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Speaker 1: Hi. This is Laura Vanderkam. I'm a mother of four,

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Speaker 1: an author, journalist, and speaker. And this is Sarah Hart Hunger.

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Speaker 1: I'm a mother of three, practicing physician and blogger. On

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Speaker 1: the side, we are two working parents who love our

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Speaker 1: careers and our families. Welcome to best of both worlds.

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Speaker 1: Here we talk about how real women manage work, family,

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Speaker 1: and time for fun, from figuring out childcare to mapping

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Speaker 1: out long term career goals. We want you to get

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Speaker 1: the most out of life. Welcome to best of both worlds.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. This is episode one hundred and thirty three,

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Speaker 1: which is first airing in late February. We are going

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Speaker 1: to be covering listener life hacks this week. We got

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Speaker 1: a lot of awesome life hacks sent in through our

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Speaker 1: Instagram account. You guys certainly know how to make life

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Speaker 1: more efficient and better, so we're looking forward to sharing

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Speaker 1: those in this episode. We wanted to remind you how

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Speaker 1: you can get in touch with us if you do

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Speaker 1: have tips or questions things you want to share. It's

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Speaker 1: funny there. I think some people assume there was a

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Speaker 1: team or something. Yeah, somebody wrote on Instagram something like

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Speaker 1: I didn't want to bomb their personal accounts, So is

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Speaker 1: there a way to contact the podcast? And I was like, uh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm on the Instagram, so I do run the Instagram

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Speaker 1: and Laura and I respond to blog to emails from

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Speaker 1: my personal emails all the time. So we are absolutely

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Speaker 1: welcome that and we do not as yet have a team.

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Speaker 1: We do have people helping us mix the sound, but

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Speaker 1: there's no like media or publicity handlers at this juncture. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Now that only strikes me. It's funny. I get some

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Speaker 1: emails into my website account sometimes that through the contact form,

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Speaker 1: people like, well, you know, could you to Laura's team.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, that's the tea. The team is me. I'm

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Speaker 1: reading it. So yes, that's nice to have people feel

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Speaker 1: like you're bigger than you are. So yeah, you feel

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Speaker 1: free to email us you reach through We have them

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Speaker 1: email addresses on our websites, the shoebox dot com and

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Speaker 1: Laura vandercam dot com reach out through through Instagram. Certainly,

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Speaker 1: people that I know their names through comments or emails

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Speaker 1: I follow, So yeah, I would love to get suggestions

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Speaker 1: from you. I was thinking about how we were both like,

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Speaker 1: I feel like there was a time when people. A

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Speaker 1: lot of people blog daily and now almost nobody does,

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Speaker 1: and both of us seem to really enjoy it. I

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Speaker 1: don't know it's close to daily every single day, but

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Speaker 1: I guess I'm a little bit behind. I've been doing

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Speaker 1: more like three times a week in these this past

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Speaker 1: few weeks. Okay, by multiple posts a week back up,

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Speaker 1: You've been on a roll. I I get to check

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Speaker 1: every morning. I'm like pumping at six am. I'm like,

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Speaker 1: let's see what Sarah's posted. There's no shortage of things

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Speaker 1: to talk about, and for some reason, there's nothing I'd

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Speaker 1: rather do while I'm drinking my first coffee than write

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Speaker 1: a blog post. So that's what happened, and so the

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Speaker 1: world benefits from that. So if you're not reading Sarah's blog,

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Speaker 1: you definitely should. The shoebox thhe sa to you box

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Speaker 1: and Laura is Laura Vanderkam doctor, apparently not cool enough

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Speaker 1: to think of a handle. No, it's better to have

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Speaker 1: your name, And I've thought about it, but hard hunger

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Speaker 1: is like a mouthful, so I'm hesitant. Who knows, we'll

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Speaker 1: see My long term strategy will be. Sarah posted this week.

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Speaker 1: When we're recording this in late January on our Instagram account,

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Speaker 1: the Best of Both Worlds Podcasts Instagram account, asking for

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Speaker 1: your life hacks, and you responded, So we're just gonna

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Speaker 1: go ahead and dive right into some of them. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I feel free to share ones that you have. If

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Speaker 1: you like these, or if any of these didn't work

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Speaker 1: for you, please please let us know that too. And

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Speaker 1: we did sort them into categories so that we won't be,

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Speaker 1: you know, jumping around from buying baby shoes to I

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Speaker 1: don't know, we could jump around. We can jump around too,

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Speaker 1: all right. Well, the first theme that things seem to

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Speaker 1: fall into, we're kids clothing. A lot of people had

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Speaker 1: some great ideas in this realm. So many of you

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Speaker 1: like to buy all the same color socks for your kids.

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Speaker 1: I feel like I haven't done this because I kind

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Speaker 1: of like buying random looking socks. But I get what

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Speaker 1: you're saying, because sorting them is kind of annoying. Well,

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Speaker 1: but then, so each kid would have their own color,

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Speaker 1: is that what you're saying, Well, that would be an

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Speaker 1: idea too, But I think the idea if everyone has

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Speaker 1: the same color, it's hard to how do you sort

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Speaker 1: it by size? Like if I'm wondering this probably would work.

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Speaker 1: Like if you had like a four and six year old,

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Speaker 1: they could wear the same they all write the same,

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Speaker 1: soa who cares, right, that would be amazing. But you're right,

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Speaker 1: I love that variation. If you have five children, for example,

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Speaker 1: and they have different sizes, each kid gets their signature

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Speaker 1: soack color, Yeah, you only match that and then you

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Speaker 1: know where it goes, or even if it's if it's

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Speaker 1: white with like uh, some of the Hanes, for instance,

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Speaker 1: I've noticed the lettering is in different colors. So for

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Speaker 1: a long time, is it Jasper only had the Hanes

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Speaker 1: with the blue lettering and Sam had the Hanes with

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Speaker 1: the green lettering. If you're having to look closely enough

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Speaker 1: to look for the letters, I feel like that almost

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Speaker 1: defeats the purpose. Then you might as well have different petters.

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Speaker 1: But you can also have your children, your older children

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Speaker 1: sort their own socks. Like that's my hack, not not,

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Speaker 1: that's actually a great hack. So there you go. I

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Speaker 1: actually started. I kicked this whole thing off. Maybe that's

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Speaker 1: why there's a lot of kids clothing ones. But the

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Speaker 1: fact that my thing for Genev even particular, is like

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Speaker 1: I'll buy two pairs of shoes at once, and I'll

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Speaker 1: skip the half size, like who needs half sizes? Right,

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Speaker 1: But I'll buy like a size seven and a size

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Speaker 1: eight sandal because this is Florida, and like she's gonna

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Speaker 1: need sandals year round, so it's not like I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: risk that she won't be the right size, especially if

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Speaker 1: I find like a decent coupon or sale at Zappos.

