5 Awesome Life Hacks Everyone Should Know

I've been writing about some intense subjects lately. Masturbation, gay rights, gun rights, racism...So I thought I'd lighten it up today with a classic list-style blog about something fun: Life hacks.

For those of you unaware of what a life hack is, I'll explain. A life hack is something that makes some activity or aspect in your life easier, healthier, cheaper or improves it in another way. Here we go:

6. Rubbing Alcohol And Coffee Filters
When you think of a way to quickly clean surfaces in the kitchen or the bathroom, usually you think of Clorox wipes. Which are awesome, but really expensive. Even the off brands are pricey. I've found a much cheaper way to clean: a $1 spray bottle filled with basic rubbing alcohol and a stack of coffee filters. It sounds insane, but hear me out. Alcohol is crazy cheap. It's not a harsh chemical mystery meat like what is in most of your kitchen and bathroom cleaners but is still a great disinfectant and will break down most anything you need to clean up. It evaporates away so your surfaces don't stay wet after cleaning and you also don't need to rinse with water after wiping down. Coffee filters are absorbent and cheap, and don't leave behind lint. This makes them ideal especially for windows and mirrors and any other surface too. When you're done you can toss them just like you would a Clorox wipe.

5. Safety Pin Your Socks
If you're a slob who is unconcerned with mismatched socks, skip to number four. I hope you enjoy your life as a complete Philistine. For those of you still here: Pairs and sets are kind of A Thing for me. If a set or a pair has one missing, it drives me nuts. When I sort my laundry I take the time to match the socks before washing so I know that when I fold my clothes everything should have a pair. Here's the hack: When you take your socks off, before throwing them in the laundry basket, take a safety pin and pin them together. A box of safety pins cost less than three bucks. The time you save hunting for the elusive pair when sorting or folding your clothes? Priceless.

4. DIY Frebreeze
Shout out to my friend Walter Watts for alerting me to this ingenious DIY/life hack. Has anyone else noticed how ridiculously expensive air freshener is? You know what's cheaper? Making your own. Purchase a spray bottle (the Dollar Store has 'em) and a bottle of liquid fabric softener in whatever scent floats your boat. Pour some of fabric softener in the spray bottle and fill the rest up with plain 'ol water. Voila! Your own Frebreeze that can also double as fabric freshener! Another plus about this hack is that you can make this as strong or as weak as you want. For people who are sensitive to smells and most air fresheners are too strong, this is a major plus. (It should be noted however, that if you make the solution too strong, it will leave residue, so beware.)

3. Liquid Water Enhancers
For those of you who "like the taste of water." Feel free to skip to number two. (Who LIKES the taste of water? You know what water tastes like? Nothing. So you like the taste of nothing. WTF?) For the other normal, red blooded people who are still here: Soda is awesome. It actually tastes like something, unlike it's annoying counterpart, water. However, soda, like everything else that tastes awesome, is also extremely bad for you. One health expert said drinking soda is basically like pouring acid on your bones. Any dentist can hand you some horrifying photos of what it does to your teeth. Also, it makes your ass fat. Diet soda is not your friend either. They've done studies that show diet soda in some ways is worse for you because of the chemical shit storm it contains. I'm not saying drop soda completely. I probably won't ever give up soda completely. But maybe drinking more water would be a solid idea. The powder packets of water flavoring were popular and they still have them, but they're messy, the powder gets everywhere, and after you use it you have the trash of the the packet to deal with. Liquid water enhancers are the improved version of the powder packets. Also, it's easier to make the flavor as weak or as strong as you'd like. By using these, I've increased my water consumption about 500 percent, and I can say I feel better when I drink more water. I lose weight and I'm not bloated.

2. 3 Dollar Car Wash
If you're one of those awful people who drive around with a year's worth of grime inside and outside your car, skip to number one. Also, note that I will never so much as set a toe inside your disgusting vehicle. For the rest of the productive members of society, I have some awesome news: Springfield has multiple places where you can wash your car for 3, 7, or 10 dollars. You can choose how much you want to spend. They also have free vacuums and trash cans so you can clean the inside of your car at your leisure. A basic car wash at somewhere like Mr. Hotshine is going to set you back over 25 bucks. I don't know about you, but I'm on a budget. However, being on a budget doesn't mean I don't like having a clean vehicle. 3 or 7 dollars is totally doable for me, when 25 dollars is usually a bit much to shell out to get a car cleaned. My fav place to go is the Blue Iguana Wash on Sunshine just off of Glenstone, but there are several throughout Springfield.

1. DIY Decor
If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a budget bitch. I make okay money, but not great. However, I like things to be pretty and I love decor. When you're decorating a new place or breathing life into an old one, it can get expensive real quick when you're relying on traditional stores for decor items. Even if you shop clearance, a big amount like 100 bucks is going to disappear quickly, on probably less than five items. But thanks to this newfangled invention called the internet, 100 dollars can redecorate your whole house or apartment. Simply Google "DIY Decor" and Sir Google will fetch for you a plethora of websites to browse through and find hundreds of ways to decorate your digs for a pittance or even for free. YouTube, Buzzfeed, Pinterest...they all are great resources for finding ways to decorate and enhance the space you live in for cheap.