Life Hacks To Help You Through 2017

16 January 2017

A list of life hacks to help you through 2017, send us a picture of your life hacks with the hashtag #DSLifeHacks for your chance to win £50 Amazon voucher! We can't wait to see them!

Do you need to save space and have more organisation in your life? Need to stop sleeping through your alarm? Or do you just want to do something a little bit creative to save time? Well, we have all kinds of hacks that will make your life easier, so you’ll have more time to do other studenty stuff, like eating and sleeping all day.

Life hacks have suddenly become a huge trend, especially for students, anything to save a bit of space or time and we’re all over it. Not only are they useful, they can be quite amusing to see and fun to actually do. But even though you may see them after every cat video on social media or if you love to have a scroll through memes it doesn’t actually mean you’ve tried them out, but now you’re a student, it’s time to experiment with them and see how they can benefit you on a daily basis.

Below are some life hacks we think you could benefit from, so please give them a go and let us know how you got on! We would also love to see some of the life hacks you might already be doing so please share them with the rest of us too. Use hashtag #DSLifeHacks and show us what life hacking you’ve been doing for a chance to win a £50 Amazon voucher.*

 

Here are some of our favourites…

The one with your new best friend Neil…

You’ve been slaving over your assignment all day and night for the last week and now you’ve got to get your quotations and citations in to finish it off. This is where your new friend Neil comes in, this link will save you mounds of time and will make it so easy for you to just copy and paste your references in. On your marks, get set, paste!

 

The one where you don’t sleep through your alarm…

A simple yet effective trick, if you put your phone in an empty (I’m going to emphasise the EMPTY* bit again) glass then this will make your phone much louder when it goes off than it would be if it was just left on your bedside table. It also makes you reach into the glass to get it out to turn it off or for added incentive, place it on the opposite side of your room! No more being late for lectures. *Yawn*

 

 

The one where you don’t air your dirty laundry…

There’s nothing worse than going on holiday or travelling and everything falling out of your case on the airport carousel, dirty laundry, the lot… The next worst thing to that is safely packing everything away, locking it with a padlock then losing the key… The conclusion to both of these conundrums is a paper clip! Use it to weave in and around the two zips on your bag or case so they stay together. Bon Voyage! 

 

The one where you have too many clothes and not enough wardrobe space…

If you’re wanting to save the planet as well as keep shopping then you can have the best of both worlds. Buy your extra clothes then use the ring pulls from the top of cans of pop (or beer) and loop your clothes hangers through both of the holes. You’ll save space, fit double the amount of clothes in your wardrobe and save the animals from eating them. You’ll be a super star!

 

The one where you’ve spent your student loan…

If your bank account isn’t looking so hot, has more moths in it than money and your fly has broken on your favourite pair of jeans or a zip on your coat then fear not! We all have spare keyring hoops lying around, all you have to do is thread the steel hoop through the zip and hook it onto the button at the top of your jeans or other garments. They’ll be good for a couple more years now! Result! 

 

The one where you’re in a stinky situation…

So the toilets blocked and you’re without a plunger… What do you do? You DON’T put poor old Henry the hoover down there, he’s not a plumber! I’d suggest if you manually do it, you buy some very long rubber gloves or better yet you follow these instructions… 1) Put 3 large squirts of washing up liquid down the toilet. 2) Pour 4 cups of boiling water after it. 3) Leave for at least 20 minutes but it’s suggested a couple of hours for the maximum effect. 4) Try flushing. If this also doesn’t work then I’d advise calling one of our management team to come solve the stinky situation. Good luck!

 

The one with the queue for the microwave…

There’s one lonely bowl in the microwave, your stomachs growling and there’s a queue of people waiting for it. Get a mug or other microwave safe tool that’s sturdy enough to balance a bowl on top of it and put it in the microwave alongside the other one and place your bowl on top of the upside down mug or tool. Hey presto, you can microwave 2 bowls at once!

 

The one with the tennis ball…

You might be sharing halls or accommodation and not want your things being left on the floor, well we have the answer! Get a tennis ball and cut a slit in it, make a hole for a suction pad in the back and stick your tennis balls in the kitchen to hold your tea towels, your hall way to hold your mail or your bedroom to hold your clothes. Game, set, match!

 

The one for when you want a cake in a mug…

It’s a cake in a mug, what more can I say? Give it a go! You could use the other microwave hack and cook 2 at the same time! Nom nom… http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2405644/microwave-mug-cake

  

We’d love to see the life hacks you’ve already done or if you’ve got some new ones, send us your photos and use the hashtag #DSLifeHacks for your chance to win a £50 Amazon voucher for the best one!*

*Time for the important bits:

We will not be liable for anyone who has misread the life hack and put their phone in a full glass rather than an empty glass as stated. This will cause you to over sleep and your phone not to work any longer.

Our favourites will be judged by the lovely Marketing Team at Derwent Students HQ, and no discussion will be entered into either before or after these have been selected. 

This competition cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion.

Please keep it clean!  Creativity, yes please, nudity etc. no thank you.  As a rule, if you wouldn’t share it with your mum, don’t share it with us.

Entries will be accepted up until midnight on 31/03/2017, so get life hacking and hash tagging. We will announce winners via our Facebook & Twitter pages so you'd best keep an eye out or we reserve the right to redraw if the prize is not claimed within 7 days.

For full T&Cs, please contact [email protected]

Good Luck Life Hackers!