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Speaker 1: Just it's just like such a nice comforting feeling, Like

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Speaker 1: if she's growing out of it, you'd be like, ooh, well,

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Speaker 1: we already have the next one. Because feet are only

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Speaker 1: going to grow. It's an inevitability until a certain point.

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Speaker 1: But we haven't gotten there yet. Yeah, now they can

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Speaker 1: grow up for a long time. I'm curious about finding

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Speaker 1: the shoe sales. It's just that when she needs new shoes,

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Speaker 1: you're on and then looking to see what's on sale,

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Speaker 1: or yeah, like she needs your shoes recently, And I

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Speaker 1: actually I like Sappos because they will deliver in one day.

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Speaker 1: So we had a cold snap and our and he's like,

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Speaker 1: I lost one of her sneakers, so we need shoes

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Speaker 1: for her, and I'm like, well, Zappo's will deliver by tomorrow,

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Speaker 1: so we can beat the cold snap and it Actually

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Speaker 1: they also have a great return policy. So and this

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Speaker 1: is not a sponsor, but anyway, so but sometimes they

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Speaker 1: have good sales and or if you just know that

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Speaker 1: like they're gonna you're gonna need it, like you might

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Speaker 1: as well just buy two it once. Or I've gotten

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Speaker 1: like twenty percent off coupons that will apply to the

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Speaker 1: whole order. So there you go, buy three by size six,

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Speaker 1: seven and eight or whatever. It doesn't work obviously if

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Speaker 1: your kids are going to change their mind about yeah,

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Speaker 1: or if or if it's seasonal. I mean that's the

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Speaker 1: problem if we live in a place with four distinct seasons,

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Speaker 1: Like you don't know for sure if they're gonna be

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Speaker 1: wearing the size thirteen in summer or in the next winter.

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Speaker 1: So but but there's some shoes that they might wear

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Speaker 1: you around, like dress shoes for instance. I like this

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Speaker 1: next one that we got from a listener. It says,

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Speaker 1: for items that don't get a lot of wear, like

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Speaker 1: snow pants, buy unisex colors so they can be handed

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Speaker 1: down or make sure your son's okay with pink and purple.

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Speaker 1: That's the other the other option there, I mean, most

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Speaker 1: most that was my side note only because like snow

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Speaker 1: is such a rarity that I don't think Cameron would actually,

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Speaker 1: he'd be so distracted by the fact that we were

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Speaker 1: like in snow. But I agree, like, get a neutral,

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Speaker 1: easy color, then you know that every gender is gonna

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Speaker 1: wear it. Nobody's gonna complain. How can you really hate

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Speaker 1: pants that are just gray or something. Yeah, well, Alex

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Speaker 1: is worn pink mittens. It's totally totally fine. He can.

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Speaker 1: I refuse to view it as a girl color. Michael

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Speaker 1: has some pink shirts. Yeah, but what I would say

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Speaker 1: is that a simple color and a neutral sort of

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Speaker 1: so it's not gonna be a cartoon character that one

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Speaker 1: child is gonna hate and refuse to wear. So we

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Speaker 1: have been buying snow boots in sort of pretty much

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Speaker 1: most sizes or within a number of a size, going

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Speaker 1: down from adult size to baby. And the upside of

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Speaker 1: that is that the kids sort of move in sequence

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Speaker 1: up through them. And so now Alex is wearing the

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Speaker 1: boots that Ruth was wearing a year or two ago.

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Speaker 1: Ruth is wearing the boots Sam was wearing. Sam is

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Speaker 1: wearing one's jests was wearing. I do have to buy

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Speaker 1: either new ones for him, though for a while he

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Speaker 1: was wearing my boots. But I don't get new snow

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Speaker 1: boots everywhere because my feetal gross, So eventually we had

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Speaker 1: to start buying bigger boots for him. Oh my god,

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Speaker 1: the oldest kid is so lucky all the new stuff.

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Speaker 1: Although I've found like you're probably also tougher with the

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Speaker 1: oldest kid on other things, like you know, no, we

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Speaker 1: do not eat crackers for breakfast and kid them before

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Speaker 1: the sure eat what do you want? Did you eat?

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Speaker 1: That's great, that's a good point. So it balances out.

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Speaker 1: It balances out. So yes, buy those in simple colors

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Speaker 1: like black or I don't know, navy blue or something

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Speaker 1: that everyone will wear and pass them on down. I

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Speaker 1: like the suggestion to keep a basket in your kid's

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Speaker 1: closet to cull as you realize the clothes are too

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Speaker 1: small or I did too destroyed, because sometimes I'll get

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Speaker 1: to something and be like, okay, this is kidding, that's

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Speaker 1: just a trash can. Yeah, you know, donate that. But

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Speaker 1: it's amazing the impulse to just put something back in

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Speaker 1: the drawer, as if maybe later it will look the

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Speaker 1: whole better to you or something. I mean, I am

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Speaker 1: fully guilty of that. Yeah. Yeah. Another with that i'd

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Speaker 1: add in terms of bins for clothing is if you

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Speaker 1: have a house where the laundry room is on one story.

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Speaker 1: So if you have more than one story in your

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Speaker 1: house and the laundry is going to be on one

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Speaker 1: story of it, put a hamper on the other story.

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Speaker 1: So that way if people are rather than just tossing

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Speaker 1: their socks on the ground, which they may anyway, but

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Speaker 1: there's at least a little bit easier for them to

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Speaker 1: get it in a hamper, if that is a thing.

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Speaker 1: If you have a two story house, yes, and I

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Speaker 1: didn't include this in this category, but we keep a

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Speaker 1: set of the kids clothes downstairs, like probably like a

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Speaker 1: full week's worth. They're just shoved in bins because it

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Speaker 1: helps us get out. We have a tight timeline in

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Speaker 1: the morning, and for some reason, getting dressed when they're

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Speaker 1: tired and they don't want to go to school is

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Speaker 1: like pulling teeth. So to at least remove the step

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Speaker 1: of having to go upstairs and get it, like everything

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Speaker 1: they need is down here, very very helpful. Love that one,

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Speaker 1: all right. So our next realm, I would say, is

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Speaker 1: the meal groceries and shopping category. I feel like you

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Speaker 1: have a lot of thoughts on that category. Well, I do.

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Speaker 1: We have a listener question related to this topic, is

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Speaker 1: you know, for a different episode, not for this one.

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Speaker 1: But the key thing is you want to make sure

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Speaker 1: you're The point of a hack is to make life

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Speaker 1: easier and simpler and ideally take less time. So if

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Speaker 1: your hack does not do that, you should possibly rethink

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Speaker 1: this hack. And so my beef is that a lot

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Speaker 1: of meal planning winds up making prep and stuff means

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Speaker 1: you take more time to do it, and you may

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Speaker 1: eat better and you may save money, and those may

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Speaker 1: be goods in their own right, and so then you

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Speaker 1: should know that that's what you're doing it for as

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Speaker 1: opposed to saving time. However, I will say grocery delivery

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Speaker 1: is beautiful, a beautiful thing, and that was I mean everybody,

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Speaker 1: and actually the happy medium between grocery delivery and doing

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Speaker 1: it yourself. The curb side pickup people are big on

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Speaker 1: that because there's actually a lot less fees associated with it,

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Speaker 1: and really the pain point isn't driving there and bringing

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Speaker 1: your stuff home. It's going through all the aisles and

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Speaker 1: checking out and having your kids all over the place.

