Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. If you're working outside the home and missing time with your kids, worried about the environmental health of the house they live in, and not feeling all that empowered about any of it, those aren't 3 separate problems.
Those are 3 of the 6. Missing time with your kids is one heading. The house they're growing up in is another. Not feeling like you have a say is the third. Wellness got filed under food and workouts a long time ago and stayed there, so here are the rest and you're welcome to steal all 6.
1. Health system.
2. Money system.
Think of a hiking trail in October, 4 miles of nothing and then one bend and the whole valley is sitting there, and somebody walked that ridge first, somebody decided where the bend went, somebody cut the switchbacks so your knees would hold out, and you don't think about that person once because it feels like the woods did it... who
Because it's rarely about the 1 heading you were handed and more so about the 5 nobody put on the sign.
3. Home system.
4. People system.
5. Peace system.
6. Freedom system.
The moms you know who seem least frazzled about the house aren't better at wellness. They count 6 things. The rest of us stopped at 1. And the cabinet under the sink is the one spot where all 6 of them touch at the same time.
#sixnotone #thecabinetunderthesink
Three problems that were never 3 separate problems.
This is for the mom working outside the home, missing the hours she wants with her kids, and worried about the house they are growing up in.
Wellness got filed under food and workouts a long time ago and stayed there. I followed that 1 heading for a long time before anybody read me the rest of the sheet.
In the carousel I have left you all 6 of them, and the one spot in the house where they touch at the same time.
Save it if it is useful. Send it to whoever was handed 1 heading.
Which of the 6 have you never once counted?
#sixnotone #thecabinetunderthesink
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. If you're working outside the home and missing time with your kids, worried about the environmental health of the house they live in, and not feeling all that empowered about any of it, those aren't 3 separate problems.
Those are 3 of the 6.
It's rarely about the 1 heading you were handed and more so about the 5 nobody put on the sign.
The moms you know who seem least frazzled about the house aren't better at wellness. They count 6 things. The rest of us stopped at 1.
And the cabinet under the sink is the one spot where all 6 of them touch at the same time.
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. Why does the cart look the same every month and the house still not match what you actually care about?
We look at a house that feels sorted and assume she found the right products. What she found was 6 headings and a list she'd already been writing for years.
And every before and after online has somebody emptying a cupboard in one afternoon. Mine wasn't that. Mine was 1 bottle at a time.
I'll say the embarrassing part out loud. Did I ever once think the grocery list was a decision about anything? No. It was a chore I did on the way home.
Those slow years handed me 3 things I couldn't have gotten faster. Time to read what I was buying, time to see what the month was costing, and time to work out that I'd been the one choosing all along.
If you're pushing the same cart you pushed last month, don't read that as not caring.
You have my word on 1 thing. The list you already write is doing more work than anybody ever told you it was doing, right NOW.
Go read the back of 1 thing you already buy this week.
You are not behind on your own house. You're 5 headings short of a list you already write ๐งบ
I'll be here. Go put the groceries away ๐ค
#thegrocerylist #whatwebuyeverymonthanyway
I never once thought the grocery list was a decision about anything. It was a chore I did on the way home.
I wrote the same list every week for a long time and never turned a single thing over to read the back of it.
Mine was never the emptied cupboard in one afternoon. Mine was 1 bottle at a time.
In the carousel I have left you the 3 things those slow years handed me, and the reason the same cart is not a verdict on you.
Save it for the next grocery run. Send it to whoever is pushing the same cart ๐ค
What is the 1 thing on your list you have never turned over?
#thegrocerylist #whatwebuyeverymonthanyway
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. Why does the cart look the same every month and the house still not match what you actually care about?
We look at a house that feels sorted and assume she found the right products. What she found was 6 headings and a list she'd already been writing for years.
Did I ever once think the grocery list was a decision about anything? No. It was a chore I did on the way home.
Those slow years handed me 3 things I couldn't have gotten faster.
You are not behind on your own house. You're 5 headings short of a list you already write.
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. If that's you, you already decided this was a pitch or a subscription before anybody said a word.
