Simple Lifehacks

Preparation

• Two things can make this world into a paradise: SCIENCE and PROFESSIONALISM. Cultivate these in yourself and in your life. Continually improve upon your understanding of how they work. Promote these ideals by being a positive example of someone who uses them and by asking them of others. Your life will improve in so many different ways that you'll lose count.
• Don't buy into the myth that people are "born smart" or "born dumb." What a load of hooey! I've known some educators and they said in their decades of experience none of their students were "dumb" or "smart," just encouraged or not.
• Always ask yourself "Would I rather know the truth or be comfortable?" In my own experience I have learned that finding out the truth has been less painful than prioritizing my comfort, every single time, but try it for yourself. Experiment with it.
• Learn from everyone, even if they are teaching you by being a poor example. In particular, try to listen to people who are older than you - either their actions, or their words, or both. Those who are older and wiser tend to be really wise. Those who are older and unwise tend to be great examples of what not to do.
• Remember the 6 P's - Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance
• In that vein, remember to assign yourself homework when faced with something you think it'll help with. For instance, if you need to get a driver's license, figure out how to do it before you show up at the DMV by looking online. If you need to vote for a political candidate, research all of your options until you know what each one is probably going to do. If you're going to go on a trip, make a plan for each step and some checklists for what you'll need so you don't forget anything. Never think that you are smart enough, strong enough, lucky enough or prepared enough to handle the unknown. That's a recipe for disaster.
• If you learn no other subject, learn to research. Decent avenues of research include investigating the subject in person, experimentation, university textbooks, scientific articles on sources like ScienceDaily and PubMed, and various scientific articles behind paywalls. Mediocre/sketchy avenues of research include the internet, library books, and asking friends and family (who also know how to research). Bad avenues of research include gossip, all news articles, "expert opinions," and opinions in general such as basically the entirety of Twitter and Tumblr. Beware of several supposedly science-based websites that publish studies and articles which have little to no basis in fact. Dr. Mercola, I'm looking at you. Just because something sounds scientific doesn't mean it is. I have also found that you can usually find better information in books than on websites, no matter how much effort was put into them.
• If you have anything, anything at all in your life that isn't going that well or that's bothering you, search for books on that topic using your library's online catalog and reserve books to help you get better acquainted with it and possible solutions. If everything's going fine but you would like certain parts of your life to go better, search for books on that topic. Find the best ones after trial and error, and if you really like them, buy them as reference. That's what the library is there for.
• Carry a backpack, messenger bag, or purse filled with necessities wherever you go. When you buy pants, make sure they actually have tough pockets so you can constantly carry useful items in them. Specifically at the very least: wallet, keys, cell phone if you have one, a lighter and a knife. In the bag be sure to carry at the least a water bottle, prescription medication, first aid items, and some packaged food. The Boy Scouts are right; be prepared. For the record, it is actually worth it to join the boy scouts. If you can handle being with a bunch of unsupervised pyromaniacs who have "interesting" ideas.
• Good investments: Eco-friendly modifications to your life, because these very often reduce bills by a lot. A retirement fund. $20-40 per month or more put into savings for unexpected expenses and/or emergencies. 6 months of living expenses saved up in an account with good interest. A 401k or Roth IRA. A home, even if mortgaged. Land, especially if you can garden, farm, or homestead on it. Health insurance (I like using healthcare.gov). Separate savings accounts in a place with great interest (such as a credit union), each saving up for one life goal such as a nice wedding, paying for college, raising kids, or starting a business. More savings accounts for short-term goals such as buying winter holiday presents, taking a family vacation, or treating yourself to something you've wanted for a while. One or two rest days per week. Work on your mental health and other kinds of self-care. Regular exercise. Glass pyrex containers with plastic lids, for safely storing and reheating home-cooked meals. A container of some kind to store business cards in alphabetical order. A cheap notebook for writing down dates of address changes, school attendance dates, job start and end dates, and other stuff work and rent applications ask for. A cheap notebook for writing down contact information, because phones lose your entire contacts list often. Folders and a file cabinet or plastic file boxes, or a plastic binder with dividers, for family records such as medical files, rent agreements, legal files, insurance documents etc. A list of useful numbers stuck on the fridge - poison control, local sheriff, maintenance guy, etc. A cheap notebook that lives in your house somewhere in which you write down all your internet passwords. Pillowcases and fitted sheets. Insect screens. Caulk and Great Stuff for gaps in walls. If you have a house, trees, planted where they reduce the sun's glare on your house and as a windbreak for cold winter winds. A door sweep to keep drafts out (these are like ten bucks). A very warm, large blanket. Oil changes and transmission fluid changes for your car. Water-resistant boots. Cheap used cars found on Craigslist, particularly Hondas. Five percent of your grocery budget diverted to savings. All the stuff you'll need to live out of a backpack for two weeks, stuffed in said backpack. Pet carriers with two weeks' worth of pet stuff in a pack next to them. Emergency stuff that includes but is not limited to 'go bags,' [***only post pandemic since panic buyers are causing supply shortages: 2-4 months' worth of everything your family needs to survive (food, water, medicine, hygiene supplies, entertainment DO NOTE that 'prepping' for 'the apocalypse' or making bunkers and bomb shelters and storing up years' worth of food is likely to just make you poor and paranoid unless you actually live in an active war zone)***], items for obtaining everything your family needs to survive if the previous stuff runs out (water collection & treatment gear, gardening gear & properly stored seeds, tools for building things/homesteading), first-aid kits, car emergency kits, fire safety stuff, hurricane or tornado stuff, earthquake stuff, flood stuff, and weapons. Books you will refer to for many years. Bookshelves. Tutoring sessions. A good well-rounded, thorough education. A la carte education whenever you feel like getting it and can afford it, such as CPR courses, night school, and long-term individual tutoring for subjects you wish to learn (this, on top of a thorough well-rounded education and all other education, is actually very very emphasized in Jewish culture and very valued, and I feel it has a lot to do with the reputation of a lot of Jewish people going into difficult and lucrative career fields like medicine and law; source - grew up Jewish). Actually, I buy 3 books at the beginning of every month since it keeps me both sane and edutained. Win win.
• Things worth learning that are guaranteed to come in handy: Cooking, other languages, survival skills, machine sewing, hand sewing, knots, driving, starting fires, camping, cleaning, car maintenance and repair, home maintenance and repair, gardening, martial arts, first aid, manners, dressing for success.
• Throughout your life, it is important to have the following: a good lawyer, a good bank, a good health care team, a good primary care physician, a good boss, and frequent access to information via the internet, libraries, or both. Do your best to find these people and keep in mind: do important business only with people you respect and can trust.
• If it has an owner's manual, a legal agreement, or a contract that involves you somehow, you should probably read it. You should also keep copies of anything legal that could be important, in a safe location such as a labeled folder in your home.
• Redundancy is good. If you have files on your computer, back them up on a hard drive, flashdrive, and/or print out the really important ones. If you have a contacts list in your phone, write it down in a notebook and see if you can also get and store their business cards. If you've written down events in a planner, it's also good to mark them on a calendar. Etc. Things get lost, stolen, destroyed, and otherwise all kinds of f'd and it's always good to have a backup.
• It is wise to come up with a bunch of nine-day plans for specific kinds of things in your life. Pretend you can actually get this stuff done in nine days; divide them up by Day 1, 2, etc. Here are good things to plan for: happiness/positivity, health, wealth/prosperity, wisdom, success, luck, love/relationships, virtue/goodness, and protection/safety. This is an interesting mental exercise because it really does work; somehow pretending that you're able to turn your life around in only nine days shakes loose a bunch of good ideas from your noggin. Then, once these plans are fleshed out, you can actually try them out and see what happens.
• In a book I read once it said that men who got really fired up and passionate about making money wound up being the super rich ones. I tried applying that advice half-heartedly cause finance is boring as hell but I have several expensive things I seriously want to buy (such as landback for Native folks and a bunch of land to preserve the wilderness on it) and it actually worked. That's good advice for anything you want. You have to get at least a little obsessed with the subject, educate yourself on it, work on it, have that drive. It's my "secret" to success. Just don't fall on the flip side of that coin and work yourself into insanity. And yeah you can apply this kind of nuttiness to nine-day plans.
• Cook up new ideas as often as you want. Some of them might be really good and help you; the rest will keep you on your toes and remind you that almost nothing is impossible. Some subsections to daydream about include what you'd change about the world if you were king, inventions you'd like to make, various things in your ideal life, solutions to problems mundane and not, and hypotheses about the 'big questions' of life.

