Tag: Life Hacks

Small Bag of Chargers ALL THE TIME!

In last week’s newsletter, I shared two of my favorite travel tips, my packing cubes and an always-packed toiletry kit.

I was reminded of another favorite travel tip as I packed to travel this past weekend. And I can’t believe I haven’t written about it before now!

I have a small plastic pouch that makes my life better. It lives in my daily go-bag and contains the chargers I might need to charge my stuff.  ALL THE TIME. Plus the cubes to go in the wall or car outlet that hold multiple cords.

For most items, I am pretty tough on the question of duplicates. But this is one instance – tech accessories – when duplicates are OK and even encouraged! It is frustrating and un-safe to be caught without charged tech items.

I travel a lot and even if I didn’t, I’m still on the go ALL THE TIME. This handy little pouch goes almost every where with me. It lives in my go-bag every day for work and gets tossed in my luggage when we travel.


What’s in the bag right now?


We have cords in the cars, too, that STAY IN THE CAR.

Remembering to pack the items is easy. And since I have duplicates, it is also not a crisis if I leave one behind or more likely, share one with a family member that forgot theirs.


The other habit is that I always keep an extra new cord in the tech drawer next to my desk.  Then, if I need to give a cord to my sons (or my mom, like I did a couple of weeks ago) or I need to replace an old cord (like I did over the weekend), I use the back-up one from the drawer and add a new cord to my weekly Office Max order.  So we’re always covered!

Give a little thought this week to what chargers and tech accessories would go into your charger bag to give you peace of mind on the go!

Keep Your Travel Essentials Packed ALL THE TIME

Recently, a man walked up to me before Mass and said “You look like a person who carries band-aids.  Could I have one, please?  My son cut his finger and needs some help.”  Not only did I have band-aids to share, I also provided a cleansing wipe, alcohol pad and a few tissues.

Yep, that’s how I roll.  I carried a mom-bag even before I was a mom.  I’m the one with a safety pin, phone charger, hand sanitizer, gum (even though I don’t chew it), toothpicks and tylenol.  If you need something and I’m in the room, go ahead and ask, I probably have it.

My thoughts are on travel this month and I want to talk about my travel kit. Our “travel kit”, shave kit, travel toiletry bag,  etc. is the bag of travel and hygiene essentials that we all should get used to taking with us when we travel.

And here is a little secret – Keep it packed and up-to-date ALL THE TIME to make life and travel so much easier!  I travel often enough, especially during the summer, that leaving these essentials packed all the time saves lots of time and hassle.

How to?  Here we go!

  1. Determine your list of essentials.  Yes, I actually made a list, printed and laminated it and posted it on the inside of one of my medicine cabinet doors (I had a list for the kids when they were little, too).  My list includes:
  • toothpaste, toothbrush,  shampoo, conditioner, soap / bodywash, face lotion with sunscreen, body lotion, hair styling product and comb, and deodorant.  A travel size of all of these items stay in the kit all the time, as do
  • lip balm, nail trimmers, tweezers, scissors and an extra eyeglass case.
  • Planning for emergencies, I also pack a glass repair kit, mini-sewing kit and first aid kit.
  • When I am ready to leave, I will add: contacts and solution, cosmetics, nail polish (for touch ups), and a jewelry pouch.
  • In the kitchen, there is a bag and a check list ready for packing my vitamins, protein shake, and travel coffee (Starbuck’s Via Packets) and tea for just in case.

2.  Find a pouch or two that will hold everything. Consider your options: washable (mine is plastic and wipes clean);  transparent (best for air travel, and for being able to see and find stuff!) or opaque (for privacy); appropriately sized – not too big or too small! I use two for longer trips, with shower stuff in one and everything else in the other, as they are less bulky in a suitcase this way.

3.  If you have a habit of forgetting your kit in hotel rooms, you could use a resealable quart or freezer size ziploc with disposable items inside.

4.  Check your linen closet or medicine cabinets for extras of the essentials, and populate your kit.  Grab travel sizes of your essentials, or those hotel sized toiletries you seem to collect but never use!  Once you know what you need, and what you already have on hand, take a swing through the travel size aisle at your local pharmacy for the items you’re missing.

5.  Most importantly, when you return from your adventures, check your list and your pouch contents again and restock anything you may have depleted while you were traveling.  Put your pre-packed travel kit away until you pack for your next adventure, when it will be waiting to help you out!

An Organized Person… Starts With A Plan

An Organized Person…   Starts with a plan.

So here is the plan:  I will spend the next blog article series sharing organizational wisdom, life hacks, tips and suggestions to help us do the things  that life requires us to do.