And you're not wrong to. Most of what lands in your feed about this is somebody who found a thing last month telling you about it this month. I'd been buying the same things for decades before I had anything to do with selling any of it.
Nobody handed me a box and turned me into a believer overnight. I was a customer. For a long time. That was the whole relationship.
I'll flag my own bias here. I picked the work I did because I wanted to help people, and there were stretches where I couldn't have told you who I'd helped. Some weeks I'd helped somebody take something from somebody else and called it a day's work.
Looking back, I'd keep every one of those years. They taught me to ask who made a thing, who checked it after, and who has to stand behind it when the answer comes back wrong.
If your first read on this was pitch, keep it. That instinct has served you well. Don't let it decide there's nothing worth knowing on the other side of it.
I'll promise you 1 thing, and it's a small one. Being suspicious of this doesn't put you on the wrong side of anything, and that's TRUE the whole time you're deciding.
Ask the question you'd ask a stranger selling you anything.
You're not cynical. You're careful, and careful is how I'd want you to arrive ๐งก
Take your time with it. I'm not going anywhere ๐ค
#notapitch #whatwebuyeverymonthanyway
Most of what lands in your feed about this is somebody who found a thing last month telling you about it this month.
This is for the mom who read the first line of this and decided it was a pitch before anybody said a word.
Nobody handed me a box and turned me into a believer overnight. I was a customer for decades before I had anything to do with selling any of it.
In the carousel I have left you the 3 questions those years taught me to ask about anything on a shelf.
Save it if it is useful. Send it to whoever is careful about this kind of thing ๐ค
What is the question you would ask a stranger selling you anything?
#notapitch #whatwebuyeverymonthanyway
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. If that's you, you already decided this was a pitch or a subscription before anybody said a word.
You're not wrong to. I'd been buying the same things for decades before I had anything to do with selling any of it.
I picked the work I did because I wanted to help people, and there were stretches where I couldn't have told you who I'd helped.
Looking back, I'd keep every one of those years. They taught me to ask who made a thing, who checked it after, and who has to stand behind it when the answer comes back wrong.
You're not cynical. You're careful, and careful is how I'd want you to arrive.
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. You're back at work with less time than you want with your kids, uneasy about the house they're growing up in, and quietly sure it's too late to start anything new.
(And I'm the last person who gets to lecture anybody about waiting.)
The smallest place to start is the list you're already writing this week.
โข count what goes out the door every month anyway (one total, written down once, no plan attached)
โข pick 1 thing off that total and ask who checked it (the dish soap, the laundry, whatever's under the sink)
โข let it stay smaller than you think it should be (1 switch this month, not a CLEAN sweep of the cabinet)
That's what actually starts something, and it starts on this week's list, not the one after the kids move out ๐งบ
Take the quiz if you want to see which of the 6 you're furthest from ๐
And if you've got a question about any of it, ask me here. I'd rather answer it than have you wonder.
I am the last person who gets to lecture anybody about waiting.
This one is for the mom who is back at work with less time than she wants and has decided, without saying it out loud, that it is too late to start anything new.
The smallest place to start is not a plan. It is the list you are already writing this week.
In the carousel I have left you the 3 steps, and every one of them fits on the list you already write.
Save it for the week you start. Send it to whoever has decided it is too late ๐ค
Which of the 6 do you think you are furthest from?
#itsnevertoolate #thecabinetunderthesink
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. You're back at work with less time than you want with your kids, uneasy about the house they're growing up in, and quietly sure it's too late to start anything new.
And I'm the last person who gets to lecture anybody about waiting.
The smallest place to start is the list you're already writing this week.
That's what actually starts something, and it starts on this week's list, not the one after the kids move out.
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. Did you know 5 of the 6 things wellness actually touches never make it onto anybody's wellness list?
Nobody's hiding them. They got left off the sheet, which is a different thing, and a sheet is easy to redraw. Here's the one I use. Steal it.
