Tag: #tinyhabits

November 13, 2022. Be kind-it is a little thing that can make a big difference.

Kindness is a tiny action. Its baking a potpie for a neighbor who has been traveling. Its picking up some groceries for you wife while she is on her way home. Its complimenting someone on a new hairdo, car, outfit. Its writing an Amazon review for a book or product that you enjoyed. Its saying “thank you” or “I’m sorry” to someone.

Kindness is one of the original tiny actions. It is often overlooked in the hustle and bustle of life-especially in the holiday season where everyone seems to be rushing around.

So as we approach the holidays, I challenge all of you (myself included) to find tiny ways to be kind to others. It doesn’t have to cost money. It doesn’t have to be planned out. It just needs to come from your heart. Making others smile should be one of our biggest goals every day.

To my 96 followers-THANK YOU! To everyone that is following me because of my new book-THANK YOU! The ebook should be on Amazon by tomorrow! Have a great week! Stay tiny.

October 23, 2022. You should have people over to your house every once in a while…

I am an introvert. The longer I am on this earth, the more I am convinced of this fact. It does not mean that I hate people. Instead it means that I need time away from people to get my energy back. My husband is the opposite. He LOVES being around people and that is what energizes him.

Being married involves compromise and my husband would love to have people at our house every night and every weekend, celebrating something. I would rather just have the quiet. So in true compromising fashion, he winds up going to the houses of other people sometimes and other times we have people to our house.

Today is one of the days we are having people over. It is an NFL Sunday and we live in Michigan. People are coming over for the Detroit Lions game. They are eating, drinking, and having fun. I have been cleaning for over an hour. So has he. Normally, our house is very tidy but little things can tend to get away from you sometimes. When you have people over, you see your house with fresh eyes. Here are some examples.

The coffee grounds around the coffee maker. (They don’t bother me, but it looks dirty)

The kitchen sink is uncluttered but could be wiped down.

The stove has come crusty bits on it from a pot that boiled over.

The mirror in the bathroom needs cleaned.

The kitchen rug could use a vacuum.

The crockpot (which is clean) needs to be put away.

Little things that don’t bother my husband and I but need to be attended to before we have company. Some of you might argue that if they are truly our friends, they won’t care. That is true. I don’t think they would care, but I care. And the house looks a lot cleaner all of the sudden with just these few items being taken care of.

So suck it up and have some people every now and then. Your house will thank you!

Thank you to my 90 followers! Hope you have a happy and healthy week!

Oct 16, 2022 The problem with tiny actions

If you have been following this blog for a while, you know that I praise the “tiny steps, habits, actions” way of accomplishing goals and tasks.

So what is the problem? When you think that something is so tiny, you sometimes stop doing it. I haven’t felt well this week (school crud that everyone has), so I haven’t attended to all the little steps that I talk about. And here is what happened.

My sink is full of dishes.

The laundry is washed and dried but just sitting on top of the dryer.

I found a chair to put clothes on that need to be hung up and now they have filled the chair.

The dining table is covered in stuff.

The coffee table is covered in stuff.

My bathroom has stuff all over the counter.

My suitcase from the weekend is still packed.

I have shoes in every room that need to be returned to the closet.

So I started working on the house this morning when I woke up and in 30 minutes, I am still no where near done with picking up all of these areas. The sink is full of even more dishes because I made beef stew. The laundry is now on our bed but there is more that is washing as I type. The clothes still need to be hung. The dining table is halfway cleared. The coffee table is cleared and the shoes are returned to the closet. The suitcase is unpacked.

It feels overwhelming. It makes me grumpy. THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I CAME UP WITH MY SYSTEM IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!! Instead of resting today, I feel as though I have a lot to do to get the house ready for the week. This week I will put the tiny little systems back into place and get things back on track.

To my 90 followers-THANK YOU! What tiny little actions do you focus on to keep your life together?

My book is still being edited (it is taking longer than I thought) but I will put the link here as soon as I have it!

Sept 26-cleaning out the garage with tiny actions

We moved into our new house in the late fall/winter of last year. As with most people, we stuffed a ton of boxes into the garage to “deal with later.” I also cleaned out my classroom and stuffed even more boxes into it. The creme de la creme was when we finished our basement this summer and put a lot of the basement boxes into the garage so that we could drywall, paint, etc… So the garage has become a bit of a disaster.

