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Simplify Letter Writing With A Letter Bin

These days, real mail is more special than ever. But a Facebook birthday wish or Twitter shout-out is so fast, most of us have stopped stamping envelopes altogether. And yet with personal mail (from the postman) nearing extinction, sending greetings that can be seen and felt really lets people know they matter to you.

Of course, it takes some extra effort, especially if you don’t regularly send personal mail. So here’s a way to ease-ify the process…

The Letter Bin

A Letter Bin is a single container that houses everything you need to write a letter and get it in the mail. When you think of someone you’d like to send a hand-written note, just pull out the container, and everything is at the ready. Easy to get started. Easy to finish. Just, easy.

How To Do It

Letter Bin CollageFind a suitable container.

Unless you write a lot of letters, I suggest using a bin instead of a drawer. That way, when you’re not using it, you can more easily put it out of the way. I love clear plastic shoeboxes like this one, because they stack well and it’s easy to see what’s inside. Use whatever you find functional and lovely.

Oh – and make sure the lid closes easily. Otherwise it’ll get annoying pretty fast.

Collect your snail mail accoutrements.

I suggest including at least the following:

  • Stationery (or paper and envelopes)
  • Postage stamps (for all sizes of letters and postcards)
  • Letter-writing pens (whatever kind you prefer)

You could also include:

  • Colored pens
  • Return address stamp or labels
  • Supplies for decorating letters, making your envelopes, or anything else you might use to adorn your greetings
  • Your letter writing script (if you have one) and scrap paper for sketching (mmm… haven’t shared with you about sketching for thank you notes yet, but will soon. Anyway, I keep those in my bin.)

If you want to include your children in the process, put paper and markers and stickers and what-have-you in there for them as well. Or help them make their own bins! If they love to receive mail, encourage them to write (or draw) and see who replies back. It’s a personal and practical way to practice writing.

Now, this final part is going to blow your mind, but stick with me.

Put all the stuff you collected into your container.

Voila!

Next time you want to tell a friend you care, just grab your bin and your address book and get started. You’ll be done in a flash.

Best of all, the cleanup is stupid easy. Throw everything back in your bin and close it up. Ta-done.

…and you?…

Do you write as many notes as you’d like? What seems to keep you from it?

An Easy Way to Know Which DVD is Next in a Series

I seem to always have random things I want to share, so this is me finding a way to share some high geekery with you. And yes, you can make fun of me.

More often than I’d like to admit, we end up playing duck-duck-goose with our DVDs at the exact moment when we really want to let the brain-dead-ing begin. I recently decided enough was enough and came up with a way to avoid it.

You know, I’m all about sophistication around here.

Anyway, here’s what to do:DVDs

Before you start the series, turn the discs where all the titles are right-side up.

When you watch the final episode on a disc and you’re putting that disc back, put the finished disc in with the title upside-down.

Next time you go to watch an episode, the first disc that is right-side-up is the one you want.

Ta-da!

Now, I can’t help but ask… are the Dude and I the only ones still watching TV on discs? We kind of have to because our internet is so fickle, but I tend to like DVDs anyway because they’re often cheaper than their digital siblings. But nearly everyone I talk to these days only streams. Well, that or DVR. Man I miss DVR.

…you?…

Do you still watch TV on DVD (or Blu-ray)? Is there something out there besides streaming and DVR that I need to know about? 

Ever Feel Overwhelmed by “Simple” Tasks? Try Using Scripts!

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by a “simple” task? Or find yourself forgetting pieces of something that you “should” be able to remember by now? It might be getting through that stack of papers, preparing for a camping trip, or just getting everyone out the door in the morning. But whatever they are, most of us have tasks that sometimes feel overwhelming and things we forget along the way.

One day I realized there must be a better way.

I noticed that there were certain tasks or projects I performed only once every so often, and that when I had to do them, I was always reinventing the wheel. I’d make a to do list from scratch and fret over whether I’d remembered everything. And then, after being too wound up by the whole thing, I’d inevitably forget something obvious.

But it occurred to me that I could write myself a “script”, put it in a place where I’d know to find it, and use it. Now, rather than over-thinking things and being constantly worried I’ve forgotten something, I just work through my script. My past-experienced-self coaxes me along reminding me exactly what needs to be done, based on what I learned in the past.

Cheers to that.

If you’ve never tried something like this, or don’t already have your own version of it in play, consider giving it a try. You can always adjust it to meet your particular needs and personality.

So off we go with scripts. First I’ll explain what a script is and what you can use them for, then I’ll give you examples of how I like to use them, and then I’ll get you started on making your own. You can skip around, of course, but if you’ve never encountered something like this before, you might want to give yourself a few minutes to read through the whole thing when you aren’t in a hurry.

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Introducing: Foodist Friday

So… I’m a little excited about this. Okay, a lot excited.

