Hi Laura, the "Don't grocery shop on the weekend" article was one of my most recent favorites. Your ability to articulate common sense life skills is addicting.
As an observer of encouragement, this post is wonderful. The Vanderhack posts give out encouragement every day. Effective encouragement works when there is a giver and a receiver.
Thanks for asking! I look forward to reading your posts.
We recently went on a family trip and I used the “what makes it good” heuristic every day. Turns out, what makes a beach trip good for a teenager is walking to a coffee shop by herself. Good to know.
your post about finishing something in 30 days helped me get some urgency around the proposal and planning for my next book--I set a deadline with my agent to send her some initial draft materials July 3!
Laura, I always try your suggestions. Just now, I send a message to a friend who did me a favor just to let her know that “the thing was done” and to thank her, wishing her a nice summer. It’s so easy and simple, but we do not always remember to do it!
TOAD time- my kids are obsessed. Bedtimes are later but it’s worth it. Having a name for it makes it even more exciting. Everyone is usually around then too, so it’s a whole family (and dog) activity, which is nice.
The lunch suggestions! That was extra helpful. Also, the idea of having a summer habit that you can discard in the fall got me thinking about seasonal habits. Thanks for both.
So I listen to your podcast Before Breakfast and read Vanderhacks and I love the practical positive advice that you give in both. Recently for one month I journaled on the question “what did I move forward today?” and it was a great.
I’m new to Substack but have been listening to Best of Both Worlds for years and have read Tranquility by Tuesday multiple times (I actually referenced it in my first Substack post last week! 😆 So, shout out to you!)
Close the loop is a good one! I have a particular friend who is great at this and I’d love to do it more often. I think if you’re on the being-asked-for-a-rec end, you can still close the loop and you’re friend would appreciate the follow up to see what they decided on.
Two of my favorite Tranquility rules are:
1. Plan on Fridays (this helps in countless ways)
2. Big and little adventures - I have adapted this throughout various seasons of life, but it’s a great mindset to have. Even just acknowledging the novelty of little adventures helps to validate them in my opinion.
I will say, I go back and forth on the grocery shopping during the week. If I have a particularly large list, I quite enjoy going by myself and wandering a bit at the store instead of trying to buy an entire cartful with one or both kids. My husband and kids also usually like the downtime at home when I grocery shop on weekends. By the time my husband is home, I most definitely do not want to be running an errand.
Thanks for always engaging your audience and asking for feedback. ❤️
Impossible to share all the ways your tips have improved my life, Laura!
From your “Save time AND money” list:
- Live close to things. We purposefully chose a house on the rail - a 10-minute train ride into the hospital for me, rushing past Houston traffic!
- Skip the dry cleaning. I can’t pretend to have ever bothered with dry-cleaning, but I tried Beta Brand work pants for that seamless yoga-to-office transition, and I’m a fan! Thank you!
- Just buy index funds. ✅
My personal additions:
- Sheet pan dinners. No sauté babysitting. Start baked potatoes, take the toddler to the pool for an hour, add veggie sausages while we change for dinner, and voilà!
- Batch prep onions. Spending 15 minutes ONCE to chop a weeks’ worth of onions somehow lifts the mental load of weeknight cooking, without full “meal prepping.” Drop on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, caramelize for 15 minutes, add veggies - and elevate a meal with minimal effort.
- Bagged salad is not cheating. 2 bags of washed-and-cut salad costs about 4 dollars, same as 1 bag of unwashed, uncut romaine. Dump into a pretty bowl, add a little olive oil and vinegar, and weeknight salad is easy.
- Make your own candles. I upcycle leftover candle wax, melting in a tin can in boiling water via saucepan, then pour over fresh wicks in colored glass jars. Only takes a few minutes, and that’s saving $10-20/candle these days!
Last two:
- You don't have to take the first time offered. ✅
- Remember a childhood summer. Sailing. Low country boil. Swimming. Gardening (my urban balcony hideaway!). Long runs. Bike rides along the Bayou. Sidewalk chalk.
