5 Simple Hacks for a More Peaceful Life
Emphasis on the word simple, okay?
I am all about small, simple systems that make our lives easier. These are 5 things that I do regularly in my own daily life that I think might inspire you!
Hack 01: Make a skincare basket that separates your morning & evening products.
Okay this is truly the easiest thing to do that has made my life so much simpler and more peaceful – I got a basket with 3 sections and put all of my skincare items in there: the left section has the products I use only in the morning, the middle section has all the products I use in the morning and evening, and you guessed it – the right section has products that I use only in the evening.I keep this basket tucked right under my bathroom sink and every morning and evening, I just quickly pull it out and all the items I need are right there. Then I can put it away when I’m done.
Why did I make this little skincare basket?
Because I was SO ANNOYED every time I went to do my skincare when I had to dig around in my bathroom drawers to find all the products I needed. The products didn’t fit well in my drawers so they were always rolling around spilling everywhere or getting stuck making it an ordeal to try and open the drawer in the first place.
I just found myself getting irritated every morning and evening when it was time to do my skincare so I asked myself, “How can I make this a more peaceful experience?”
Enter: the 3-section basket.
Not only is it way more aesthetic but it really does make my skincare process in the morning and in the evening so much smoother.
Hack 02: Have your vitamins & supplements on auto-order.
I’ve been really into health and fitness since I was like 19 or 20 years old. Taking supplements has been a part of my life since then – shout out if you’ve been hanging out with me since my personal training days… RIP Glisten Fit!
Anyway, last year, I did something SO EASY that makes my vitamin and supplement routine more peaceful…I put all of my vitamins and supplements on auto-order. SO EASY but I’m telling you, it’s saved me brain space because I don’t have to try and remember to place a new order when I’m almost out.
I remember before I had auto-order on, I would reach into the cabinet to grab a supplement only to find it empty (my husband loves putting empty containers back in the cupboard…I don’t get it??) or with only one serving left. Now with having my supplements on auto-order, it keeps me from going a few days or a week without while I’m waiting for the new ones to arrive. Like there isn’t any lag time between orders anymore if that makes sense.
And another little perk of this: a lot of companies give you a discount if you turn on the auto-order/subscribe feature. I think I save like 5% on all the supplements I have on auto-order from Amazon and I also save on the Alani Nu supplements and Ritual supplements that I take because of having the auto-order enabled.
I put doing this off for so long because I was a control freak and wanted to go in and manually order everything, but now that I have auto-order set up, I’m asking myself, “Why did I wait so long to do this?!”
So if you don’t have your vitamins and supplements on auto-order, this is your sign to do it!
Hack 03: Schedule a life admin day for your errands and appointments.
I briefly mentioned a “life admin day” on Instagram once and my DMs went bananas! Y’all wanted to know more so here I am to tell you about it!
I schedule what I like to call a “life admin day” usually 2 days a month. They typically fall on Fridays for me because I don’t work on Fridays but they can be whenever fits best into your schedule.
And if you need help creating a weekly schedule outline, I’ve got you. Check out my How to Plan a Peacefully Productive Week Workshop – it’s only $49 and I help you create a schedule that supports your priorities so you’re never wondering when you’re gonna have time to do the important stuff.
But what exactly is a life admin day? It’s basically where I batch errands, tasks, and appointments that need to get done for life that aren’t work-related. So think things like routine doctor appointments, oil changes, taking your dog to the vet, making a return at the mall, getting your lashes or nails or hair done, etc. Now obviously this doesn’t always work out because we can’t always get all of our appointments on the same day but when I am able to, I like to schedule my appointments on the same day so I’m not running around like a madwoman all week. It’s a great example of batching in action. I use batching in my business, which you all know, but I also use it in life!
