Some cool folks

It has been far too long that I've not written this stuff down. Especially when they're things I'm constantly thinking about or recommending to other people. By god I hope people reading this have their shit more together than I do, but if not - here ya go! I wish I'd been able to learn these faster. Yes, money factors in to a lot of these.

• The current you is the most important. Not anybody else. This predicts everything else. Not who you think you might be one day (organized, better at relationships, more punctual, more consistent...). Current you. Making sure you're fed is one of the most important things - I struggle with this, so I talk a lot about it. Learned the other day that I'm not covering my basal metabolic rate with my daily calorie intake (calculate yours!).

• Take off your SJW hat at home. Social Justice Warrior for those unaware - and I use that term affectionately. As someone who cares about social issues like sustainability, animal welfare, I was constantly evaluating whether my decisions were the best for all involved. Should I be buying organic free-range milk? Or nut milk? But those are expensive. I shouldn't use single-use plastic... Lettuce soaks up the most pesticide, but I need veggies... Nope. Doesn't matter. I mean if you're hardcore vegetarian or vegan, by all means - but if you're constantly stressing about what is maybe best, just drop it if possible. What does this look like? Buy vegetable/fruit smoothie pouches designed for kids. Get the eggs in the styrofoam that are $1.50. Get plastic silverware if you just cannot do the dishes or will stop eating until they're done. If you want to boycott certain things, more power to you! But reconsider if these things are preventing you from meeting your financial, nutritional, or mental health needs (boycotting Walmart when you're on a budget, I have found, is unfortunately a poor decision unless you want to spend a lot of time doing research on other things). I boycott Starbucks, Spotify, and Target but use Amazon and Walmart and (rarely) Temu. 

• Everything you eat food out of or use to prepare food should be glass or stainless steel and dishwasher-safe. No plastic if possible. These are the least porous, from what I can tell - and you know damn well those dishes aren't getting cleaned in an amount of time. Plan for food to go bad in your dishes. Maybe you've got this part of your life down - I sure don't. I love wood utensils - I love sustainability! But my cooking utensils will be 100% silicone thank you very much. It leeches yes but it's better than my beautiful wood utensils rotting in the sink or staying dirty on the counter. 

• Get a bunch of the same item. I have five hairbrushes. I have an incredible amount of rubber bands. I have ten to fifteen sticks of lip balm/chapstick floating around my house and car. You will lose shit, and that's okay. So long as you don't lose it into the trash, it will come back around. I have so many pair of socks.

• Buy easy food. I’ll make another page with these (hopefully), but for starters: Cup noodle, ramen, those tuna snack kits they sell at the dollar tree and Walmart, slim jims, meat and cheese packs, pre-sliced cheese and crackers, hell, lunchables if you like em, chef boyardee ravioli, bush's baked beans, meal shakes (ideally the liquid form, but sure, you can use the powder if you're actually going to wash your shaker/cup - ha!), microwave rice packets or cups (cups = one less dish), fruit cups, anything designed for kid's lunches, chip bags you can buy in bulk from Costco, I like Aussie Bites because they're nutritional and actually taste good.

• Alternatively - a tip from a friend - have less of certain stuff. I have not tried this life hack but supposedly if you only have enough dishes to go in the dishwasher, they can't pile up elsewheres. Hopefully, I'll be able to put this into practice one day. 

• I've been having a good time with topical organizers. I have boxes for my themed stuff. I got one of these stackable collapsible clear chest of drawers/bookshelf kind of things off of Temu (remember - SJW hat is OFF!), and it's one of the best things I've ever bought. Are 90% of my clothes still on The Chair? Yep. HOWEVER - 5% of clothes are now somewhat organized in my place with clear doors. Don't ask me where the other 5% are. My cables are all shoved in the top container where I know they are. They're easy to throw in there when I'm tidying up once a month or so.

• Put things where you want them. My bookshelf thing is in my bedroom where I spend most of my time. Not the office, where my brain says they should be. Where I actually have them. I'm not walking to the office to put shit away. My guitar is out on a stand in my bedroom. My drawing stuff is in the other half of my electronics drawer. My notebooks are in my bedside table. So are my meds and vitamins and snacks and hairbrush. I highly recommend How to Keep House While Drowning. Your house is for you, not anybody who might judge you.

• Do things halfway. All that you do, do with your might - things done by halves are not done right. BULLSHIT! Get it halfway done. I'm getting tired of writing this. Okay! Published imperfectly. I like the work methodology where you always have a finished product. You can always give up halfway through if you always have a finished product - however poor - and keep improving on the finished product. Especially if you're a perfectionist, you may bite off more than you can chew in terms of mental energy to finish things. Get the absolute bare minimum done. Then work on everything else.

Anyway, I'll update this now and then! Let me know what tips you have in the comments. Also, here's my friend's fantastic article on getting things done. 

Song of the minute: https://link.deezer.com/s/333Cg2xXfbMOB4C4vUlH8  (this link goes to whatever your music service is).
Not due to the lyrical content but I love the sound.