Dad Hacks
I have been struggling with the definition of a “life hack” vs. a “tip” or “trick” and after reading Wikipedia its still murky! I have been thinking of a hack as using something in a novel or unexpected way to solve an issue, save money, save time e.g.: News Print and vinegar to wash windows (particularly when nicotine is on them, gross) or, more accurately, changing the use of household item to do something completely different from its intended use e.g.: turn a Solo cup into a smartphone speaker or cell phone into a sex toy (Washing before and after might be good- maybe scrap that all together). For me a “tip” on the other hand is information on how to do a task using an as yet undiscovered path e.g.: “pay yourself first to save money” or “buy airline tickets on the Wednesday 2 weeks before you fly.” That said, I now think lifestyle “tips”, “hacks”, “tricks” and “shortcuts” are pretty much interchangeable and so what was a “tip” in Men’s Health in 1988 is now called a “life hack.” So here are a bunch I have started compiling in no particular order:
- Diaper Bags: There are a lot of cool diaper bags out there for hip-dads like “us.” Here are a bunch of option if you want to go that rout (Cool men’s Diaper bags). That said, at the end of the day this is a bag you will only be using for diapers and probably only for a little while so you may want to think long-term and go with something more versatile. I used a camera bag after my diaper bag got stolen (long story). I did have a Phisher Price bag that had labeled pockets for all things baby (pacifier, bottles, wipes and diapers of course), but the bag was not made with durable enough construction. The straps would fold over themselves and the interior padding would make loading the bag more difficult than it needed to be. Not to mention, I was NOT going to carry my MacBook to work in there when Davis started using the john. After all was said and done it was a bit too flimsy; it was also a lot cheaper then Diaper Dude’s® (I looked at them and they are nice BUT?) so you get what you pay for clearly but getting something made-to-last? Do I need it to last? NO, this bag is great a versatile and now I carry cameras as well as any toddler needs since we are out-of-diapers for good THANK GOD!
- Have a plan for Diaper training!! This may sound like an obvious statement, but having a potty and an idea of what you’re doing based on reading some articles is not the same as having a method. Particularly when your potty training in two different homes as my ex and I were with our son. We had tried and failed three times before I broke down and paid for a method that I found online. I’ve had bought two of the same potties and two of the same over-toilet safety seats for continuity, but without working off the same “song sheet” we were lost. Our son was managing us; we were not managing him. He somehow felt cheated that potty-training was in NO-WAY-ASSOCIATED with a locomotive. My mother told him she was going to the “Potty” and he looked up incredulously and simply said “IT’S NOT A TRAIN” before returning his attention to his Duplo blocks. It was surprising to me the bonding between a mother and child and a father and child that happens during diaper changing and part of me missed it after, BUT for the most part spending a little money on training US to get him out of diapers saved us a ton of money in diaper costs and also allowed us to get him into cheaper daycare so that I could work full days again.
- Make spice mixes without the salt! This is huge and can not only be better for your health, but also make food taste so much better. Need I mention it’s cheaper too? Moreover, Spice and Salt are NOT linked in most culinary circles. They also make a great gift for folks with high blood pressure. Try it and see how much better these are than store bought versions!! Here are some links to a couple of my favorites: (if you find other great ones please shoot them to me via e-mail)
Essence of Emeril – The recipe calls for 6 tablespoons of salt leave them out and season separately from adding spices.
Tony Chachere’s – This one has 5 tablespoons of salt, leave that out. I also don’t put in the Corn Starch as it is really to keep it from clumping and I have not had that issue.
- Quit diet drinks with cold brewed coffee concentrate. You can’t do this by switching to Starbucks from the office vending machine without going into the poor house! I suppose you could, but why would you if you can make your own concentrate! Candidly, I don’t care for Starbucks cold brew still seems to acidic for me personal preference I guess. I do like a Frappe, but I only allow myself one of those about once a quarter.
- I had a terrible Diet Coke habit, some time into my first job I transition from drinking full sugar Coca-Cola to Diet Coke. Looking back I think it happened the summer I did a promotion for Coca-Cola and had free access to as much coke or Diet Coke as I wanted and began to gain weight! I decided if I’m going to drink five of these things a day I probably should drink diet. My family has been loyal Coke drinkers since I can remember in fact my dad bought nearly a pallet of original formula Coke when New Coke came out! What a terrible marketing blunder that was; to be covered under a separate article. Throughout my professional career up until about a year ago I drank up to 520 ounce Diet Coke’s a day. On a day when I had multiple meetings say four or more I would usually drink six. The introduction of Diet Coke with lime was somewhat of a tipping point and I moved to typically drinking six a day. Roughly doing the math, that’s 15 servings of Diet Coke with the artificial sweetener aspartame. I’m no chemist, microbiologist, Dr. or nutritionist but that seemed like an awful lot of this artificial sweetener. A lot of people were sending me articles and posts about how bad aspartame is and that it has been banned in this country or that one. I did my own research and found that pretty much nothing had been proven and I went on my merry way drinking 4 to 6 diet cokes A DAY!
- A few years back I did a three-day juice fast (reboot with Joe) with no caffeine or carbonated drinks during the three days and when I went back to my beloved Diet Coke with lime I was struck by the caustic, incredibly artificial flavor that I was drinking! I thought I must’ve picked up an expired bottle and went back to the vending machine for a second lo and behold my go to beverage had become undrinkable to me. This got me thinking about all of those articles and what mechanism this artificial sweetener was using to trick my brain into thinking I was getting sugar? Interestingly enough I found that my Diet Coke ritual and the addiction I believe I have for caffeine propelled me forward continuing to drink what tasted like shoe polish for about three days until my palate returned to seeing Diet Coke with lime as we refreshing vehicle for the stimulant caffeine. Seemingly I was back to my old ways but began to cut back on Diet Coke putting a limit of one, then up to two then back up to three and occasionally four Diet Coke with limes per day. The guy that brought Diet Coke to the vending machines brought to cases to my office and sold them off the side of the truck on a regular basis. Even with a direct line to the source and a locked up stash, I found myself pumping dollars into the vending machine at least a couple times a week. Like many addictions the ritual of getting Diet Coke and going to my meeting overtook the desire for health. So I had to go cold turkey here is how.
- I use two rotating water pitchers that holds 65 ounces of water each. I add 2 1/2 cups of Columbian coffee(caffeinated) and fill the picture to the brim with cold water, if all the coffee is not soaked I typically use a spoon to make sure it’s all submerged. Lets sit on the counter overnight I use the third smaller pitcher with a coffee filter fitted to a strainer to harvest my coffee concentrate. To prepare cold brewed ice coffee I add one cup of coffee concentrate and one cup of cold water to a large mason jar flavor with 1.25oz sugar free syrup that does not contain aspartame GOOD to GO! I haven’t had a diet soft drink in six months or more. More importantly I don’t miss them!
