It was a revelation to me when I realized that you don't have to thread the strap through all of the little slots in the buckle to keep the strap on your foot...if set up correctly, you can just feed the strap over the serrated teeth, which makes it easy to reach down, pull the strap, and tighten. Just flicking the buckle loosens them enough to get out.

Maybe everyone knows this; I'd generally switched to clipless by the time I'd figured it out, but now I've got a pair of clips/straps on my around-town bike.