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Speaker 1: And I'm asking for stuff, And especially if I think

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Speaker 1: this hack would work. If you pick a place on

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Speaker 1: your way home from work, for example, and you have

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Speaker 1: it ready, then you actually, you know, costs you nothing

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Speaker 1: and probably won't really cost much in the way of

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Speaker 1: time anyway, because my one downside of the delivery is,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, I've done it a couple of times.

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Speaker 1: Number One, stuff is always missing that I know the

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Speaker 1: store has a Number Two, they use so much unnecessary

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Speaker 1: packaging that's disposable, and I get so mad. I'm like,

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Speaker 1: when I drive to the grocery store, I don't need

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Speaker 1: a thermost sensitive like bubble wrap on every item, Like

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Speaker 1: why did this person? And I guess it's probably for

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Speaker 1: like liability reasons. We're in Florida, it's hot, but no,

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Speaker 1: it's crazy. I get mad, So I have a feeling

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Speaker 1: I would probably be happier trying pick up. So we

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Speaker 1: haven't been doing grocery delivery lately, partly because you know,

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Speaker 1: our nanny has been able to go while Alex was

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Speaker 1: in preschool, but of course now that we have the baby,

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Speaker 1: that time has like disappeared, and so we're looking into

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Speaker 1: grocery delivery services. So we'll have to report back on that.

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Speaker 1: Another heck people have is to have a generic grocery

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Speaker 1: list for items that you regularly buy. And I really

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Speaker 1: like this idea, so you can print it up and

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Speaker 1: cross off and add as needed. But that keeps you

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Speaker 1: from and if you are shopping from a list like

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Speaker 1: every time, being like we buy milk every time, Well,

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Speaker 1: of course you do, so we don't have to keep

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Speaker 1: writing it every time, and you can cross off the

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Speaker 1: things with that. I say, if you shop at warehouse clubs.

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Speaker 1: One thing that I have found helpful in terms of

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Speaker 1: inventory management is not just to have a buy list,

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Speaker 1: but have a do not buy list, because we have

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Speaker 1: wound up with say, six cans of cooking spray, because

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Speaker 1: whoever has gone to the shopping the the Costco, Sam's Club, whatever,

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Speaker 1: Bjay's has decided that, oh we often buy this product,

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Speaker 1: let's put it in the cart, but we never used

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Speaker 1: it up from the last time that we I think

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Speaker 1: we had like four bags of cornstarch. Is it weird?

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Speaker 1: Accumulates like so weird? Well, because if you're just walking like, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we use that, I should just get it while I'm here,

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Speaker 1: and then you wind up with a lot of a

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Speaker 1: product that takes a while to know and that's smart,

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Speaker 1: or even having like a notes app for you on

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Speaker 1: your phone, those kind of like staples. I don't know

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Speaker 1: that you have that, Like you get a recipe and

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Speaker 1: you're like, oh, do we have that or not? Like

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Speaker 1: if you kind of note, you could do it once

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Speaker 1: and then you'd have it. Yeah, you have all this stuff,

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Speaker 1: don't buy it. Don't buy it. I like that, do

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Speaker 1: not buy So cooking a double batch. Maybe we've talked

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Speaker 1: a lot about doing leftovers here, that's always a great thing.

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Speaker 1: Another person says, have a list of what's in your

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Speaker 1: freezer and this this is helpful if you have it,

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Speaker 1: say on the front of your freezer or next to

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Speaker 1: your freezer, because you can then work through what is

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Speaker 1: in your freezer as opposed to going to the store

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Speaker 1: and be like, do we have hamburger meat? Well, yes,

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Speaker 1: now you know you have hamburger meat without you having

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Speaker 1: to hunt through. And I think this person keeps it

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Speaker 1: in her notes on her phone so that you know,

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Speaker 1: if she's at work and she's like, do I need

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Speaker 1: to pick up dinner? Oh wait, no, I can see

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Speaker 1: what's in my freezer. Yeah, it's on my notes app

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Speaker 1: that's here's a slightly more hackish one, and I love

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Speaker 1: this the cleanup hack for the dishwasher, separating utensils and

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Speaker 1: categories in the dishwasher. So if you put the forks

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Speaker 1: in the front, the spoons in the middle, and the

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Speaker 1: knives in the back of your utensil part of your dishwasher, well,

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Speaker 1: then you can just pull them out very easily when

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Speaker 1: you are emptying the dishwasher. And this might make it

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Speaker 1: slightly easier for say a young child to empty the

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Speaker 1: dishwasher that you know they can sort it, but they

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Speaker 1: might get distracted if it takes too long. So this

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Speaker 1: is a way to make it a little bit quicker.

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Speaker 1: A money saving rather than a time saving tip that

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Speaker 1: someone left was if you're online shopping and leave stuff

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Speaker 1: in your cart and then close it, a lot of

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Speaker 1: times they'll email you a coupon the next day or

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Speaker 1: two to complete your I've had this happen with apps

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Speaker 1: in particular. I'll like, think about getting an app, and

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Speaker 1: then I'll like, eh, no, never mind, and I close

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Speaker 1: it and then I'll get an email They're like, actually,

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Speaker 1: we'll give you that up for thirty dollars instead of

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Speaker 1: sixty or something because I guess to them, it doesn't

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Speaker 1: cost them any you know, it's like they're not going

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Speaker 1: to lose money even if I bought it for one dollar.

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Speaker 1: Let's put it that way. So their advantage wildly freaky.

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Speaker 1: I would say that the information is like, how do

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Speaker 1: they know what's in my card? How do they have

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Speaker 1: my But it is what it is. Everybody it is

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Speaker 1: they know. And that thing is going to follow you

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Speaker 1: around the internet and all the ads you see online

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Speaker 1: for the next three days. So wait for the coupon.

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Speaker 1: It's coming. And with that, we are going to take

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Speaker 1: our moment break for our sponsors and we'll be right back. Hey, listeners,

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Speaker 1: we know you're busy, but is there something that's interfering

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Speaker 1: with your happiness or is preventing you from achieving your goals?

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Speaker 1: All right. Our next set of tips is in the

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Speaker 1: time saving realm, well well or bended. I'm bending real

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Speaker 1: I'm bending realm because you're right. Here's the thing I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's I think I wrote a blog post a couple

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Speaker 1: of years ago about the crockpot mentality, and it's what

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Speaker 1: it is is that you're moving an activity from a

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Speaker 1: time where you feel time crunched to a time when

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00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:54,639
Speaker 1: you feel maybe less time crunched. And that may not

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Speaker 1: be the case of the crackpot, because the mornings are

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Speaker 1: crunched as much as the evenings. But it's that idea

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Speaker 1: of like, can I move something to a different time? Yeah,

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00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,680
Speaker 1: it's more it's adding flexibility. It's something that felt rigid.

