Quick Tips

I’ll Just Say I Told You So

If you just want to skip right down to the tips, I get it – click here.

Just don’t get mad at me later when you find out you missed an incredibly scintillating piece about fat sucking, banana peels, ferrets, rat holes, Madonna, Nigerian princes, and prospecting for shiny objects.

Even If I’m Positive You Really Are My Long-Lost Cousin – Figure It Out Yourself, Buddy

I’d like to think I’m not a gullible person.

• I don’t click on email links asking me for my password.
• I’ve never sent money to a relative stranded overseas or royalty claiming a stellar investment opportunity.
• I always check when my offspring claim to be done with their chores (trust but verify, am I right?).
• I’m pretty sure there can only be one “best cup of coffee” or “best burger” in the world.
• And I don’t sit breathlessly in front of the TV at 2 AM, phone in hand, ready to order the latest Fat-Sucking-Reshape-Your-Entire-Body-While-Also-Getting-A-College-Degree-Online-In-18-Minutes gadget.*

But….there’s one thing that gets me. Every time.

I’m a sucker for cleaning and organizing tips, tricks, and hacks. Show me a video, blog post, news article, magazine, or book that promises cleaning, organizing, and general life tips, tricks, and hacks, and I’m all over it.

If I don’t have time to watch, read, or listen right then, I tear out, bookmark, screenshot, or otherwise save it to a later list.**

I can’t help it, I just love ferreting out little ways to tweak my life and inch forward a notch.

Only Without the Window-Cleaning Ability

Maybe it’s because I’ve always felt a little behind, trying to catch up. What comes easily and naturally to some moms makes me feel like a window washer on a city skyscraper. Watching the beautiful people through smudged glass while I dangle 50 stories above rusted dumpsters.

I swear, it’s such a real sensation. I can even smell the garbage.

Wait – that might be the rotten banana peel in my wastebasket. I’ll be right back.

Okay, where were we? Banana peels…fear of death…Windex – oh yeah, okay.

Sometimes I just can’t seem to do things their way OR…sometimes, I don’t want to. Either because:

• The ensuing distractibility from using methods like “one-touch” sends me down a rat hole like nobody’s business. Or…
• The boredom makes me want to dress my cat up like Madonna (“Like a Virgin” Madonna, not pointy-bra Madonna – I’m not a sadist. Also he looks adorable in lace gloves) and cart him around in a baby carriage, just for a change of pace.

So I pluck and hoard these tidbits of information, sifting through the words like a prospector. Hoping to find a glint of glitter here and there. Something shiny that I can manipulate to fit around the pieces of my scattered brain.

Now you might be thinking, what does this have to do with me? And why did Joni plunk this odd, separate page right here in the middle of her website? After all, she has plenty of categories and a blog roll full of all of her writing. All in one place.

I’m so glad you asked.

I know you didn’t, just play along, ‘k?

How To Show Your Age In Three Paragraphs Or Less

Way long ago, I dreamed of publishing a newsletter via email to share the bits and pieces of my journey and, hopefully, help other moms like me. The ones who are searching for small ways to make a big difference in their lives.

I even thought about writing a book. I just didn’t know how. And truth be told, I wasn’t quite organized yet enough to make dreams like that happen.

This was when blogging wasn’t yet a thing. Now it is. And that’s what people read. So a blog it shall be.

But the catch is, blogs don’t lend themselves to a newsletter format. Or a book format. Because when I write a “real” blog post, I feel like it needs to be about one topic.

But what about all these hundreds of little tips floating around in my brain? Do I really have to wait 5 years to get to two ways I know will help you get your fridge organized, simply because I don’t yet have enough for a “real” blog post about shipshape refrigerators (and nobody’s going to bother to read “Two Ways To Organize Your Fridge” – big whoop, right?).

By creating a page to reach out and collect just the posts where I share the baby steps, mini habits, tips, tricks, hacks, ideas, and tidbits, I can give you a nice, linked list all in one place. And you’ll know exactly what you’re getting.

I include a cleaning tip, an organizing tip, a general life tip, and a mini-habit in each roundup of tips. So there’s something for everyone in each post.*** And every tip will have been tested by me. If they’re not, I’ll say so.

I hope you’ll reach out to me and tell me if this way works or doesn’t work for you. Is there a better way, a method I could use that would help you find and keep the tips?

I May Have Started Climbing Mt. Organization From Well Below Sea Level

By the way, some of these are pretty elementary. But know that I only included them if it was something I needed at one time. So if one seems like a no-brainer, you are simply more advanced than I was at that point. That’s a good thing, right? Just ignore it and move on to the next one.

I’d love to hear more ideas from you in the comments. If you give me an idea that helps me fix something in my own life, I’ll try it out and include it in a future post.

*I admit to being tempted by that one.

**Ironically, none of my “later” lists are all that organized. Maybe I can find a hack for that.

***Well, not my cat. He doesn’t read my stuff anymore. He’s way too ticked off at me. Probably because he prefers dressing up like Lady Gaga. (I just know there’s a tough titty, kitty joke in there somewhere.)

The Good Stuff

Tips, Tricks, Hacks, and Mini-Habits Post #1: No More Wet Towels On the Bathroom Floor + More