I am also a mom with five kids. We do major international travel, my husband runs a large business, and I am launching a complicated career. Honestly, most of your tips are already ones that I have either worked into our lives or tried and don’t fit into our lives in this season. They’re very sensible when you’re juggling a lot.
But I love reading your newsletter! I love the sense of aha! when I see something that I have tried out, or the reminder to try something again. And I appreciate having them spelled out in black and white. There are so many things that we do instinctively or spiral around and try, or things I knew but hadn’t ever verbalized. Just talking/reading through them helps me be more conscious… and it gives me encouragement that I CAN do all this, I’m not doing so badly after all!
“What makes it good”: not only for others, but especially asking it of myself.
“Plan ahead” and “name things (as adventures)”: re-shapes the future and ensures a more fulfilling life.
“This is when you get stronger”: I initially reworded this in my head as “this is how you get stronger”, but quickly realized that your phrasing was way better. “How” seemed to leave it open as to whether or not you did the thing. “When”, on the other hand, doesn’t leave any room for debate.
Several but here are my faves: anticipate the “good feelings” for an upcoming event— frequently use this for overnight visits with my 9-year old grandson; plan your next week on Friday of the current week; keep a list of “5-15 minute” things you can do when you have an unexpected window of time. Lastly, I usually glean a weekly nugget or two from your daily and brief podcast of Before Breakfast. Thanks for all you do, Laura. I appreciate you and your work🌸
Many great ideas I find appealing, especially the ones that focus on intentionally planning fun activities. But from the recent articles, I liked the one dedicated to teenagers a lot. I tend to be quite critical towards my tween and I find parenting quite hard, so that was a good reminder to relax a bit.
Hi Laura, the "Don't grocery shop on the weekend" article was one of my most recent favorites. Your ability to articulate common sense life skills is addicting.
As an observer of encouragement, this post is wonderful. The Vanderhack posts give out encouragement every day. Effective encouragement works when there is a giver and a receiver.
Thanks for asking! I look forward to reading your posts.
100% agree - Vanderhack posts are a daily vitamin of encouragement!
We recently went on a family trip and I used the “what makes it good” heuristic every day. Turns out, what makes a beach trip good for a teenager is walking to a coffee shop by herself. Good to know.
That is good to know!
your post about finishing something in 30 days helped me get some urgency around the proposal and planning for my next book--I set a deadline with my agent to send her some initial draft materials July 3!
Laura, I always try your suggestions. Just now, I send a message to a friend who did me a favor just to let her know that “the thing was done” and to thank her, wishing her a nice summer. It’s so easy and simple, but we do not always remember to do it!
You closed the loop! Excellent :)
TOAD time- my kids are obsessed. Bedtimes are later but it’s worth it. Having a name for it makes it even more exciting. Everyone is usually around then too, so it’s a whole family (and dog) activity, which is nice.
I think giving things a name in general makes them exciting - something to keep in mind...
The lunch suggestions! That was extra helpful. Also, the idea of having a summer habit that you can discard in the fall got me thinking about seasonal habits. Thanks for both.
Glad they were helpful :)
I love plan your Saturday or you wind up not doing anything
@Gigi- yep, an ongoing issue in my house too!
Love and consider using all of the Vanderhacks! Thanks for offering
TOAD time! My kids love it and it feels so special!
So I listen to your podcast Before Breakfast and read Vanderhacks and I love the practical positive advice that you give in both. Recently for one month I journaled on the question “what did I move forward today?” and it was a great.
I’m new to Substack but have been listening to Best of Both Worlds for years and have read Tranquility by Tuesday multiple times (I actually referenced it in my first Substack post last week! 😆 So, shout out to you!)
Close the loop is a good one! I have a particular friend who is great at this and I’d love to do it more often. I think if you’re on the being-asked-for-a-rec end, you can still close the loop and you’re friend would appreciate the follow up to see what they decided on.
