This week our focus is on self-care. 

Yesterday we talked about sleep.  You may immediately think of going to the spa, getting a massage – all wonderful self-care ideas which I highly recommend!  But… self-care can actually encompass ways we live our life in many areas.  How can we create little moments that will fortify our peace, alleviate our tension and give us a needed break throughout the week?

How can we fend off “dis-ease” moments that escalate to intensify our stress and anxiety, translating into poor health – mental, physical, financial, emotional, spiritual?

That’s why I love reading random little tips, tricks and hints, or “life hacks”, created to save us time, money and scrambled brains.  Singularly, they don’t seem like much, but when we build them into our schedule they become bricks in a better path of simplicity, ease and less effort, creating breathing room.  Once again, the law of baby steps reigns.

Today I’m going to share three household life hacks that you can use in the kitchen and in the closet/laundry room.  Throughout the week we will be gathering these tiny flashes of brilliance to present to you here like a fragrant bouquet of tranquility.  Here we go!

Kitchen Life Hack – Homemade soup stock for healthy and quick soups

I love this idea!  I got the original idea from an Instagram post by @supercharged_foods, THANKS!  She takes her unused pieces of veggie peelings and herbs, keeps them in a freezer bag and, when full, creates a nutritious vegetable stock.  I took her recommendation for a recipe by Thermomix® which I found at this link:  http://bit.ly/2e7wvgY (THANKS, Recipe Community!)  However, I will probably only add a pinch of sea salt because, as @supercharged_foods suggests, I will be freezing the stock in ice cube trays for easier use.  I’m also adding a life hack hint with this – I freeze leftover veggies and batch them into my own soups – so when combined with this stock, here’s a great soup that packs a healthy punch and basically costs next to nothing – which helps you save money!!!  And the timing is perfect as we come into our cooler months when soup is always a perfect meal!  And let’s not forget utilizing your crock pot as you “to-go-to” buddy for cooking.  But that’s a whole ‘nuther self-care post!

Laundry Room Hack – Ironing

I’m old school – I still have my iron and ironing board up in my laundry room, and I honestly like to iron (handed down from my Mom).  Somehow taking some time to smooth out those wrinkles gives me a few moments to quietly think about areas in my life where I need some smoothing out, and I brainstorm on how to iron them away as well (if only it were that easy)!  That being said, who wouldn’t like to cut down or altogether eliminate ironing?  Here’s two tricks.

• Instead of spending lots of money on a wrinkle-eliminating spray, just take a capful of your favorite liquid softener (or make your own with this recipe from Jillee’s blog at One Good Thing: http://bit.ly/2dO4e9Q), put it in a spray bottle and fill with water. Spritz it on your article of clothing and smooth the piece on a flat surface.  This often does the trick unless your clothing is super-wrinkled.
• If #1 doesn’t work, spritz your pieces of clothing with some water or a bit of your mixture above, then toss in the dryer for about 5-10 minutes. Remove immediately and hang up – most often this works for me and eliminates the need for further ironing care.  Of course, we all know that the best way to cut out a whole literal load of ironing is to immediately hang up all items immediately after drying, but while that doesn’t always work with our schedules, these ideas can be your new best friend!

Hope these time-savers will help you care for yourself during the course of your day.  Do you like???

What timesavers do you use to add nurturing moments of space in your day???

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