Sally McMullen
Hey chicks, I'm Sal.
Alex Hourigan
And I'm Al.
Sally McMullen
And this is Two Broke Chicks, the show that shares life lessons for the gals, from the gals. And today's episode is all about life admin hacks.
Alex Hourigan
We love a hack.
Sally McMullen
We do. So whether you're already like an organisation queen, you're all over it, or you know, you're a bit of a hot mess. We've got some tips for pretty much wherever you are on that spectrum. But before we get into it, what's your life lesson of the week, Al?
Alex Hourigan
Okay, my life lesson of the week is for the drivers out there. You're doing your handbrake wrong. So you put it in park and then you pull the handbrake up, right?
Sally McMullen
Yeah.
Alex Hourigan
You're not supposed to do it like that. You're supposed to put the handbrake on first and then put your car in park. Because by doing it the other way you're putting your car's weight on like the parking mechanic, I can't get too technical with it, because I don't know anything about cars. But you're supposed to put majority of the car's weight on the handbrake and then put it in park so that it's not resting on the park part of the car? I don't know. How wild is that?
Sally McMullen
And then does that like, we can protect whatever our parking part is on the car?
Alex Hourigan
Yeah!
Sally McMullen
That's a solid one.
Alex Hourigan
I know.
Sally McMullen
I'm into it.
Alex Hourigan
Hit me, what's yours?
Sally McMullen
Okay, so my life lesson of the week is apparently watching depressing movies is actually good for you. So you know how like with Normal People and like Conversations With Friends or even Euphoria, there's like this weird satisfaction of watching something really depressing? I feel like our generation is really into that. Like if you look at the popular shows and movies like, are we okay?
Alex Hourigan
I don't think so. The planet we're on is going to be dead before we are, so well just like might as well be depressed.
Sally McMullen
Well, apparently watching depressing shows and movies helps boosts your tolerance for pain in real life. So that's why our brains are like, "Okay, give me this", like, "boost me up, baby". Yes. And then also we feel like a connection and that whole empathy thing seeing other people go through similar situations and emotions. Okay, now that we've got that really happy topic out of the way, let's get into our life admin hacks. Would you like to kick us off with the first one, Al?
Alex Hourigan
So my first one is a password manager. I have like 7000 different variations of passwords across multiple things, and then they all have different numbers. And it's because there's no universal rules for password. So some you don't have to have a capital or some you have to put in a special character. And the password I use for majority of things doesn't have a special character. So then that one's just got some random exclamation point in it. And I'm like, I don't know.
Sally McMullen
Yeah, and you also shouldn't be using the same password for everything, or even a variation of the same password, which a lot of people do.
Alex Hourigan
I can't remember anything.
Sally McMullen
You can!
Alex Hourigan
We've already discussed that I have early onset Alzheimer's. I can't remember what I said to you 10 minutes ago, let alone seven different variations of passwords. But basically, there's a password manager, there's a Google password manager, but there's also a couple others that you can do your research and choose which one you want. And you load all of your passwords in there, you can also load them onto your phone, and then that way, you just don't have to remember anything, and it generates passwords for you as well. So that way, you don't have to keep using your mom's maiden name as your password and it makes life so much easier.
Sally McMullen
I love that. That is a solid one. My first one is how to make decisions quicker.
Alex Hourigan
Oh, yeah.
Sally McMullen
As a quintessential Pisces, I have a hard time making decisions. My mom like laughs at me so much about this because I've been like this ever since I was a baby and I just agonise over every decision that I make. So I saw a TikTok, that I'll link in the show notes that was really helpful, they gave like a few different options. But one that I've been trialling over recent weeks is you look at the decisions that you're making and try to narrow it down to as few possible options you can. So say, if you're trying to decide what to have for tea, you narrow that down to two options. Then from there, you give yourself a time limit, like okay, I have to make this decision in the next minute. And that's it. Then after that, flip a coin. And you can either just go buy whatever the coin tells you to do, or your heart will tell you what you want. Either as it's flipping, you'll be thinking in your head like, "Please be pizza, please be pizza", or you'll be disappointed when it lands on the option that you want. And that's it.
