Deb this is excellent. I really like how you put "don't sweat the small stuff" its so true how we can get caught up in those things. Your multitasking is really efficiency on wheels, cooking, laundry, and all. The socks hack is the best Thank you!! Jillian Rexford ❤️
I often ask myself when I start to get upset about something, "Will I care about this in a year?" And honestly, most of the time the answer is no. So I let it go. There are hills worth dying on, but those are few and far between. I do admit that sometimes fishing clothes out of the drying is annoying, but I like to believe it builds character. :)
Thanks for sharing these tips Deb! It has been difficult to be a new mom working during COVID. Seeing how you manage family life with efficiency inspires me to do the same. Would love to see more posts on how you balance work, family and spiritual life.
I love the split decision too. We do the same in our household. Sometimes when we have friends over and they are helping clean up, they ask me how I like my dishwasher loaded. That question always puzzles me - if it’s loaded by someone else, then it’s something I didn’t need to do, therefore I’m grateful, not picky.
My husband cooks in bulk and freezes - soups, lasagne, potato gratins and everything that can be frozen ends up in a freezer (we bought a second one). We also freeze sliced bread (to be heated up in the toaster) and French fries after the first and before the second round of frying. We invested in a blast chiller to flash freeze meats and fish: he buys large cuts of meat and enormous fishes (salmon, bass, etc.) and the flash freezing process really keeps them in perfect shape. Also, a vacuum sealant helps - not just for the fish and meat portions in the freezer, but also for cheese and cold cuts in the fridge, as well as for rice, coffee and other staples in the pantry. He has just started cooking vegetables sous vide so that he always has several portions of them in the fridge - we'll see how that works out.
Love this, Deb! How has your balance of work vs. recharge changed due to the pandemic? For me, pre-pandemic, I felt in constant motion yet perpetually recharged (read: extrovert). Even though I now feel I have more time, I feel I have to carve out more time for self-care.
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Only have one beef on the magazine front… United started sending me their seatback mag during the pandemic, and I've never appreciated spam so much ;)
Hi Deborah! The sock hack is cool. Good thing my kids somehow have their own preferences on socks type. My dishwasher rule is after eating, each person puts their dish in the dishwasher. The only reason the dish would be in the sink is if the dishwasher is full or running. Saves time on loading the dishwasher 😀
Self-service is the best hack. It is funny after the kids started doing more chores, I could hear my son say to his sister, "If you don't bring your plates to the sink, I am going to leave my shoes in the hallway for you to pick up for me." Music to my ears.
I realized at one point that we bickered about things neither of us particularly cared about. And we just stopped. Or we have mellowed out after a couple decades together...
Love the efficiency hacks - thanks for sharing! We just had our third child and I am trying to up my game here especially with the pandemic and less help from folks outside our household. The socks hack you shared is fantastic as I have 50+ solo socks across our family of 5 . I have been trying to operate with a capsule wardrobe of very few items that are rotated - next step is getting my kids on that train. Less is definitely more.
The socks were a huge problem before, so we just got matching sets for everyone. Whatever is available at Costco, we each have one brand of them. :)
For clothes, my daughter tried on one of my skorts and liked it, so I bought her one in 5 different colors from Marketplace, Amazon, Poshmark, and eBay. I also bought two more in black for me. So now she can stop "borrowing" mine.
Your kids are a bit younger, but all kids like to help. Just leverage it while they are still in that mode.
Deb this is excellent. I really like how you put "don't sweat the small stuff" its so true how we can get caught up in those things. Your multitasking is really efficiency on wheels, cooking, laundry, and all. The socks hack is the best Thank you!! Jillian Rexford ❤️
I often ask myself when I start to get upset about something, "Will I care about this in a year?" And honestly, most of the time the answer is no. So I let it go. There are hills worth dying on, but those are few and far between. I do admit that sometimes fishing clothes out of the drying is annoying, but I like to believe it builds character. :)
Thanks for sharing these tips Deb! It has been difficult to be a new mom working during COVID. Seeing how you manage family life with efficiency inspires me to do the same. Would love to see more posts on how you balance work, family and spiritual life.
I love the split decision too. We do the same in our household. Sometimes when we have friends over and they are helping clean up, they ask me how I like my dishwasher loaded. That question always puzzles me - if it’s loaded by someone else, then it’s something I didn’t need to do, therefore I’m grateful, not picky.
My husband cooks in bulk and freezes - soups, lasagne, potato gratins and everything that can be frozen ends up in a freezer (we bought a second one). We also freeze sliced bread (to be heated up in the toaster) and French fries after the first and before the second round of frying. We invested in a blast chiller to flash freeze meats and fish: he buys large cuts of meat and enormous fishes (salmon, bass, etc.) and the flash freezing process really keeps them in perfect shape. Also, a vacuum sealant helps - not just for the fish and meat portions in the freezer, but also for cheese and cold cuts in the fridge, as well as for rice, coffee and other staples in the pantry. He has just started cooking vegetables sous vide so that he always has several portions of them in the fridge - we'll see how that works out.
Love this, Deb! How has your balance of work vs. recharge changed due to the pandemic? For me, pre-pandemic, I felt in constant motion yet perpetually recharged (read: extrovert). Even though I now feel I have more time, I feel I have to carve out more time for self-care.
—
Only have one beef on the magazine front… United started sending me their seatback mag during the pandemic, and I've never appreciated spam so much ;)
Hi Deborah! The sock hack is cool. Good thing my kids somehow have their own preferences on socks type. My dishwasher rule is after eating, each person puts their dish in the dishwasher. The only reason the dish would be in the sink is if the dishwasher is full or running. Saves time on loading the dishwasher 😀
Self-service is the best hack. It is funny after the kids started doing more chores, I could hear my son say to his sister, "If you don't bring your plates to the sink, I am going to leave my shoes in the hallway for you to pick up for me." Music to my ears.
I love the "don't sweat the small stuff" point. If you both know what is "small" and what isn't, this can be life changing.
I realized at one point that we bickered about things neither of us particularly cared about. And we just stopped. Or we have mellowed out after a couple decades together...
Love the efficiency hacks - thanks for sharing! We just had our third child and I am trying to up my game here especially with the pandemic and less help from folks outside our household. The socks hack you shared is fantastic as I have 50+ solo socks across our family of 5 . I have been trying to operate with a capsule wardrobe of very few items that are rotated - next step is getting my kids on that train. Less is definitely more.
The socks were a huge problem before, so we just got matching sets for everyone. Whatever is available at Costco, we each have one brand of them. :)
For clothes, my daughter tried on one of my skorts and liked it, so I bought her one in 5 different colors from Marketplace, Amazon, Poshmark, and eBay. I also bought two more in black for me. So now she can stop "borrowing" mine.
Your kids are a bit younger, but all kids like to help. Just leverage it while they are still in that mode.