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00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,000
Speaker 1: And again I want to say, like that doesn't mean

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00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,040
Speaker 1: you should make meals for the week on Sunday. It

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00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:12,600
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that you need to make people's lunches every night,

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Speaker 1: because I think that time is valuable too. But you

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Speaker 1: might think about like ordering groceries during a five minute

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00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:22,600
Speaker 1: wait between conference calls, for instance, Like you couldn't go

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Speaker 1: to the grocery store then, But you've moved this thing

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00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:28,080
Speaker 1: that would have taken maybe leisure time later in the

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00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,520
Speaker 1: day to a time that you would have just wasted

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Speaker 1: waiting for this person to call you. So that's that's

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00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,719
Speaker 1: time bending and that that can be helpful. All right, enough, Well,

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Speaker 1: I enjoy the tip to listen to audiobooks while you're

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Speaker 1: doing things. I mean that's kind of like, yeah, but

395
00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:49,080
Speaker 1: it's true. Yeah, chores when you're doing boring stuff. But

396
00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,840
Speaker 1: I do that all the time, mostly with podcasts, and

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00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,399
Speaker 1: it is true. It's like an obvious one, but you know,

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00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,040
Speaker 1: it's like a little treat. You know, it turns something

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Speaker 1: incredibly boring into something fun. So don't forget that. That's

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00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,960
Speaker 1: an option. I like this one of keeping floss in

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00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:07,880
Speaker 1: your car's glove compartment. So if you find yourself saying

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00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,760
Speaker 1: I never have time to flyss, well, I don't know

403
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,000
Speaker 1: if you're sitting in your car somewhere where you do

404
00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:14,720
Speaker 1: have time. Maybe you're waiting to pick up your kids,

405
00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,199
Speaker 1: and you don't mind if the neighbors walk by your

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00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:20,040
Speaker 1: part car and see you flossing. But it could be

407
00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,200
Speaker 1: time that you could do for that. And I hope

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00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:27,040
Speaker 1: nobody flosses while they're actively move while they're driving. Yes, no,

409
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:32,280
Speaker 1: maybe if you're stopped in traffic, can be can just

410
00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,760
Speaker 1: imagine being hunked because you're like busy, so excuse me flossing.

411
00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:40,320
Speaker 1: I can't go with the light turn and grain, so hey,

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00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:42,919
Speaker 1: you do you, you do you, But when I will say,

413
00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,800
Speaker 1: I'm like fitting in this personal maintenance during other times

414
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,000
Speaker 1: is doing squats or crunches during small bits of time

415
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:52,639
Speaker 1: that you might have. So if you again, while waiting

416
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Speaker 1: for a call to start, Like the reason I'm hyping

417
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:57,440
Speaker 1: on this is because I've had people track their time recently,

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00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:00,480
Speaker 1: where you can waste all kinds of time. I'm waiting

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00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:02,720
Speaker 1: for a conference call to start, like everyone's on, you're

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00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:04,600
Speaker 1: waiting for the last person who has to be on

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00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:07,600
Speaker 1: in order to start. Or you're dialed in early and

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00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:10,919
Speaker 1: other people are late, or you are somebody was supposed

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00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:12,520
Speaker 1: to call you, and so you're waiting for that call,

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00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:14,879
Speaker 1: but they call it four minutes after the hour. Versus

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00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,320
Speaker 1: that time, you could use this time and you're not

426
00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:21,000
Speaker 1: going to do much deep work during that, but you

427
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,040
Speaker 1: could do crunches or you know, if you have think

428
00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:25,919
Speaker 1: push ups. Pushes chups are like I mean, how long

429
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:27,720
Speaker 1: can you do push ups for? Anyway? Right? Yeah, so

430
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,400
Speaker 1: you two sets of ten push ups and it takes

431
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,159
Speaker 1: you what two minutes? Then like, wow, you've done two

432
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,720
Speaker 1: sets of ten push ups today. That's like that's like

433
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:37,200
Speaker 1: all I can do. So there you go, Yeah, And

434
00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:39,200
Speaker 1: the other day while I was waiting for something to print,

435
00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,560
Speaker 1: here's another one. If you're waiting for something to print

436
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,959
Speaker 1: and it's like a multi page document, you've got time there.

437
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:46,720
Speaker 1: And I'm always just like sitting there staring at the

438
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:48,800
Speaker 1: printer as if this is going to help the pages

439
00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,159
Speaker 1: come out faster. And so the other day I was like, oh,

440
00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:53,720
Speaker 1: get my kettlebells and then start doing a little lifts

441
00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,600
Speaker 1: while I'm waiting for this thirty page document to print.

442
00:21:57,760 --> 00:21:59,760
Speaker 1: And so you know, there you go, it's it's time.

443
00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:03,159
Speaker 1: You can you can use for something like that. I

444
00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:05,679
Speaker 1: like it and I think you know today our default is, well,

445
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:07,960
Speaker 1: let me just jump onto Instagram during that time, But

446
00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:10,639
Speaker 1: the truth is that you're more likely to end up

447
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,560
Speaker 1: bleeding that over into the next ten minute block or whatever,

448
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 1: compared to doing push ups. You're probably going to promptly

449
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,360
Speaker 1: resume whatever you were waiting for if you were doing

450
00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:23,760
Speaker 1: something painful but productive, painful, I can, I can I

451
00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,960
Speaker 1: go back to the food like that? Then listening to

452
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,680
Speaker 1: our listeners, great hacks. I have a couple that I

453
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:34,000
Speaker 1: wanted to share with this. Yeah, breakfasts. So there are

454
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,240
Speaker 1: many people in my house who need to eat breakfast

455
00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:41,920
Speaker 1: every morning. And one thing we've started doing is having

456
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:46,120
Speaker 1: boiled eggs made ready to go so you can buy them.

457
00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:50,000
Speaker 1: You can buy peeled boiled eggs in a lot of stores.

458
00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:54,159
Speaker 1: That's a convenience item that is available, and so this

459
00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:57,480
Speaker 1: can be the basis of a very quick breakfast. You know,

460
00:22:57,600 --> 00:22:59,400
Speaker 1: get if you have lots of kids, get a Force

461
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:01,960
Speaker 1: Life's toast or instead of a two slice right there,

462
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:04,760
Speaker 1: there's something or I don't know, maybe they sell eight slices,

463
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 1: but so I, you know, put four slices of toast in,

464
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:11,920
Speaker 1: pull out eggs, boiled eggs, and then you just you know,

465
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,760
Speaker 1: have pre cut fruit and it's like assembly line. Boiled eggs,

466
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:19,040
Speaker 1: gun toast, cut up fruit hits most of the major

467
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:22,560
Speaker 1: food groups. There, it's breakfast, it's done. It's almost instantaneous.