Alex Hourigan
So my next life admin hack is for those who aren't very good at saving, Hello, me. Basically it's how to save $1,000 in a month. So each day there's like a different amount and you get that instant gratification of the achievement and it's like, "Ooh, how much money do I transfer today?". And so then you can either choose one that's like set amount for like the first, the second, the third, or you can have a randomised one where you can pick which amount you want to transfer that day. So one day, you might transfer $5. And then another day, you might transfer $36. And then another day, you might transfer 61, but each day is a different amount. But at the end of the month, it all adds up to $1,000. So it's this kind of more fun, interactive, present thinking way of saving, rather than at the start of the month just having an automatic transfer. Because some people work differently. Some people work really well with having the out of sight, out of mind automatic transfer, I don't even need to think about it. Whereas some people work better being like, okay, consciously I'm doing this everyday, and I get to tick off that achievement, and that like serotonin and dopamine hit of achieving something really helps. And so we've actually got templates for how to save $1000, $5000, and $10,000. If you're going on a holiday in a month, this is a really easy way to save money, quick.
Sally McMullen
Gamification of saving, I'm into it. My next life admin hack is for concentration. This is a good one, especially if you're working from home and you're finding that your mind strays, while you're on the job. What you do is set a 25 minute timer and concentrate on one task, one task only, and then just work on that for 25 minutes. Then when the timer goes off, you can take five minutes to address any distractions that had popped up in that time. So an email, a Slack, something on TikTok, if that popped up. So you just repeat that for as many times as you can, they usually suggest four times. And then after that, you'll take like a half an hour break, and then set up your day by that. And by the end of the day, you should have had like a more productive day and have gotten more like good quality work done in that time.
Alex Hourigan
I feel like that makes so much sense. Because it's like, whenever I'm writing an article or something, and I still let myself get distracted, it ends up like taking me two hours. But if I just sit down and like leave my phone in another room and only have that one tab open, then I end up being able to do it in like half an hour?
Sally McMullen
Exactly. I think that's the crucial thing is limiting your distractions and giving yourself that window to be like, okay, this is it and also focusing on one task. Because I'm the same I'll have like 80 tabs open and be working on multiple things at once. And it's just not a productive way to work.
Alex Hourigan
Yeah, I hear you. My next one is the way that you build like a healthy habit or building a habit that you want to increase in your day to day life or week or whatever. The saying that it takes 21 days to build a habit is a myth. It's not true.
Sally McMullen
You're rocking my world here.
Alex Hourigan
Incorrect. Here's how you can actually build a habit. You have three steps to building a habit loop and it's your cue, routine and reward. Your cue could be your alarm going off in the morning, and that's at 7am. Your routine is absolutely necking a glass of water. And then your reward is you're awake, you're hydrated, refreshed. To take it further, if you wanted to, for example, have a habit loop of working out for an hour every morning, what you would do is have your cue, that's Monday to Friday at 7am is your alarm going off, and your routine is going for that one hour walk. So 7am, alarm goes off, you train your body that once that alarm goes off, we put on our activewear and we go for a walk for one hour, put on a podcast and listen to Two Broke Chicks. When you do that for one week, Monday to Friday to your cue, you get a reward. So week one, you get a reward, you could put like a limit on it for $10, you buy yourself a pair of socks. And then you do that again Monday to Friday 7am, cue, routine, walk. And then if you do that for the second and the third week without fail, you get a reward on the third week, which is like a $30 limit or a $40 limit. Maybe it's a Glassons top or a new workout set or something like that. So you're really getting that instant reward that's like a little bit more and then you continue that until your reward is how it makes you feel and the routine of it, rather than having to buy a pair of socks or like a cute top.
Yeah, like until you get to the point where you don't need that reward or that physical reward because the feeling that you get and getting in that good habit is the reward.
