6 STEPS TO BREEZE THROUGH YOUR LAUNDRY DAY AND NOT DREAD IT

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I really do not like doing laundry.  I even dread the thought of dedicating a huge chunk of my day (usually Sundays for me) to washing, drying, folding and putting away clothes. It is one of those tedious tasks that need to get done but are not very fun. Over the years I have found a few methods that make this daunting task a little bit easier to bear.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the outcome of doing laundry. The smell of freshly washed and dried clothes is like heaven and seeing my clothes neatly put away in drawers and hung makes me smile but it’s the process that I dread. So, here are the 10 things that make this task bearable:

1 – sort your clothes

Before I bring any laundry into the laundry room I take about 10 minutes to sort through all of my clothes by placing them in 1 of 5 piles:

  • Underwear, pajamas and towels

  • Delicates

  • Dark colors (black, dark blue, dark grey)

  • Whites

  • Denim

2 –  wash your clothes

I then wash each pile of clothes one at a time as I do laundry at home I only have access to one washer -which is why it takes up half of not most of my day to do laundry. But if you go to a laundry mat you may be able to snatch a few washers at time and get a few loads running at the same time.

The way I wash my clothes has definitely been a learning process. But in order for you to understand why let’s go back to the beginning. See, my parents never really put much thought into how clothes are washed; they grab a pile through it in the wash and press start - other than sorting out the whites I was never exposed to sorting out laundry as a child.

Fast forward to my first job out of college (which was an office job) and the first time I began purchasing a little bit of higher quality clothes. You would think that I would read the labels before I washed – but no, I didn’t. I followed in my parents footsteps and simply threw random piles of clothes into the wash. This resulted in a lot of ruined items and hundreds of dollars down the drain. We live and we learn, right?

Now back to washing your clothes. I also use different detergents depending on what type of clothing I am washing:

3 – dry the clothes

The next step in my process is drying and this has also been a trial and error for me! I use different heat levels depending on which pile I am drying, for example:

  • The underwear, pajamas and towels and the denim piles are set on medium/high heat

  • The delicates pile is ALWAYS set on low heat

  • The whites and dark piles are set on medium heat

4 – fold the clothes

I can bear this part because I usually use this time to catch up on podcasts, some YouTube channels I am subscribed to and TV shows (on a side note I am currently binging on Nashville). During this step I also sort the clothes depending on where they are going to be ultimately placed. So for example, in my dresser I have designated drawers where I place the following groupings:

  • Drawer one: socks, underwear and bra’s

  • Drawer two: my casual t-shirts, long sleeves and tank tops

  • Drawer three: another pile of t-shirts that I only wear at home lol (yes, they are that old and that comfy that I refuse to get rid of them just yet!), pajamas and stockings/tights

Then in my closet I have special groupings for clothing:

  • Work pants

  • Jeans

  • Yoga/workout pants

  • Shorts and skirts

  • Work dresses

  • Casual dresses

  • Short sleeve tops (from sleeveless to short sleeve)

  • Long sleeve tops

  • Blazers and cardigans

So as I am pulling clothes out of the dryer I fold the items and place them in one of each of the piles listed above. I know it may seem like a lot at first but over time you won’t even have to think about it, you will know the groupings by heart.

5 – put the clothes away

So after a few hours of sorting, washing, drying and folding I have to put the clothes away. This should be the easiest part especially since I already sorted the clothes in order of which they will be placed. But no, no, no – the freshly washed and folded clothes can sit in my hamper for hours sometimes days before I actually get around to put them away. I know, horrible habit that I am working on!

6 – celebrate!

Once you finish this daunting task that is on a perpetual loop you can celebrate your accomplishment and know you won’t have to deal with it for a whole other week! 

Now your turn, do you love have a love/hate relationship with laundry days like I do? Have you come up with a system that works for you? Share any tips and tricks below! 

SMALL MONEY CHANGES THAT HAVE MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE ON MY LIFE

For a long time I felt that you needed to land a job with a big fat salary in order to be successful. It took me several years to come to this realization, but the truth is, you do not need a big fat salary. Although having one will really help! The main ingredient we all need in order to reach our financial goals is good old planning mixed it with patience and determination.  In this post here, I discussed 4 things I learned as a young adult with a degree (a.k.a student loan debt) under her belt. One of the things I discussed is saving money. I cannot stress that enough – saving your money is the best way to achieve your goals.