Food-related

• Choose one day per week to buy necessities like groceries and household goods. In the week leading up to that day, as you encounter things you need to buy, write them down on a list. The day before you buy things, make a list of meals you want to eat at some point during the following week, and then build a grocery list off the meal list. Add the grocery list to the necessities list. This way you don't end up going to the store like ten times a week.
• When you return from the grocery store, prep all the food ingredients you can as soon as you can and store them in tightly closed containers in the fridge. This really reduces waste.
• Meal rotations are underrated. It will make your life a lot easier to make a written list of full meals you enjoy eating often. Be sure to add to the meal rotation often. You might also consider making other meal rotation lists to go with seasons and the time surrounding/including holidays.
• If you actually work for a living, get a whole bunch of glass or plastic tupperware containers, a couple reusable water bottles, and a lunch box that's easily carried and that works with your lifestyle and which is easy to clean and doesn't leak. Then make yourself a list of meals to prep twice a week that are either easily heated up with what you have available, or made with boiling water, or good cold. The real trick here is to write down what you actually like eating, because that compensates for the fact you'll be eating mostly cold food, unless you're better at this than I am in which case props to you. Sort the list by breakfast, lunch/dinner, and snacks/meal additions. I like Sunday night and Wednesday night for meal prep. Calculate how much you need to make, then make it all at once and sort it into the meal prep containers. Make an effort to store wet food separate from dry so you put it together just before you eat it, in order to avoid sogginess. Depending on your skill level, rely on premade and prepackaged food a lot or a little. The focus is on what tastes good cold, not whether you're master chef. If, however, you actually are master chef, look into bentos because they're really good.
• If you work a physical job and/or one that requires you to endure the heat, pack one bottle of water and one bottle of an electrolyte drink. I have a recipe for homemade electrolytes here labeled as ORS v2.
• Some ideas for premade things to add to a meal prep rotation include falafel, hummus, crackers, canned beans and soy sauce, soups and stews, chili, and basically anything from a grocery store's deli/premade section. I mean, you probably knew that, but just saying.
• If you have basic skills in the kitchen, some foods that are definitely worth meal prepping include lunch meat + cheese + veg sandwiches, any kind of hearty soup or stew plus toast, chili, breakfast burritos, meal burritos, burrito bowls, instant oatmeal mixes with nuts, roast chickpeas, toasted nuts, meatballs and rice, sauteed chicken or fish and rice, tossed salad with bottled dressing on the side, crudites, fruit cup, and 'salad' type stuff such as pimento cheese and tuna salad. Easy mac also refrigerates well, and you can add hot dogs to that.
• If you have more familiarity with cooking, some foods that are worth meal prepping include breakfast cookies, granola bars, bran muffins, double chocolate muffins, bread pudding, veggie loaf, any and all hearty soups and stews, roasted vegetables, gourmet sandwiches, pasta salad, loaded salads with dressing on the side, any and all baked goods esp. fresh bread, all kinds of curry, quinoa salad, and deviled eggs. If you actually enjoy cooking then you can definitely experiment with what sounds good on meal prep days, except instead of just cooking enough for one meal plus leftovers for the following day, you just make double or triple what you normally would then eat it for half the week.
• Just-add-boiling-water stuff is a good thing to have on hand for when you're too tired for anything else. Same goes for freezer ready-to-eat meals and shelf-stable snacks that can be cobbled together into a full meal. It's a good idea to do this if you again, actually work for a living. Breakfasts are the worst thing to prep because you usually wind up having a long commute, so it's a wise plan to have a lot of cereal and milk on hand just in case.
• For hot food at the end of a long workday, a rice cooker, Instant Pot, and crock pot are good investments. Also a bunch of pasta, dumplings, tortellini etc. since pasta is absolutely terrible when it's premade.
• Fried rice is one classic dish to make out of leftovers, and if you know how to make it, many a dinner is saved.
• If all of this is too much of a hassle, and believe me I get that, stock up on enough restaurant and/or grocery store premade food for you to handle half a week and there you go. Don't make the mistake of just getting what sounds good though; you need a balanced healthy diet so be sure you get the big three, carbs-fat-protein, as well as vegetables and fruits. Learn what contains iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium; they're often lacking if you don't watch it. Learn what contains saturated fat and avoid that as much as possible; deep fried lards are a no. Take a multivitamin too just to be extra cautious. The only real issue besides that is price but if you shop around you can probably find the best stuff at the lowest possible price.
• If you work a crazy hard job and suck down caffeine like a lifeline, make your own fix. It's fucking expensive otherwise.
• Instructables, not Allrecipes or Food.com, has the best recipes for making homemade food. Or see the Foods section of this website ayyy Foods