See, I’ve had in mind to start a food blog for a long time now. I’ve had a vision, a name, an understanding of how it would be unique, and a huge belief that it could help a lot of people.

The blog would be about learning to work with food, and ingredients. Not about recipes so much, and not exotic, just practical knowledge that would help the most uninitiated home cook go from oh-my-gosh-I-could-never-do-that – to - holy-cow-I-just-made-that-deliciousness-without-a-recipe.

Learning to work with food has proven incredibly worthwhile for me. It has enabled me to save money, eat healthier, experience less stress with grocery shopping and meal planning, be less wasteful, and, best of all, to create tastier food.

The problem with the food blog idea is that I can’t possibly take on another project right now. I just can’t. Even though I am passionate about helping people overcome their home kitchen woes and even though the Dude is constantly encouraging me to share what I’ve learned over the years, I just don’t have the life-space to start a new, entirely different, project.

But the other day it finally clicked: exploring food this way is a perfect fit for Project Grownup. It is approaching something we never learned and trying to become more capable with it.

So for the benefit of Project Grownup (hopefully), and for the sake of my sanity (certainly), I have scrapped my previous food blog project and am grafting it into our little life here, in the form of a weekly column I’m calling Foodist Friday.

You interested?

Now, you might be wondering what a “foodist” is (hint: it’s not someone who spends their days on a beach wearing nothing but lettuce), so I’ve explained that and answered a few other Foodist Friday questions below.

Q: Uhhhh, what’s a foodist?

A: The meaning of the word “foodist” is still evolving. And since the word is still coming into its own, different people have different ideas of what it means. But from what I can see, it is most-often used to describe exactly the approach I’m aiming for: “over-interested in the essence of food.”

Q: How is a foodist different from a foodie?

You can look this up elsewhere on the web, but I might say it like this:

A foodie is a food hobbyist. They love to find recipes, buy cookbooks, watch food network, and read food blogs. They talk about their favorite restaurants and menu items and what they’ve tried, in a comparing notes kind of a way. They have found a hobby and it happens to be food.

A foodist is a food enthusiast. They see food as an adventure and love to taste everything, learn about flavors and techniques, and are endlessly curious about real food. They read and talk about food in an exploratory or academic sort of way. They have found food and it happens to look like a hobby.

Q: Is this just going to turn into a food blog?

No. I couldn’t possibly keep up with a food blog. And my photography skills are wanting.

Q: You’re not a chef, how do I know you’re reliable?

Well, you don’t. That pretty much goes for anyone telling you anything on the interwebs. But I’ll be sharing things that I’ve been doing for a very long time. Plus, I’ll be using my food reference library and researching my little heart out to pass along the very best information I can.

Overall I hope Foodist Friday will help you feel more confident in the kitchen, and provide you with the encouragement to get started. And, as I’ll still be learning for a very long time, we’ll be growing together. Next week we’ll talk about using dried beans, and I’ll try to convince you to trade in your cans. Ready to get started?

But first, what would you like to see in Foodist Friday? 

Is Your To Do List Depressing You?

I’ve got that love/hate thing with my to do list.

I love the list. It lets me feel organized (even if I’m not). The undone staring me in the face? Mmmm… not so much.

Historically I’ve sabotaged my productivity by the way I create and use my list. I put so many things on there that managing the list itself requires an embarrassing amount of time. I put things on it that there is no way won’t get done. Like “cook dinner”. What, am I going to forget? I might need to set a timer to remind me that it’s time to get started, but I’m not going to forget. Or things like “hang curtains”. Really? I notice the curtains every cussing day. I don’t hang them because a) I need the dude’s help and b) drilling in cement makes the sort of mess I never want to clean up. The truth is, I don’t “forget” to hang the curtains. I see them every day. I just choose not to bother with it. Which means it’s a ridiculous use of my to do list space.

Then a few years ago I read David Allen’s Getting Things Done and discovered soooo many other ways my to do list was messed up. Like the whole “actionable” thing. Allen points out that so often we put things on our lists that aren’t actionable. Things like “Dude’s birthday party”, or “car maintenance” or “garden”. Those things are categories. But what is it that needs to be done exactly? As he explained why such practices are a problem and what to do instead, the lightbulbs started going off. I was a major transgressor.

How did these things never occur to me before?

Which is exactly how I felt the other day when the universe dropped this one on me:

Rather than being a list of necessary tasks,
my “to do” was a list of perfection-achieving tasks.

It had stuff on it – lots of stuff – that didn’t really need to be done. Things like “get a lamp for the living room table.” When, really, if we move out of this house and there’s no lamp, it won’t matter a bit. Except that we’ll have less to move.