One of my short term goals is to buy a home, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I moved back in with my parents after graduating college. I have an amazing relationship with my parents and it was also a very strategic decision, in the sense that rents in the Boston area are ridiculously high and unless you give in to the idea of having a roommate (or two) it can quickly become unaffordable. I had also lived on/off campus during my college years so it did not feel like I was missing out on the whole living on your own deal. But I digress. My point is that moving back in with my parents allowed me to put extra money towards my loan payments (money that would have otherwise gone to rent payments).

While I realize that moving back in with your parents may not always be option, however, if it is an option I would advise you to do it, even if it’s just for a year or two.  That will give you a huge head start in your personal finance department. There are other things I have done to save money in ways that have been pretty seamless to me:

Automated my savings

I began automating savings a few years back. I did this by opening up a savings account with a completely separate bank than where I had my day to day checking account. Then I set up bi-weekly withdrawals (which lined up with my paycheck deposits) – I started putting away 20% of each paycheck into a savings account and watched that number grow month after month.

Consolidated and refinanced my student loans

I did my undergrad from 2006-2010, this was at the peak time when interest rates were at an all-time high for borrowers. Lucky me! After graduation I was hit with bills from every direction with loan repayment plans that read interest rates that varied from 10-12%. I stuck with those terms for a couple of years until finally a light bulb went off in my head and I decided to re-finance my student loans. I refinanced them once and got it down to about 7.5% and about a year later I refinanced them again and got the interest rate down to about 5.3%. However, this part would not have been possible without the next tip.

Increased my credit score

Be very mindful of your due dates. I use an old fashioned (but very pretty) planner where I sit down and write down my due dates once a month. I have done this without fail every single month for the past 6 years. Making all of your payments on time will drastically help improve your credit score. A very good credit score will help save you money (i.e. student loan refinancing).  And also when it is time to buy your home, a good to excellent credit score will be instrumental in securing a loan with the best interest rate you can get.

Payed off my car

Earlier this year I decided to pay off my car. I know that cars are depreciating assets and are never a good investment but I need my car to get to and from work and around town to run errands. While I live in the City of Boston I don’t live in the heart of the city where almost everything is within walkable distance. Paying off my car gave me extra cash to work with in my budget that I re-allocated to my student loan payments. So while this approach did not technically save me money it is allowing me to pay down my student loan debt at a faster rate (which will save me thousands when it is a ll said and done).

The changes I have made regarding my money and my money habits have come from hours and hours I’ve spent reading books, articles and listening to podcasts on personal finance. The two that I have become very fond of are Farnoosh Torabi and Dave Ramsey, I think that they have given pretty solid advice that has worked well for my these last couple of years. 

Are you on a journey to saving money and reach your financial goals? If so, share what has worked for you and what has not below!

3 EASY WAYS TO WIND DOWN AND DE-STRESS AFTER A HECTIC WEEK

I think it is safe to say that we all have very busy lives with never ending to-do lists but some weeks feel much busier and hectic than others. I have had that feeling more often lately than usual and I have gravitated to the following ways to wind down, de-stress and clear my head. Doing these types of activities is great to do at least once a day (even if it’s only for 10 minutes) but I know that it is not always possible. Whenever that is the case then I highly recommend you do something to de-stress at the end of your workweek.

Now, I’ll go into a little tangent here on alcoholic beverages. I have family and friends whose idea of de-stressing is having a glass of wine or a stronger drink and that’s it. Now, I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, BUT, that should not be the only way you allow your mind and body wind down and de-stress. We need to allow ourselves to wind down in a peaceful and regenerating. Now onto the 5 easy ways:

Go on a walk

Take a stroll around your neighborhood; go to a park or along the beach (if you live near one, lucky, lucky you!) Also, I know it is hard to let go of our phones but try to leave your phone behind from time to time and just enjoy your walk and be present.  I know I probably do not have to go into to a many reasons walking is good for you but as a quick refresher walking is great to help you lose weight, good your heart, is a good way to boost your vitamin D intake and last but not least it is a great mood booster.

