Life Hacks

Today I tried out some helping hand hacks that I've been reading about. I stopped by our local "dollar store" and picked up these small rubber bands and foam curlers to turn into grip aides.

I removed all the plastic and bagged them up.

Some of the blue foam I cut smaller and put in my purse. The pink ones are already a good length. I thought it would be good to have on-hand in case restaurant silverware is small and sharp (already something I've encountered.) Now they're all bagged up and ready to use.

Curious what I'm going to do with those tiny rubber bands?

I read about putting them on lids that are harder to open (like nail polish bottles.)

It really is a helpful hack! It makes them much easier to open. It was a bit tricky to get them on though. I think a lot of people may need someone to do this for them. I found it so helpful that I decided to put it on my most used "slick" cosmetics.

You can see I used quite a few on each. 

As for the foam rollers I put one on my favorite pen and toothbrush. The holes were too small for my toothbrush, so I cut it down the middle and slipped it on. It didn't work very well. I think for fatter handles it would be better to buy special arthritis grips.

Everything on rollers is WONDERFUL!

Another modification I've made is getting as many things as I can on rollers. Pushing and pulling is much easier than lifting and carrying. It's also easier on my hands. I adore my wheeling clothing hampers. I realized after my swim at the gym that a regular gym bag no longer does it for me. It's way too heavy when it's full of wet things. Enter the $29 roller bag.

Making modifications, changes and hacks has been hard actually. I keep feeling like "I don't need any of this YET!" But I noticed when I do use a tool or change things it feels so much better... than I have a little "oh" moment. I remind myself that I don't have to struggle unnecessarily. I can make changes that make things easier.