Originally published at: 100 ways to "slightly improve your life without really trying" | Boing Boing
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8 Send a voice note instead of a text; they sound like personal mini podcasts.
I hate receiving voice notes. Some people quickly lapse into an endless series of Trumpian non-sequiteurs.
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I feel like a lot of this list is dancing around “just switch to a dumbphone” without coming out and saying it.
Me, I’m team dumbphone.
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But which is the best method to do it?
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Pretty sure Project Farm has us covered there.
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If you’re at the point where a sharper knife would slightly improve your life, it probably doesn’t matter. Any method that gets you a sharper knife would suffice.
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I can sharpen knifes pretty good with just about any quality hand sharpener but this thing was one of the best purchases ever. It costs 50 to 80 bucks depending if you can find it on sale. I can sharpen a drawer full of cheap knives to razor sharpness in a few minutes without really thinking about it. It’s pretty idiot proof.
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We should start a thread. Oh wait, it’s already started.
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That list is mostly stop and smell the roses kind of stuff but a couple stand out to me.
Consider going down to four days a week. It’s likely a disproportionate amount of your fifth day’s work is taxed anyway, so you’ll lose way less than a fifth of your take-home pay.
In what world can the average worker consider this?
Plant spring bulbs, even if they’re just in a pot.
We did this for the first time this fall. We randomly planted a couple hundred bulbs all over our lawn and garden beds so we get some color early on.
Skinny-dip with friends.
In theory this sounds like a good idea until I get naked, no one wants to see that.
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‘12. Sharpen your knives.’
Is this a culinary tip or one for personal relationships?
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In one where there’s universal health care and an extant social safety net?
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I understand the source is a British newspaper, is that an option over there? Choosing how many days a week you work?
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I think in a certain kind of office work one might often have the ability to negotiate that sort of thing, especially if other perks are not available. If the choice is between losing a valued employee 5 out of 5 days or 1 out of 5 days, employers may be willing to be flexible. I know folks at my workplace (and my spouse’s) have done this. (Even without universal health care! Though I think we are all eligible for benefits at anything over 50% time.)
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14 Buy a cheap blender and use it to finely chop onions (it saves on time and tears).
And now you have a blender to clean.
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and onion sludge instead of onions.
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32 Connect with nature: stand outside barefoot for a few minutes – even when it’s cold.
Tell me you don’t live in Chicago without telling me you don’t live in Chicago
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Maybe you should try using regex instead.
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5 Consider going down to four days a week. It’s likely a disproportionate amount of your fifth day’s work is taxed anyway, so you’ll lose way less than a fifth of your take-home pay.
That one is insulting. It’s like saying “I can give you $1,000, or I can give you $1200, but you’d probably just be better off with the $1000 since you’d only end up with $1100.” That $100 can be the difference between living paycheck to paycheck or actually being able to save a little.
Most of us have jobs that require x number of hours to qualify for “full time” benefits, as well. One day is the difference between my hours and the hard minimum for getting 401k, paid vacation, etc. The author probably didn’t intend the list for us “poors”.
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I know, right? I ran out to my garage, in Michigan, last night to grab a wrench for my broken toilet, all I had on was boxer shorts and a tshirt(I did put slippers on). It only took a few seconds to rethink my decision.
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If only you hadn’t skipped step 12.
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