Bring out your inner child

Grab yourself an adult coloring book and color your heart out. There is something to simple yet magical about zoning out and coloring. Another hidden benefit of this activity is that it will help you increase your levels of concentration and we know we can all use some of that! I have had my coloring book for about 6 months and have pulled it out about a dozen times and when I do I cannot stop – I literally have to be pulled away from it.

Pull out a good book

This is an oldie but a goodie – reading is good for the soul at any time. You can read a book, a magazine, a newspaper. The only caveat here is for it not read from a screen  (unless you are using a kindle or e-reader) – reason for this is since the majority of us are in front of screens for work almost every day we really should give our eye a break and do some old fashioned reading I’ve mentioned before that I try to read every night before bed, sometimes I get into a good kick and stay with it for a few weeks at a time and other times I get sucked into the YouTube rabbit hole! But I will say that I read a lot more nowadays than I did a few years ago and I have also learned so much from the books I have read.

How do you allow yourself to unwind and de-stress after a busy week? Do share below!

6 PRACTICAL TIPS TO GET THROUGH YOUR TO-DO LIST

9 PRACTICAL TIPS TO GET THROUGH YOUR TO-DO LIST

I, for one, have had an extremely busy April/May – it has been a good busy but I am so happy to say that I can finally feel things slowing down a bit and getting back to normal. To catch some of you up, I recently started a new job which I really, really like but as always there is a lot of learning when starting a new role so that has kept me much busier than usual and if that was not enough I was also planning a baby shower for my sister who is expecting her second child. I am happy to report that the baby shower went off without a hitch this past weekend and I cannot express enough the relief I feel to get past it!

With so many things going on in my personal life and professional life I have been heavily reliant on my planner. I purchased the Inkwell Press planner for 2016 and I LOVE IT – I can go into a more in depth review for another blog post but in a nutshell that little planner has seriously helped me get through my busy days and weekends. Except for the time I wrote down an event I was invited to on the wrong day altogether – that wasn’t good! Here the nine tips I have followed these past several weeks to get through my never-ending to do list while not going completely crazy.

Take three deep breaths and hold

Breathing can easily fix a cluttered mind. There were a few instances in the last several weeks when I felt so over-whelmed that I was a complete scatter brain. In those instances I reminded myself to breath – I stopped doing whatever I was doing and I took three very deep breaths and I held my breath for a count of 5 and then I released. This very simple technique does wonders to bring clarity and peacefulness that always finds a way to put things into perspective.

Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize

This is such an obvious thing to point out but at times I did not prioritize very well because I did the things I felt were easy but not totally important that day while I put off the things that NEEDED to get done. So, yes, it is oh so important to prioritize your to-do list. Take 5-10 minutes at the start of your day and run through your to-do list in order of importance.

Don’t be afraid to adjust your priorities

Sometimes things change and it impacts our short term to-do list – when this happens its okay to re-adjust your to-do list and move on to the next thing and get back to the task you moved when it is ready to be addressed again.

Use the Pomodoro technique

I recently began using this and I love it! The Pomodoro technique is a time management technique with which you set yourself a timer of 25 minutes and dedicate every second of those 25 minutes to ONE task and then you take a 5-10 minute break and you repeat that for up to 4 sessions before you give yourself a longer break of 30-45 minutes.  I have to admit I was pretty hesitant of this technique when I first heard of it but I went in to it with an open mind and I have to tell you that it dramatically boosted my productivity. I do not do this every day because it is hard to fit this in on days that are jam packed with meetings but on the days when I do not have meetings scheduled this is my preferred productivity hack.

Give yourself some breathing room

Be sure to allot yourself some time to do something not on you’re to do list – but it has to be something you enjoy doing. You can walk your dog, read through a magazine, listen to music or read a blog – whatever your heart desires. The point here is to understand that not everything has to be work, work, work, we need to fit in things we love to do even with a busy schedule. Life is supposed to be enjoyed not consumed by a never ending to do list.

Delegate

There is nothing wrong with asking for a little help whether it be at work or at home. So take advantage in the best sense of that word) of the people around you – you may realize that people are much more giving with their time than you thought.

How do you get through your to do lists? Share your tips and tricks below!