468
00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,440
Speaker 1: Big fan. So that's that's my personal life hack. I

469
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,600
Speaker 1: think we alternated our house between bagels that I toast

470
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:31,240
Speaker 1: all at once and then top all at once and

471
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:34,520
Speaker 1: put on plates with fruit and then or cereal. Do

472
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:36,200
Speaker 1: you have a toaster oven or do you have a

473
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:38,600
Speaker 1: toaster oven, so I can put four items in there

474
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,480
Speaker 1: at the same time, providing breakfast for everyone. In one go.

475
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:43,280
Speaker 1: We've had a lot of people right in that this

476
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:47,000
Speaker 1: is actually one of their life things, their love of

477
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:50,399
Speaker 1: the week, as it were, as a toaster oven, because

478
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:54,119
Speaker 1: they beat up pretty quickly. Apparently this is actually very

479
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 1: funny because literally today Josh was like, I think we

480
00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 1: need a new toaster oven, and he said, I want

481
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:00,520
Speaker 1: to rebuy the exact same one. I think we got

482
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:02,280
Speaker 1: it for our wedding in two thousand and six, and like,

483
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:04,399
Speaker 1: if it lasted fourteen years, that's why you should buy

484
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,159
Speaker 1: another one. Yeah, I mean that's that's we'll reward them

485
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:11,280
Speaker 1: for all those years of service without any issues. Although

486
00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:12,639
Speaker 1: I'm like, it still works, why do we need on

487
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:14,720
Speaker 1: the one? But that's okay. Yeah, so toaster oven, I

488
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:16,440
Speaker 1: guess that's a hack. I never realized it, but yeah,

489
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:19,040
Speaker 1: it's great for heating up pizza. There's like no preheating time,

490
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,040
Speaker 1: and it's true you can prepare toasted things for numerous

491
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 1: children in one go, one go. A quick laundry hack

492
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,080
Speaker 1: from someone here, so her time bending was that she

493
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:31,200
Speaker 1: loads the washing machine the night before with the clothes

494
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,040
Speaker 1: and detergent. When wakes up, hits power on it. But

495
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 1: I think the key understanding here is if you don't

496
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,240
Speaker 1: want to spend your weekend doing laundry, for instance, you

497
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,440
Speaker 1: know one thing you can do is do some little

498
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:47,359
Speaker 1: bits during the week for instance. And often people are

499
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,119
Speaker 1: doing it at night, which is maybe time that you

500
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:51,359
Speaker 1: wish to relax. But if all you have to do

501
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 1: is get its, manage the timing of it, that time

502
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:57,399
Speaker 1: in the morning could in fact be time that you

503
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:02,359
Speaker 1: run something. So consider consider that that that is a

504
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,800
Speaker 1: time that could work. Yeah, definitely. I like this person

505
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 1: that hits power on the washing machine and the coffee

506
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,480
Speaker 1: maker at the same time. It's like two hands. I

507
00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 1: don't know, are they next to each other the Probably

508
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 1: not simultaneously, but I think I think around the same time.

509
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,439
Speaker 1: So you're right thinking about unconventional times to do your laundry.

510
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:25,400
Speaker 1: All right, Yeah, some kid hacks. I like the balloons

511
00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:29,440
Speaker 1: excellent purse toy to entertain a toddler, not this idea. Yeah,

512
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,480
Speaker 1: balloons in your purse is because they're really they don't

513
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:36,200
Speaker 1: take up any room, don't there for fun? Oh, we're

514
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:38,880
Speaker 1: totally doing number two, which is cut little boy's hair

515
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 1: like twice a year. We used to take Cameron more often.

516
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 1: He kind of had this like buzz cut. But we've

517
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 1: kind of stopped. We're like, let's see what his hair

518
00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 1: actually looks like. And it's true, you can get away

519
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,480
Speaker 1: with a lot of growth if you cut it pretty short.

520
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:54,719
Speaker 1: So he's currently sporting the longest hair he's ever had,

521
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,440
Speaker 1: which is not very long. So don't like imagine he's

522
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:01,920
Speaker 1: not it doesn't have long hair. But yeah, it's it's

523
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:06,480
Speaker 1: it's time saving. Another listener writes in, to never put

524
00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:10,360
Speaker 1: batteries in any toy that makes sound, and if your

525
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 1: kids don't know what makes sound, then they're not going

526
00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:15,159
Speaker 1: to find out. If the kids are little enough, I

527
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:17,080
Speaker 1: think this could work. You can also just take batteries

528
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,399
Speaker 1: out of anything you find incredibly annoying and then you

529
00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:23,359
Speaker 1: don't have to listen to it, and you don't have

530
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,119
Speaker 1: to replace it. You don't have to replace it. Another

531
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,119
Speaker 1: listener writes in to take the little junk toys you

532
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 1: receive and put them in the diaper bag for play

533
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:32,800
Speaker 1: on the go. There certainly can be toys that are

534
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,480
Speaker 1: maybe for the car or for you know, sitting in

535
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:37,919
Speaker 1: a restaurant, and if you lose it, it's fine because

536
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,120
Speaker 1: you didn't pay anything for it. It's you know, something

537
00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:43,200
Speaker 1: you'd be willing to toss in the trash on the

538
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 1: way out anyway, So that could be great for those

539
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:47,880
Speaker 1: sort of you know, bring your own happy meal toy

540
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:51,920
Speaker 1: to a different restaurant, but especially like you mentioned, like

541
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: birthday parties. You know, you get that little bag of

542
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,240
Speaker 1: crap basically, and then if it gets in your house,

543
00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:57,879
Speaker 1: it's just crap and ends up getting cleaned up and

544
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 1: thrown the garbage. But if you save that for on

545
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 1: the go use and it might actually serve a purpose

546
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,920
Speaker 1: and then easily disposed of, yeah, there you go. Another

547
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,439
Speaker 1: listener writes in that you can make three lunches three

548
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: days at a time with good containers and they don't

549
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 1: get gross. So that could be similarly to the breakfast

550
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 1: sort of modular outlet. You know, if you have cut

551
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 1: up fruit that you can put in different containers, some

552
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,760
Speaker 1: sets of pretzels, you know, cheese stick have that lined

553
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:28,880
Speaker 1: up in the fridge and then you can just shove

554
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,160
Speaker 1: it into a box and they were bag and out

555
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:32,960
Speaker 1: they go and the door in the morning. So that

556
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:37,680
Speaker 1: can work it too, a modular approach. Modular all right, travel,

557
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:42,240
Speaker 1: So this one relates to our last episode. Last week.

