Hacks for life, tricks, techniques, gadgets and websites that make life a little easier, or more fun. Something to satisfy the "oh shiny" in me.
Some of the things I look for in my Life Hacks are simple redundancy. I want to be able to access these items in multiple locations, or multiple ways, or if my computer melts down, I want to be able to rebuild/recapture that Life Hack with a minimum amount of stress.
Online Tools
A collection of links for things that make my life easier, less stressful, more fun. Anything that makes me go, "oh shiny!"
- 30 Boxes | it's your life
- 30 Boxes is almost certainly the easiest way to share your calendar and your web stuff online. Organize your schedule, share all or parts of it with friends.
Post it to your blog. Track your friends online including their Webshots, Flickr, MySpace, blogs, and more! - BookCrossing
- I love this "read and release" program. I love finding books that others have released in my area, but mostly I love the hidden surprise of leaving a "I'm not lost" book for someone to find, and take home with them.
- del.icio.us
- keep your favorite websites, music, books, and more in a place where you can always find them
- drugstore.com Online Pharmacy - Prescription Drugs, Health and Beauty, plus more
- Shopping online is one of those things that makes my life a lot easier. It's cheaper, and the shipping is free, if you order enough. Somehow, I always manage to order enough.
- Evoke TV
- Create a personalized tv schedule. Send it to your 30 Boxes calendar.
- Firefox Browser
- Ready to experience the Firefox difference? Here are some tips & tricks for getting started.
- Forward Motion Writers' Community
- Forward Motion is based on the idea of "pay it forward". Writers helping people who want to become writers. Free. A wonderful place.
- Gmail
- Google's answer to Hotmail. Only with more space, tagging, and better search capabilities.
- LiveJournal
- LiveJournal.com is a place where you can share your thoughts with the world.
- NaNoPubYear
- Here at NaNoPubYe, we have the answer to that question. Conceived as a follow-up program for those who have completed National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), NaNoPubYe has grown into a resource that all writers can use when trying to usher a novel from that first idea through the package sent to the publisher.
- OurTimeLines.com
- View your life, or the life of an ancestor or descendant, against the tapestries of history with our completely free personalized timelines.
- Owen and Mzee's Web Log - Lafarge Eco Systems
- Owen and Mzee's Web Log
Own (the hippo) and Mzee (the tortoise). This site makes me smile every time I visit. They are so cute together. And I never knew how much personality a tortoise had until I started reading about Mzee. - paper cd case
- Use this website to create a PDF file which can be printed and folded to create a paper CD case.
To add more tracks, a mailing address, or graphics to the case, use the advanced form. - PB Wiki - Free Collaborative Editing & Publishing
- PBwiki lets you quickly set up your own free, hosted, password-protected wiki to edit and share information.
- Scrapbook Firefox Extension
- I'd be lost without this extension. I use it every day.
- Squidoo
- Yeah, it's self reflective, but Squidoo is a very handy online tool for creating an online "hub" for any given subject.
- StoryRight Software
- StoryRight provides an online service for designing and organizing your
stories. It's an easy way to manage all the details of your story before you start writing. - LibraryThing | Catalog your books online
- LibraryThing catalogs yours books online, easily, quickly and for free.
Offline
It's not all online. Here's some of my favorite stuff for other times.
- GRISOFT Free Advisor: AVG Free Edition for Windows and Linux
- AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
- Rough Draft
- Great software for creating, well, the Rough Draft of your novel.
- wikidPad
- A personal wiki
- D*I*Y Planner
- D*I*Y Planner
Paper, productivity & passion. Or in other words, print out your own planner pages, find creative ways to be "productive", and just plain have fun. - Personal Budget Planning
- Personal Budget Planning
How to budget money, save money, and get rich - newmindspace
- Newmindspace is interactive public art, creative cultural interventions and urban bliss dissemination based in New York and Toronto. Ok, that's what the site says. Really? They're glamour bombers, and they are really good at it. It almost makes me wish I lived in New York :)
- DIY Bookbinding
- A wiki devoted to book binding.
- index cards
- Holey
3x5 Cards Empower Creativity And Organization
by Will Mitchell
Use "tagging" to quickly sort your index cards. (Great for writers.) - Live Simple: Radical tactics to reduce the complexity, costs, and clutter of your life
- A complete ebook to help you simplify your life--from your stuff, to your home, routine, dreams, and resources.
Tips I use
Here is a list of things I like to keep in mind when trying out software, or just trying to manage my daily life, or heck, just a list of things that work for me.
- Tagging. I love the ability to link several keywords with the objects I need to find later. I wish every software I owned allowed the use of keywords/tagging.
- The timer. Whenever I'm faced with an overwhelming job, I set the timer for 5 minutes. I do what I can in that 5 minutes, then I take a break and do it again. It's amazing how much you can do in 5 minute chunks.
- I find that my best tool in fighting depression is to create something every day. It doesn't have to be a great work of art, it can be a little doodle, a character for a story, even a creative solution to an Excel problem. Creativity disrupts depression every time.
- Determine use upfront. Whether it's a notebook, a PDA, an MP3 player, a car, a house, any purchase, big or small, can be made better by determining (before you buy it!) exactly *how* you are going to use it. Be realistic. In other words, determine how *you* will be using it, not the person you'd like to be.
Books for Life
Here are books that have helped me. Not your typical self help books (usually).
![The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CHAK9ASCL._SL75_.jpg)
The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition]
Amazon Price: $10.30 (as of 12/02/2008) 
Organizing from the Inside Out
Amazon Price: (as of 12/02/2008)
On Writing
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 12/02/2008)
Girl 101
Clothes, make up, purses, all that "Girl 101" stuff that I missed out on in school
These are links for "Girl 101" stuff. Anything that works for me is fair game for one of my Life Hack links!
- Aromaleigh Mineral Cosmetics & Aromatics Boutique ~ Pure Mineral Makeup
- Mineral make up is the only make up I can wear. It doesn't make me look "made up", it doesn't rub off on my clothes/phone/hands/whatever, and it doesn't break me out! That alone would be reason enough, but mineral make up goes even further. It has actually improved the color, tone, and condition of my skin. I love it!
To Be Read
This is my To Be Read stack.
Supplies
Amazon Price: $11.86 (as of 12/02/2008)
The Decorated Journal: Creating Beautifully Expressive Journal Pages
Amazon Price: $17.96 (as of 12/02/2008)
Book Arts: Beautiful Bindings for Handmade Books
Amazon Price: $16.65 (as of 12/02/2008)
Drawing: For the Artistically Undiscovered (Klutz)
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/02/2008)
Making & Keeping Creative Journals
Amazon Price: (as of 12/02/2008)
The Decorated Page: Journals, Scrapbooks & Albums Made Simply Beautiful
Amazon Price: $12.21 (as of 12/02/2008)
RSS Feeds for LifeHacking
Some of my favorite Life Hacking feeds.
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