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I love those Biore strips that pull out all the gunk and sebum from your nose, chin, and forehead. But I hate how expensive they are. I recently paid $7.00 for a small box.

I tried to make my own version, first trying packing tape. It’s a weak substitute. It pulled off some hair, but didn’t get deep into the pores.

My latest try has been very successful - an Elmer’s Glue Facial. First, I steam open my pores for about 10 minutes with a sinkful of boiling water and a towel draped over my head. Next, I wash my face well, then dry. Next, I smear about two tablespoons of Elmer’s glue all over my forehead, cheeks, and chin, applying it as I would a commercial facial mask. Wait about 15 minutes until it dries, then peel off! Rinse well.

It will pull out a lot of the sebum (maybe some hairs too) and leave your skin feeling extremely smooth and soft. It doesn’t hurt any more than a regular peel-off facial mask, and hurts far less than the Biore strips.

I’d say the Biore strips still work better, but at about 50 cents a bottle, Elmer’s glue is a great cheap substitute.

My skin is fairly sensitive, but I did not react to the Elmer’s Glue at all. However, you may want to test it out on a smaller patch of skin first. Honestly, I have no idea of the chemicals in Elmer’s glue, as it is a secret. For my next expermient, I will try this facial with some homemade glue with simple ingredients.

As a LifeHackDad, I get to travel a lot for work and the one thing that no one wants are stinky cloths when you get to your destination. This little trick I have been using for years and to me it really works.

In your suitcase put a new dryer sheet (of your preferred fragrance) to help keep your cloths smelling clean on the ride and hide the “used” smelling cloths on the way back home. I change out the dryer sheet about every month or so.

As a bonus to make it a little easier when I get home, I keep all the dirty cloths in a laundry bag, then its just one bag to take out of the suitcase for washing.

Hope this helps someone out!

One of David Allen’s key components of the GTD process is his 2 minute Rule, which basically states that if you pick up an item from your inbox, and you can do it’s next action in 2 minutes or under, do it right away.

Do it even if it’s not a real high priority because then it will be done and gone and not cluttering up your head.

This is a great rule, and very important to the success of doing GTD. My problem is that I’ve somehow started to stretch out this rule to 15 minutes. I think, “well, I can’t do it in 2 minutes, but I can do it in 15 minutes, so I might as well do it and get it done with.” The problem arises when I have too many of these “short” tasks, and they eat up my entire morning. Then I didn’t do the really important Next Actions and I feel horribly guilty and unproductive.

To remind me of how long 2 minutes really is, I googled “GTD 2 minutes” and ran across Christopher Schmitt’s blog article Two Minute Playlists for Getting Things Done. He plays songs that are under 2 minutes each while he’s working on his short actions to get rid of the need for a 2 minute timer.

There are quite a few songs that are under 2 minutes. I checked my current ITunes inventory of MP3s, sorted by time, and found the following gems:

• Owen Wilson (from the Starsky and Hutch soundtrack) - Don’t Give Up on Us - 1:09
• Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 (scherzo) - 1:16
• Stone Temple Pilots - No Memory - 1:20
• Green Day - Coming Clean - 1:35
• Simon & Garfunkel - Feelin’ Groovy- 1:50
• Nirvana - Molly’s Lips -1:53
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Right On Time - 1:55
• Pixies - Tame - 1:56
• Blind Melon - Skinned - 1:58
• Third Eye Blind - Anything - 2:01 (close enough!)

Tomorrow I’m going to make a playlist and get motivated to the music to get through my short actions sooner.

Looking forward to hearing suggestions of more 2 minute or under songs!