If you follow me on FB, you may have noticed (or even been a part of) the lively conversation last week around life skills.

I don’t care for the term “adulting”, though many of these types of tasks are required of we adults, so I asked for alternative ideas.  Suggested titles for this blog series include:

  • The business of your business or someone else’s business or just the business of yourself.
  • “Umm…life?”
  • Mom’s not here
  • How to not be a jerk / slacker / (and other more colorful words)
  • How to be productive member of society
  • “Things you need to know how to do before you’re 30 (or 25 or 40) or
  • “Organizing Skills You Need to Know Before You’re 30 or 25 or 40″
  • That which we must do to provide for those we love
  • The Next Step
  • Responsibility, goal setting, integrity, maturity, demonstrating self-sufficiency, possessing life skills.
  • How to Grow Up, or Grow Up and Get it Done
  • “You couldn’t wait to grow up! Here is grown up stuff you have to do!”
  • The Art of Being an Adult
  • “Now that you’re ripened! 🤣. or….Now that you’re a big kid….here’s your list of things”
  • Owning It…how to get back your time by getting stuff done
  • “You put your big boy/girl pants on, now what?”

Have I mentioned lately?  I love my community!

The plan is to introduce a topic a week, perhaps requesting input from my community regarding the tips (and even upcoming topics).  These topics will all be a part of being an organized person.

As part of my plan, topics in the near future include “Organized People…

  • work smarter
  • outsource
  • do important stuff by 8 am
  • put things in the same place twice (or more)
  • pack a bag (maybe every day)
  • ignore shiny things and focus on the task in front of them
  • have habits around paying their bills
  • pay their taxes
  • and more!”

I’m looking forward to having some fun and learning a lot in this process, so glad you all are with me!  See you in a week!

How Long Does It Really Take To … (insert task here)

Have you ever noticed?

We either dread what we don’t need to dread,

or

feel rushed when tasks take longer than expected?

How long does it really take to balance your checkbook?  (If you even do that anymore?)  How long does it really take to unload the dishwasher?  Get your oil changed?  Drop off that return item at the post office?  Get a hair cut? Call the doctor?  Come on… be honest…

Not very long, right?  Sometimes the tasks we dread or just don’t feel like doing get INFLATED in our mind, and we assume these dreaded tasks are going to take FOREVER to complete and so we never get around to completing them.  When we finally DO complete these tasks, we realize that they take no time at all.  We spend far more time dreading some tasks than we do completing them.

On the other hand,

We assume the trip to the grocery will only take 20 minutes (which NEVER happens), or that the “quick chat” with a co-worker, or the trip to your friend’s house or favorite restaurant takes no time at all even though you ALWAYS talk longer than you thought, or get stuck in traffic and it ALWAYS takes longer than you think.  Or we forget that going to the grocery also entails carving out 30 minutes when we get home to put everything away and then make a snack.

Let me introduce the idea of Realistic Time  Estimates.  Answer for yourself the question “How Long Does This Task Take?” and stick with that!  Once you realize how long tasks actually take, you will worry and procrastinate less while getting more done!

For example, I used to dread balancing my business’s books at the end of  every month.  I worried it would take hours so I would procrastinate and let my paperwork build up for a month or two.  Ridiculous, I know.  I realized I was self- sabotaging. One month, I spent a couple extra hours and cleaned up my banking and bookkeeping.  I moved everything to Quicken, set my statements  to download automatically from my bank (10 minutes once a month), loaded client info into Paypal to make invoicing easier (10 minutes a month), and streamlined the process for myself.  Now my bookkeeping takes care of itself, I get paid on time and I don’t dread these tasks!

On the other side, I also started setting an alarm in the morning so I didn’t get sidetracked by a pleasant chat with a fellow school parent that could go on too long.

Where else do we need Realistic Time Estimates?  What other time estimates do we skew?  How long will it really take to

  • Get ready for work?  For school? To go out? Drive our usual commute?  And is it ever perfectly smooth?
  • Get dinner on the table?
  • Get the teenager out of bed and functional?
  • Pick up Take-Out?
  • Write my blog article and newsletter this week?
  • Write up that weekly or monthly report?
  • Process our notes and act on our action items from our staff meeting?

This week and this month, take a look at how long your usual tasks ACTUALLY TAKE and determine Realistic Time Estimates.

Set a timer! Set an alarm!  Look around and seek out the tasks you dread for no reason, or the tasks you underestimate and always run over!   Take the steps to create awareness, and adjust your thinking to get your work done!