We could still fit two cars into it (I am proud of that) but EVERY other square inch is taken up with stuff and it needs to be dealt with. I COULD spend an entire weekend cleaning and organizing and getting it taken care of, but I don’t want to do that. Instead, I am using tiny steps to get it cleaned up. Here are the first 5 days.

Day 1. Brought 3 Christmas presents (light up boxes) to basement and stored them with the rest of the Christmas decor. Put winter mats in back of jeep.

Day 2. Two college signs for the basement a paper towel holder and two cooler bags. Silverware from our wedding and two plastic containers that are empty

Also I have some energy and some time while something is cooking on the stove so I took about 5 gallons of paint down to the basement where we are going to store it more permanently than in the garage because we do not need it right now.

Day 3 is five more paint cans, a small bin and threw away some essential oils that were 5 to 7 years old and not stored properly.The goal is to every day put something where it supposed to be one or two things and also throw out some thing or discard some thing that doesn’t belong

Day 4. threw a way two teaching things, put two in my bag to take to school, moved around three shelves so that the more I organize I can start putting things where they belong and I moved a rake and a leaf blower. Also got rid of three shirts that had been peed on by my cat and put some cleaner in the hall closet where the rest of the cleaners are (husband noticed at this point)

Day 5. took some golf signs to the basement. Put tie cables into a bin. Put some shoes on new cleaned off shelf. Threw away 2 books. Hung up blower.

Thank you to my 89 followers! My book will be published to Amazon soon! I will link it here also!

September 2, 2022-31 days without social media

Wow! I actually did it. I stayed off Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest for all of August. And I am here to say, it was kind of amazing. There were a few downfalls-I didn’t see the “first day of school” pictures from all my friends and family, I missed the news that my former cleaning lady was killed in a car accident,I started obsessively checking my email, and I “got bored” a few times. Other than that, I DID NOT MISS IT AT ALL!

So this blog is about all the tiny actions that lead you toward your goals. I have written a book that is being edited and will be published (Oct 1 hopefully) about that process. However, if you have been following the blog for a while, I also talk about “bursts” that you can take toward your goals and my social media fast is one of those bursts.

Benefits

  1. I read 13 novels/books.
  2. I increased my step count each week.
  3. I listened to a few inspiration podcasts.
  4. I cleaned out parts of my basement
  5. I started a new teaching job.
  6. I finished writing my book (it has been in the works for 9 months).
  7. I felt like I was choosing my life instead of having it choose me.
  8. I stayed out of so much drama.
  9. I watched a Netflix series with my mom.
  10. I felt calmer and lighter-the summer days seemed to move slower (like they did when I was a kid)

Would I recommend something like this? ABSOLUTELY! I actually did that to a friend of mine. She joined me on the challenge and seemed to miss it a lot more than I did BUT she also didn’t turn off her notifications so she felt compelled to reach out to people if they reached out to her first.

So here is the big question, Am I going back on it? Right now? NO. Will I in the future? Maybe. I do miss looking at pictures and seeing the lives of some of my friends. I don’t miss the advertisements, political rants, and ickiness that sometimes comes with having an active account.

Here is my advice is you want to do a social media fast of your own. 1. Turn off your notifications. 2. Have someone in your life that can notify you of news (like deaths, invites to parties, etc…) 3. Start small-maybe give it up for one day, then one week and gradually work up to a whole month. 4. Have something “better” to fill your time with. I read novels and worked on my own book. These are things that I always want to do and never feel as though I have the time. I gave myself that time by avoiding social media. 5. Forgive yourself-my friend that was doing the challenge with me found herself in the hospital one night and to keep her mind off things, she got on Facebook. THAT IS TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE! Give yourself some grace if something happens. (She hopped right back off Facebook when she got home).

The biggest takeway from this experiment was that I wanted to feel in control of my life and I feel like I achieved that. I was mindlessly scrolling before this and now, I consciously consume the electronic information that goes into my head.

To my 89 followers-thank you so much! I hope you have an amazing weekend! Try “living” this weekend instead of watching others live online-you will be so glad you did!