Or something like “organize the office supplies.” I realize many people may actually need to organize their office supplies so they can find things or for their sanity. But we don’t. Ours are orderly, and we can find what we’re looking for. It’s not perfect, but it’s functional. And it’s not bothering anyone.

And taking something that isn’t bothering anyone from “functional” to “perfect” is not necessary.

But these things were all over my to do list. Rather than being a “hey, here’s a list of things that will move your life forward in ways that matter to you”, my list was a, “hey, here’s a list of all the things you haven’t done, to remind you of all they ways you’re not perfect.”

I don’t need help remembering that, thanks.

The only thing having those items on my to do list accomplished was to remind me of all the ideas I have that I haven’t acted on.

And I have lots of ideas. Of course, when things ARE acted on I delete them from the list. How depressing! To only be reminded of the things you’ve never acted on when there are so many things you have!

So I ruthlessly deleted all the “countdown to perfection” items on my to do list. (It’s not like I can’t add them back if I need to.)

And good riddance! With all that junk removed, it’s so much easier to focus on things that will make an impact on my life now, rather than getting distracted by the superfluous. And it’s so much less depressing!

What about you? Is your to do list flawed?

September: Checking In & Looking Forward

Fall arrives in 18 days. Is anyone sad about this? If you are, please don’t tell me. You’ll provoke the claws, and I’ve been keeping them a secret. We’ve reached the beginning of (yet) another month, which means it’s time for…

A Quick Check-In

The first of the month is a great time for a quick check-in and forward look. If you want to, that is. This is a judgment-free zone. Well, unless you don’t like Fall. I will judge you for that.

Anyway, as a new month begins, I try to step back and survey my life a bit. Kind of like a mini version of what I might do at the start of a new year. In fact, it helps me stay on track with things I “resolved” at the beginning of year. It also makes me feel like my life isn’t just slipping away.

I ask myself questions like:

  • Are things in my life how I want them to be? Both internally and externally?
  • How am I doing with the aims I set at the beginning of the year?
  • Is there anything I’d like to be done with this month whether by finishing it or by officially dropping it?
  • Is there anything about myself and my personal life that I’d like to focus on this month?

Though I aim to do this monthly, I realistically get to it about 2/3 of the year. And though my life feels better all-around when I’ve done it, I don’t let the fact that I skip months get me down. Most of the time I’ve just honestly forgotten, and so I jump in wherever I’m at without worrying about it.

This month I’m focusing on my physical health. I’m aiming to take smaller portions of everything that isn’t water. Well, water or coffee, actually. I’m working on adding exercise to my daily routine (for now I count the 4-minute workout as daily exercise). I’m also hoping to adjust our family diet, which will mean adjusting my shopping.

Focusing on only one major area at a time frees me from worrying about much else that month. Since I choose something different each month, I’ll eventually get around to anything that’s really important. And the focus helps me actually take some strides in the targeted area because, really, it’s just one thing.

What about you? Is there anything you want to focus on this month or aim to have completed by the end of the month? Leave a comment below.

September at Project Grownup

In September,  I’ll be posting a few more things related to home organizing and decluttering, fully shaming myself when I purge my closet and share it online. (hmmm… maybe instagram would make my piles look better…) I’m also going to show you my paper pile. Please be a dear friend and don’t mention what you discover to anyone else, ‘kay?

Along with that, I’m starting two new “columns” this month; one will begin this Friday, and one next Tuesday. As consistency is not my strong suit, this could be a wild ride. (Someone have their dude call mine to make sure he’s seen me.) But as I’m really trying to replace my propensity for inconsistency with something else, this seems like a way to go for it. Nothing like going public for a little accountability.

The Future

October’s “theme” (if you can call it that) will be personal finance. It seems like everywhere I turn I see people crying out for someone to help them navigate the money crazy. Just last week on Facebook, Get Rich Slowly posed this question: 

People mentioned impulse and other small purchases, not being able to stop themselves from buying that thing they love, eating out (I think this might have been the most frequent response), expensive monthly commitments like cell phone plans, and just overall financial ignorance. I think having a response to this question at all indicates a commendable level of self-awareness. Many of us don’t even stop to think about where we might be leaking money, so bravo GRS readers.

I think to most of us, the endless sea of personal finance topics feels like a big boiling pot of overwhelm, as though if we dip a toe in it we might get burned. So instead, we just sit by and watch the pot run dry.

Mmmmm… probably not the best decision. But where do we start?

We’ll get to that eventually. But I’d love to first hear from you. Over the next month I’ll be researching and gathering resources for October’s posts, and I’d love to focus on that which will be most useful to you.

So please take a second and weigh in on any or all of these:

  • What financial issue or strain is most regularly on your mind right now? 
  • What most confuses you or do you feel the most clueless about?
  • What resources or tips have been helpful to you on your journey thus far?
  • Anything else?

Oh! And Happy Almost-Fall!

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