We get asked all the time how we stay on top of projects and household life—people want to know if we make lists, use apps, or have some secret system. In this post we outline the three tools we rely on every day. Some are digital, some are old-school, but together they make it easy for us to stay coordinated about projects, purchases, and routines. We’re also sharing progress on a long-overdue outdoor update that almost sent one of us up onto the roof, plus a hilarious discovery: people who don’t always sleep on the same “side of the bed.” We had questions, and we wanted to share what we learned.
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What’s New
- That photo shows only primer, but it gives a good sense of our shed’s makeover now that we’re finally painting it to match our painted brick house.
- We debated spraying the siding but decided to hand-paint with a brush and a high-nap roller. The siding is textured, so brushing into each groove made more sense; spraying would have required extensive masking and tarping and may not have saved much time.
- Next steps include painting the doors (we’ll use Benjamin Moore’s Tranquility to match the rest of the exterior doors) and installing window boxes that are already on order. After seeing how the beach house shed held up with a window box, we couldn’t wait to add them here.
- Here’s a photo taken about a minute before I realized there were wasps under the dormer eave—Sherry joked I looked like I was trying to nap up there. A reminder that what you see is just primer, which is why the shed looks a cool bluish color in these shots.
- We can’t wait to finish painting the doors, hang the window boxes, and share the completed photos. Hopefully that will be soon!
Can We Just Talk About Sides Of The Bed?
- Apartment Therapy recently summarized the surprising online uproar about people who switch sides of the bed from night to night. The reactions on social media were both funny and revealing about how ingrained that habit is for many couples.
- We asked listeners to weigh in with a quick survey to see how common side-switching is; thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts.
Listener Question: Keeping Life Organized
- Sherry recently picked up an 18-month planner that runs July 2019–December 2020. She was drawn to the simple check-box formatting inside because it helps her “respect the lines” and keep daily tasks short and manageable. There’s something satisfying about physically checking off items when they’re done.
- We also rely on voice-activated lists via Amazon Alexa. We keep an Echo in the kitchen and Echo Dots around the house so we can add items hands-free from different rooms. When we reach the store, we reference and check off the shopping list from the Alexa app on our phones—super convenient when a reminder pops into your head upstairs or while cooking.
- For project planning, shared Google Docs have been invaluable—especially while renovating the beach house and the duplex. They let us centralize notes, materials lists, and timelines so we can prep efficiently before each trip.
- We’ve used Trello at times as well; it’s a powerful visual tool, though we didn’t stick with it long-term after using it briefly while working with our publisher.
We’re Digging
- We recently shuffled furniture in the bedroom so we could lean a large arched mirror against the dresser. The mirror mimics the presence of a window and reflects light, creating the illusion of more openness—especially effective when placed where the eye expects to see a window.
- If you’re considering the same trick, large mirrors can function like faux windows to bounce light and improve symmetry and balance in a room.
- For historical non-fiction fans: I really enjoyed Dead Wake by Erik Larson, which details the sinking of the Lusitania. It reminded me of his earlier, widely celebrated book Devil in the White City—both strong reads if you like narrative history.
- Starting tomorrow is our personal seasonal challenge: Aquatober for me (a month of drinking only water to curb soda habits) and Walktober for Sherry (committing to a little extra walking most days). Small monthly habits can add up.
- Also, if you missed the outtake reference to “Terri Sloppins,” you can find the clip on Instagram stories—funny moments worth a rewatch if you enjoy behind-the-scenes bits.
If you want to revisit topics we’ve shared before, we maintain a master list of everything we’ve been digging in past episodes, as well as a page that collects all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.
A quick thank-you to Grove Collaborative for sponsoring this episode. Their offers and seasonal bundles are a helpful way to try eco-friendly cleaning products, and the promotion they ran with this episode made it easy to sample new items.
Thanks for listening and reading—your questions and feedback always help shape what we cover next.
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