558
00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:44,959
Speaker 1: We had Matt and Joel on our show If all

559
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,159
Speaker 1: went according to plan, and they talked about how their

560
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:48,520
Speaker 1: kids are all the same age and how they're going

561
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,480
Speaker 1: to take vacations together, while someone suggested that exact same thing,

562
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,520
Speaker 1: so share an Airbnb with friends the same age kid,

563
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 1: especially preschool and above, which saves money and the kids

564
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,880
Speaker 1: entertain each other. And I like this actually because maybe

565
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:02,400
Speaker 1: you could then splourage on kind of like a big

566
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,080
Speaker 1: ski shealet or something like that, being anial and it

567
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 1: would be kind of like a fun adventure. And it's

568
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 1: very true that like a lot of times, like two

569
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:12,840
Speaker 1: six year olds are way easier than one six year old,

570
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 1: for example, because they will entertain each other. Yeah, it's

571
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 1: like your own little kids club. So that can that

572
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,200
Speaker 1: can be good. And having multiple adults is also just

573
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: good in general because people could in fact take an

574
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 1: hour while other people run to the grocery store or something,

575
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,200
Speaker 1: Whereas it's a little harder when it's just say you

576
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,920
Speaker 1: and your spouse trading off, because then it's it's it's

577
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,840
Speaker 1: not as fun, it's not fun, not as fun the

578
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,400
Speaker 1: go bag. Well, this is probably good for emergency preparedness too,

579
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 1: that it's smart to have a bag with a change

580
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:47,760
Speaker 1: of clothes for family members. You know, if you're traveling

581
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 1: and you normally check bags, which I don't, but if

582
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,520
Speaker 1: you are the sort of person who checks bags, you

583
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:57,680
Speaker 1: want to make sure that your carry on bag that

584
00:28:57,800 --> 00:28:59,320
Speaker 1: you are not trying to be so light on the

585
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:01,320
Speaker 1: plane that you don't have an extra pair of clothes

586
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 1: and anything you would need in the first twenty four hours,

587
00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:07,880
Speaker 1: so medications and medications especially, you don't want to be

588
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: trying to track that down on it. Don't want to

589
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:13,400
Speaker 1: check that out all right, general, I think we can

590
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 1: include sort of our checklists for everything. Well, we like checklists,

591
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:20,560
Speaker 1: but if there's something you're going to do again in

592
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 1: the future, make a list of what you are doing

593
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 1: and that way you can follow it the next time.

594
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,240
Speaker 1: Save so much mental energy. They have so much mental energy.

595
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 1: So for instance, if you throw a dinner party and

596
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,680
Speaker 1: you have a menu, you could use that menu again

597
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 1: in the future. If your guests liked what you had,

598
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:43,320
Speaker 1: you know, probably it won't be the exact same guess

599
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: the next time, so you could, you know, just make

600
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:47,400
Speaker 1: the checklist of what you did and then you can

601
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,080
Speaker 1: pull it out and do it again the next time.

602
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,720
Speaker 1: That you you have an occasion or a packing list

603
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:55,800
Speaker 1: or like the holiday prep list. If you have like

604
00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 1: a bunch of things you like to always do for Christmas,

605
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:00,880
Speaker 1: that mental energy of like thinking about what they are,

606
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:05,320
Speaker 1: it's actually not negligible. So save that list. Yeah, Always

607
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,360
Speaker 1: make your next appointment while you're at your appointment. This

608
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,360
Speaker 1: was This was something that I sort of appreciated with,

609
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:15,880
Speaker 1: you know, the prenatal visits. The you know, they start

610
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 1: coming fast and furious at some point in there, but

611
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:20,480
Speaker 1: you're always in there making the next appointment for the

612
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,720
Speaker 1: next time, whereas for stuff that's further spread apart, you

613
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 1: might not do that. And that it probably explains why

614
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 1: I went, like, you know, four years without going to

615
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:32,120
Speaker 1: my doctor because they had to have to call and

616
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,040
Speaker 1: make an appointment and then it's going to be like

617
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,640
Speaker 1: months from now, because it's you know, I love it

618
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,520
Speaker 1: when doctor's offices have the schedules like a million years

619
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 1: in advance, although then you are subject to getting that

620
00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:47,719
Speaker 1: phone call where they're like, oh, the doctor's actually taking vacation.

621
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,160
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but still, you know, even if it works

622
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 1: eighty percent of the time, well, I think definitely you should.

623
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:56,080
Speaker 1: I mean, as a doctor's office. You should have availability

624
00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 1: for schedules at the recommended interval that people should be

625
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,760
Speaker 1: coming back for this thing. So if you are a dentist,

626
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:04,440
Speaker 1: for instance, you should definitely have six months out that

627
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 1: you are booking because so people can book. Or a

628
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:11,479
Speaker 1: pediatric under chronologists. Okay, I am actually like my men.

629
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 1: I drive my managers crazy because I cannot stand when

630
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:16,760
Speaker 1: I don't have that interval already open and my patients

631
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:18,400
Speaker 1: have to call back because I know they get annoyed.

632
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:20,480
Speaker 1: They get annoyed. Yeah, no, that's wasted time. Like I

633
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:22,280
Speaker 1: was in the office, I could have done this with

634
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 1: the scheduler there and if you've recommended coming back in

635
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:32,400
Speaker 1: whatever months, then yeah, yes, so agree. I like the

636
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:35,680
Speaker 1: I love the last one. Have the kids close in age.

637
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:37,640
Speaker 1: I have four months four year old twins and a

638
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:40,400
Speaker 1: three year old singleton. They're fifteen point five months apart,

639
00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,160
Speaker 1: so many efficiencies, fewer years of childcare, more years at

640
00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 1: the same school, and built in playmates. Well yeah, that's

641
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:50,600
Speaker 1: I mean one idea. I mean there's something to be said.

642
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:52,320
Speaker 1: They have as many kids as I have and a

643
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:56,280
Speaker 1: fifteen month age range. That's amazing. Yeah, so that means

644
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 1: that she was pregnant when she had like six months twins,

645
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,920
Speaker 1: A little bit nutty muddy. Oh, yes, yes she was,

646
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 1: So we will just put that there without comment. They

647
00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:17,960
Speaker 1: have triplets, I mean no, no, no, don't all right, well,

648
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:19,760
Speaker 1: I think we should move to our Q and A

649
00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 1: because this is also somewhat about it. I have a

650
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,320
Speaker 1: whole lot of hacks, So thank you all so much

651
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,280
Speaker 1: for submitting those, because those were ninety eight percent your

652
00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 1: hacks with a little bit of our commentary. But you

653
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: have very smart things and it's fun to share your

654
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,600
Speaker 1: ideas with the rest of you, So thank you. So

655
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:39,840
Speaker 1: this listener writes, in vacation planning, how do you plan

656
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,440
Speaker 1: so far in advance? Well, this is just because Sarah

657
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,880
Speaker 1: and I are freaks. But anyway, is it set in

658
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,320
Speaker 1: stone when you plan it or are things more vague

659
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 1: ideas and then the details are ironed out later. How

660
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,800
Speaker 1: many vacation days is optimal to save for sick kids

661
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:56,920
Speaker 1: and last minute invitations? Also interested in vacation budgeting, what

662
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:00,320
Speaker 1: is a normal amount Ooh, that's a weighted question of

663
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 1: take home pay to spend on travel and such. I

664
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,000
Speaker 1: had to include this question because I had been it

665
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,280
Speaker 1: was so random. The question came in, I think, like

666
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 1: yesterday and the day before I had been googling, like,

667
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 1: what is a normal amount to spend on travel? Google?

