The speaker shares things bringing them joy like being done with Christmas shopping and using a calendar to stay organized. They discuss the importance of meal planning and using calendars, their love for sweaters and struggles with graphic tees. They mention cutting off t-shirts, a lifesaving dry shampoo, and creating a peaceful space in a chaotic home.
Planning and making purchases on purpose can help avoid reactive buying and create a quieter December for enjoying gift-wrapping.
The Essential Calendar is a valuable tool for staying organized, coordinating schedules, and visualizing plans for the coming months.
Deep dives
Christmas shopping done
One of the things saving the speaker's life is that they are almost done with their Christmas shopping. They wanted to have a quieter December and enjoy slowly wrapping gifts. By using a holiday to-do list approach, they were able to plan and make purchases on purpose, avoiding reactive buying. While this may not be the right approach for everyone, it mattered to the speaker to have this task completed so they can focus on other holiday activities.
Essential calendar
The speaker emphasizes the usefulness of the Essential Calendar as a tool for staying organized and on top of commitments. They appreciate the variety of options and the high quality of this analog paper calendar. By writing down extra activities and events, the calendar helps them orient themselves in the current season. The speaker finds it particularly valuable for coordinating schedules with their kids and for visualizing their plans for the coming months.
Dry erase monthly meal planning calendars
The speaker describes their use of simple dry erase calendars from Target for meal planning. With two calendars on their kitchen wall, they have the ability to plan meals for up to 10 weeks ahead. The speaker finds it helpful to have a visual representation of their dinner options and uses the calendar to assign meals to specific days, taking into account any special events or activities. This practice has been a lifesaver, especially during the busy holiday season.
I love doing these episodes once a quarter where I share the things that are saving my life right now, things that are bringing me joy, making life easier, helping me feel calmer… the sky is the limit, and I love them.