If you want to develop a new habit that can be drinking water, doing meditation, journaling, going for a walk, literally anything that you want to do. You have your cue, routine and reward and you're gonna be 'that girl' in no time.
Sally McMullen
I love that. I'm gonna start doing that. Okay, my next life admin hack is something that I've been doing for years and I absolutely swear by it, and that is organising your outfit the night before.
Alex Hourigan
Oh yeah.
Sally McMullen
so we all have those moments where you're getting ready in the morning before work or an event and it is chaos. There are clothes everywhere, you can never find that one thing that your entire outfit is based on, or you can't find the right bra, you don't have the right socks for the shoes that you're wearing. There's no worse way to start your day than that. It just puts you in a bad mood, and it's stressful. So what I do every night is I check the weather for the next day, I look at my calendar and see what we've got going on, if I need to do like a day to night situation, or you know, something like that. And then I will plan my entire outfit, I'm talking socks, underwear, shoes, every part of the outfit, and then that way, you know if you need to chuck something in the wash.
Alex Hourigan
I love that all you listed was socks, underwear and shoes.
Sally McMullen
I said and everything you need for the outfit!
Alex Hourigan
I'm like, nah all you're gonna wear is socks and shoes, babe. That'd be great for me, I'd love that.
Sally McMullen
You naughty girl. But yeah, so basically you prepare everything that you need for the outfit, plan it out. And then that way you can chuck stuff in the wash if you need to, you can give something an iron or a steam as well.
Alex Hourigan
Yeah, like prep it all.
Sally McMullen
Exactly. Or if you can't find something, you just have more time to look for it. My extra hot tip is that if I'm going to be crazy and trying a new outfit, I will also try it on the night before and make sure that it works.
Alex Hourigan
You're a psycho.
Sally McMullen
Because that's also very painful when you try on an outfit in the morning. And you're like this looks like trash. And now you're at step zero.
Alex Hourigan
On the other part of that spectrum, when you have an idea in your head of an outfit and you put it on and it just works. And you're like this is the win of the century. Good tip, babe!
Sally McMullen
Thank you!
Alex Hourigan
Love it. Love it. So my next one is also for those who live in a share house to have like a share house money account. What you do is have an account that at the start of the month, everyone transfers $10 into along with rent. And that is the money and the card that you use for all household expenses like toilet paper dishwashing, liquid washing, soap whatever, that way it's financially equal. Because everyone does work on different timeframes. Like, I don't know, maybe if you're working in like a medical hospital, and they don't necessarily have time to always like go pick up toilet paper, at least they're not skimping out on the one that's never being able to buy it. So it's a hot tip for y'all.
Sally McMullen
Yeah, that's a good one. Because even if you're using something like Splitwise, sorry, trigger warning! Somebody's still out of pocket.
Alex Hourigan
And there's always that person that's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll transfer you", and then they just never do. Last but not least is a hack to improve your sleep schedule. If you know this sound, this hack is for you.
Sally McMullen
I felt that in my soul.
Alex Hourigan
that is the worst sound to wake up to in the world. Whereas I get to wake up to like, how beautiful is that? Like just so beautiful and lovely. So here's how you set an alarm that doesn't make you want to crawl out of your own skin. But you go to the health app on your phone and scroll down to your schedule and add like your sleep routine that you want to stick to. So for me, it's weekdays, and then you put in your bedtime and your wakeup time. So my bedtime is 11pm, I get a notification about half an hour beforehand, saying it's like wind down time, time to chill. And then my wakeup time and then you can select in that part of the app, like a gentle alarm, there's also like birds chirping, which I know is your one and there's like a sunrise one and they're just so much better. And they fade in like it's not just like, BAM, it like kind of starts really low and then gently like pulls you out of sleep. And the biggest part of this is you can turn off the ability to snooze it. So once it goes off, you can't snooze it, because I know that if I have the ability as soon as I will, but if I haven't snoozed the alarm and I turned it off, I'm like okay, I can't fall back asleep nothing's gonna wake me up completely changed my relationship with like waking up.