Two of my favorite Tranquility rules are:
1. Plan on Fridays (this helps in countless ways)
2. Big and little adventures - I have adapted this throughout various seasons of life, but it’s a great mindset to have. Even just acknowledging the novelty of little adventures helps to validate them in my opinion.
I will say, I go back and forth on the grocery shopping during the week. If I have a particularly large list, I quite enjoy going by myself and wandering a bit at the store instead of trying to buy an entire cartful with one or both kids. My husband and kids also usually like the downtime at home when I grocery shop on weekends. By the time my husband is home, I most definitely do not want to be running an errand.
Thanks for always engaging your audience and asking for feedback. ❤️
Impossible to share all the ways your tips have improved my life, Laura!
From your “Save time AND money” list:
- Live close to things. We purposefully chose a house on the rail - a 10-minute train ride into the hospital for me, rushing past Houston traffic!
- Skip the dry cleaning. I can’t pretend to have ever bothered with dry-cleaning, but I tried Beta Brand work pants for that seamless yoga-to-office transition, and I’m a fan! Thank you!
- Just buy index funds. ✅
My personal additions:
- Sheet pan dinners. No sauté babysitting. Start baked potatoes, take the toddler to the pool for an hour, add veggie sausages while we change for dinner, and voilà!
- Batch prep onions. Spending 15 minutes ONCE to chop a weeks’ worth of onions somehow lifts the mental load of weeknight cooking, without full “meal prepping.” Drop on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, caramelize for 15 minutes, add veggies - and elevate a meal with minimal effort.
- Bagged salad is not cheating. 2 bags of washed-and-cut salad costs about 4 dollars, same as 1 bag of unwashed, uncut romaine. Dump into a pretty bowl, add a little olive oil and vinegar, and weeknight salad is easy.
- Make your own candles. I upcycle leftover candle wax, melting in a tin can in boiling water via saucepan, then pour over fresh wicks in colored glass jars. Only takes a few minutes, and that’s saving $10-20/candle these days!
Last two:
- You don't have to take the first time offered. ✅
- Remember a childhood summer. Sailing. Low country boil. Swimming. Gardening (my urban balcony hideaway!). Long runs. Bike rides along the Bayou. Sidewalk chalk.
Thank you for elevating my life!
I am also a mom with five kids. We do major international travel, my husband runs a large business, and I am launching a complicated career. Honestly, most of your tips are already ones that I have either worked into our lives or tried and don’t fit into our lives in this season. They’re very sensible when you’re juggling a lot.
But I love reading your newsletter! I love the sense of aha! when I see something that I have tried out, or the reminder to try something again. And I appreciate having them spelled out in black and white. There are so many things that we do instinctively or spiral around and try, or things I knew but hadn’t ever verbalized. Just talking/reading through them helps me be more conscious… and it gives me encouragement that I CAN do all this, I’m not doing so badly after all!
“What makes it good”: not only for others, but especially asking it of myself.
“Plan ahead” and “name things (as adventures)”: re-shapes the future and ensures a more fulfilling life.
“This is when you get stronger”: I initially reworded this in my head as “this is how you get stronger”, but quickly realized that your phrasing was way better. “How” seemed to leave it open as to whether or not you did the thing. “When”, on the other hand, doesn’t leave any room for debate.
Several but here are my faves: anticipate the “good feelings” for an upcoming event— frequently use this for overnight visits with my 9-year old grandson; plan your next week on Friday of the current week; keep a list of “5-15 minute” things you can do when you have an unexpected window of time. Lastly, I usually glean a weekly nugget or two from your daily and brief podcast of Before Breakfast. Thanks for all you do, Laura. I appreciate you and your work🌸
Thank you! I appreciate it.
Many great ideas I find appealing, especially the ones that focus on intentionally planning fun activities. But from the recent articles, I liked the one dedicated to teenagers a lot. I tend to be quite critical towards my tween and I find parenting quite hard, so that was a good reminder to relax a bit.
@Nevena - glad to hear that reminder was helpful. I just cleaned up a bunch of dirty dishes today but hey, could be worse...