Frugal-related

• Treat everything you own like it's the last of its kind you'll ever be able to get in your lifetime. Treat your stuff with that level of care.
• Cut sponges in half when you get them.
• Dilute dish detergent 1:1 with water when you get it - save an old bottle with which to do this.
• Only wash your hair twice a week
• Write down a financial plan at least once a year, including how you plan to save. Then, make a budget every week and stick to it. Include savings as part of your budget!

Within the United States: Transportation-related and Travel-related

• When driving anywhere, pull up the destination location on Google Maps first and draw a minimap on a piece of paper with relevant cross streets, turns, landmarks, alternate road/highway names, and streets before and after your destination. This way if you don't have a GPS, or if you have one that messes up, you still know where you're going.
• Have an itinerary. Know where you are going to drive, eat, stop for breaks, and sleep before you get on the road. Tell your loved ones about your itinerary.
• Never travel with an idiot. Ever.
• Bring a road buddy you can trust if you can. Dogs count.
• Bring water, necessities, and a cooler of food with you. Travel delays are inevitable.
• Buy polarized sunglasses and use them.
• Amtrak or Greyhound: No. No. No. No. No. No. No. But if you have to pick one go with Amtrak since it's slightly more reliable, just remember you'll be on the train for what seems like eternity. It will let you off in the middle of the night in the worst part of town, enjoy.
• Buy back support for the car seats or bundle up a sweater and use that even if you don't have back problems. Travel delays are inevitable.
• Chinese buffets with packed parking lots are generally going to be your best bet for cheap eats in the middle of nowhere.
• There is only one motel worth sleeping at on the road besides reserving an AirBnB, which by the way often works out pretty great. Motel 6. I've pretty much tried them all. Bed-and-breakfasts are also okay, also the Quality Inn/etc. franchise, but under no circumstances stay at any commercial motel that is not a franchise. Also never stay at a Knight's Inn. Holiday Inn and similar enormous hotels are overpriced and worse than Motel 6. Motel 6 is no longer worth any price. Do AirBnB instead but do your research first to ensure it's not some ripoff of a place.
• When you need to know more about a town you are new to, head to a locally owned coffee shop and talk to the person behind the counter.
• Don't antagonize the trucks. Playing chicken with something four times your car's size is suicidal.
• Stay away from bars period, especially if you don't live in that town. Just don't go to them. You aren't missing out.
• Generally speaking when you get a spooky feeling from a place, leave, but here are more specific things to stay away from: places with bad-tempered pets, places that don't take proper care of their livestock or farm animals, places with an obviously high income level or serious wealth inequality, places where the homeless are treated poorly, places where the homeless are mostly openly drunk and beligerrent and not carrying around massive backpacks, places with children that aren't properly dressed for the weather, anywhere with too many sporty show vehicles or humongous jacked-up pickup trucks, places where you can't see any minorities, tiny cow towns with no local businesses beside franchises (unless there is an OPEN gas station there in which case it's usually fine), enormous cities with nearly vacant one-way streets and almost nowhere to park, literally anywhere near an Amtrak or Greyhound station or hub, anywhere the road rage is worse than you have ever seen before. Industrial areas are generally terrible but still slightly safer than the aforementioned. Back country dirt roads are a complete crapshoot; better to stay off of them unless you are familiar with the area. Mere rudeness from the locals is totally fine but if there are any indications of racism, bigotry, criminal stupidity or criminal activity get the hell out. If a town has a bar but not a coffee shop it's usually sketchy...
• Crappy places to stay away from at all costs: Reno, Topeka, basically all of Kansas, West Virginia, Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, and Nevada, San Francisco at night, Wyandotte County in KC, Los Angeles, Newark, Detroit, Sioux City, most parts of Southern California. Washington, D.C. is overrated and overrun with $99.99 charcoal-grey business suits plus it is expensive. I have never been to the Deep South, aside from its airports, but all reports mention the racism in one way or another so that's probably not a good place to go either. If you're brave enough to go, the reports seem to indicate it's mostly every bit as bad as it seems but puffed up and full of self-absorbed hypocrisy, except for little pockets where people surviving the endless bullshit have created their own enclaves of humanity and kindness.
• States that are not that bad: Oklahoma, New York State, Colorado, California, Montana, Texas, Wyoming, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey. Yeah, New Jersey has an attitude problem, but they're not racist and the place is clean. It's not a bad place.
• Airports that suck: Newark, Atlanta
• Best not to travel by air now unless you have no other choice, such as you are a vaccine tourist visiting the US or you have to travel for urgent business.
• Airlines that suck: United, Continental, KLM, Delta. They are the Greyhound buses/Amtrak trains of the sky. Also see Nomadic Matt's review of United (BTW that blog rocks). But oh, I really hate Delta/KLM. I'd pay double or triple to not have to deal with Delta and Continental is equally bad. Delta/KLM does have nice flight attendants though, unlike United, sweet heavens, while Continental's flight attendants are just kind of neutral. Airlines that do not suck: Southwest, American Airlines, Frontier, Midwest (gone, but coming back as merger with Frontier). Of the latter three only Frontier had a substantially beefed-up cleaning regimen backed up by science in the early days of the pandemic and it is also my personal favorite.
• Upon traveling in any airplane, please for the love of all that is holy do not bring anything but a carry-on bag. Do NOT check in your bags, you do not need that much shit, you do not want to spend hours waiting at the baggage carousel and/or lose everything you check, which happens with alarming regularity. Just don't do it. Wear multiple layers of clothing instead and pocket items possibly in ziploc bags, in zipped pockets that you monitor closely, because it gets cold in airplanes anyway. It is best to have all your stuff stuffed in a bag or bags that you can sprint with, something like a large backpack and an optional side purse; check your airline's policy regarding side purses.
• Before you head to the airport make absolutely triple sure that your plane ticket (if you printed it), driver's license or other ID, proof of negative covid test, vaccination proof if you have it, and at least $20 in cash are in your pocket, that you know what part of the airport and what gate your check in is at, the exact route to the airport, where you'll be parking and how much you're willing to pay for it, and ideally the exact route between parking and check-in because that's usually the most confusing part. (If you'd rather avoid the hassle and risk of missing your flight then hire a taxi or have someone drop you off). You'll also need to have precise plans for where you'll be sleeping for the duration of your stay and how you will get there, and come back to the airport. And that you are double or triple masked obviously, you fucking cunt. Without that stuff you don't fly.
• Wearing sunblock is a good idea if you'll be fly in the daytime since UV radiation is stronger up there. Same goes for sunglasses.
• Please, please do not bring your baby or toddler on the plane. They scream and cry because they can't deal with the pressure changes and their ears hurt. As a result, the ears of everyone else on said plane also hurt. I understand if you have no other choice, but otherwise, for the sake of your sanity and ours, just fucking don't. If you're in the unfortunate position of having to bring a toddler, telling them to swallow a lot to equalize the air pressure between the cabin and their inner ears really can help them. Be sure to tell children about this too.
• It is also highly recommended to check whatever bullshit regulations the TSA has come up with today online the day before you leave, while you're packing, so you can avoid them busting open your suitcase and riffling through it to find the offending bottle of water or shampoo or whatever.
• Bring books or other entertainment that doesn't require a charger to the airport and get there at least two hours early. Get through the extensively long security process, then hang out by the gate so you don't have to yeet yourself halfway across the airport to make your flight. Thanks to gate changes you'll often need to yeet yourself anyway so be sure you're wearing running shoes and have only one carry-on. And in American airports at least it's more pleasant to use the gateside bathrooms than the airplane lavatory so be sure you do that before you get on the plane. You will also need money to buy water or Gatorade because nothing's more skeezy than using an airport water fountain, and do bring lots of snacks. Packable sandwiches are fine as is camping food like trail bars, granola bars, Clif bars and trail mix. Don't eat the airplane food, I don't care how much they're making you pay for it, just pass. These days you also need hand sanitizer, bring that. If you get cold easily and would otherwise ask for a pillow and blanket, bring your own lightweight fleece blanket and use a folded-up sweatshirt as a pillow, because airlines never clean their pillows and blankets. Postflight you will want a change of clothes and a shower, so be sure to bring hygiene stuff like soap and clothes.
• If you're able, pack your suitcase or whatever with packable pods that separate your stuff into neat packets, like this is hygiene, this is underwear, this is food etc. But if you're not, get a ton of ziploc bags and do the same thing especially with hygiene stuff like toothbrush, comb, etc. because security checks for your stuff means your carefully packed folded stuff gets splayed out onto a not-too-clean surface, shuffled through, and stuffed back in, in total disarray.
• Tense your muscles and stretch a bit every hour you're stuck in a plane seat, and get up and move around when you're able. Prevents blood clots.
• To deal with air pressure changes, yawn, and swallow. If that doesn't work, try the Valsalva maneuver. Hold your breath, pinch your nose closed, and try to exhale despite your nose being closed. Then swallow. And don't take your mask off while you do this. For young children and in general, chewing gum helps as well, but in a pandemic, not worth it.
• Regarding turbulence: if you get motion sickness, definitely carry some medicine for that on you and take it before you get on the plane. You can also try ginger capsules, or ginger chews. Try to down a few ginger chews (if you're using that method) before you reach the airport, and then while socially distanced and hand sanz'd right before boarding. If turbulence freaks you out, calm down, it is normal.
• The best way of dealing with airplane boredom is to have an airplane buddy. The second best way is to fall asleep. Third best way is to have something easy to read, like a manga or comic book. If you want to not really hear your music despite how much you turn up the volume, then yes, bring an mp3 player. Worst way is Skymall.
• Be kind to the flight attendants. They've seen too much.
• Postflight, besides a shower and change of clothes, plus a lot of sleep, you might want to knock back a couple electrolyte drinks. Dry air in an airplane cabin can really dehydrate you. Give yourself a few days for the worst of the jet lag, if any, to be over. Jet lag doesn't usually go away until about two weeks postflight though so beware. Arrived in the US at some odd hour and need quick food? Chinese food or pizza delivery is your best bet, just doublecheck that the place is any good on Google Reviews first. Chances are you'll also want to wash the airplane smell out of your stuff, so if you have a friend with laundry facilities or if there's a drop-it-off-and-pick-it-up laundromat with good reviews in the area, you might want to get that done.
• States with more of a wildlife hazard than there appears to be: Hawaii, Florida, Texas, Louisiana. Gators go munch munch munch.