1. What goes in the body system.
2. What the month costs system.
3. What the house is made of system.
Think of a recipe card in your grandmother's handwriting where the flour and the sugar are written out to the quarter cup and then the last line says bake until it smells right, and you can follow that card for 30 years and never once ask why she trusted your nose over the timer... which
Turns out it's rarely about the amounts somebody wrote down and more so about the 2 or 3 things she never bothered to write because she assumed you'd notice them.
4. Who's at the table system.
5. What your head does at 11pm system.
6. What you get to choose system.
Ask any mom whose house feels calm what she does about wellness and she'll say something about food. Follow her around for a week and you'll count 6. She isn't running a plan. She's counting more things than the sheet asked her to count.
#5ofthe6 #whatwebuyeverymonthanyway
Nobody hid the other 5. They were left off a sheet, and a sheet can be redrawn.
This is for the mom who was handed a wellness list with 1 line on it and followed it anyway.
I followed that version for a long time. Then I started counting what a calm week in somebody else's house looked like, and it was never 1 thing.
In the carousel I have left you the sheet I use, all 6 of them, in the order they show up in a week.
Save it if it is useful. Send it to whoever is working from a 1 line list.
Which of the 6 would you have to add to your own sheet?
#5ofthe6 #whatwebuyeverymonthanyway
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. Did you know 5 of the 6 things wellness actually touches never make it onto anybody's wellness list?
Nobody's hiding them. They got left off the sheet, which is a different thing, and a sheet is easy to redraw.
Turns out it's rarely about the amounts somebody wrote down and more so about the 2 or 3 things she never bothered to write because she assumed you'd notice them.
Ask any mom whose house feels calm what she does about wellness and she'll say something about food. Follow her around for a week and you'll count 6.
She's counting more things than the sheet asked her to count.
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. It's 7pm on a Tuesday and you're putting the same 4 things in the cart you always put in it.
Somebody was counting my life in 6 minute pieces back then, and every one of those pieces got written down somewhere. Nobody was counting the Tuesday shop. So the hour that decided the most about my house was the one hour nobody was measuring.
And there's always somebody promising a fresh start on the 1st. Mine didn't start on a 1st. It started in an aisle. On a Tuesday, with 1 thing.
Straight up, because there's no version of this where I come off well. Was I proud of the years I spent not looking? No. I was busy, and busy felt like a reason at the time.
But I'd take the slow version again. Going 1 item at a time is what taught me to read a back label, to notice what a month of the same 4 things adds up to, and to stop treating the list like a chore somebody else assigned me.
So if it's 7pm and the cart looks like last Tuesday's cart, that isn't a verdict on you.
And I'll promise you this much. Those same 4 things were 4 decisions the whole time, and they're 4 decisions TONIGHT.
Start with the 1 thing on that list you'd want to know more about.
You're not on autopilot. You've been the one writing the list all along ๐
Same time next Tuesday. Go finish the shop ๐ค
#7pmonatuesday #whatwebuyeverymonthanyway
Somebody counted my life in 6 minute pieces and wrote every one of them down. Nobody was counting the Tuesday shop.
So the hour that decided the most about my house was the one hour nobody was measuring, including me.
Mine didn't start on a 1st. It started in an aisle, with 1 thing, on an ordinary Tuesday.
In the carousel I have left you what going 1 item at a time taught me, and why the same 4 things were 4 decisions the whole time.
Save it for next Tuesday. Send it to whoever is standing in that aisle at 7pm ๐ค
Which of your 4 would you want to know more about?
#7pmonatuesday #whatwebuyeverymonthanyway
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. It's 7pm on a Tuesday and you're putting the same 4 things in the cart you always put in it.
Somebody was counting my life in 6 minute pieces back then, and every one of those pieces got written down somewhere. Nobody was counting the Tuesday shop.
There's always somebody promising a fresh start on the 1st. Mine didn't start on a 1st. It started in an aisle.
Those same 4 things were 4 decisions the whole time, and they're 4 decisions TONIGHT.
You're not on autopilot. You've been the one writing the list all along.
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. Stop reading the front of the bottle until you know who tested what's inside it.
