A few things that are working for me

Today I thought I would write a short list of things that are working for me. Some have been working for a long time, and some are new things I am trying out. Here they are, along with how long I've been doing them.

1. Using my phone in greyscale.

I only noticed this tip on my second read-through of How To Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price, which is a book that has a ton of other amazing tips, many of which I have adopted and found major benefit from. 

I love that the monochrome makes the screen less overstimulating and distracting; I find that I can focus a little better on what I came to do. Also, it makes real life all the more vivid. 

(On the old iPhone with the physical - and, so oddly, it's not even physical, it's a haptic that makes it feel like you're pressing the button, o brave new world - home button, I'm able to set a shortcut to triple-click the home button to toggle between b+w and color, when it's needed, such as for Maps.)

(Been doing this one since around Oct 2021.)

2. Similarly to the above, using Inbox When Ready on my computer and Compose on my phone. 

I'm sure it's obnoxious to all my friends whom I email before checking texts or even checking email, but it's super helpful for me to be able to send outgoing messages without being inundated with incoming requests.

(Began using Inbox When Ready in Dec 2019, searched for and found Compose shortly after.)

3. "Salty" oatmeal in the mornings.

1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Quick Cooking Rolled Oats. Boiling water to cover, and then just a little more. Generous pinch of himalayan pink salt (maybe almost 1/8 t?), a few drops of vitamin D (HT: Bethany), and a pat of Kerrygold butter (you get to decide how "healthy" an amount of butter). Sometimes a dash of warmed milk and/or cinnamon.

This is my post-walk, pre-morning pages routine. Alongside a cup of coffee, obvs. Actual Breakfast happens about an hour to an hour and a half later with the kids.

(Probably started this Jan 2022, maybe earlier? Discovered this particular cereal more recently; I love its nutty taste and texture, almost a hybrid between steel cut and instant.)

4. Watching 20-30 minutes of Queer Eye every weekday.

I've been highly rigid with myself about entertainment all my life. I stopped reading for pleasure somewhere in high school and didn't really pick it up again until the first quarter of my 30s. And when I did, I felt highly guilty for doing so.

Not exactly sure how I developed this very recent routine of watching brainless, lovely TV every day when Cori naps, but it's been so healing, and it's so good for my mental health.

It's rather like a daily grace to myself; I don't need to complete a certain number of things on my todo list to earn or deserve it.

Fell off the wagon last week-ish and when I noticed that everything was feeling broken a couple of days ago I wondered if this was partly why.

(end of '21 or beginning of '22?)

5. Painstakingly labeling each of kiddos' markers with their colored tapes.

My SIL, Diana, shared a tip years ago about giving each of the kids a color, and they've been using their color for their plates, water bottles, etc., for a long time and it has simplified things tremendously. It has saved me so many breaths and I have definitely washed fewer dishes as a result of this one decision.

But the application of this that has been working recently has been to markers. We have had so many iterations of organizing art supplies, most of which have not been very successful. I was sick and tired of picking up markers off the floor, especially uncapped ones. Is there anything more aggravating?

Around Christmas last year, I bought three packs of washable markers for them at Target and was going to wrap them for gifts. I ended up holding on to them longer because I was not happy when the current system and didn't want these new ones to be squandered.

I decided to wrap a piece of their colored tape around each of the 20 markers in each set. (I know.) Even after taking the time to do this, I still didn't give the markers to them right away. 

But one day it became apparent that they needed new ones, so I packed up all the old stuff, and then put each set of markers into pails for each of them, marked their spots on the shelf for where it goes, and let them at it.

It has been surprisingly nice because now if they leave a marker out, we know (we ALL know) by just glancing at it, whose it is. And I think they are just a touch more motivated to cap and put them away because it's theirs.

A little overkill, perhaps, but the little mark on the shelf reminds them where their bucket goes. Every reduced brain decision is a win in my book.

My brain hurts thinking about which possessions should be co-owned by the group vs. owned by one individual. This method seems works for this particular area. 

At least for now.

(About a month? And there are currently no other writing/coloring implements out at the present besides #2 pencils. No colored pencils, no crayons, etc.)

6. A filing box for the car.

I know some people who "live in their cars." I am not one of those people. (I don't know if a homier homebody exists, honestly.) However, even for me, who is the furthest thing from someone who lives in her car, I find the car a constant mess of stuff, despite my best efforts.

Between kids' papers, important receipts, water bottles, endless returns, mittens (so many mittens!), and the books I bring to read when I have a minute here or there, I have not been able to get a handle on the passenger seat. 

I've been having this problem area on the backburner of my brain for a while because I figured there's gotta be something I can do that works for me. 

Lately I've been on a kick of turning "piles" into "files" by transforming things from being spread out horizontally to being "filed" vertically, even if those things are dimensional (new concept for me I learned from Jacyln Paul). 

I had thrifted this basket and was using it in my room for current projects, but decided to put it in the car and found that it conveniently fit in between the driver's and passenger seats! 

I put a few literal files in it to help me not lose important papers in transit; the back of the filing basket is reserved for things I need to return. Books I'm reading (to my kids or to myself) can also go in there vertically for easy access.

This still doesn't include a lot of other junk that does end up in the car, but it does feel like a little haven for me, that resulted in me asking, "How do I want this to work for me?" and "What do I need to have access to in the car?" rather than asking "How do I organize everything that is stuffed into the car?" (Which, the answer to that one is, I don't wanna.)

I don't know why this purpose/intention-focused organization had eluded me until now. But I'm glad I know about it now.

(Less than one week....)

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Tell me: what's been working for you?