Cleaning

• Skill to cultivate to make all cleaning more effective and quick: deciding where stuff goes. The faster and better you can do this, the faster cleaning gets, especially if you can make these decisions in a second or two. There is a lot of stuff to deal with when you're going about the business of staying alive, and it gets overwhelming fast unless you go one at a time and go 'that goes here. that goes here.' The challenge is leaving this skill turned on all the time because when you're relaxing or stressed it's hard to remember that the coat goes on the hook and the cup in the kitchen.
• The traditional housekeeping routine for each week is Monday - laundry, Tuesday - household chores, Wednesday - sewing and mending, inventorying your stuff, Thursday - shopping and running errands, Friday - odd jobs, Saturday - major housecleaning, and Sunday - day of rest, but the trick here is to make the weekly schedule work for you, so choose a day of the week that's best for the recurring housekeeping/adulting bullshit and there ya go.
• It is a really good idea to make cleaning/adulting/housekeeping/bureaucratic b.s. checklists for each day, week, month, four times a year (the seasonal stuff), and the once a year stuff. That way you don't have to waste brain cells on "o no, what do i need to do now" but just follow a checklist quick, like bam, bam, bam. It really speeds it up; like half of the time most people spend on cleaning is actually just them standing around wondering 'wtf do i do now?!' and the rest of it is spent cleaning up godawful messes that could've been prevented if there was a cleaning schedule in place. Be certain there's at least one major deep clean per year and you won't wind up having like five of the same thing because you keep buying it then losing it. The idea behind these is that it's actually way easier and requires less work and effort to have an adulting checklist regime for the Big Boy Points stuff and stick to the schedule than to try to get all this done on an 'as needed' basis. It's always needed, it just accumulates like snow.
• Make cleaning checklists for every room in your house, and a general cleaning checklist for when you don't have much time. It's worth it. On that note, cleaning up after yourself as you go is way less of a hassle than accumulating mess. The acronym ABC, Always Be Cleaning, is the basic idea here but don't take it literally. Cleaning tasks that are worth doing every day: decluttering a little, sweeping the floor, making your bed, doing the dishes, cleaning one specific thing or area that's dirty (such as ceiling fans, toilet, windows, table), taking out the trash. Forget the rest if you're low on time and/or energy; these will make you feel at least somewhat like a functioning human being. Also, if you clean one thing that's dirty each day on top of doing daily maintenance cleaning tasks, your house will get clean and stay clean, as opposed to if you do a cleaning marathon once a month.
• On that note, cleaning products are fundamental to getting stuff clean instead of spending hours scrubbing. I definitely used to use just water and a rag to clean everything. It sucked. Here are some recipes for them: DIY Everything
• Cleaning/organizing tips: Use as many morale boosts as you can. Blast music, burn candles and incense, add perfume or essential oils to the cleaning products, clean with a friend or family member. Group like with like. Corral your mess by finding a container for collections of like objects so that even if it's still a mess at least it's in one place. Label all containers. Masking tape and a sharpie work fine for that. Organize everything in a way that makes as much sense as possible so almost anyone could understand it. Also, prevention is better than cure. Put everything where it belongs the first time. If you can't figure out where it belongs, create a place for it. If there is a cheap or free thing that can prevent messes, invest in it. Some examples: Small squeegee in the shower, drain sieves.
• Oxygen bleach that is powdered (the typical brand is OxiClean but there are others) can be diluted according to package directions and used instead of chlorine bleach to for instance clean shower grout and keep mildew and mold at bay. It is also excellent for getting rid of odors in clothing and washing machines when added to laundry. This is really helpful if you're sensitive to chlorine. Use rubber gloves. However, it is not a good idea to try to use this to sanitize surfaces.

Gardening

• To grow a garden in pots, get some plant pots and drip trays, some Espoma fertilizer, some fish meal, some Fox Farm tomato and vegetable liquid fertilizer, some Promix Organic potting soil or Fox Farm organic potting soil, and an area that gets full sun for at least 6 hours a day. A south-facing window is essential if you’re doing that indoors. Follow the directions on the fertilizers to use them. Add half a handful of fish meal per cubic foot of potting soil and mix it in well; be prepared, it will smell really bad. Buy plants already in pots and don’t start them from seed. When they look a little cramped in their starter pots, transplant them to a size with about an inch and a half more of root room on all sides. If you transplant them into a pot that's too big, then when you water them, most of the water will stagnate in the dirt and cause root rot, so follow this rule. Water the plants once every three to four days with enough water to saturate the dirt all the way down, but only when the pots are light and when the dirt one inch down is fairly dry. Plants can handle being overly watered one day, but if you repeat that too soon (within 24-78 hours) they’ll rot. Learn to recognize cues that your plants are thirsty, but if in doubt, water less. If you collect rainwater and use that instead of tap water for your plants, they'll be a lot healthier. Remember to clean the leaves of indoor plants Houseplant cleaning. You could also use self-watering pots, and if you are gardening outdoors in a very hot or dry place, especially on a patio, that's the only way you can keep them alive without multiple daily waterings and fertilizings, so keep that in mind. To make your own, Edward C. Smith's The Container Gardener's Bible is very helpful but requires a drill, several expensive pieces of equipment to make them out of, and a saw. Or, you could put regular pots in deep plastic trays of water or water/fertilizer mix, prop the pots up with 3 rocks apiece, and water by filling the trays as well as watering sparingly from above.
• Growing a good amount of houseplants can boost productivity and health if you work indoors. They produce oxygen and clean indoor air of pollutants such as benzene, VOCs and formaldehyde. Actually, a close family member of mine lives in a polluted place and has asthma, and ever since I helped him start growing a few plants in every room of his house, his condition has gotten a lot better. Houseplants that are easy to grow indoors include golden pothos, sansevieria, and aloe vera.
• To propagate golden pothos, cut off a leaf of it and put it in a cup of water. Wait for it to grow roots, then gently plant it in a plant pot that has drip holes, a drip tray, at least some sunlight, and good potting soil. Water it until the soil is as damp as a wrung out sponge, then water it once every few days according to the directions above. This is the absolute easiest houseplant to grow and propagate.

Parenting - DISCLAIMER - I am not a parent! I am a proud godmother, and have been a babysitter, mentor, and tutor, but not a parent! The only reason I feel qualified to comment here is because people say I have a 'magic gift' when interacting with children. Teachers may also find this information useful