July 23-tidy up/clean BEFORE you leave for vacation

So I actually learned this tip my sophomore year of college. We had a party at my house and at 3 am, after everyone had left, we found ourselves with tons of energy and so we cleaned up. Everything! We probably got to bed around 4am.

The magical part was the next morning when we woke up around noon on a Sunday and our apartment looked like nothing had ever happened! It was awesome! The pretzels that had been ground into the carpet were gone, the cans and pizza boxes all over the coffee table were gone, everything was picked up! Dishes were done-EVERYTHING! It made Sunday a super relaxing day for all of us.

When my husband and I first started living together after marriage, I would always leave things to later-dishes, laundry, cleaning, etc… I always assumed I would have more time and energy LATER. Well, later would arrive and I didn’t want to do it any more then than I do right now. The same goes for cleaning before vacation.

Sometimes you won’t have time before you rush out the door for a 3 day vacay. Other times, you may have a half of a day or so to prepare before you leave-I would spend that time doing laundry, tidying, cleaning, getting the house in order the best you can with the time you have. Here’s why. You are already tired and in need of a vacation (it is why you are going on one). Cleaning or not cleaning is not going to change that fact. IF you pick things up before you leave, when you return home rested, you also have a clean house to start the week back into work/school/life/etc…

If you still don’t believe me or don’t think you have time, try to do the dishes and the laundry before you go. That way, you will have clean clothes to wear for a few days (your vacation laundry is another beast) and you will have dishes to eat upon. Most people don’t like coming home from a vacation, but if you can come home to a clean house, it makes it better.

Things I take care of before we leave on vacation

  1. All the laundry is washed, dried and put away.
  2. Dishes are done and either drying on a towel or in the dishwasher.
  3. Living room clutter is picked up.
  4. Dining room table is cleared off.
  5. Trash is taken out.
  6. Bathroom is picked up and toilet has cleaner in it.
  7. Purse is cleaned out of only things I need for vacation.
  8. IF IT IS A SCHOOL VACATION-I also make sure the backpack is ready for the first day back of school and that there is a lunch to be packed for the first day back also (something that doesn’t spoil so we can go to the grocery store later). You could also lay out clothes for that first day back as well.

If I have bonus time I will vacuum or sweep the kitchen floor, but that usually doesn’t happen. I watched one woman online dust and vacuum and DEEP CLEAN her house before vacation. That is not what I am talking about here. I am simply talking about an hour’s worth of tidying and cleaning that will have you coming back to an orderly house.

To my 86 followers-stay tiny! See you next week!

June 24-Everyone should have a funeral outfit

My father died the first week of the school year. My grandmother died the week after the last week of the school year. To say that this was a tough school year would be an understatement. However, here is my tiny habit/step/tip.

Have an outfit that you can wear to a funeral (by this I mean it fits, it is appropriate for a visitation and/or funeral, you have shoes that go with it, it doesn’t need to be ironed or cleaned, it is relatively comfortable, etc…)

Why would this be a tiny tip? Because when life throws you something like a family death, you have an immense amount of things to worry about (hospice, home health care, time off from work, food, contacting people, lawyers, the bank, their house, relatives, funeral home and expenses, etc… all while grieving this person you knew and loved). The LAST thing you need is to try to find an outfit to wear, shoes that fit, etc…

If you are responsible for little people (kids) or a partner/spouse, make sure they have an outfit also. If you don’t have a lot of money, get some pants and a shirt from Goodwill. If your kids grow a lot, get them something from Goodwill or hand me downs. I have a stretchy black dress that fits and looks good if I gain 10 pounds or lose 10 pounds. I threw a black cardigan over it and some jewelry. I have lots of pairs of black shoes. My husband has a black suit and always has a white dress shirt clean.

Here’s what this preparation will do for you-eliminate fights, eliminate frustration, eliminate questions, and just generally eliminate one small part of a very icky time.

Other tips (tiny ones). I almost hesitate to suggest some things because I was completely in survival mode until today. But here are a few little things that helped.

Try to eat as healthy as you can-yes, I ate a half box of donuts one day. However, I tried to get some protein and vegetables in me the next day.

Get some fresh air. If you can, add a small walk. If you can’t, don’t beat yourself up.

