People Share 30 Life Hacks That Sound Terrible But Really Work

Apart from the fact that it's basic human decency to treat them right, it also gives you benefits - whatever happened at my workplace, because I've been friendly to the janitors, I knew about stuff going down way ahead of anyone else. Be nice and be friendly!

I only look down at people who litter, pollute and mistreat animals. No job can make a person any less valuable, they are all needed.

This is a strange mentality to me. Not that I discourage it, I chat with all of our janitorial staff, I know their names and the names of their family members. We exchange Christmas cards and they get invited to retirement and office parties. The part I mean is this idea that by me treating someone as a human it is this life saving thing for them, like my saying good morning is such a honor in their obviously miserable lives (because of course they can't be fulfilled or happy when they are so lowly) that I have saved them. I have been poor for far longer than I have been financially stable and I think it is a strange mentality that someone would think I am 1) horribly miserable, and 2) that I care so much about someone above me saying hello that it could save my life. Saving a life is giving people a living wage, not being nice and expecting that to make up for the fact someone can't pay rent. Don't hurt yourself trying to make yourself feel better about the poverty that surrounds you.

I worked for a year at a crap big box department store. I befriended one of the cleaning ladies. Everyone else acted like she was invisible and gave me weird looks when I talked to her. She was by far the nicest person there and so hard working. Every day she would teach me a Spanish word or phrase and I would teach her the same in Swedish.

ALWAYS! When I was in corporate I made sure we had cash gifts for the cleaning crew, for the security guys, and for building maintenance. Minimum $50 each. We always got excellent service from them - because we thanked them! :)

Might as well try this.

Since I'm here, I might as well comment and upvote

I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. I call it ER - Enthropy Reducer.

Clever! Makes it easier and less stress! Ty

Take a s**t? Might as well change the TP roll. I know it may seem crude, but it's part of the unspoken division of labor in my house. My wife makes sure both bathrooms are supplied, and I hang the roll. Basically, she is the purchasing and distribution agent and I am the restocking clerk. We never discussed this in 30+ years, it just happens (I do take out the trash every Friday and cook dinner every night. My wife is disabled and I am a better cook. I run out of wisdom for the moment).

It helped me learn the first 20 periodic elements!

When you need to study for a test that you need to remember a lot for, saying it out loud can work too. Kinda like you're giving a presentation to a group

I will never leave meaningless comments. Oh damn!

Tell that to my hand written grocery list that I leave at home when I go to the store.

This is great advice, I just hope I remember it!. Yeah, I'll probably remember it...

This is actually a really good one that I've stuck to over the last few years. It helped me lose weight and get my savings looking healthier. I was always the "I can't afford to save 15% of my wages so there's no point in doing it at all" or "I can't run 5k so why bother" kind of person. Little improvements quickly build up to bigger ones.

I read this one years ago and it was a lifesaver. It really helps when I'm depressed and get caught in the perfection only trap. If I don't have the energy to brush my teeth the full 2 minutes, isn't 45 seconds better than nothing? And half the time, you realize, "I can do the rest." But even if you can't, *something* is better than nothing.

How does one half ass doing dishes?

This is one I constantly struggle with. It took me years to accept that going swimming and 'only' doing a mile is considerably better than not going swimming at all because I'm tired and there's no way I can swim my 'usual' 2 miles.

"Well, it's better than it was" is my motto in life. A little bit of cleaning is better than no cleaning and managing half the clutter means your house is now only halfway cluttered. And most of the time, that's absolutely good enough.

Yeah. Sometimes some people just need to rant. They don't need your advice they just need to get things off their chest and they'll be fine

As someone who has lost people to self harm, I have tried to really engrain learning to notice when someone is off. When they are I try to privately say to them the following. I don't want you to feel like I'm judging but I feel like you might be going through some stuff. I just want to say that 1. You are loved. I love you. 2. You are wanted. I'm glad you're hear you add ______ to my life. (Think of something anything.) 3. If you want to talk I'm here. If you don't. I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere. 4. Until you feel better or you want to talk I'm going to try to send you some extra pictures thay remind me of you or maybe bring you a chocolate bar. You do not owe me anything. You don't have to reply. It's just my way of saying I'm thinking of you even though you're not here right now. Sometimes people need to know they are seen loved listened to and matter even if they aren't right in your face. And sometimes know that they don't owe you and can just receive the love

I have found that stating some things you will help with ie I can clean, do laundry , pick up groceries is A LOT better than saying” let me know if you need anything.” People don’t let you know because they are afraid of imposing.

I ask - especially with my preteen daughter - do you need advice, do you need me to intervene, or do you just want to vent?”

I did this and it turned out horrible. I told my wife I was going to the store, and instead of asking if she needed anything I asked her what can I do for you. Now I've done the laundry, made the beds, cleaned the garage, and I still haven't made it to the store. I just wanted a soda.

Exactly! And let people do things their own preferred way. You can just comment on how you do it without judging their way (like " interesting you wash dishes like that! I wash them like this. Cool people have different ways of doing things"). Then they are given the option to consider a different method. But if they are happy doing it their way, it's fine, even if it takes them more time or the result isn't perfect.

When my husband died, unexpectedly, I learned that it's ok to run the dishwasher 1/3 full, it's okay to ask for help, and it's ok to use perfume to "freshen up" my jeans when I couldn't get the laundry done on on laundry day. It's all fine.

I recently learned that my friend eats burgers layer by layer. They eat the top bun, then the lettuce, tomato, onions, patty and finally the bottom bun. Can we agree that this is a threat to civilization and maybe SOME rules need to be set?

What do they mean by "eat the parts of a sandwich seperately in fistfuls from the bag"? What bag?