• 6/2/23 Baby tips from One Crazy House, a good example of the kind of stuff on that extraordinary blog. Here's an entry there for how to make baby food by mashing it up with a fork. Also, ocean waves and rain 8-hour playlists on Youtube can help little ones sleep.
• I do not have a magic gift when it comes to kids. The trick is so simple it's absurd: treat kids and teens almost exactly like adults in smaller bodies with the amount of life experience that their age dictates, from the age of 2 on up. (You can't exactly treat babies like full-grown adults, but you can speak to them normally instead of in motherese.) Listen to them closely, respect them just as much as you would if they were your age, and be as honest as you can with them without traumatizing them. Problem solve together. If they're running roughshod over your boundaries then your problem is standing up for yourself, not the kids. Kids and teenagers are not some bizarre new species. They're just people with less life experience. That's it.
• I guess the #1 thing is that I have never, ever patronized a child or a teenager. I treat them with respect and listen to them very carefully. I don't think I'm smarter than them. No, seriously, I actually don't, because I have found in every single case they may have been less experienced in life but they were more insightful, wiser, more intelligent, or all three. Every. Single. Time. In all honesty it seems that the closest I can get to explaining how I interact with kids is written in the works of Dan Pearce aka Single Dad Laughing; if the man matches the writing then we have a similar approach.
• Know that kids are not homogenous. They are not blank slates. They're little people, with all the weirdness and complexity that entails, and every child has different needs, wants, and personality.
• Beware parent goggles, where you think your child is somehow immune to being unethical, mean, abusive, or cruel. All children are more than capable of these things end of story. With bad behavior, any time you turn a blind eye to it, your chances that the child's life will be ruined go up, as do the chances they'll ruin someone else's life while they're at it. Self-discipline and ethical behavior are foundational features of success; the crucial thing is to persuade your kid that it's necessary. Never, ever ignore bad behavior in a child but address it immediately for the sake of their future well-being. This is because many parents shield their children from the consequences of their poor behavior, but then the children leave the nest.... and oop! into prison. Or are so widely disliked that no one will talk to them. Or wind up like Donald Trump, God forbid. Thankfully many learn their lessons the hard way after leaving home but that is a painful and unhappy adjustment process.
• Teenagers need 'adulting' lessons, like how to drive, deal with bureaucracy, get a job, housekeep, write checks etc. Anything you can help them with at that stage will set them up so life doesn't hit 'em in the face with a brick wall like it did to my generation, so keep that in mind.
• Teenagers in this day and age almost always also need mental health care and lots of it. However, given the awful state of mental health care in this country (USA), I would recommend distance therapy only, via Zoom or something, so they can at least be in a safe home environment if the therapist happens to be coo coo for cocoa puffs or abusive or something. In all things during the teen years try to be supportive and less judgmental than you were when they were littler, because no, you have absolutely no idea what they're going through, each generation's problems are totally different. I will never forget the Boomer attitude that generation had about the kind of stuff I went through, as if it was exactly the same... I had PTSD. I had a tragic backstory. So did many of my friends. The hell it was the same. And those idiots moralized all day long instead of actually helping us. I'm not putting another generation through that crap.
• Teenagers, in general, need all the help you can give them. It's hard enough going through puberty without all the other added stresses of modern life, so do what you can to make things easier for them. It's not coddling. It's ensuring they don't get put under so much pressure that they snap.
• Be good to yourself and know you are worthy of being treated well. That's very important for caring for little ones, not only to strengthen your boundaries (cause kids and teens can be tyrannical while learning the ropes of 'how to human') but also to be a positive example. In particular have your own life that you live well because living vicariously through children is horrible! Let them breathe!
• You are not special or somehow better than the rest of the human race for caring for a child. You are fulfilling a requirement, and that's it. You don't somehow automatically deserve respect, obedience, or awed devotion from children. Respect is earned. You earn respect from children by acting in a manner that makes you respect yourself, and by not giving a damn if they respect you or not. Yes, you read that correctly, it is how my mother raised me and I obeyed her without question. She was kind, logical, and ethical in all things; in no way did she need to demand or coerce respect from me because she damn well earned it. Plus there's always the issue that if you demand and force superficial respect from someone, deep down they'll always suffer in some way, or they'll just rebel in ways you'll never know about. It causes all kinds of behavior behind your back. After all, kids might never respect you, and that's not the end of the world. The big deal is if they are behaving in a manner that is ethical and correct, and it's up to you to determine that they know why certain things are right, and why certain things are wrong, by explaining it to them to the best of their ability and by being a positive example. Every child's caretaker is a teacher of morals and ethics due to simple proximity so do your best to do a good job. Demanding respect for no other reason than "I didn't die and managed to exist longer than you" is simply being an example of unethical behavior, and they'll eventually figure that out for themselves, sucka. However, if a child is trying to push your boundaries or be abusive simply because they're testing the limits, into time-out they go.
• Time and time again I have seen parents rewarding poor behavior from children by giving them special privileges or treats. Yeah, I don't do that. Neither did my mother, not once. Reason: any behavior that is rewarded will be repeated, and any inconsistency in rules will lead to disrespect because obviously if you break your own rules you're a flake.
• If you wouldn't tolerate it from a friend, don't tolerate it from your kid. Treat the transgression in a similar way to how you'd deal with a friend doing the thing you dislike. If you would tolerate abuse from a friend, or abhorrent behavior, then the problem is really with you and your own poor self-esteem and boundary issues, in which case, to therapy you go!
• The best gifts you can give kids or teens: your time, a sympathetic and savvy ear, genuinely helpful aid. Spending time with kids and teens sends a far clearer message to them than a gift, no matter how expensive. Specifically: I care about you, I protect you, you matter.
