HautePNK Life Hacks

Okay wow – I have had a pretty crazy-intense month, which hasn’t left me much time to blog, but you know what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder and I started missing this like crazy. As such, I’m shutting down my laptop and turning off my BB today to share something that could help my fellow busy bodies out there. Introducing HautePNK edition of LIFE HACKS! Essentially, these aren’t anything profound or life altering, but it’s the little things that count, right?

I love popcorn. It has always been my choice “junk” food growing up. Clearly movie theatre popcorn made with oil, soaked in butter and covered in salt isn’t part of my diet and sadly microwave popcorn isn’t much better for you considering the chemical used to give it that butter flavour. If you don’t have an air popper, no worries, this life hack actually makes it so that your air popped popcorn is crunchier! Put a 1/3 cup of kernals in a brown paper lunch bag; fold the top over 3 times; place it in the microwave for 1 min 45 sec or until it stops popping. Voila, perfectly healthy, no additive crunchy popcorn…and to think, they had us thinking that popcorn had to be made in those special bags all along…

Whenever a recipe calls to coat a pan with some cooking spray before adding ingredients, think twice! Parchment paper work miracles instead.

I don’t know if this works for newer buildings, but in my work building I can speed up the elevator to go directly to my floor (even if other floor numbers have been pressed), simply pressing the desired floor and the door close button at the same time, you will go directly to your floor (just don’t let the others in the elevator see what you’re doing haha).

Hate having to clean your stove top so frequently from boil over spills…I do! Place a wooden spoon cross wise to prevent boil over.

The best/fastest way to clean a messy microwave is to put a cup of hot water + vinegar inside, turn it on for 3 – 5 min, then watch it wipe away easily!

Forgot to put your clothes in the dryer and really wanted to wear that certain top? To help clothes dry faster, throw a clean dry towel in with them to absorb extra water.

This one is an oldie, but a goodie! To keep all your bed sheets together and avoid hunting for the matching pillow cases, fold sheets and put them inside of their matching pillowcases – thank you Ms. Martha Stewart!

Next one isn’t really a life hack, but I treat it as one. ALWAYS eat a meal before you go grocery shopping. It will help you from buying any junk food or impulse grabs. Once it’s in the house, it is that much harder to remain disciplined – so the key is to keep it out of the house.

Last up for today – don’t you hate how recipes call for some herbs here and there, but when you buy them from a grocery store, they only sell them in packages with about 5x more than you need. I used to throw them away and feel bad, but now I chop them up and put them in ice cube trays filled with water or olive oil. Then, the next time I make a pasta sauce or something, I pop out a few of my herb ice cubes and they’re perfect!

Have you ever tried any of these? Share you life hacks in the comments below and I will test them out and add them to the next edition! Hope everyone has an amazing day/weekend.

xxxo