Hackie holidays! The season’s best life hacks

Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash

Hacks, tips, suggestions, call ‘em what you will, these little bits of advice help make life that much better – like a stocking stuffer. In a season of tradition, it’s worth considering how you might do things differently or better this year. From food, to technology, to improving our world, RPL invites you to take a look at our holiday life hacks. 

Naughty list – food-related tips 

Photo by Kelsey Weinkauf on Unsplash 
Photo by Michelle on Unsplash 

Make big batches of cookie dough in advance and freeze them 

If your brand of spreading yuletide cheer is to bake homemade cookies for friends, then one time-saving tip is to make the dough ahead and freeze it. You can separate the cookie dough into little dough balls, freeze them on a baking sheet for 40 minutes, then put them in a freezer bag. You can bake all the pre-prepared dough the day before you need them. Extra credit points for cuteness if you use a square ice cube tray to portion out your holiday cookies. 

“Cupcake Sandwich” 

We all know the main holidays throughout December, but a few more obscure ones add extra spice to this festive time.  

National Cupcake Day is on Wednesday December 15. To get into the spirit, let’s start with an easy hack for cupcake eating, the Cupcake Sandwich. For a mess-less X-Mas, tear off the bottom half of a cupcake and place it on top. 

Watch the video!

Use leftover Halloween and Christmas hard candy to sweeten your coffee or tea 

In addition, Sunday December 19 is National Hard Candy Day. Butter rum and peppermint Lifesavers or traditional candy canes add that lovely International Coffees, “celebrate-the-moments-of-your-life" quality. 

Ring in the new – technology ideas

Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash 

Learn to schedule emails for later in your Gmail account 

New Year’s Eve is an ideal time to say hello to “auld acquaintance,” but it’s hardly ideal to have your head down composing a message when the ball drops. That’s why if you’re not doing so already, schedule emails ahead in your Gmail account. This is also useful for friends and family birthdays throughout the year. The next time you’re in Gmail, click the small arrow next to the Send button when composing a message, then select “Schedule send” to pick a day and a time. Scheduled messages are kept under the Scheduled heading in the Gmail navigation pane on the left, allowing you to edit or reschedule anytime. 

If you’re stranded, call 911 for help! 

This is more of a public service message than a life hack. You may remember a life hack that went viral a few months ago, saying, in essence, if you’re lost or stranded and you notice your cell phone is low on battery or has no signal, then you should change the outgoing voicemail on your phone to a message that gives your approximate location, the time, the date, your situation, etc. so that even if your phone dies, your voicemail will still work and anyone calling you will hear the new message and know where to find you. This nugget of advice, however, was widely debunked. According to a Facebook post by the nonprofit Alpine Rescue Team, without a signal (connection to the cell system) you cannot change your voicemail. Moreover, if your battery is low, do not waste its power by calling your voicemail – call 911.  

Set up your iPhone to give you notifications for snow 

On a much lighter life hack note, if you don’t feel like guessing about the day’s weather, then stay ahead of the season’s storms by enabling your iphone snow notifications (“snowtifications”?) for your area (you must have iOS 15 software). Now you’ll be notified for every nor’easter, buzzed for every blizzard, and summoned for every snowstorm! 

Watch the video to learn how

Tap Done 

And to all a good night – helping our world 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash 

Now that you’ve optimized your own experience of the holiday season, try and make the world a bit brighter for someone else (like Scrooge toward the end of the movie). Whether you think locally by donating to a food pantry or act globally by trying to reduce your carbon footprint, you can make things merrier for mankind. 

Get involved in the USPS’s Operation Santa program to help make a child’s holiday wish come true 

The Postal Service began Operation Santa more than 109 years ago when they began receiving letters to Santa from kids across the country. It wasn’t until 1912 that the Postmaster General authorized local Postmasters to allow postal employees and customers to respond to the letters, which led to this holiday program benefitting deserving kids and families. 

For many financially insecure people, the holidays can bring extra challenges. This nondenominational program allows children to mail Santa their holiday gift wish and lets generous citizens or businesses “adopt” a letter and fulfill the wish. Children simply put their wish letter in an envelope affixed with a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, include a full return address, and send to Santa at: 

Santa Claus 
123 Elf Road 
North Pole, 88888 

This unique program allows people across the country to make a child’s holiday special. Learn about participation in the program at the USPS Operation Santa website. 

Make sure your decorations are sustainably sourced 

For those who care about the environment and want to make sure their seasonal décor is truly green, observe these tips on less wasteful decorating. 

Use family heirlooms. Most families have some decades-old decorations, but if yours doesn’t, you can usually find vintage items at yard sales and secondhand stores. 

Get a real, locally farmed tree for Christmas. Live trees are more expensive than using the same artificial tree year after year, but it’s a smart choice if you want to avoid having to eventually send your fake tree to a real landfill. 

Buy natural wreaths and garlands rather than plastic ones. Sustainable Christmas tree farms usually have branches and parts of firs and cypresses that have been trimmed. 

Save energy (and money) throughout the holidays