• It is not a bad thing to tell your kids how much you love them or express your care for them through being supportive or other kind gestures. In fact it's far healthier than the "stiff upper lip and present a stoic stern big guy" thing I've seen a lot of people try to do. But expressing your care through material goods and buying them gifts, or allowing too much bad behavior, can be taken to an extreme so watch that.
• Young children are capable of understanding complex logic and reasoning. Explain things logically to them and encourage them to ask questions. If they are doing something morally wrong, then do your best to explain why they are screwing up. They do understand, and they are NOT stupid. Also, you can use complicated grown-up words and concepts from the day the kids are born; you don't need to wait. Kids learn very quickly.
• If it is clear the kid isn't listening to logic, time-out is helpful. Let them wait for 15 minutes, then go in there and ask them if they understand what they did was wrong. If they don't, explain it to them. This worked for me but apparently my husband was a little terror and had to be spanked a couple times. Whatever methods of discipline you use, stick to your guns and don't let the kid walk all over you. No means no. I will however state that if you try any kind of corporal punishment on a child, obviously a. don't lose control and hurt them too much because then they'll hate you and never listen to you again, and b. don't do any corporal punishment if they're over the age of 6, because then they'll hate you and never listen to you again. 6 years old is roughly when a child is old enough to understand things like common sense, wrong and right, and if they know you could've just explained something to them and had them explain their side and come to an understanding, but were too lazy and beat them instead, they'll always remember that as long as they live. It's a betrayal of trust, and uh.... goodbye well-behaved kid. Or worse, they could be traumatized for the rest of their life and have issues defending their boundaries. That's how the cookie crumbles.
• Insist on "you time" no matter what the kid demands. As they grow older they will come to understand you are engaging in self care... as long as they understand you love them as well as loving yourself.
• Patience, patience, patience, because children are far more fragile than they look. In particular their feelings are very easily hurt since they haven't developed a thick skin from life experience yet. Be as gentle with them as you can without coddling them in the slightest. How you pull this off is by a. listening carefully to them and responding after careful consideration, b. thinking about their needs as top priority, and c. thinking about their wants as second priority. That being said children are just as capable of evil and cruelty as adults so never turn a blind eye to that. Discussion, discipline, and teaching children the value of life and love early on are all important things.
• There is a trait I've had my whole life which might also have something to do with getting along well with kids: I always put the well-being of children under my care above that of my own. This much I can say for certain: if you can't do this, never, ever have children. Their well-being actually depends on your ability to put their needs above your own, and boy, do they have a lot of needs.
• If your kid comes out to you as gay, transgender, or something else that's typically dumped on by society, ask yourself two simple questions: 1. Which do I value more, my child's soul or their body? and 2. Do they know what is best for them, or do I? Your answers to those questions say far more about you than they do about your child. Now focus on doing what is best for your child, not for earning you brownie points with society or with God, or you're a terrible parent and nothing you say or do will ever make it right. Think twice before you ruin your child's life. Whatever you say or do next will shape everything in their future and you could traumatize them. Man... I've seen too much of that in the LGBTQ+ community.
• Above all children thrive on love, but despite popular opinion, they don't technically need it if you can't force yourself to provide it. Pretending to love them is far worse than having no pretenses because children are notoriously good at seeing through an act. Who's a good example of someone who doesn't like children but they don't care? Bill Nye the Science Guy. What children need most is to not be hated. Don't dump on them, for the sake of all that is holy, they don't deserve it. And don't force yourself to feel something you don't. Just be yourself, and don't hate them.
• I don't wanna be no fucking Boomer. I'm honestly afraid of it, cause they suck in every way it is possible to suck (didn't help they constantly told me I'd grow up to be just like them). Therefore I do not bitch about what 'kids are doing these days.' Chances are that whatever they're doing it's way cooler and way more fun than whatever it is that adults are doing these days. That's been my experience, so whenever they're doing something new that's totally unfamiliar to me, I fight Boomer Brain and do my best to actually give the new trend a fair chance and try it out for myself, whatever it is. At the same time there is a lot of super cool stuff us Millenials got to experience growing up so whenever I have the chance and someone younger than I wants to try something new, I show 'em stuff like Crash Bandicoot and the Wrath of Cortex. Growing up without Crash Bandicoot? Not on my watch, sucker.
• There is currently an epidemic of narcissistic and abusive parents. If you are a parent reading this, chances are you are not one, but your child may have many friends whose parents are that way. Parent or no, you may wish to do what you can to equip the next generation for success and to be supportive.
• 8/18/22 Insight: Being a parent, after becoming one initially, is no longer just a gift bestowed on you. It is also a choice you make every single day. Do I show up and do the work? Do I be there emotionally for my kid, help them with what they need, be a safe haven? Because it's a job, and it's probably the most important one on Earth. Every single day you have to ask yourself if today you're going to show up and be there, because above all, what kids need is to know your heart is in this parenting deal.
• 9/3/22 Another insight: whenever I see a parent waffling about this, that, or the other regarding details of a child's upbringing, it kind of makes me want to say this to them. As long as you're striking the right balance between ensuring you don't spoil them and ensuring they know you love and care for them via doing your best to support them, you are FINE. I grew up seeing basically all of my classmates flounder, coping with the deep knowledge their parents never wanted them and couldn't really stand them, and it broke my heart. If you're actually there in person and in spirit and care, and are trying, that is enough. In fact, tying yourself into knots worrying about if you should buy them that ice cream, or ground them for breaking a window, and all that is fine, but taking it too far and getting major mommy guilt? Stop that. Your kids need you to love yourself.
• 3/21/23 It needs to be said: you can do a lot to ruin a kid's life if you're not careful. But one of the most effective is to teach them how to hate. Of all the ways you can screw up parenting this is probably the #1. So don't do it!
• Some tips for making cleaning into a game From MamasLatinas.com, 4/22/23. This is a great article!