Drink as much water as you can (not only is it good for you, but it gives you some alone time in the bathroom)

Be incredibly honest with people who offer to help. When they say “what can we do?” TELL THEM. One friend brought distilled water for my dads oxygen machine. Another friend brought sandwich bread, meat, cheese (we had only eaten sugar for about 7 days and no one wanted to go to the store.) Another friend had a mass said at the Catholic Church.

Don’t try to be strong. Reach out for help when people offer. Then pay it forward some day when they are in the same situation.

To my 85 followers-THANK YOU! I will be able to write more now that it is summer and hopefully the funerals are behind me. I am self publishing my book in July. I will put a link on here to purchase it when it it ready!

July 16-change your systems (just a little)

We bought a house a couple of weeks ago. This is our fourth house as a married couple. Over that time we have accumulated stuff (we have decluttered each time but stuff still accumulates) and accumulated systems for doing things like laundry, dishes, housework, yard work, etc…

As I was doing the laundry today, I realized something. Our previous system was not going to work. Our first house had main floor laundry. Our second house had main floor laundry. Our third house had laundry in the finished basement. This house has laundry in an UNFINISHED basement. This may seem like a little thing but it actually isn’t. In all the other house, I would just put dirty laundry on the floor to sort and to wait to go into the washer. The cement floor is kind of dusty and I don’t want the clothes to get any dirtier than they already are SOOOOOO I have to change my system.

This made me wonder how many times we try to “fit old stuff into a new space.” A new school year, a new house, a new weight loss or gain, a new job, a new dresser or closet, even a new backpack or lunch bag for school. We use the “old stuff” because it is there and it worked in the past. Well I am here to tell you that the old stuff might need to be changed. I am not advocating running out and buying new things. Actually the exact opposite. See what you can subtly change (in a tiny way) in your house/school bag/lunch bag/ bedroom/ etc… that would make a huge difference. That is what I did with the laundry.

Here’s the laundry fix-I have two hampers. One is in basement. One is in the bedroom. I have a 31 tote that is easier to carry than a laundry basket and that is what I will use to carry dirty clothes downstairs and clean clothes upstairs. I will look for a table or something (in the attic at my parents house) that I could put in the basement to keep laundry off the floor (folding and sorting).

It is different. It will be different. However, it is a tiny change and I think it will help a lot. So as I navigate a new home, I will continue to look for TINY changes in my systems that may help things move smoothly. I truly believe that tiny fixes and changes are the way to do things and keep overwhelm and anxiety at a minimum-hence the reason for this blog.

THANK YOU to my 52 followers! You keep me inspired and motivated! Have a great day/week!

June 21-Bonus post. “Tiny time”

I, like many other people, get overwhelmed with big tasks. A lot of people either give up or just don’t do whatever it is that needs doing until it takes a LOT of time to rectify the situation (think all day Saturday house cleaning.)

So, my solution is “tiny time.” I am currently packing up to move and it is an overwhelming task (where did all this stuff come from ?!?!?!?!). So, I have been tackling packing in tiny bursts of time. I put on the home renovation tv channel for inspiration and during every commercial, I pack a bag, box, drawer, etc… Then, I make SURE to sit down and watch the episode until another commercial happens. It has been a great motivator. Today alone I have packed two dressers, the stuff under the kitchen sink, and 3 cabinets in the kitchen. And it is only 10 am! Plus, I am still motivated to keep going instead of dreading the next items that I need to pack.

Other “tiny times” that I have taken advantage of are

Washing a few dishes while water boils or the stove heats up.

Wiping down the bathroom sink as I swish mouthwash around.

Folding laundry on commercials.

Putting away last night’s dishes while my morning coffee brews.

Grading papers in the hallway during passing time (I teach in a high school and we are expected to stand outside our classrooms to monitor passing time)

Sorting paperwork while my husband watches baseball (I don’t enjoy watching baseball but he does)

I know that the “disaster cleaning videos” are fun to watch on Youtube but I have to wonder “what if these people would clean and tidy during “tiny times” and save their days for something more enjoyable? Just a thought. Have a great Monday!

THANK YOU to my 47 followers-you keep me going and keep me smiling!