668
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,040
Speaker 1: Those is Google? Now, I don't know. I was like

669
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:19,840
Speaker 1: second guessing our travel budget basically because it's not low.

670
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 1: I think, as you know, last year we barely traveled

671
00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 1: at all because I just was like done with it.

672
00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 1: But now that I feel very hopeful. Oh my gosh.

673
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:29,960
Speaker 1: I hope I'm not wrong, but I feel hopeful that

674
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,040
Speaker 1: it's going to be a little better. Like Genevieve is

675
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:33,720
Speaker 1: so much more verbal. I think she would sit and

676
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:36,520
Speaker 1: watch a movie on the plane for at least part

677
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,000
Speaker 1: of the time. I think she's more likely to sleep

678
00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,120
Speaker 1: through the night on vacation. Again, if I am wrong,

679
00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 1: oh my god, this year is going to be rough.

680
00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:45,160
Speaker 1: But anyway, we plan a lot more trips and I

681
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:47,800
Speaker 1: was just wondering whether it was overkilled. And I guess

682
00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:50,360
Speaker 1: I'll answer that part first. I didn't find any specific

683
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,440
Speaker 1: one answer. People doesn't know, no, and neither do the blogs,

684
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,080
Speaker 1: and you know, everyone has a different opinion. But the

685
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:59,840
Speaker 1: things that I saw ranged from like on the low

686
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,880
Speaker 1: and they said three percent of gross pay or one

687
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,520
Speaker 1: thing said, well, you know, thirty percent of your expenses

688
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:07,680
Speaker 1: are variable, so it doesn't matter as long as it

689
00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:10,759
Speaker 1: fits within that thirty percent, to another one which said, like,

690
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 1: you know, between five to ten percent of take home

691
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:15,840
Speaker 1: pay is normal. But I came to my own conclusion

692
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:17,799
Speaker 1: that probably is not a right number. But the question

693
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,279
Speaker 1: is are you meeting your saving schoals? If you can

694
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 1: check that off and is if it's a priority for you,

695
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,719
Speaker 1: then it can probably be whatever you want. There's no

696
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,000
Speaker 1: there's no right answer if you are already meeting your

697
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 1: savings goals. So when I did my calculation, I actually

698
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:35,720
Speaker 1: did plant. I I calculated it's about like four percent

699
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,279
Speaker 1: of our gross pay, which probably means five percent because

700
00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:41,800
Speaker 1: when you estimate vacation costs are always probably more. And

701
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,880
Speaker 1: so I felt actually better about it. But here's the thing.

702
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:47,200
Speaker 1: I mean, you guys you posted on your blog. If so,

703
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:49,800
Speaker 1: I feel like this is probably public information out that

704
00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,240
Speaker 1: I could share that you guys are renting a place

705
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:57,120
Speaker 1: that is seven percent of your income. Yes, so we're

706
00:34:57,160 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 1: not spending on our housing, you're not spending on your pausing.

707
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:01,319
Speaker 1: So having made that decision versus a lot of people

708
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,399
Speaker 1: going north of you, know, twenty twenty five five percent. Yeah,

709
00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:07,160
Speaker 1: that is eighteen percent. You can play around with. You

710
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:09,000
Speaker 1: can do whatever you want with. You can save some

711
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:11,080
Speaker 1: of it, and you can use some of it for travel.

712
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,320
Speaker 1: I mean, I think if you want to, given the

713
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:16,160
Speaker 1: low percentage of your income spent on housing, you could

714
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,359
Speaker 1: literally spend the same amount on housing as travel. And yeah,

715
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:21,719
Speaker 1: we really could. And I felt better about that, and

716
00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:23,839
Speaker 1: I think I think, I actually, like really, the first

717
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,680
Speaker 1: question is like our our savings goals met? If our

718
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 1: savings goals are met, then you know what, like whatever,

719
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:34,040
Speaker 1: it's fine, because it's just it's just a question of

720
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 1: you know, making sure that everything else kind of fits

721
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:40,400
Speaker 1: in there. So I'm giving you reader or listener permission

722
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:43,200
Speaker 1: to also, you know, give yourself if that's something that

723
00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:46,480
Speaker 1: you prioritize. It can be something that you know has

724
00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:49,440
Speaker 1: a significant portion of your budget. Now, I think that

725
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:52,120
Speaker 1: you know, yes, Laura and I are planners, but I

726
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 1: think that for most people it is somewhat beneficial to

727
00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:59,319
Speaker 1: do barely far out vacation planning, mostly because especially if

728
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,640
Speaker 1: your family is they're just you. I've been in the

729
00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:04,520
Speaker 1: situation where I'm trying to book something two or three

730
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 1: months out and there's just much less choice, And I

731
00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:10,520
Speaker 1: would much rather be faced with, say, looking at you know,

732
00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:13,719
Speaker 1: a number of airbnbs, versus being like, well, there's only two,

733
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:16,279
Speaker 1: so I guess we're just gonna do this one. This

734
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:17,960
Speaker 1: was much less of an issue. If I'm just booking

735
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 1: travel for Josh and me, I don't feel as strongly

736
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 1: in that case. I really just care about, Okay, well,

737
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 1: my work schedule is very planned out and they want

738
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:28,359
Speaker 1: me to give a lot of notice, so I feel

739
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 1: like I have to block out the time. But the

740
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:32,239
Speaker 1: rest of the details don't matter unless there's something very

741
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:35,400
Speaker 1: specific I want to do. But for the family traveling,

742
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:37,600
Speaker 1: I don't worry about booking the airfare. I don't worry

743
00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,240
Speaker 1: about booking the rentals. I worry about booking the lodging,

744
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:43,520
Speaker 1: just because stuff just seems to fill up. Well, it

745
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 1: also depends how, yeah, how big your family is. Four

746
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:50,759
Speaker 1: people can probably go almost anywhere. Three people definitely can.

747
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:54,400
Speaker 1: If you're buying eight plane tickets and you want them together,

748
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:58,160
Speaker 1: you need to get on that, that's true, or fly

749
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 1: Southwest and then upgrade and then yeah, yeah, exactly. I

750
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,840
Speaker 1: would also say that there are some upsides to planning

751
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 1: the whole the year kind of holistically, because if you

752
00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:12,520
Speaker 1: are going to take more than one trip and you

753
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:16,000
Speaker 1: have different factions of your family who enjoy different things,

754
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:20,719
Speaker 1: this means that you're not pitting each vacation against each other.