Productivity

• To help get things done that you want to get done instead of wasting time on stuff that doesn't really matter, it helps to make a Quest Log for your actual life. It's simple to make. All you need is a small notebook and either some colored label tabs or taped-in colored bookmarks. Label the tabs or bookmarks "Top," "High," "Medium," and "Low." In the notebook at each bookmark title the top of each relevant page "Top Priority," "High Priority" and so on. Fill up the sections with goals you wish to accomplish at some point classified by urgency. These can be short-term goals, random chores, long-term goals, whatever. When you get one done put a check mark by it. Important: label each goal with an estimated time required to complete the goal, a deadline for achieving it, and (if applicable) any resources needed to get it done.
• Another simple way to keep you focused on what you want most is to write a summarized bucket list. Make it as short as possible and as specific as possible. I found that thirteen goals were all that I needed; they covered everything. This way whenever you're having an off day you can remind yourself what to aim yourself in the direction of. If that makes any sense.
• Two other lists that will help you live well: a full, long bucket list, and a list of all the things that really make your life better. Your "bliss list," if you will. Incorporate items from these lists into your daily life as much as possible. If you aren't happy you aren't going to be very productive and that's a fact!
• One thing that really helps if you're not sure if you're spending your time well is to ask yourself what you'd do if today was your last day, then plan your day accordingly.
• Be aware of time sinks and distraction pits like social media, computer time, TV watching and whatever else is a problem. Try to plan out what you want to do on the computer (or whatever) before you actually engage with it, so that you wind up getting stuff done instead of wondering where the time went.
• Block out time in your schedule for enforced vacations and break times. Once you start scheduling your own time, you might find it hard to allow yourself leisure and that is really bad because the stress could hurt your health. And ironically, it could hurt your productivity too.
• A day planner is an important thing to have. Once you get used to using one, you'll find life goes way more smoothly. It really helps to plan things out as far ahead of time as possible. I found that a half-sized one is easy to carry around but an 8 x 11 with one full page per day might be necessary if you do a lot of stuff. I like to fill out the day planner with events, holidays, and celebrations for an entire year ahead, and add to it every few months. That way I can plan out family gatherings and the like in such a way that people actually show up. To look up the dates and times of events in the future try Time and Date. To learn about holidays and such try Brownielocks and Gone-ta-pott Once I have my holidays and such blocked in there, I add everything else. It is good to plan the next days' activities the night before or the morning of. I put my daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly to-do lists in my planner as well.
• Sleep as much as you need to. Take naps as much as you need to. And remember that resting is being productive. Wearing yourself out is a great way to suck at your job and everything else. Break time is a physical need; without it, you can and will screw things up big time until you finally work yourself sick. Ask me how I know.

Education

• Everyone has their own style of learning and you will only figure out yours if you slam yourself into the 'wall of difficult' enough to figure out how to defeat it. Don't let a belief that you are 'inadequate' or 'dumb' become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In any case if you keep trying to learn stuff you'll likely rewire your own brain thanks to neuroplasticity and get smarter over time.
• Learn how you problem solve when you hit a problem that is nearly impossible. Me, I learned that I'm not that quick and my memory is atrocious but I'm stubborn so I persist and work harder and for a longer time than other people my age. Go out and find a difficult problem you really want to solve, and solve the damn thing. It will help you down the line.
• Figure out your knowledge saturation point of when you're studying; timewise or similar, and don't try to study past that. Take breaks. If your brain is making the brain version of the fax machine/dial-up noise, this, you've got to stop.
• TV is decent enough, but never underestimate books. Set yourself loose in a library or cheap bookstore as often as you can.
• You can learn anything. Normally, when you're out of college (or not yet in college) and simply want to really get good at or understand something, you might think it would be a great idea to spend every spare moment at the library and online to find the best information, plus spend lots of time experimenting with your newfound knowledge. Better to use these study habits instead, particularly number 11: How to Study Like a Harvard Student. You can give yourself the equivalent of a college education if you are motivated enough. That said, it is unwise to focus on more than five topics at a time - personally I do three. It is also arguably inefficient to restrict yourself to only one topic at a time. For cheap books and resources check these links: Various educational tips Also, in general for anything you want to learn, if it's specific enough, Youtube probably has something that'll teach it to you for free. Can't hurt to check.
• Eight more study tips to add to the list: 1. think deeply on what you will do with the knowledge once you get it. If you don't have an excellent reason "why" you are learning something, you are doomed to cram and purge. Always attempt to take as many things as possible from what you are learning and figure out how they could be useful in your life. For instance, my reason for learning medicine is "the medical system in the US is so broken that if I don't learn this my family could die." Wa la. 2. do not rely on your memory to be infallible; write down your notes somewhere and refer to them often. 3. without real life experience of some kind you ain't learning anything. APPLY the knowledge you learn for pete's sake 4. Advance, and the understanding will follow. Don't get discouraged that you don't understand a word of what you're reading. Of course you don't. You're new to the subject. Keep immersing yourself in the subject until it starts making sense... and then keep going. 5. Study less, but study better. Simply getting more done in a day because you can isn't going to help you in the long run. Focus in on one small part of the material and don't just read it - take notes, do the practice problems, write insights in a journal of insights. School often forces you to rote memorize concepts quickly in order to pass an exam. This doesn't do anything for your long-term understanding. Dare to be slow. If you're being pushed to progress faster than your understanding will allow, then either take a semester off to study at your own pace or get a C this semester and repeat the class later. Don't waste your time trying to graduate faster if you aren't actually learning anything. 6. Double-space your notes, skip writing on the back side of each page, and "waste" a lot of paper. Trust me, cramming more into one page isn't eco-friendly if you can't decipher it. 7. Burnout is not going to help you either. Long-term success relies on how good you are at relaxing and taking breaks between work periods. If a subject you previously tackled confidently is now your worst nightmare, take a semester off. You can attack it with a vengeance later. Wisely taken breaks earn you degrees as well as good understanding of a subject. 8. Make studying more pleasant. Listen to music. Use some aromatherapy by putting a small amount of essential oil on your bookmarks, in the shampoo you use, or on a cotton ball stored with your school materials. Use the stress relief tips listed elsewhere on this website. Sip on tea, herbal tea, or coffee. Take breaks every couple hours and walk outside, then come back. Study with friends. Study at a coffee shop. I've even heard of people studying the afternoons away at Perkins.
• Mastery of any given skill or subject isn't something you get by being a weekend warrior. Even a tiny bit of effort done every day is far better than exhausting yourself trying to do everything in one go and then recovering for the next week. This applies to lots of stuff: weight loss, muscle building, learning math, understanding how to properly communicate with a friend, learning to swim. Physical fitness is probably the most obvious example of this principle. However, this also defines the difference between mastering any given skill or subject and just having surface understanding. Disciplined commitment to daily work on something worthy will prove to be a good investment in the long run.
• Several websites are fantastic for helping to improve your general knowledge, especially when you want to learn something specific or learn how to do something. They are Youtube, Instructables, Reddit, and Buzzfeed. Look up the chosen topic in their search bar and see what you can find.

Essential oils that help with focus:

• Rosemary
• Lemon
• Mint
• Orange
• Basil - note: not for topical use
• Bergamot - note: not for topical use
• Neroli
• Cedar
• Thyme

Credit for essential oil ideas: Titania Hardie, Enchanted: Titania's Guide to White Magic, Ch. 4, pg. 54

Health

• Exercise is very underrated. After much research I have concluded that 2 hours of outdoors light exercise and an optional 30 minutes of moderate to intense exercise per day is necessary. Even if it's just walking.
• 6-9 servings of vegetables per day, especially dark leafy greens, is also underrated. You can get a lot of vegetables via green smoothies.
• Healthy foods that will help with more than you'd expect: 2/3 c. red wine per day, habitual drinking of good quality green tea or coffee, plenty of onions, home-fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi, seaweed, seafood, plenty of garlic, 2 squares of dark chocolate per day.
• A hot Japanese-style bath every night can help with all kinds of stuff. To try it out, fill a bucket with cold water. Then take a shower with a washcloth and soap, then rinse it all off. Then, fill the tub with hot water and soak for about 20 minutes. Drain the tub and then dump the bucket of cold water on yourself. Dry yourself in front of a fan.

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