The front of a bottle is written by somebody who wants you to pick it up. The back is written by somebody who has to be able to defend it. Took me most of my adult life to notice those are 2 different jobs.
There isn't a shortcut here, and I looked for one. No 10 second version where you glance at a label and know who stood behind it.
I bought the same things off the same shelf for years and never turned one of them over. Was that carelessness? I'd have said no at the time. Busy, I'd have said, and I'd have believed it.
And I'd rather have gotten there slowly, because slow is what taught me which 3 questions hold up. Who made it, who checked it after them, and whether the one doing the checking had any reason to be honest about what came back.
If nobody ever told you who checks what's under your sink, that silence isn't on you. I had to go looking for that answer, and it turned out to sit with an outside lab rather than with the company.
My promise is small. Asking who checked it is a question that works in any aisle, including the ones I've never stood in, and it holds up EVERY time.
Look up who tests the 1 thing you buy most often.
You're not naive. You were never handed the question ๐งด
That's it from me. Go turn something around ๐ค
#testedbyanoutsidelab #thecabinetunderthesink
The front of a bottle is written by somebody who wants you to pick it up. The back is written by somebody who has to be able to defend it.
This is for the mom who has bought the same things off the same shelf for years and never turned one of them over.
I looked for the shortcut. There is no 10 second version where you glance at a label and know who stood behind it.
In the carousel I have left you where that answer sits, and why the silence about it was never on you.
Save it if it is useful. Send it to whoever reads the front of the bottle ๐ค
What is the 1 thing you buy most often, and who tests it?
#whochecked #thecabinetunderthesink
Professional mom with kids in schools who wants safe, effective, earth-friendly products that protect her family, reduce waste, save money, and simplify what she buys and manages at home. Stop reading the front of the bottle until you know who tested what's inside it.
The front of a bottle is written by somebody who wants you to pick it up. The back is written by somebody who has to be able to defend it.
I bought the same things off the same shelf for years and never turned one of them over.
If nobody ever told you who checks what's under your sink, that silence isn't on you. I had to go looking for that answer, and it turned out to sit with an outside lab rather than with the company.
You're not naive. You were never handed the question.
Here's why the 6 things wellness actually touches never showed up in a single wellness plan you've tried.
A plan gets written by whoever's selling the fix, and the fix was always food. So the sheet came back with 1 line on it. Take the whole sheet instead. It's yours.
1. Body system.
2. Budget system.
3. Household system.
Think of a hymn in 4 parts back when you were 9 and you sang the melody because the melody is the part everybody sings, and the alto and the tenor and the bass were in the room the entire time, 3 rows over, breathing at the same moment you were, and it never once crossed your mind that the sound you loved was the 3 parts you weren't singing... parts
And it's rarely about the line you were handed and more so about the 3 you couldn't hear yourself over.
4. Table system.
5. Quiet system.
6. Say system.
Nobody singing 1 part sounds thin on purpose. They sound thin because nobody gave them the other 3. And once you've heard the whole chord in a room, going back to 1 line is the part you can't do.
#sixnotone #onesmallswitch
A wellness plan gets written by whoever is selling the fix. That is why the sheet keeps coming back with 1 line on it.
This is for the mom who has tried more than one plan and never once got handed the whole sheet.
You sang the melody because the melody is the part everybody sings. The other 3 were in the room the entire time, 3 rows over, and nobody said so.
In the carousel I have left you all 6 of them, and the reason the other 5 never made it onto a plan.
Save it if it is useful. Send it to whoever is working from 1 line.
Which part have you never once heard yourself over?
#sixnotone #onesmallswitch
Here's why the 6 things wellness actually touches never showed up in a single wellness plan you've tried.
A plan gets written by whoever's selling the fix, and the fix was always food. So the sheet came back with 1 line on it.
It's rarely about the line you were handed and more so about the 3 you couldn't hear yourself over.
Nobody singing 1 part sounds thin on purpose. They sound thin because nobody gave them the other 3.
And once you've heard the whole chord in a room, going back to 1 line is the part you can't do.