755
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:22,800
Speaker 1: So you're not saying, well, well, some people like to

756
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:24,399
Speaker 1: ski and some people like to go to the beach,

757
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 1: and so you know, and some people like to go

758
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:28,040
Speaker 1: to a big city, and what are we going to

759
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:31,200
Speaker 1: do for spring break? And like everyone's arguing about that.

760
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:36,680
Speaker 1: If you have decided that, okay, spring break is the beach,

761
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:38,520
Speaker 1: and maybe we're going to go on a you know,

762
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,680
Speaker 1: urban trip in the summer and take a few days

763
00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:44,640
Speaker 1: to ski over the next winter break, well then you

764
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:48,040
Speaker 1: know that everyone's going to get what they want. And

765
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:51,320
Speaker 1: so then people can be a little bit more open

766
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,440
Speaker 1: to doing other things and other vacations without feeling like, oh,

767
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,200
Speaker 1: this is my vacation, I'm not getting to do what

768
00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:00,319
Speaker 1: I want to do and feeling unhappy about that. Yeah,

769
00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:03,480
Speaker 1: it helps you provide some balance to that vacation schedule

770
00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:06,200
Speaker 1: and long term budgeting then too. I mean, because it's

771
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:09,840
Speaker 1: true looking at your annual amount, like how do you

772
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:12,360
Speaker 1: know if you if you don't think about your other trips, Like,

773
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,320
Speaker 1: how do you know if you've wig overspent on spring

774
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,759
Speaker 1: break and now you know you can't do what you

775
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 1: want to do in the summer winter, You know, you

776
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:22,680
Speaker 1: just I think by having at least an idea of

777
00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,080
Speaker 1: what you want to do, even if you don't know exactly,

778
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:29,279
Speaker 1: like putting a number on it. No, it definitely helped

779
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:31,560
Speaker 1: me from a peace of mind perspective to kind of

780
00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:34,680
Speaker 1: add up an estimate of our year's trips. That's actually

781
00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:36,800
Speaker 1: a really nice point. And otherwise it's very hard to

782
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:39,080
Speaker 1: calculate any kind of percentage or any kind of to

783
00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:40,640
Speaker 1: know what you're saving for. And a lot of people

784
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:43,080
Speaker 1: do save for that kind of very expense by saying, Okay,

785
00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:45,359
Speaker 1: I'm going to put x amount into my vacation fund.

786
00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:47,239
Speaker 1: But unless you know kind of what you're doing for

787
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:49,080
Speaker 1: the year, then how do you know how much to

788
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:51,800
Speaker 1: put in that fund? So that's another reason as for

789
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:55,640
Speaker 1: how much PTO you leave for kid kid emergencies and stuff.

790
00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:58,279
Speaker 1: What's your what's your cushions? Yeah, so I'm I mean

791
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:01,160
Speaker 1: every institution is different. We are lucky and that ours

792
00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:03,200
Speaker 1: rolls over. I think if you have more than like

793
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:05,520
Speaker 1: three or four weeks. It doesn't roll over. But I've

794
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:07,080
Speaker 1: never had that much of a cushion, so it's a

795
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:10,400
Speaker 1: non issue. So I try to spend all of the

796
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,920
Speaker 1: PCO that I earn in a year, but I have

797
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:15,400
Speaker 1: a buffer, so meaning like I think I have like

798
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:18,120
Speaker 1: one hundred hours in there right now. So if I earn,

799
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:20,879
Speaker 1: you know, twenty five day, I'm just making up numbers.

800
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:22,880
Speaker 1: I don't really remember twenty five days of PTO in

801
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:25,879
Speaker 1: the year. Then I might spend twenty five days thinking, well,

802
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:28,200
Speaker 1: those ten days are there for emergencies. Now, of course

803
00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:30,239
Speaker 1: you have to have built up that buffer, but a

804
00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:32,239
Speaker 1: lot of times, if you've been somewhere for a number

805
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:34,040
Speaker 1: of time, you'll find that naturally you just use a

806
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:35,880
Speaker 1: little bit less than you've earned, and then you can

807
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:38,680
Speaker 1: feel kind of comfortable spending at steady state. All right,

808
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:44,279
Speaker 1: sounds good? All right, Love of the Week. Well, you guys,

809
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:46,759
Speaker 1: hear my voice today, and we're actually recording a couple

810
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:48,840
Speaker 1: of episodes today, so I apologize. I'm not going to

811
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,080
Speaker 1: sound very pretty on any of them because I had

812
00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:53,879
Speaker 1: this illness like a month ago. So if you guys

813
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:56,239
Speaker 1: remember I was hacking my way thy episod say that

814
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:58,719
Speaker 1: we had the horseness on another episode and now we

815
00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:01,680
Speaker 1: have really same illness, but now I have it a

816
00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:04,160
Speaker 1: month later, so that sucks. That is not the love

817
00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:06,719
Speaker 1: of the week. That's not the level. But last night,

818
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:09,040
Speaker 1: both Chenevieve and I slept all night, which is the

819
00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,279
Speaker 1: first time in days because she has the same thing.

820
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,480
Speaker 1: So one or the other of us or both have

821
00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:15,160
Speaker 1: been up coughing or a lot of times she'll make

822
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:16,719
Speaker 1: me up, wake me up from her coughing, and then

823
00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 1: I find myself coughing. And last night was our first

824
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:21,839
Speaker 1: night of peace. So yeay, that is the true love

825
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,799
Speaker 1: of the week. Yes, that is true. Well, I am

826
00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:28,640
Speaker 1: enjoying my my long stretch of sleep. You know, our

827
00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:31,279
Speaker 1: listeners know about my my night nurse service of a

828
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,680
Speaker 1: few nights a week, and we had it last night.

829
00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:36,440
Speaker 1: And I've decided that I am okay with pumping that

830
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:39,560
Speaker 1: first feeding. Pump it before I go to bed, so

831
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:41,720
Speaker 1: it's really nice. I sleep from you know, ten fifteen

832
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:46,799
Speaker 1: before fifteen ten to four thirty. Ooh, lovely. So that's

833
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:51,080
Speaker 1: been one of my splurges, but one I am happy about.

834
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:54,279
Speaker 1: So leap is our lovely is our love of really

835
00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 1: all right, well, this has been best at both worlds.

836
00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:00,000
Speaker 1: We've been doing life hacks and talking about vacation plans.

837
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:02,120
Speaker 1: We'll be back next week with more on making work

838
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:06,560
Speaker 1: and life fit together. Thanks for listening. You can find

839
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:10,000
Speaker 1: me Sarah at the shoebox dot com or at the

840
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:14,200
Speaker 1: Underscore Shoebox on Instagram, and you can find me Laura

841
00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,960
Speaker 1: at Laura vandercam dot com. This has been the best

842
00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:21,520
Speaker 1: of Both Worlds podcasts. Please join us next time for

843
00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 1: more on making work and life work together.