So for example, this Friday, I have a life admin day planned, and here’s what’s going down:
- I have a therapy appointment at 10 AM
- I have a lash fill at 11:30 AM
- I am going to pick up something I bought from FB marketplace for the nursery at 1 PM
- Then I’m going to come home and work on my Life Catch-All Task List to get some things done to prep for the baby coming
I prefer to do all of these things in one day rather than scatter them throughout the week. Having a life admin day planned for a few days a month really helps me to stay on top of my life’s open loops without feeling overwhelmed or wondering when I’m going to get to them. If you’ve never tried scheduling a life admin day, give it a try! And it doesn’t have to be a whole day – you can do a half-day or schedule one every single week. Whatever works best for you and your life. And remember, our schedules and routines are tools, not chains!
Hack 04: Keep a laundry hamper outside of the laundry room when you have a load that needs to be moved.
You have probably heard of that hack from the old days to tie a string around your finger as a reminder to remember something? This is kinda the same concept except you don’t have to try and remember what you’re trying to remind yourself of. I never really understood the string thing because of that, lol.
I used to be the queen of forgetting that I put a load of clothes in the washer. Then I’d go to put another load in the washer a few days later and I’d open the machine and be wafted by mildewy-smelling clothes. Not the vibe, ya know? I’d have to re-run the load that I forgot about that got musty before doing the load I was trying to do in the moment. And then when I did remember to put a load in the dryer, I’d forget about it and it would sit in there for a few days getting all wrinkled and I’d have to take those out before I could move the load that was in the washer into the dryer.
So what I’m getting at is laundry was just incredibly stressful all of the time in my house.
Now, when I put a load of clothes in the washer, I move our laundry hamper from inside the laundry room to outside of the laundry room door so that I can see it when I walk by the laundry room. It’s a visual reminder for me that, “Hey there is something in the washer or dryer that needs to be taken care of,” and I’m never dealing with the same laundry struggles I did before.
I actually have a whole podcast episode – Episode 115 – that goes into my Hustle Sanely-esque cleaning routine in detail if you’re curious about that.
Hack 05: Add groceries to your grocery list as you run out of them.
I like to call this a “live” grocery list and it’s a game-changer in our household. I used to dread when the time came to sit down and make the weekly grocery list when I started from scratch every time. I’d wander through our kitchen trying to figure out what we were out of and what we needed all at once. It was a big task to me. And I always waited to do it until we had like no food left and I needed to go to the grocery store like right then.
I also remember asking Adam, ”What do you want from the store?” and he would just blank stare at me in that moment and be like, “Ummm idk right now?”
Now, Adam and I have a shared note in the Notes app on our iPhones that we update as we run out of things or as we think of things e need or want from the grocery store. The list is separated into categories: produce, dairy-ish, meat + protein, in the aisles and here’s the catch - we don’t usually delete things from the list once we’ve bought them. Instead, we use the checkmark tool in the Notes app so that we can simply check and uncheck items on the list.
So for example, if we run out of mustard while we’re eating dinner (because I’ve been a hamburger lover this pregnancy – if you know, you know), I’ll grab my phone, scroll to the “in the aisles” section of our note app and uncheck the bubble next to mustard. The Notes app automatically reorganizes each section of the note to where the unchecked bubbles move on top of the checked bubbles so it’s really easy to see everything that is unchecked at once.
It’s also helpful because I can quickly scan the list and uncheck items that I know we buy every single week and nothing is forgotten since I’m not having to type anything from scratch. It’s also rad because like I said earlier, it’s a shared note which means Adam can see it on his phone, too, so if he’s out running errands, he can stop at the store and know exactly what we need.
It’s a simple hack that has made grocery shopping way less stressful for us!
I hope these tips are helpful and support you as you are looking for simple ways to live a more peaceful life! I would love to hear which hacks were most helpful for you if you try them out! 💃🏻
If you need help building a schedule, the How to Plan a Peacefully Productive Week Workshop is only $49!
During the workshop, I walk you through all of the deets on my 6-step process for creating your own weekly skeleton, which FYI, is your secret weapon to creating a weekly schedule that supports your peacefully productive life!
If you enjoyed this blog post, tune into Episode 137 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to dive deeper into this topic:
