Who doesn’t love a life hack? Google the phrase and you’ll be inundated with a vast, endless series of advisory articles on literally – and we mean literally – anything. Although, as with many things on the internet, strange and obscure DIY projects and obscure food recipes are some familiar life hacks, while the really useful stuff is often buried underneath it all.
The thing is, technology has produced some pretty remarkable life hacks over the past few years, and many that can make our lives easier, our wallets heavier, and spare time a little more abundant.
Location, Location, Location
Our first life hack is a platform that was built with homeowners in mind. For those looking to find a mortgage for the first time or currently stuck with mortgages that don’t fit their lifestyle particularly well, the mortgage industry has been – for years – fairly opaque and confusing. Many are forced to either shell out money to pay for physical advisors, negotiate directly with banks, or simply accept their current deals and cut their losses. However, it doesn’t have to be quite so bleak!
A number of digital mortgage advisor platforms have sprung up over the years, offering instant, comprehensive, and simplified comparison functions for both mortgages and remortgages. Users are able to save cash while also finding deals that offer them benefits they really want, like overpayments, lower rates, and more flexibility on term lengths.
Work Heaven
Everyone is familiar with the way work can get stressful. Tasks pile up, deadlines loom and colleagues won’t go away. It’s nothing short of a nightmare. Luckily, technology has stepped up to the plate, before you start despairing that all those diffuse to-dos are about to crash your laptop. Project managers like Trello and Asana have proven to be a lot more than collaborative calendars. Their biggest benefits are how much time sat in the conference room you no longer need.
Acting as ticketing systems, they allow users to contribute and collaborate on projects, organized by very detailed tickets. Systems like these have been used by engineering teams for years, and as jobs become increasingly digital and multi-faceted, being as organized as a data engineer is often necessary.
Open Sesame
Open Banking, in a simple sense, is a set of practices to allow third parties to access banking data. But it’s also a heck of a lot more than that. Personal spend management applications have revolutionized everyday spending, allowing us to quite literally open our eyes to the ingoings and outgoings from all your accounts in a holistic picture. Platforms like Emma, Plum, and Monzo have offered European customers a range of banking services on top of their budgeting features, which allow users to control spending in a much more strategic and intelligent way.
Life hacking is a bit of a deceptive term in a way since users only really benefit when they’re willing to put the time in to engage with the services fully. If you’re willing to shop around for a great mortgage deal, categorize your spending each week, or keep your project tickets updated, these platforms can transform the ways you handle workloads, budgets and save money. If you’re familiar with that feeling of wishing life felt that bit smoother and clearer – take a look at how technology can lighten your load.