do something, I tell him why it bothers me. I've explained to him that his little piles all around this house cause me anxiety. That anxiety gets taken out on him in one way or another. So if you want to keep my anxiety down, that pile on my coffee table right now of magazines he's never gonna read, of newspapers and folded up things, I will look at him and say, it's causing me anxiety. And he handles it. I think it's all in how we tell people things, right? I've explained to him the anxiety that it causes me. You don't need to overhaul your whole life. Just upgrade one small thing.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Buy the better pillow. Get the good socks. Put a basket where clutter always lands.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

And make a plan to clean out that basket once a week. Use the grocery delivery. For God's sakes, I use it all the time. Put a charger in every room. I do, and you know what else I have? Keep scissors where you can actually open packages. I have scissors in every room, and I did when we had the big house. I'm not just talking about my teeny tiny place here. I'm talking my big ass house. I had scissors in every room. Put a trash can where trash actually happens. That one sounds ridiculous, but it's life-changing. Like I said, I've got a trash can right at my post office box, my mailbox. Setting up your house for the person you wish you were. Set it up for the person you actually are. I'm sorry, I should have said stop setting up your house for the person you wish you were. Set it up for who you actually are. That is the secret. If your shoes always land by the door, put a shoebasket there. Don't spend 10 years pretending you're gonna have some fancy closet up in your room and you're gonna put them in there. Just do it. Do it where it works.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

So here's my closing thought.

Remove Friction And Pick One Hack

SPEAKER_00 18:07

And this is what I want you to take away from today. Life hacks are not about becoming perfect. They're about removing friction. They're about making life a little easier so you have more room for actual living, more walks, more laughter, more time with people you love, more sitting down without feeling guilty, more peace. Because at this age, we do not need harder, we need simpler. We need systems that work with who we are now, and honestly, we've earned that. So this week, pick one hack, just one. Set up your Amazon device to help you. Go on the app on your phone. You can set up a ton of things. I turn on lights, turn off lights, I create lists, I have my just do it. It'll make your life easier. Get stuff out of your brain, reset one room, make a uniform, protein first, ask for help earlier. Put the basket where the mess already is. One small thing. That's how life gets lighter. Little by little, hack by hack, basket by basket. I want to thank you for being here with me on Inside Marcy's Mind. If this episode made you laugh, nod, or look suspiciously at that pile on your kitchen counter, share it with a friend. And remember, we are not trying to have perfect lives. We are trying to have lives that don't make us want to scream into a throw pillow before noon. And please, please, please, this world is negative enough. Keep your negative energy to yourself and go out and do something positive. Ciao.