Streamlining Your Mornings, Part II

Now that your ass is out of bed, what do you do? If you're like me, you start making coffee and take a shower. Simple enough, so where are the life hacks I keep going on about?

Wonderfully bubbly coffee.
Don't question the bubbles.

Let's take a look at that coffee. Assuming you're not like me, you probably make pretty gross coffee in the morning - kudos if you don't - so what's the problem? Is it bitter, tinny, too weak? If your refrigerator doesn't offer filtered water, invest in a Brita filter and fill the coffee maker with cold water the morning you make it, not the night before. If you can, buy whole beans and grind them yourself as you need them to maximize freshness - though generally coffee you buy in the store isn't truly fresh anyway, but that's another story.

Last lifehack for bitter coffee, besides adjusting the ratio of grounds to water? A dash of salt on the grounds. It works.

I feel exhilarated already. 

Let's talk about how to be a lifehacker in the shower. Most people waste time, water and money in the shower and sabotage their energy levels by taking unnecessarily long showers with hot water, especially when it's cold outside. Am I right?

The life hacks may already be obvious to you, but you might be too much of a pansy to do them: Navy showers with cold to lukewarm water. 

What is this nonsense? The so-called 'Navy shower' was used by the Navy due to limited fresh water supplies on ships. It's also a super easy way to use less water, save money, and take faster showers.

Here's how to do it:

1. Turn on the shower and wet your body and hair. 
2. Turn off the water, lather and scrub. 
3. Rinse - repeat if you condition. 

Total time: Two minutes or less. 

Total water used: circa 11 liters/3 gallons. 

An average ten minute shower uses up to 230 liters/60 gallons -- and it takes ten minutes. These statistics, by the way, are thanks to this PDF put out by the University of Florida. 

Speed showering with cold to room temperature water also works really well for getting you pumped for the day. 

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Lastly, and perhaps most lamely, if you're reading this blog you probably read several. Well, the lifehacker way to read all these blogs - and any other websites you like to keep pace with - is called Morning Coffee  

Morning Coffee is a Firefox add-on that allows you to add websites to a list, as well as give them a frequency rating, which will all be brought up in different tabs by clicking on the icon - this way you can easily catch up with them all while you enjoy your now delicious morning coffee. 

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