What’s Saving My Life, no. 1
A cleaning hack, books I'm reading, exec functioning for your kids, etc.
1. Reading after the kids’ bedtime
I love reading any time of the day, but it’s been a particular balm to my soul, of late, to tuck away in my green chair for a few minutes after putting the kids down, and before watching any shows with David, or finishing the dishes.
I’m still in my fluffy era, but some heartier books I’ve read lately: Viewfinder, What My Bones Know, Divergent Mind, The Electricity of Every Living Thing.
2. Stath Lets Flats
David and I are OBSESSED with this British comedy. It’s super off-beat and definitely not for everyone, but it makes us spit out our tea from laughing and also sometimes we get tears that are not from laughing.
3. Cleaning the shower liner without removing it from the hooks
Who has energy to take off, wash, and re-hang the shower liner??? Since it’s really the bottom edge that regularly gets gross, I came up with a quick hack as a stop-gap measure: leaving the liner on the rod, I fill a small tub or pail with bleach water, gather up the liner and soak the bottom for a couple minutes. Then I just rinse it off in the tub and it’s done!
You’re welcome.
4. Starting each of my kids their own bullet journals
One thing I’ve been pondering for a while is the problem that is perpetuated by the standard central family calendar that holds everyone’s schedules. Usually, one parent owns and manages The Google Calendar (to rule all the calendars…). Each family member’s things live within that calendar.
I’m the organized partner in our marriage, and even I don’t like this system, on a philosophical level.
Any person who looks at the centralized calendar (if they even bother to look at the calendar) has to wade through everyone else’s stuff. It prioritizes the view of one manager and isn’t really practical for any individual person.
Separate bullet journals makes this information relevant to the person whose life it reflects. Being able to visualize each person’s schedule separately improves my comprehension and memory retention.
It is more work for me to redivide every one’s schedules, but I believe the extra work in the short-term will pay off. I am making the invisible work visible, so that my kids can learn what looks like to plan, set goals, remember appointments, log information. It also serves as a great landing page for any requests, contracts, etc.
My three youngest are still quite young—6, 9, 11—but I don’t think it’s too young to start having them have a dedicated place for their thoughts, whether they are writing by themselves, or with help.
The kids’ separate bullet journals—which live in the living room and can be accessed by the children, my husband, and me—have really supported my ADHD brain and my empath heart. It helps me to see their needs and goals as separate than mine. I also hope this scaffolding helps them gradually take over.
My child who doesn’t like to write things down asks me from time to time, “Mama, can you please write down _____ in my bullet journal?” They know that it is the place for things that need to be memorialized, and I love how they are adopting something they wouldn’t otherwise participate in if I made them do it themselves.
5. Writing (and/or drawing) Morning Pages again
Morning Pages are a pain in the butt: three pages written longhand, every morning (as much as possible). But they are also my saving grace, and doing them almost guarantees I will have a good day.
Sometimes I end up creating my plan for the day, or I come up with ideas of what to write about. Sometimes I interrupt my own train of thought and start jotting down disparate thoughts at the bottom of the page. (Does anyone else do this?)
Other times, I solve problems, or draft layouts for rearranging the furniture in the house. And lately, since sketching is one of my major assignments right now, I’m getting looser about letting my pen flow in a sketchy direction and letting that count.
6. Having a place to put those darn produce stickers that are non-compostable.
My friend
spotted this on Substack Notes and immediately shared it to our mastermind Voxer thread (where some of us—who shall remain nameless—have questioned if the crime of spouses leaving these on the counter might be grounds for divorce).I reached out to the original poster,
, who gave me permission to share her image with you here.It’s genius, and seriously turns lemons into lemonade. (Those things used to be the bane of my existence, and now I look forward to peeling them off the onions and bananas, etc. How is this possible?!?!?)
What’s saving your life lately?
Leave a comment below to share your hacks, little luxuries, favorite shows, etc.
Finally, a shameless but timely plug for my printable calendars. I’ve added a summer-only calendar (June, July, August) for those who want to try it out and/or just need a spot for all the summer craziness/fun. I’m running a small sale until June 14.
Love the sketches and the fruit sticker art! The Electricity of Every Living Thing is on my TBR. Um, is it bad that I've never even thought to clean my shower liner either on or off the rod? 🤦
One thing saving my reading life lately is that I deleted all social media off my phone. I still reach for my phone a ton, but I've read so many books on my Libby app!
I can’t wait to see your sticker art!!