The reason why a different house doesn't cost a different budget isn't what you think.
My monthly total didn't move. That's the part nobody believed when I said it out loud, because the same money went out the door either way. What changed was which shelf it came off.
There's no windfall in this story. No raise, no line item I cut. I packed the same cooler I always packed. Same weight going in the car. Different things inside it.
Did I think I was making a money decision when I switched? Honestly, no. I thought I was making a nicer one, and I felt a bit silly about it for a while.
And I'm glad it took as long as it did. A slow switch is the only reason I know what was already on the list, what I'd been buying twice, and what I'd never once turned over to read.
And if you've been waiting for the month with something left over, that wait isn't what's standing in the way.
Here's my one promise on this. Nothing has to leave your list for any of it to start, and that holds TODAY, not some tidier month.
Take the last receipt you kept and read it like somebody else wrote it.
You're not short on budget. You're 1 receipt away from seeing what you've been choosing ๐งพ
Anyway. Go find that receipt ๐ค
#samegroceryrun #onesmallswitch
My monthly total didn't move. That is the part nobody believed when I said it out loud.
There was no windfall in it. No raise, no line item I cut, and the same cooler going in the car every time.
Did I think I was making a money decision when I switched? Honestly, no. I thought I was making a nicer one.
In the carousel I have left you what the slow version showed me, and why the wait for a tidier month is not what is standing in the way.
Save it before the next shop. Send it to whoever has been waiting for the month with something left over ๐ค
What would your last receipt tell you if somebody else had written it?
#samegroceryrun #onesmallswitch
The reason why a different house doesn't cost a different budget isn't what you think.
My monthly total didn't move. That's the part nobody believed when I said it out loud, because the same money went out the door either way. What changed was which shelf it came off.
Did I think I was making a money decision when I switched? Honestly, no. I thought I was making a nicer one, and I felt a bit silly about it for a while.
Nothing has to leave your list for any of it to start, and that holds TODAY, not some tidier month.
You're not short on budget. You're 1 receipt away from seeing what you've been choosing.
It's not that you don't trust the label. It's that nobody ever told you who checks it.
Checking isn't the interesting part. What happens after a result comes back is, and that's the part I never thought about once in all those years.
The tidy version of this is a seal on a box that lets everybody stop asking. That wasn't it for me. Mine went slower, and it was a lot less satisfying.
Here's the bit I'd rather skip over. I assumed somebody was checking. Did I ever ask who that somebody was, or what happened when an answer came back wrong? Not once.
Getting there slowly turned out to be the better trade, because slow is what got me to the difference between 3 things. Testing that proves a thing is fine, testing that changes what's in the bottle, and a label that never mentions either one.
If you've been treating the front of a label as the end of the conversation, you were never given a reason not to. I was in that habit longer than I'd like to write down.
One promise, and then I'll leave it alone. Who checks it is a question you're allowed to ask out loud, in ANY aisle, without buying a thing.
Go find out what a company does with a result it didn't want.
You're not too trusting. Nobody ever gave you the rest of it ๐ท๏ธ
Okay. I'll stop there ๐ค
#whochecksit #onesmallswitch
Checking is not the interesting part. What happens after a result comes back is.
This is for the mom who trusts the label fine and was never once told who checks it.
I assumed somebody was checking. I never asked who that somebody was, or what happened when an answer came back wrong.
In the carousel I have left you the difference between 3 things, and the question you are allowed to ask out loud in any aisle.
Save it if it is useful. Send it to whoever treats the front of a label as the end of the conversation ๐ค
What does a company do with a result it did not want?
#whochecksit #onesmallswitch
It's not that you don't trust the label. It's that nobody ever told you who checks it.
Checking isn't the interesting part. What happens after a result comes back is, and that's the part I never thought about once in all those years.
I assumed somebody was checking. Did I ever ask who that somebody was, or what happened when an answer came back wrong? Not once.
Who checks it is a question you're allowed to ask out loud, in ANY aisle, without buying a thing.
You're not too trusting. Nobody ever gave you the rest of it.