Sally McMullen
Yeah, I am a serial snoozer and I completely back that tip. The other thing that I love about it is that even though it is so soft and tranquil and it does is in, your brain picks up like I notice almost as soon as it starts I will wake up. So it's just less aggressive,
Alex Hourigan
So much less aggressive.
Sally McMullen
than other alarms. But if you're worried like, "Oh, I'm going to sleep through that", you won't.
Alex Hourigan
The other hot tip to go to bed is to get a smart bulb. So not only can you make them fun colours like blue or red if you're feeling sexy, but you can set a time that it will turn off so it turns off at 11pm and then I know that it's like a hard lights out. Like it's like my mum coming in my room being like, "Lights out, go to bed". I know that as soon as that lamp turns off by itself, I'm not allowed to turn it back on and it's bedtime. So putting an alarm on through your health app on your iPhone. And getting a smart bulb that tells you when to go to bed will change the way you sleep. No more 3am on TikTok for me.
Sally McMullen
Now that you're ready to just be a life admin hack queen, it's time for our product recommendations of the week. So none of these are sponsored, they're just products that we genuinely love. As are mentioned up top, this episode was kind of inspired by the Life Admin Hacks book, which is by Dinah Rowe-Roberts and Mia Northrup, they have an Instagram which is really great as well, chuck them a follow.
Alex Hourigan
They also have a podcast.
Sally McMullen
Yeah, they're a total vibe and the book covers pretty much everything that you need in your life, from finances to organisation to getting your shit together come Christmas time when you buy gifts. It also has a section on like family and kids if that's your jam, so I would absolutely back this book, super easy. They have lots of like templates and tips in there. So get it on your bookshelves stat.
Alex Hourigan
It is a vibe. I do really enjoy it. Mine for this week is the Quay sunglasses and not even a specific pair. Basically Sal and I went to a Quay sunglasses event and it was like a free for all with like sunglasses lining the wall. And they were like, "Yep, just pick like a bunch of sunglasses you want", and we walked out both with like six new pairs of sunglasses each. They're so good, they're so affordable. The styles are really cool, like their styles are like, I do not see anywhere else. And they're really good quality, they sit around the $60 mark, that's my hot tip and hot products. I've got like 7000 sunglasses from them now and I love it. Sunglasses are my new favourite accessory.
Sally McMullen
Oh my god, they're my absolute fave. I've had like some Quay sunglasses that I've been wearing for maybe five years and they're still the jam.
Alex Hourigan
Yeah.
Sally McMullen
There we have it, another episode of Two Broke Chicks in the can!
Alex Hourigan
Done and dusted, doll.
Sally McMullen
Oh my god. We'll make sure to pop a bunch of links in our show notes because we mentioned a lot of resources today and I know y'all chicks want to get on those life admin hacks stat. So we'll pop those in there. Head to finder.com.au/twobrokechicks for a transcript of today's episode and come give us a follow on Instagram and TikTok where we're always chucking out hot and sexy life admin hacks.
Alex Hourigan
Oh yeah!
Sally McMullen
Come give us a follow, we're basically everywhere on every social media platform.
Alex Hourigan
You can't escape us.
Sally McMullen
And join our private Facebook group, Broke Chicks Club as well because we always drop BTS, every time there's a sale we're always telling the chicks in there that's where it's at. So come hang. As always, thank you to Pariya Taherzadeh, our amazing executive producer, as well as Bamby Media and Made In Katana studios for making today's episode possible.
Alex Hourigan
And sexy.
Sally McMullen
Speaking of sexy, thanks to you chicks.
Alex Hourigan
Yeah! Wow! Are you flirting with our listeners?
Sally McMullen
I am. Thanks for having us in your ear holes. We love to be here.
Alex Hourigan
Love it. Bye!
Sally McMullen
Bye, babies.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
